In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, the names of characters foreshadow their emotional and physical state. Names indicate an inevitable mold that the characters fit into overtime. Macon I and his son, Macon II fit into to their last name, Dead. When Macon Dead I endures a physical death, which causes his son to endure an emotional death. Emotional death is when a person is numb to all emotions while they live a numb life. However, Macon Dead III or Milkman defies his probable future because he indulges in a quest to self-identity and discovers his connection to his roots. The last name “Dead” had been an expectation met by the previous Deads, but through Milkman’s discovery of his connections, he juxtaposes by living on to defy his last name.
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When Milkman was young, he peed on flowers which grew into maple trees. Years later, his sister, Lena, reminds him of the maple tree: “It’s not dead yet. But it will be soon. The leaves aren’t turning this year...you peed on it” (212). Around autumn, a season associated with death, the green leaves turn brown and fall off trees. However, since Milkman peed on the tree, the tree didn’t die when it’s supposed to. The tree represents Milkman Dead’s juxtaposition in life: although his last name is Dead, he marks his territory on the tree, but the tree does not die. However, since the tree will die soon, Morrison foreshadows that Milkman Dead must deal with his last name as it truly is, and must live with it. In a literal sense, Milkman marks the tree’s roots so he still has a distinct connection to the tree, like that of a child, something that Macon Dead I and his son, Macon Dead II …show more content…
Later in the novel, Milkman uncovers the true meaning of the Song of Solomon, all of Solomon’s children had names, although only Jake was remembered: “Names that had to mean...When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do” (329). Milkman goes meta and takes into consideration that he knows his own name. Whereas his great-grandfather had twenty children with undocumented names, Milkman starts to appreciate his own name because he and others know it. His juxtaposition is his family ancestry of Solomon’s dead children, except the one exception, Milkman’s great-grandfather. Milkman’s great-grandfather, Jake, continues to live on because he is connected to others by a
When Milkman was young, he peed on flowers which grew into maple trees. Years later, his sister, Lena, reminds him of the maple tree: “It’s not dead yet. But it will be soon. The leaves aren’t turning this year...you peed on it” (212). Around autumn, a season associated with death, the green leaves turn brown and fall off trees. However, since Milkman peed on the tree, the tree didn’t die when it’s supposed to. The tree represents Milkman Dead’s juxtaposition in life: although his last name is Dead, he marks his territory on the tree, but the tree does not die. However, since the tree will die soon, Morrison foreshadows that Milkman Dead must deal with his last name as it truly is, and must live with it. In a literal sense, Milkman marks the tree’s roots so he still has a distinct connection to the tree, like that of a child, something that Macon Dead I and his son, Macon Dead II …show more content…
Later in the novel, Milkman uncovers the true meaning of the Song of Solomon, all of Solomon’s children had names, although only Jake was remembered: “Names that had to mean...When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do” (329). Milkman goes meta and takes into consideration that he knows his own name. Whereas his great-grandfather had twenty children with undocumented names, Milkman starts to appreciate his own name because he and others know it. His juxtaposition is his family ancestry of Solomon’s dead children, except the one exception, Milkman’s great-grandfather. Milkman’s great-grandfather, Jake, continues to live on because he is connected to others by a