Love as an Identity in Song of Solomon Amelia Murphy 12th Grade

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is a classic novel that tells the story of a man’s coming of age. When the protagonist Milkman truly matures, he is in his mid-thirties, and has lived, up until his journey, a life of privilege, complacency, and wealth. Realizing that he is an adult, alcoholic, with little empathy or ambition, he begins a journey to find the gold his aunt ‘took’ from his father when they were children. Instead of a physical treasure, Milkman discovers his history, culture, and identity. Morrison’s analysis of love of family, culture, material goods, and empathy follows the story: Milkman comes of age when he is able to empathize and find love for his history, himself, and the people around him. While certain characters in the novel revolve around their love of material goods, Morrison uses these characters as counterexamples to her thesis that love creates an identity.

Milkman begins the novel as a young boy subject to his mother’s perversion. This introduction to ‘love’ as a physical obligation, and later, the removal of it, alienates the idea of true love to Milkman. His family is abusive towards one another, and he grows up smoking and drinking in order to fill the absence of meaning in his life. By the time...