By the end, Milkman progressed to not care about the gold but rather to finding out his family’s history. This shows that the importance of the knowledge of his family’s history surpasses that of any material object. The entire idea of family names goes back to the beginning of the novel when Pilate wears her name in her ear because she is aware of her name’s importance. Milkman finally learned his lesson. Pilate then places her name on Macon Dead’s grave…as if she has accomplished something big and meaningful.
Just want to comment on flight and it as a symbol of life. There were those birds that circled over Pilate’s dead body…possibly she isn’t dead (physically, yes). Then the bird takes her name…interesting. Because I took the birds to symbolize life…perhaps her name still has life to it.
1. the flight theme was closed up really nicely. To Morrison fligt, like owning ones name, is a symbol of transendance, overcoming oppressive surroundings to live ones own life. Milkman is born into a world destined to suppress him. At his very birth at the beginning of the novel he is given the symbolic name "Dead" and born under a man attempting fruitlessly to fly. By teh end of the novel he has finally transended the unfortunate circumstances of his birth and given an identity.
2. It is appropriate that it is unclear at the end whether Milkman will remain "alive" or "dead" because to Morrison physical death is immaterial. Characters live and die according to their own freedom, not their biological state. Milkman, whether he survives physically or not finally lives as he as discovered his past and claimed his identity. Pilate, as the symbolic bird which carrie sher name up to the sky shows, has a sort of life after death because of the freedom with which she lived.
Well my favorite part in the entire book was probably when Milkman ran to Pilate to tell her everything that he discovered, and she cracked him over the head with a bottle of wine. I also loved the drama of Hagar's storyline and the vivid imagery that Morrison creates when she describes her shopping spree and rain-drenched walk home as her bags split down the middle.
But, I thought that Guitar's advice, although it rang true, seemed a bit out of character- just as Lena's earlier shouts at Milkman had seemed disjointed. Also, Milkman's transformation from isolated and arrogant to a man who understands and accepts the people around him all happened very quickly. Sometimes within the span of two pages he would have life altering revelations about his roots or why the people around him behave the way they do.
But, hey, when he finally asks Guitar if he wants to take his life, at least it means something. Because he is alive for the first time. He finally took flight and learned to 'ride on air', so I'm happy. (Even though my favorite character was shot...)
I would like to concentrate on the ambiguity concerning whether Milkman is dead or not. Does morrison mean for this? If so, what does this say of death? Could she merely be saying that Milkman merely was another step for the oral tradition of his family to be carried on? If so, he has fulfilled that goal, and lived a life of "Dead" to its fullest.
This book felt like it was written in many different stages. Sometimes I really enjoyed reading it and sometimes it was slightly boring and it dragged on with inconsequential information. I want to talk about Hagar's character, however. According to wikipedia, Hagar was "an Egyptian servant belonging to Sarah, who, being barren, gave Hagar to her husband Abraham "to be his wife", so that he might still have children. She gave birth to a son, whom she named Ishmael. Fourteen years after this, following Sarah's repentance to God for her sins, God allowed Sarah to give birth to Isaac. According to Genesis, God commanded Abraham to obey Sarah's wishes and expel Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness alone. Abraham is reluctant to send his son away, but God promised to make a great nation out of Ishmael, because he was Abraham's seed. Rising early in the morning, therefore, Abraham took bread and a container of water and sent his former consort, Hagar, and his son, Ishmael, away. Hagar intended to return to Egypt, but lost her way, and wandered in the area of Beersheba. The water in her container failing, she placed Ishmael under one of the trees in the wilderness to cry as she went in search of water a small distance away from him. God ended up rescuing them by showing Hagar a well. Hagar eventually settled in the Desert of Paran."
I find it strange that I care for and am sympathetic towards the Hagar described in the bible, but feel nothing for the Hagar in Song of Solomon. Not only is she a psychopath, what with the following Milkman around with a butcher knife and mad attempts to change her appearance, despite her soiled purchases. I understand that she is obsessed with him and in love, but I don't think that that is an excuse in her case. When everyone around her told her to forget about Milkman, she refused and became even more obsessed. Nonetheless, she continues to follow him around and not care for anything but him. Then, when Hagar dies (which I believe is out of love for him), Pilate blames Milkman and wants him to carry the guilt of her death for the rest of his life. I feel that this is an injustice to Milkman. He didn't even know that she was dead. He did all that he could to steer clear of her and explained time and time again that they couldn't be together. This is not to say that Milkman is the epitome of picture perfect, but the point is that there was nothing more he could have done to stop her death.
The conclusion was probably my single favorite part of the book. As previously mentioned, it tied up the flight theme extraordinarily well. Even Pilate’s precious name flies into the air in the end! Milkman has, after all of his travels, learned to appreciate his life, for, even though he does not run away, he does strategically think about his imminent death for the first time. After he is done with Pilate, he knows that there will not be another mistake. He lunges at Guitar with all of the weight of his experiences. Whether or not he flies is left to the reader. As a matter of fact, so is Milkman’s fate. This can be interpreted as some statement on the journey being important and not the ultimate destination. It was Milkman’s travels that changed him; everyone dies at some point, so his death would not rob his accomplishments of their value. However, at a certain point, the non lit student in me chimes in. “She ended it this way because it’s cool.” And I cannot really argue against that. While Ms. Morrison would be the last to admit this, not everything in a book is drawing on a wealth of symbolic support. There comes a time where the events are just reflections of the author’s aesthetic sensibilities.
The ending was pretty interesting. It touched on the flight theme of the book which seems to be a pretty big deal. It is nice that Milkman has sort of grown up by the end of the novel. When he started his journey he was selfish and only wanted to find the gold but by the end he is primarily concerned with discovering his family history which is a good thing. This experience of finally connecting with his past and realizing his family's history adds meaning to Milkman's life so that the reader actually cares about it when he dies or not at the end.
I like David's question regarding the ending. I think Morrison purposefully made it unclear whether or not he dies because, as Tess mentioned, physical life and death is less important than one's mental state. Throught the journey phase of the novel Milkman moves closer and closer to being alive as he traces the history of the "Dead" family back to its origins before they even had that name. He is turning back the clock and becoming alive in doing so. It is good to see Milkman mature throughout the process as well. He realizes that he cannot "fly too far on borrowed wings" as the saying goes, in terms of his taking advantage of his parents success and prestigious during his youth.
Just like after finishing 100 Years of Solitude, when I read the end of Song of Solomon, I felt satisfied. It seemed as though all of the mysteries were solved,and Milkman's journey finally had meaning beyond the material (gold). I loved the scene where he goes back to visit Susan Byrd and everything looks different, and she basically tells him she lied about everything before because Grace was there. I did not see that coming at all! And everytime Milkman discovers a new piece of the puzzle (in last night's reading and tonight's), it was so exciting! Like when he realized the song was about his family, and when he figured out how to fly. I also loved how Milkman knew Hagar had died because it mirrored a death in Susan Byrd's story. It was suchhh a perfect ending :)
PS- that song from the beginning of class today is still stuck in my head.
This is the second book that we've read that I've not been impressed with the ending. "One Hundred Years..." didn't do it for me, and neither did "Song of Solomon". In both instances, I felt like I was not given a satisfactory end.
By the end of the book, Milkman wants to discover the roots of his family and not the gold. I found that to be admirable and in sync with the idea of an oral tradition/folk lore. Milkman wanted to learn of the origin of his family, which really was precipitated from the children's song that he heard. I thought that it was important to provide that closure.
I liked having death at the end. As a reader, I wanted some more action and I got that. To be honest, I was saddened more by Hagar's demise than Pilate's. After she went to all of that trouble of buying nice things (clothes, makeup) and to have them ruined by the rain was heartbreaking. Hagar put herself out there for Milkman, but it was futile. I felt that her death had more of an impact on me than Pilate getting capped.
But, in regards to final scene, I felt that ending on a cliffhanger was, to be frank, bogus. Did Guitar shoot Milkman or did Milkman kill Guitar. That final climax made me think of movies where the action ends in a still frame and the audience doesn't know what happened. As a reader, I wanted definitive closure, not fleeting ideas of what may have transpired.
The ending of the Song of Solomon was a little predictable. The entire novel is about Milkman's, the hero, journey. We had his desire to adventure (motivation of finding gold) and his initiation by freeing himself from his family. At the end he completes his journey as a hero by returning. He returns back home. He gains control of the outside world by discovering the truth about his identity. Furthermore, he conquers the world he was formerly in by finally flying. He is freed from any emotional obstacles that prevented him from taking certain actions and this allows him to be brave when facing Guitar. Here, he has a fight to secure his achievement as a hero. What Milkman gains from the journey is his idenity and family. Guitar tries to take this away by killing Pilate (although accidently). The novel is a full cyclical life of a hero.
I really liked the ending of Song of Solomon. I know a bunch of people mentioned this already, but I thought the idea that it ended with flight was pretty fitting. Milkman was born when someone attempted to fly off a hospital building, and at the end he flies as well, possibly causing his death. Like 100 Years of Solitude, it seemed to be pretty circular by the end, and everything was finally wrapped up.
One thing that bugged me, though, was how quickly Pilate forgave Milkman for Hagar. I understand that she would obviously want to bury her father, as that was important to her, but that fact that her only granddaughter died because of Milkman and she is only angry at him for a day is something I can't believe. Pilate especially, as she is such a strong, passionate character, should have held this grudge at least a little longer, if not forever.
I also really like how much song tied in by the end, and how the "sugarman" song, which eventually became the "solomon" song, was Milkman's lineage. He heard it from Pilate when he was born, on some level learning his family history. I love how things like this and the flight idea continue to show up throughout the novel and finally play a major role in the end.
Like Elyse said, this ending was very much like 100 Years of Solitude because everything comes full circle. We are given information that leaves us not wanting anything else, but that leaves us satisfied. In the last three or four chapters we see the song itself in Song of Solomon is very similar to the text that is read about the family in 100 Years because of what they each show about the background of families. One thing stuck out to me with Pilate's death: when she requests Milkman to sing to her. Even though he sings poorly I imagined it being something like a children's lullaby but instead of lulling her to sleep it was lulling her to death. The idea of coming full circle with a life, starting life as a child we listen to lullaby's and here finishing life with one shows a circular movement. It is very apt and suggestive of how the novel itself comes full circle and all the pieces that we wanted to know are completed. The ending was probably my favorite part of Part 2. Does anyone think it could have ended differently because personally? Like in 100 Years, I think this was a very satisfying ending.
i wonder what people think of this--is this book a "tragedy?" I can't seem to place it. Song of Solomon is like a tragedy but it doesn't end with a sense of loss despite the death, because of Milkman's flight.
i find it interesting in general that good books seem to end with death, destruction, whatever. it's like death is the only thing that gives life meaning.
I find the connection between Pilate and Milkman pretty cool. They've walked the same paths in life and their paths end in the same spot. they end up burying bones and Pilate's name and the past. It's interesting how as soon as Pilate removes her earring, and her identity she's shot in the neck and can't sing. it's like she and Milkman are waiting for the next generation to come dig it up again or something.
i love how everything fits. The beginning of the book was confused and seemed to be without purpose and then slowly but surely the mystery is solved.
I'm not that bothered about whether we know if Milkman dies or not. He is Soloman. he flies. He done gone....he gone home. It's all good.
14 comments:
By the end, Milkman progressed to not care about the gold but rather to finding out his family’s history. This shows that the importance of the knowledge of his family’s history surpasses that of any material object. The entire idea of family names goes back to the beginning of the novel when Pilate wears her name in her ear because she is aware of her name’s importance. Milkman finally learned his lesson. Pilate then places her name on Macon Dead’s grave…as if she has accomplished something big and meaningful.
Just want to comment on flight and it as a symbol of life. There were those birds that circled over Pilate’s dead body…possibly she isn’t dead (physically, yes). Then the bird takes her name…interesting. Because I took the birds to symbolize life…perhaps her name still has life to it.
the end was pretty bawlin
I feel this way for multiple reasons
1. the flight theme was closed up really nicely. To Morrison fligt, like owning ones name, is a symbol of transendance, overcoming oppressive surroundings to live ones own life. Milkman is born into a world destined to suppress him. At his very birth at the beginning of the novel he is given the symbolic name "Dead" and born under a man attempting fruitlessly to fly. By teh end of the novel he has finally transended the unfortunate circumstances of his birth and given an identity.
2. It is appropriate that it is unclear at the end whether Milkman will remain "alive" or "dead" because to Morrison physical death is immaterial. Characters live and die according to their own freedom, not their biological state. Milkman, whether he survives physically or not finally lives as he as discovered his past and claimed his identity. Pilate, as the symbolic bird which carrie sher name up to the sky shows, has a sort of life after death because of the freedom with which she lived.
so yeah, and stuff.
Well my favorite part in the entire book was probably when Milkman ran to Pilate to tell her everything that he discovered, and she cracked him over the head with a bottle of wine. I also loved the drama of Hagar's storyline and the vivid imagery that Morrison creates when she describes her shopping spree and rain-drenched walk home as her bags split down the middle.
But, I thought that Guitar's advice, although it rang true, seemed a bit out of character- just as Lena's earlier shouts at Milkman had seemed disjointed. Also, Milkman's transformation from isolated and arrogant to a man who understands and accepts the people around him all happened very quickly. Sometimes within the span of two pages he would have life altering revelations about his roots or why the people around him behave the way they do.
But, hey, when he finally asks Guitar if he wants to take his life, at least it means something. Because he is alive for the first time. He finally took flight and learned to 'ride on air', so I'm happy. (Even though my favorite character was shot...)
I would like to concentrate on the ambiguity concerning whether Milkman is dead or not. Does morrison mean for this? If so, what does this say of death? Could she merely be saying that Milkman merely was another step for the oral tradition of his family to be carried on? If so, he has fulfilled that goal, and lived a life of "Dead" to its fullest.
This book felt like it was written in many different stages. Sometimes I really enjoyed reading it and sometimes it was slightly boring and it dragged on with inconsequential information. I want to talk about Hagar's character, however. According to wikipedia, Hagar was "an Egyptian servant belonging to Sarah, who, being barren, gave Hagar to her husband Abraham "to be his wife", so that he might still have children. She gave birth to a son, whom she named Ishmael. Fourteen years after this, following Sarah's repentance to God for her sins, God allowed Sarah to give birth to Isaac. According to Genesis, God commanded Abraham to obey Sarah's wishes and expel Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness alone. Abraham is reluctant to send his son away, but God promised to make a great nation out of Ishmael, because he was Abraham's seed. Rising early in the morning, therefore, Abraham took bread and a container of water and sent his former consort, Hagar, and his son, Ishmael, away. Hagar intended to return to Egypt, but lost her way, and wandered in the area of Beersheba. The water in her container failing, she placed Ishmael under one of the trees in the wilderness to cry as she went in search of water a small distance away from him. God ended up rescuing them by showing Hagar a well. Hagar eventually settled in the Desert of Paran."
I find it strange that I care for and am sympathetic towards the Hagar described in the bible, but feel nothing for the Hagar in Song of Solomon. Not only is she a psychopath, what with the following Milkman around with a butcher knife and mad attempts to change her appearance, despite her soiled purchases. I understand that she is obsessed with him and in love, but I don't think that that is an excuse in her case. When everyone around her told her to forget about Milkman, she refused and became even more obsessed. Nonetheless, she continues to follow him around and not care for anything but him. Then, when Hagar dies (which I believe is out of love for him), Pilate blames Milkman and wants him to carry the guilt of her death for the rest of his life. I feel that this is an injustice to Milkman. He didn't even know that she was dead. He did all that he could to steer clear of her and explained time and time again that they couldn't be together. This is not to say that Milkman is the epitome of picture perfect, but the point is that there was nothing more he could have done to stop her death.
The conclusion was probably my single favorite part of the book. As previously mentioned, it tied up the flight theme extraordinarily well. Even Pilate’s precious name flies into the air in the end! Milkman has, after all of his travels, learned to appreciate his life, for, even though he does not run away, he does strategically think about his imminent death for the first time. After he is done with Pilate, he knows that there will not be another mistake. He lunges at Guitar with all of the weight of his experiences. Whether or not he flies is left to the reader. As a matter of fact, so is Milkman’s fate. This can be interpreted as some statement on the journey being important and not the ultimate destination. It was Milkman’s travels that changed him; everyone dies at some point, so his death would not rob his accomplishments of their value. However, at a certain point, the non lit student in me chimes in. “She ended it this way because it’s cool.” And I cannot really argue against that. While Ms. Morrison would be the last to admit this, not everything in a book is drawing on a wealth of symbolic support. There comes a time where the events are just reflections of the author’s aesthetic sensibilities.
The ending was pretty interesting. It touched on the flight theme of the book which seems to be a pretty big deal. It is nice that Milkman has sort of grown up by the end of the novel. When he started his journey he was selfish and only wanted to find the gold but by the end he is primarily concerned with discovering his family history which is a good thing. This experience of finally connecting with his past and realizing his family's history adds meaning to Milkman's life so that the reader actually cares about it when he dies or not at the end.
I like David's question regarding the ending. I think Morrison purposefully made it unclear whether or not he dies because, as Tess mentioned, physical life and death is less important than one's mental state. Throught the journey phase of the novel Milkman moves closer and closer to being alive as he traces the history of the "Dead" family back to its origins before they even had that name. He is turning back the clock and becoming alive in doing so. It is good to see Milkman mature throughout the process as well. He realizes that he cannot "fly too far on borrowed wings" as the saying goes, in terms of his taking advantage of his parents success and prestigious during his youth.
Just like after finishing 100 Years of Solitude, when I read the end of Song of Solomon, I felt satisfied. It seemed as though all of the mysteries were solved,and Milkman's journey finally had meaning beyond the material (gold). I loved the scene where he goes back to visit Susan Byrd and everything looks different, and she basically tells him she lied about everything before because Grace was there. I did not see that coming at all! And everytime Milkman discovers a new piece of the puzzle (in last night's reading and tonight's), it was so exciting! Like when he realized the song was about his family, and when he figured out how to fly. I also loved how Milkman knew Hagar had died because it mirrored a death in Susan Byrd's story. It was suchhh a perfect ending :)
PS- that song from the beginning of class today is still stuck in my head.
This is the second book that we've read that I've not been impressed with the ending. "One Hundred Years..." didn't do it for me, and neither did "Song of Solomon". In both instances, I felt like I was not given a satisfactory end.
By the end of the book, Milkman wants to discover the roots of his family and not the gold. I found that to be admirable and in sync with the idea of an oral tradition/folk lore. Milkman wanted to learn of the origin of his family, which really was precipitated from the children's song that he heard. I thought that it was important to provide that closure.
I liked having death at the end. As a reader, I wanted some more action and I got that. To be honest, I was saddened more by Hagar's demise than Pilate's. After she went to all of that trouble of buying nice things (clothes, makeup) and to have them ruined by the rain was heartbreaking. Hagar put herself out there for Milkman, but it was futile. I felt that her death had more of an impact on me than Pilate getting capped.
But, in regards to final scene, I felt that ending on a cliffhanger was, to be frank, bogus. Did Guitar shoot Milkman or did Milkman kill Guitar. That final climax made me think of movies where the action ends in a still frame and the audience doesn't know what happened. As a reader, I wanted definitive closure, not fleeting ideas of what may have transpired.
The ending of the Song of Solomon was a little predictable. The entire novel is about Milkman's, the hero, journey. We had his desire to adventure (motivation of finding gold) and his initiation by freeing himself from his family. At the end he completes his journey as a hero by returning. He returns back home. He gains control of the outside world by discovering the truth about his identity. Furthermore, he conquers the world he was formerly in by finally flying. He is freed from any emotional obstacles that prevented him from taking certain actions and this allows him to be brave when facing Guitar. Here, he has a fight to secure his achievement as a hero. What Milkman gains from the journey is his idenity and family. Guitar tries to take this away by killing Pilate (although accidently).
The novel is a full cyclical life of a hero.
I really liked the ending of Song of Solomon. I know a bunch of people mentioned this already, but I thought the idea that it ended with flight was pretty fitting. Milkman was born when someone attempted to fly off a hospital building, and at the end he flies as well, possibly causing his death. Like 100 Years of Solitude, it seemed to be pretty circular by the end, and everything was finally wrapped up.
One thing that bugged me, though, was how quickly Pilate forgave Milkman for Hagar. I understand that she would obviously want to bury her father, as that was important to her, but that fact that her only granddaughter died because of Milkman and she is only angry at him for a day is something I can't believe. Pilate especially, as she is such a strong, passionate character, should have held this grudge at least a little longer, if not forever.
I also really like how much song tied in by the end, and how the "sugarman" song, which eventually became the "solomon" song, was Milkman's lineage. He heard it from Pilate when he was born, on some level learning his family history. I love how things like this and the flight idea continue to show up throughout the novel and finally play a major role in the end.
Like Elyse said, this ending was very much like 100 Years of Solitude because everything comes full circle. We are given information that leaves us not wanting anything else, but that leaves us satisfied. In the last three or four chapters we see the song itself in Song of Solomon is very similar to the text that is read about the family in 100 Years because of what they each show about the background of families.
One thing stuck out to me with Pilate's death: when she requests Milkman to sing to her. Even though he sings poorly I imagined it being something like a children's lullaby but instead of lulling her to sleep it was lulling her to death. The idea of coming full circle with a life, starting life as a child we listen to lullaby's and here finishing life with one shows a circular movement. It is very apt and suggestive of how the novel itself comes full circle and all the pieces that we wanted to know are completed.
The ending was probably my favorite part of Part 2. Does anyone think it could have ended differently because personally? Like in 100 Years, I think this was a very satisfying ending.
i wonder what people think of this--is this book a "tragedy?" I can't seem to place it. Song of Solomon is like a tragedy but it doesn't end with a sense of loss despite the death, because of Milkman's flight.
i find it interesting in general that good books seem to end with death, destruction, whatever. it's like death is the only thing that gives life meaning.
I find the connection between Pilate and Milkman pretty cool. They've walked the same paths in life and their paths end in the same spot. they end up burying bones and Pilate's name and the past. It's interesting how as soon as Pilate removes her earring, and her identity she's shot in the neck and can't sing. it's like she and Milkman are waiting for the next generation to come dig it up again or something.
i love how everything fits. The beginning of the book was confused and seemed to be without purpose and then slowly but surely the mystery is solved.
I'm not that bothered about whether we know if Milkman dies or not. He is Soloman. he flies. He done gone....he gone home. It's all good.
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