Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977) is a narrative of a meticulously selfish black man’s journey and in hunt of gold from a Northern city to the Southern countryside, hitherto also propels readers (along with the protagonist) back through a disorderly and complex family history. It depicts various dislocations from belonging and community and raises issues of an alienated relationship to the past. The novel, additionally, however, affirms a mode of rootedness which does not essentially demand stasis, and a sense of home achieved through close engagements with one’s environment. In the itinerary of his exploration, he re-envisions the pastoral values which are more precious than gold, the worth of his past and the indisputable wealth of human
