Song of Solomon: Ruth and Macon's Marriage

Analysis of Macon Dead II and Ruth’s Marriage and Relationship in Song Of Solomon The abandonment and betrayal of women has been seen throughout history and novels, including Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. Morrison uses the relationship of Macon Dead II and Ruth to express this in her book. Morrison also expresses how women are to reliant on their men for support, she uses Pilate to show this. Macon Dead II and Ruth are married and the parents of Milkman, the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts out in 1931, the birth of Milkman and narrates his life till about 1962. They are a middle to lower class African American family living in Michigan. The theme abandonment of women is shown through the relationship of Macon Dead II and Ruth, consequently Ruth’s emotional, mental and physical state show this. Morrison is trying to show that women rely to much on men for support. Ruth’s emotional state shows the theme of abandonment or women. In the Macon household, there is a table and on this table is a large water mark which Ruth uses for assurance she is alive. She knew it was there, would always be there, but she needed to confirm its presence. Like the keeper of the lighthouse and the prisoner, she regarded it as a mooring checkpoint some stable visible object that assured her the world was still there; and that this was life and not a dream. That she was alive somewhere inside, which she acknowledged to be true only because a thing she knew intimately was there, outside herself. (Morrison 11)
Emotionally, Ruth has been abandoned by Macon Dead II to the point where she needs, a physical reminder that she is alive. Ruth and Macon’s marriage is compared to a lighthouse and its prisoner; the lighthouse is the marriage and Ruth is the prisoner. Ruth is very passive with Macon. Her passiveness shows how emotional she is abandoned, because marriage is about compromise not giving completely into the other person. The scene where this is shown, is when the Dead