Professor Abebe
English 132-10
29 November 2014
Conflict and Segregation in Song of Solomon There 's a lot of of conflict and segregation featured in Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison emphasizes the country 's state of racial injustice and mentions racial uplift groups and makes note of segregated hospitals to create a focus on race in Song of Solomon. I wanted to look into how different conflicts affected the characters lives in Song of Solomon. I also wanted to see how segregation made life harder for characters. I wanted to write on this subject because, like characters in Song of Solomon, I have faced many issues of conflict and segregation. Song of Solomon show cases of conflict and segregation throughout …show more content…
man it’s also man vs. self. Milkman’s father Macon Dead just struck his mother for a statement she made and Milkman retaliates by knocking his father on his butt. Which made a short conflict between the two. This situation was also a case of man vs. self because Milkman’s reaction toward his father was supposedly to defend his mother, but he privately realizes that his action was entirely self-serving. He did it to prove his manhood, not because he loves Ruth. After the waters have settled Macon Dead talks to Milkman about why he struck his mother and the conflict that takes place between her father and him. You see Macon tells how Ruth’s father, Dr. Foster, was a greedy, self-hating, bitter man who despised his son-in-law and called fellow African-Americans “cannibals.” Furthermore, Macon Jr. claims that even though Dr. Foster was impotent, he may have had a sexual relationship with Ruth. Later we see that the real conflict rose when Dr.Foster refused to give Macon a loan that he could’ve used to make himself rich. Later Milkman finds Guitar at Tommy’s Barber shop discussing two recently murdered boys, Emmet Till, a black Northerner killed in Mississippi for flirting with a white girl, and a white boy killed in their town as part of a retaliation. Guitar speaks passionately about the injustices brought upon African Americans and the need to correct them. Guitar explains that the “cards are stacked against” black …show more content…
When we look at chapter four we see how that spark that Milkman ignited between him and Hagar has developed into something far greater. Hagar has went from fascinating and enchanting to common for Milkman. He never considers his relationship with Hagar to be something of value, seeking someone to wife within the black upper class. Thirty-one and grown, her love for him still grows with every passing second, so when she gets his letter breaking off the relationship a conflict ensues. She is driven mad by his letter so she roams the town looking for him to exact her vengeance. Meanwhile, Milkman suffers a case of Man vs. Self because though all of the novel’s characters witness supernatural events, only Milkman is unwilling to acknowledge their existence publicly. Even though he sees the flowers choking his mother, when he tells the story to Guitar he purposefully claims it was a dream in order to avoid seeming like a fool who believes in fairy tales. Milkman rejects the paranormal because he is concerned about his self-image and about being seen by others as a strange