The Journey In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

In Part Two of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, we witness Milkman’s journey into maturity and responsibility as he learns who he is. Through his exploration of family history, he begins to find his place in a community and in turn becomes a more mature and caring adult. Milkman first journeys to Danville in order to find the gold from the cave, which he believes will change his life and allow him to live independently, however, his journey quickly turns into a quest for self-knowledge and family history. Milkman’s search for his family history helps him mature. As he finds out more about his family and his history, he is inspired to become a more kind and caring person, and it also gives him a wealth of self-knowledge, helping him to come …show more content…
For example in Chapter 11, Milkman reflects on how he has always taken his privileged status for granted, and always thought that he deserved nothing less than absolute love and affection. “Now it seemed to him that he was always thinking that he didn’t deserve some bad luck, or some bad treatment from others.” (Morrison 276). The fact that Milkman can even recognize the kind of attitude that he had about life shows a huge progression from his past self. He also reflects on the way that he treated Hagar, which he further proves his remorse for later, when he takes responsibility for her death by keeping the box of Hagar’s hair that Pilate gives him. Part Two of Song of Solomon chronicles Milkman’s journey to maturity, self-knowledge, and self-sustainability. Through his search motivated by greed, Milkman learns what is truly important in life. Through this maturity, he is, in one way or another, able to achieve what he has longed for his whole life: flight. Toni Morrison expertly creates Milkman’s journey to allow readers to see Milkman’s likability and end up having a positive view of him. This quest that she writes ties the novel together and creates a satisfying ending for the