The Evolution of the Trope of Flying
In Morrison’s Song of Solomon
Flying is a trope which is depicted prominently in Toni Morrison’s book Song of Solomon. This trope appears in the book as a branch of magic realism and it provides the magical element within harshness and tepid realism. The trope unites all the different elements of the story together throughout the entire book. Obviously, flying is an important clue in the book and it is used for both literally and figuratively as a way to separate the irrationalness from the rationalness. Without this trope of flying, the reader would be lost in the book with those mundane events of the characters, whose lives would be otherwise not very attractive. A literal example of flying as a trope in the book Son of Solomon is described as African Americans having flown back to Africa. In the book, Milkman poses the question to Susan, “‘When you say ‘flew off’ you mean he ran away, don’t you…’…’No, I mean flew…He flew. You know, like a bird. Just …show more content…
It is depicted as the magical element within a narrative that is full of the rational elements of an ordinary story. For Milkman, the fact that his grandfather could fly represents a release from the reality that he cannot: “…He left everybody down on the ground and he sailed off like a black eagle’” (Morrison 328). Thus, throughout this entire narrative, Milkman has been aspiring towards a metaphorical release of his worldly or rational anxious so that he could be relieved of them. This would result in the figurative ability to flight which has alluded throughout the book in the form of the flying trope. In the end, Milkman achieves the capacity for flight when “he leaped” and “surrendered to the air” (Morrison 337). Moreover, Milkman could fly just as Solomon did but it was never a literal flight. He merely achieved what his grandfather had achieved which is the shedding of all his earthly
In Morrison’s Song of Solomon
Flying is a trope which is depicted prominently in Toni Morrison’s book Song of Solomon. This trope appears in the book as a branch of magic realism and it provides the magical element within harshness and tepid realism. The trope unites all the different elements of the story together throughout the entire book. Obviously, flying is an important clue in the book and it is used for both literally and figuratively as a way to separate the irrationalness from the rationalness. Without this trope of flying, the reader would be lost in the book with those mundane events of the characters, whose lives would be otherwise not very attractive. A literal example of flying as a trope in the book Son of Solomon is described as African Americans having flown back to Africa. In the book, Milkman poses the question to Susan, “‘When you say ‘flew off’ you mean he ran away, don’t you…’…’No, I mean flew…He flew. You know, like a bird. Just …show more content…
It is depicted as the magical element within a narrative that is full of the rational elements of an ordinary story. For Milkman, the fact that his grandfather could fly represents a release from the reality that he cannot: “…He left everybody down on the ground and he sailed off like a black eagle’” (Morrison 328). Thus, throughout this entire narrative, Milkman has been aspiring towards a metaphorical release of his worldly or rational anxious so that he could be relieved of them. This would result in the figurative ability to flight which has alluded throughout the book in the form of the flying trope. In the end, Milkman achieves the capacity for flight when “he leaped” and “surrendered to the air” (Morrison 337). Moreover, Milkman could fly just as Solomon did but it was never a literal flight. He merely achieved what his grandfather had achieved which is the shedding of all his earthly