Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon details the life of Milkman Dead and his journey into maturity. Milkman’s change in area has profound effe= cts on how he views other classes in society. This journey he takes changes him from an immature boy into a man that respects his heritage. An important message conveyed in Song of Solomon is the way African Americans liv= ing in cities in the North view others and their ancestors from the South.

Many chapters in the novel deal with Milkman visiting the South and interacting = with blacks from there as well as those from his home. One circumstance while talking to Guitar, Milkman discovers his membership in a secret organization with the purpose of killing white people every time a black person is murde= red. This conversation is used to show the difference in the way black people th= ink about race, using Milkman and Guitar as two conflicting beliefs. One is more militaristic and for action against what he believes is a menace to his rac= e, while the other is indifferent in taking action in any way. Also, one such chapter while gutting a bobcat, Milkman starts thinking back to a conversat= ion from a previous chapter, “Everybody wants a black man’s life= .” This quote, in relation to the syntax it was written in, interrupting dialo= gue and in distinctive font, suggests that the life of a black man is similar to that of a hunted animal. Perhaps a black man’s life is being hunted by white men to be taken away, while white women want them tamed in bed, and b= lack women want every single piece of their life. Furthermore, race deals with ancestral location as well, brought up when Milkman arrives at a southern t= own and feels that it is his home even though he was raised in the North. Even though he encounters racial tension between blacks raised in the South and himself raised in the North, he still
believes his home is in the South. This shows that it’s not where a person lives or lived that makes a place your home, it’s where their lineage comes from, and in Milkman’s case he is symbolically from the South.

&= nbsp; In Song of Solomon, author Morrison shows the class tension between the rich a= nd the poor. She quotes, “I don’t mean that way, I don’t mean they want your dead life, they want your living life.” She mentions Guitar is a working class and Milkman is an Upper-Class which can make a li= ving without working. Here, she suggests Milkman doesn’t want to rely on h= is Father and made decision that he will be along to find the Gold. Guitar and Milkman had an argument during the conversation, it shows how Guitar is different from Milkman, he doesn’t care about his life he only cares = and expose his expression by putting his happiness on killing people, and it’s an opposition on Milkman. Milkman is always being with same frie= nd, and he is a person that always has loved being with. In Chapter 11, there a= re many conflicts occurring between Milkman and the poor on his journey, in fr= ont of the poor folks, he orally said buying a new car like it was just an easy thing for him to accomplish, emphasizing his money. Believing Milkman to be= a rich snob from the North, a fight was incited. It shows a big differences e= xist between Upper, Middle, and Lower Class, people believe that rich has more p= ower than the poor, and because of this, many without money blindly follow those with money, whom are generally in the North. Majority of the poor hate the = rich because they feel that those with money have more freedom and power than th= emselves, everyday the poor have to work beyond the rich in order to make a living. In the beginning of the book, she wrote, “Six days after the first Macon Dead died, his children, a twelve year old Pilate and a sixteen year old Ma= con Dead, Found themselves.”(pg165) Macon Dead was killed

by a white neighbor, because the whites want to take away his farm in order to make themselves richer. They both are rich but also greedy as well, although they are in the same class. However they took a step on Macon Dead to get the fa= rm land from him.

Song of Solomon carries heavy themes of race concerning location and interac= tion between people of same race living in different places. Milkman’s jou= rney allows him to meet African Americans in all walks of life catalyzing a chan= ge in how he views his race and himself. In the end, a person who has experien= ced it all, such as Milkman, can truly understand an entire race in two complet= ely different places.