Flight In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

From Beginning to End Toni Morrison begins her novel Song of Solomon in a very unconventional way. Instead of introducing a setting or characters, she retells an incident that without further reading is for the most part incomprehensible. As readers we notice later on in the story the references made throughout the book that relate back to the introductory pages. Some of the main themes such as oral traditions, naming, and especially flight are introduced in the first six pages and are further developed in a very similar format throughout the book. One of the outstanding themes, oral tradition, is used to retell events throughout the book in a manner consistent with the beginning. On the first page we are introduced to an insurance
It is used in both the introduction and the rest of the novel as a symbol for freedom. As described earlier, Robert Smith’s jump, or flight however it is interpreted, is a result of his feelings towards a small group of men known as the "Seven Days." This group consists of seven men, one for each day of the week, who imitate crimes committed by white men towards black people. Crimes are replicated by the person belonging to the day the original was committed. Robert Smith was a member of the group for a while. Since no one knew this it was anyone’s guess as to why he was committing suicide, but as it was revealed to the reader and it is understood that his purpose for suicide was to escape this group, because of the mental stress it had caused him. To free him himself from the agony he chose "flight" as a method of achieving freedom. A similar event occurs at the end of the book to the main character, Milkman. Milkman returns to Virginia with his aunt, where she is killed by his best friend at the top of a mountain. He jumps of the cliff towards his aunt’s assailant, and although it is not clear whether he truly can fly or is just leaping to his death, either form would justify a meaning of freedom from his current life of hatred and misunderstanding in his family to a better one of detachment from it. Thus, we can again see how the beginning clearly relates to the rest of the novel, this time in a very similar format, in terms of the physical aspect - suicide or flight - and the mental aspect - reasons for committing the act