The Quest for Black Folklore as Structure in Toni Morrison''s Song of Solomon

• Main Authors: Tseng Yu-fen, 曾于芬
• Other Authors: Liao Pen-shui
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57754868429149884366

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 88 === Among the most highly regarded and widely read fiction writers in the history of American literature, Toni Morrison has completed her illuminating scholarly achievement by articulating the black American experience in her writings. Morrison disagrees with the idea that her race should be relegated to the margins of the literary discourse. Throughout her fiction, she endeavors to display the nuances of African American culture and to reclaim black historical experience. Song of Solomon, Morrison''s third novel, principally focuses on a black male protagonist, who undertakes an archetypal search for self and for transcendence. To be true, Song of Solomon can be regarded as a triumphant endorsement of knowing and regaining ancestral heritage. It is precisely a tale of African-American genealogical archaeology. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter serves to introduce the purpose and focus of the study. Chapter Two mainly probes the correspondence between the traditional quest motif and that of Song of Solomon. Replete with the quest theme, Song of Solomon aims to achieve a complete self for its hero Milkman. Since Morrison employs the mythic patterns of questing, the quest motif recalls classical mythology. Indeed, Morrison draws on parts of western mythology to depict a “black” odyssey par excellence. It is not surprising that the novel generally follows events and rites of passage common to mythic heroes. However, although Milkman bears similarity to the classical heroes, he is assigned to an even more important role to regain his African heritage than merely to intimate classical, heroic deeds. Even though western mythological patterns are incorporated in the novel, the author avoids constructing her work solely in the foundation of literary allusions. Instead, she is enthusiastic about creating a black novel whose framework and texture emerge more from her African heritage than from the white-centered western culture. As a result, Morrison''s writings not only draw attention to the aesthetic values of Afro-American presence in literature but also echo an awareness of reclaiming the significance of African American culture, which has been unfavorably silenced in the construction of American literary history. The most conspicuous tale reflecting the African-American folk tradition is the canonical tale of the Flying Africans, which is also the kernel of Chapter Three. Coming from the tradition of the African diaspora, the legend of the Flying Africans functions as a reaction against slavery in the New World. Like the Flying Africans, Solomon has the flying ability to embrace his own freedom. Though the heroic side of Solomon''s flight in part contributes to Milkman''s transformation into a whole man, the tragic side of the Solomon''s story should be equally treated as part of the cherished heritage Milkman is supposed to inherit. In the story of Solomon, his wife and the twenty-one children are excluded from such a mythic privilege--a transcendental act which is not only androcentric but also individualistic. Chapter Four explores the plight imposed on those who are left behind by the flying heroes. Hagar''s death and Ryna''s madness are meant to expose the phallocentric myth’s failure to inscribe the transcendent possibilities for female blacks. Milkman has to know the sufferings imposed on them when the flying hero made up his mind to fly away, and should come to the realization that he deeply hurt Hagar. In addition, Hagar is the victim of the white standard of beauty. Hagar''s downfall brings to light that the influence of western ideology has pervasively and immensely undermined the subjectivity of female blacks. In a word, Song of Solomon is by all means a tour de force Morrison has established as a distinct mark of her literary achievement. She successfully brings the African-American cultural context into focus. Delineating the black male protagonist in search of his own identity, Morrison explores the possibilities of reclaiming both the black cultural and communal heritage. The unraveling of his lost genealogy will help Milkman to be initiated from ignorance to spiritual autonomy. Therefore, the legacy Milkman is supposed to inherit in the journey back to his ancestral roots is the reintegration of the fragmented information on which the original version of Solomon''s tale is based. Equally important, Morrison rewrites the legend of the Flying Africans in a way to help both black males and females be equally taken as the subjects in the black cultural context. Her efforts to draw attention to the marginalized female blacks who are left behind by the flying heroes create a more human legend from the black folklore.