The Final Song of Solomon Homework
Simple task: pick anything you want to talk about concerning the end of this book. Write a paragraph.
For example:
-surprised or confused by the ending? How so? Was it an appropriate ending? Why/why not?
-did you enjoy the book overall? Why/why not?
-what do you still want to talk about in class (about the book)?
-a particular moment in the last couple chapters that you particularly enjoyed or found interesting?
-connections you see between this text and others we've read? connections to other myths, biblical stories, African American or Native American histories?
-favorite/least favorite character? Why?
-Morrison's final messages?
(Almost) Last chance to let us know what you think!
The part of the end of the book that spoke to me the most was the parallels that emerged between Hagar and Ryna, and the role of women who cannot live without the men they love.
ReplyDeleteAfter Hagar finally leaves Milkman’s house on the night she tries to kill him, Guitar tries to explain love to her. He talks about how you cannot own what you love and repeatedly calls her “pretty little black girl” (307) or “pretty little black skinned woman,” (306) which emphasizes her dark color, which we later learn Hagar hates mainly because she thinks Milkman does not like it. Guitar calls Hagar one of the “doormat women,” (306) meaning one of the women who cannot survive without a man. After Hagar goes home and becomes silent, she is only revived by looking at her face in a mirror and wanting to look better so Milkman would love her. She comes down with a fever after her disastrous shopping trip and the last words we hear from her are about how Milkman likes a girl who looks different than her.
When Solomon flies out of the cotton field and disappears from the lives of those in Shalimar, Susan Byrd says that his leaving “like to killed the woman [Ryna]” and “she’s supposed to have screamed out loud for days” (323). Although Ryna could not have tried to kill Solomon as Hagar tried to kill Milkman because Solomon was gone, she too lost her mind and could not function as a normal human being without the man she loved.
Susan Byrd also mentions that, “You don’t hear about women like that anymore, but there used to be more- the kind of woman who couldn’t live without a particular man. And when the man left, they lost their minds, or died or something” (323). Milkman, who is listening to the story, does not even connect this with Hagar and her deranged actions after he left her.
The final commentary by Morrison on the topic of women needing their men for survival could be read a few different ways. It could be a criticism of the women and their lack of independence from love; all we know about Hagar and Ryna through the book has been in connection with or in reaction to the actions of Milkman and Solomon, respectively. However, I think it is more likely that this is a critique of the different roles that women and men play in relationships in the book. No man is truly debilitated by the loss of his wife or lover in the way that Hagar and Ryna are so debilitated- Milkman definitely gave no thought to leaving Hagar, and it is doubtful that Solomon did because when he flew away the only one he tried to take along with him was his son Jake.
In addition to the connections that Maya drew between the story of Ryna and the situation Hagar is in, I think that the connections that Milkman himself draws between his family and the song of the children’s came are essential to the lead up to the final scene. His excitement over comes him once he knows the true story of what happened and “He could hardly wait to get home. To tell his father, Pilate. . .” (329). Milkman realizes after learning the story that family is what is most important to him and that most of what he had done in life should not make him prideful. Morrison describes, “Milkman’s own stupidity would remain, and regret would always outweigh the things he was proud of having done” (335). Milkman realizes this when he goes to Virginia with Macon and Pilate, and after Pilate’s death, it is evident that Milkman feels he no longer has anything to live for, and kills himself before Guitar can kill him. I think that the family connections are vital to making Milkman’s moral frame shift by the end of the book.
DeleteWhat interested me most about the last 3 chapters of the book was the materialistic rampage which was shortly followed by her death. In chapter 13 Hagar looks at herself in the mirror and says, "Look at how I look. I look awful. No wonder he didn't want me. I look terrible."(308) This prompts Hagar, Pilate and Reba to go on a shopping spree in order to restore the looks that Hagar had once that drew Milkman to her. Despite the fact that Pilate may have seemed like a character who was more concerned with the intangible things in life such as spirituality, she cannot resist the urge to grant the wishes of Hagar. Once Hagar has purchased everything she could think of that would make her irresistible to Milkman, she has it all ruined in a rainstorm. Perhaps Morrison is suggesting that happiness that is derived from possessions is ephemeral and can be taken away easily, and that true happiness must come from within. Hagar dies at a very early age, and the cause of her death is not revealed in the book by Morrison, I think this information is deliberately withheld because Morrison is suggesting that self-hatred and insecurity can ultimately lead to one’s demise. Morrison’s viewpoint regarding materialism is solidified by the minister speech about Hagar, “Naked came ye into this life and naked shall ye depart.”(316) The minister is saying that everyone comes into and leaves the world without possessions, thus, in order to find true happiness, it must be within something more profound than wealth or materialistic things.
ReplyDeleteJason F
The ending was very interesting. Starting from chapter 13 it seemed to me that almost all of the characters transitioned in some way. However in other ways they did not change. Starting with Hagar she took a very sharp turn from just being crazy to being completely broken and ultimately dying of grief. She wanted to be the way she was when she was with Milkman, but could not reach her ideal and realizing this she dies. Next is Pilate. Throughout the book we see her as this very strong independent woman, but at the end her character breaks down. When Hagar is going through her crisis Pilate just does whatever her daughter wants. Moreover when Milkman comes back from Virginia she knocks him out and when confronting him she breaks down once again. However at the end when she is shot she returns to being a strong woman going out with dignity. Guitar is the character along with Milkman who most changes. He goes from being a rational person who does not involve himself in illicit behavior to being a crazed killer who has no problem killing someone innocent like Pilate. I think Morrison's message with Guitar is that since he becomes so greedy chasing after materialism that he can no longer recognize what is important such as being with a friend. Finally Milkman had a very triumphant end. He was able to turn himself around and realize everything that he had done wrong and everything that had hurt his family. Also the way he dies shows just how triumphant he is. He is able to finally fly. He leaves the world exactly how he had come into it.
ReplyDeleteI’m still not sure if I’m thrilled with the ending. I had a terrible gut-wrenching feeling that things weren’t going to end well as I read the entire book and though that feeling might have emotionally prepared me somewhat for the grand close, I was still left really upset by the last chapter.
ReplyDeleteI think what bothers me the most was that Part II wasn’t enough. Milkman didn’t do enough to make up for the mistakes he made in Part I. The Disney movie screenplay writer inside me was hoping for a quick clean-up; a tidy ending where Milkman returns from a quest set out on in the search of gold with a reinvigorated sense of love, of self, of family. But instead he still indirectly kills Hagar, is still hunted by Guitar, is still despised by his sisters, and is part of a broken family. And he loses the one person who really loved him from the beginning: Pilate, and both from his careless mistakes in treating Hagar so inhumanely and in a very punctuated sense by her assassination by Guitar.
Solomon flew away from his loved ones and became a legend. Milkman flew away in an airplane and everything he touched in Michigan crumbled and fell apart. His realization of “what all human relationships boiled down to” came too late (331). He could try to save people’s lives at the end of the book but he had already taken them because they were already dead, most of them.
As for what I’d like to talk about—I was very puzzled by the last line of the book (in addition to an overarching discussion of the motif of flying and how it changes drastically in Part II).
I would agree with most of what Sammy said in that the ending was rather unsatisfying; it left me hanging in this void of ideas too intangible (so I’m most likely missing out on a brilliant ending) but also Milkman's thoughts in part two just became too philosophical and heavy for me, it became annoying. I think there was so much build up in Part I, which I thought was the better part of the book, that Milkman’s “journey of self-discovery” became rather cliché and his continuous list of question became tedious.
DeleteThe deaths in the last three chapters were abrupt, a surprising Shakespeare tradegy-esque twist to the book. I didn’t like it as it felt like taking the easy way in dealing with the characters and bringing the story to an end.
I also want to discuss the flying motif as I thought there was something significant about when Milkman realizes that he always loved Pilate because “without ever leaving the ground, she could fly” (336).
I was very surprised by the ending of this book. I did not see Guitar killing Pilate coming, but I think that the ending was very heavy on symbolism and interesting as well. After Pilate dies, there are tons of allusions to flying. An example of this is when Milkman is thinking about why he loved Pilate and he says, "Now he knew why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly." (336) With him saying that she could fly without leaving the ground, Milkman is thinking about flying in a more spiritual sense. He believes that Pilate lived how everyone hoped to live. Her flying is symbolic of her reaching her dreams even though she never had the wealth that others had. In this book flying seems to be a good thing, like in this example, or a bad thing, like when Mr. Smith tries to fly while jumping to his death. This contrast is an interesting part of the book. One thing I still don't get is why Pilate was given the name Pilate. Pilate was the general who authorized Jesus' execution, yet Pilate seems to be the one character in this book who never does anything morally wrong. I wonder why she was given a name with such a negative connotation while Guitar, who murders people, gets a fun and happy name.
ReplyDeleteTo me the final connection between Pilate and Milkman is one to be remembered. It has become apparent to me why Morrison wrote the ending of the book first. Throughout the entire novel we follow the development of Milkman as a person entirely. At times he is bad, at time he has sparks of good, but by the end it all comes together. Flying is associated with a mystical, dangerous, but beautiful power throughout the book. At the end of chapter 15 as Pilate is dying in Milkman's hands Morrison says: "Now he knew why he loved her so much. Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly." Milkman needs someone who can fly while still being there for him. Jake's (Macon I) father Solomon left him when he was able to fly. Mr. Smith achieved flying but by committing suicide and leaving the seven days. Because of this Milkman explains to Pilate "There's got to be at least one more women like you" (336). Someone that can fly but still be there for him. At that moment Milkman realizes that that women for him was the air. As the beautiful last line of the books states: "If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." (337). Even if you give your life to the air, and all you have you will still be able to fly. In the end of the day flying is boundless and freeing, however at its true nature, it ultimately kills you.
ReplyDeleteThis book as whole seemed to be about different types of fathers. The father of the main character, Milkman, has a successful, ambitious and domineering father, Macon II. However, Milkman himself is socially inept and useless without the material wealth inherited from Macon II. I think the difference between these two men relates to the difference between their fathers, Macon II and his father, Jake.
ReplyDeleteMacon II was a boy who “had an intimate relationship with [his father]”(236). His father “loved him, trusted him, and found him worthy or working ‘right alongside’ him”(236). Because Macon II learned of hard work and his father’s values by working “right alongside him”, he must have thought that this was the best way to raise Milkman; as a business partner. However, when Jake is shot and killed, Macon II realizes that living a honest, virtuous life does not necessarily lead to happiness. Also, because of his ardent wish to avenge his father’s death, Macon II came to strongly desire what his father had died protecting, property. As a result, unlike Jake’s parenting, Macon II did not instill moral goodness in Milkman and failed to demonstrate how to achieve happiness through non-materialistic methods because he found these unnecessary for his son’s well-being in life.
Unlike Macon II, Jake is adored as a hero in his hometown. Although the reason for their adoration seems to be his material success (“Macon Dead was the farmer they wanted to be…[with] a farm that colored their lives like a paintbrush and spoke to them like a sermon”(235)), no one questions his ambition, unparalleled in Danville, and the dream he let them see. I found it interesting how this revered man did not have a father figure in his life. His father, Solomon, tried to carry him along as he flew away but dropped him part way, after which he was taken in by Heddy. However, Susan Byrd mentions how Heddy “didn’t have a husband”(321). Therefore the only father Jake knew was Solomon, who flew away and left him behind, and yet Jake becomes the most successful man (in many ways) in the Dead family.
I think Jake’s success connects to the epigraph of the book; “The fathers may soar and the children may know their names”. Morrison may be telling us that parenting is not about how much one directs and protects the child, but about how great a dream one lets his child see. In the foreword, Morrison talks about how her father, who this book is dedicated to, saw her as an “interesting, capable, witty, smart, high-spirited” girl, an image of herself she never had. This image could have been the “dream” that her father let her see, and the reason why she adored him so much.
I thought Milkman's changes at the end of the novel were a little too extreme. Through Hagar's death he finally realizes that he was a total douche to her, and his new insight on his family history helps bring a new perspective to him, but not until Pilate knocks him out does he realize what he has done. He realizes his direct responsibility for her death, and feels terrible, since this is the first time he realizes that he has hurt other people. His family's reaction also is a huge, well over-due wake up call to him, but did it really take someone close to him dying to realize what effects his actions had on people? Even when he is starting to see the world in a new light after he learns his near complete family history, he decides to visit Sweet again, not exactly showing much change. In the end, after Guitar shoots Pilate, only then does Milkman fully realize what he has caused, and after finally finding out his history, he decided to fly, like his fathers before him, because he knew their names.
ReplyDeleteI was really fascinated by the last line of the book, which brought back the motif of flying. For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.(337). When Milkman was four he realized that he can not fly and was very disappointed and discouraged. But the last line made it seen like his view on flying has changed a lot and now he believes in it again. The shift from being discouraged about the fact that he can't fly to the point where his faith in flying is back and he be believes in it again is huge and might symbolize Milkman's character development throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteI too was struck by the last line of the novel and think that it provided a very solid closure to the book. It ties in well with the epigraph at the beginning of the novel that states "The fathers may soar. And the children may know their names". This epilogue is successfully met because at the end of the book Milkman actually does know "their names" at the end of the novel because he has fervently invests himself into finding out his familial truths. And also this flying motif is once again re-enforced once again because with these truths Macon Jr's spirit can "soar" and Milkman can "ride" the air.
DeleteAlthough there are many things about the end of this book that are worth talking about, the thing that's been bothering me this whole time is the way age had been portrayed. There's no doubt that Morrison wants to portray these adult (even middle-aged) people as children, as seen through First Corinthians' teenage-like behavior with Porter and Milkman being immature through most of the life we see, but there's an important distinction here between being a child and being a dependent. Morrison never portrays the innocence typically associated with childhood when making these comparisons, opting instead for an ugly, consuming reliance on parents. Guitar calls Hagar, who is almost forty and older than him, a "pretty little black girl" (307). Hagar is described as "fingering her hair" and throwing tantrums about her appearance and making her mother and grandmother buy her things. She is certainly not the only adult who acts like an entitled child, since Milkman has gone on this whole journey to try to get financial independence from his father, but she's the one whose dependence on others, including Milkman, literally kills her. Morrison implies that the childlike qualities that Hagar and Milkman and First Corinthians have are lethal. They tie them in one place, unable to "fly." This immaturity is also seen in the older people in the book like Macon, Pilate, and Circe. Macon has to provide and parent his three middle-aged children, Pilate spoils Hagar like a grandmother would a pre-teen girl, and Circe is described as being over 100 years old, yet having the voice of a twenty year old. The ages in this book are so confusing and strange, adding to the overall demented atmosphere of maturity. Morrison ignores the traditional times in life for life lessons, and instead places them all over the place, challenging the idea of what it means to be an adult.
ReplyDeleteThis boook was the bomb man
ReplyDeleteIT deserves a platinum medal for awesome
ReplyDelete16/10 would read 3 times
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite character is definitely Guitar. He is a character who does not follow his own morals. As I learn more and more about Guitar, I gradually start to hate him. Every time Guitar made a speech to Milkman, he makes multiple contradictions about his ideals, but half of his ideals do not make any sense. When he says to Milkman, “We don’t off Negroes”(161), he still attempts multiple times to kill Milkman. It seems like Guitar does not actually believe in the cause of the Seven Days and he just like killing others. Especially when he shoots Pilate, it looks like he did not care at all who he killed and that he only cared that he was able to kill someone. He showed no remorse for killing the wrong person and I have to assume he kills Milkman in the end.
ReplyDeleteChapter 13 was one of the few or maybe even the first that had very little involvement of Guitar, Macon Jr., and or Milkman. This chapter brings an extremely sad development of Hagar to an end, as she dies lovesick. We suspected earlier on that Guitar has valuable insight to love that he offers Milkman. It is now clear that he does and was in a relationship that ended unfaithfully. Guitar tries to comfort the heartbroken Hagar saying, "You think because he doesn't love you that you are worthless...You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Hagar, don't. It's a bad word, 'belong'. Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn't be like that" (305-306). Guitar surprises us here with his sensitivity that you maybe wouldn't expect from a weekly murderer. He opens up about how he has had inconsistent family support growing up. I give him respect for showing that side of himself. Hagar however is losing it. She becomes very materialistic and shallow, feeling like only her looks can attract a man, specifically Milkman. Hagar calls herself ugly continually. Her whole life depends on her ability to zip up a pair of pants that are too small for her: "her whole life depended on whether or not those aluminum teeth would meet" (311). Milkman finally pieces together his family history. It was interesting to me how he reacted with Sweet. He was very excited and when she offered him a bath he said no, that he wanted to go out to the sea with her. Here Milkman treats her more as a girlfriend than a prostitute because you wouldn't want to be seen in public with a prostitute. The ending of the book was a little strange because it doesn't seem complete to me. It ends with Milkman leaping in the air towards the armed Guitar, but Morrison doesn't give us a resolution.Overall, I enjoyed Song of Solomon.
ReplyDeleteI am completely disgusted by the reaction of Milkman towards the death of Hagar. When he returns to Michigan to find that Hagar dies, “Suddenly Milkman began to laugh” and “Light exploded in his face” (333) because he quickly concludes that he can’t do anything about it now and easily moves on to think about his family background. Milkman is the cause of Hagar’s death; how could he act so indifferently? I never liked Milkman, but this moment really made me hate him. Although Hagar is a spoiled, miserable woman, she still deserves some respect after her death, especially from Milkman. However, he says that “Hagar was dead and he had not loved her one bit” (335). Milkman clearly looks down on Hagar, who loves him enough to actually die for him, and I’m happy that the only person whom Milkman really respects (Pilate) dies in the end, because, although she doesn’t deserve the death, Milkman deserves to lose a loved one to understand a portion of how Hagar feels throughout the book.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed The Song of Solomon and its disturbing yet fascinating plot, symbols, etc
The what I found most interesting in the is how the book was able to come full circle, and the concept of love in this book. So many things reminded me about the beginning of the book like the last thing Pilate said about how she wished she had met more people because if she “knowed more people” she could have “loved more” (336). To me this not only parallels the “I loved you all” (3) in Robert Smith’s suicide letter, but just the seven days as a whole, how the last dying wish of all these people was to be loved. Then Guitar going on that speech with Hagar about loving isn’t “belonging” (306) to someone, and how that completely contradicts Macon Dead II philosophy about owning people. I also, find it funny how the two most disagreeable (to put it very lightly) characters in this novel are also the ones who oppose each other equally when it comes to love. I really did not expect Guitar to lecture Hagar about love, because didn’t they both try to kill people out of “love”? I liked how flying and Mercy came into play at the end.
ReplyDeleteWhat i find most interesting about this book is the fact that Morrison wrote the end first and then wrote the rest of the book. I find it incredible that every little detail that Morrison included in the last chapter was in the book and I think that the way Morrison brought everything together is amazing. I think that the fact that Morrison wrote the end of the book first, gave her freedom to create drastic changes in the characters of the book like Guitar. Morrison alreay wrote that Guitar was going to kill Milkman and Pilate, but that doesn't mean that she could not make Guitar go from friend to foe. I like how since Morrison had to connect all the details and points she made in the last chapter, the whole book led up to it, so all the small things and details that in any other book would be somewhat insignificant ended up in the end, and it was kinda like a grand finale which i liked.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I'm completely confused by the ending of this novel. I understand Guitar's blood thirst for Milkman, but I would think that he would have some sort of fall back from killing Pilate. He always said that he killed white people out of love for his own race, so when he killed Pilate, I thought there would have been a different moment following then just the image of his smiling face over the barrel of the gun as he aimed at Milkman. Although, I did love how there was some redemption for Pilate's and Macon's relationship. They finally have some common ground about their past. However, it does seem that Pilate takes it further due to her dedication to their father while Macon just seems to disappear by the end of this chapter. I would like to know what happens to him, other then just that he was happy about knowing that they had their father with them all along.
ReplyDeleteChapter 13 was a difficult chapter to read. The chapter was the final and most powerful part of Hagar's downfall as a woman. There is just so much I want to say it is hard to find a place to start. First, I really hated how obvious the problem is for Hagar. Clearly, it is not Hagar's appearance that Milkman finds unappealing, but Hagar is convinced it is. Without any other sort of empowerment otherwise, she spends all her money on the only thing a woman has power over, her own appearance. I hate how she feels the need to overcompensate for the love she is not receiving from Milkman and I can so vividly picture the grown woman with "wet ripped hose, the soiled white dress, the sticky, lumpy face powder, the streaked rouge, and the wild wet shoals of hair" (314). It is desperate; it is pathetic. It is painful to imagine the emotional trauma it must have taken for her to reach this point. Morrison makes some very moving messages about women during the book, but this may have been the most powerful. Hagar's mental and physical breakdown, met by Milkman's indifference and Pilate's helplessness, is one of the more poignant points in the book.
ReplyDeleteThe ending felt very incomplete to me. Morrison finished this story with a massacre of the characters we learned about throughout the story. Hagar's death started it off, and I'm not sure what kind of outcome I hoped for. I definitely pity her for how heartbroken she is over Milkman, but I also couldn't picture Milkman returning back to her either. Her last words were that Milkman is "never going to like my hair" (316). Her last concern is Milkman, who never truly loved her and never would in the future. In a way, it is best that Hagar is finally at rest, because Milkman would never give her the one thing she wants. What really surprised me was Pilate's demise. Milkman "heard the shot after she fell" (335). It's even worse because "she seemed happy now" (334) that Milkman told her her history and what happened to her father. She was finally at peace, only to be killed. Pilate's last words are to "watch Reba for me" (336). We get a look into everyone's mind throughout the novel (Guitar, Lena, Corinthians, Hagar, etc) but Reba. The fact that she is the only remaining member of the trio feels strange, especially because we never understand her on a deeper level.
ReplyDelete