![]() ![]() Like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Song of Solomon focuses on the individual's need to achieve self-knowledge, identity, and visibility as a complex, real human being. ![]() It moves from the present to the past, from the North to the South, from innocence to experience, from ignorance to wisdom. The novel begins and ends with scenes of flight. While the story of Song of Solomon involves numerous fictional and historical events, the plot focuses on Milkman's quest for his inheritance, which he believes to be Pilate's elusive bag of gold. For example, in Chapter 1, to establish the fact that Southside residents tend to rely on local gossip for their news rather than on newspapers, which often ignore events affecting the black community, the narrator tells us that "word-of-mouth news just lumbered along." To illustrate the crushing poverty of Southside residents, we see women "getting ready to go see what tails or entrails the butcher might be giving away." And in Chapter 11, to establish the feeling of a small, rural community, the narrator introduces us to the women of Shalimar, Virginia, who "walked as if they were going somewhere, but they carried nothing in their hands." ![]() Morrison is renowned for her powerful metaphors and her use of detail to establish a tone or mood. Song of Solomon takes an unconventional approach to conventional elements such as plot and setting. ![]()
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