Women In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

The postmodern novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison set during the early 1930s in North Carolina challenges the expectations and morals of women and assumptions of gender and race. In the novel, a landlord by the name of Macon Dead Sr. and his family struggle through tough years and strained relationships. The novel starts with a scene in front of Mercy Hospital on a Wednesday afternoon where a North Carolina Insurance agent named Mr. Smith has invited everyone to come watch him take “flight” from the rooftop of the building. In the crowd is Ruth Dead, known as “the dead doctor’s daughter”, who is pregnant with her son, Macon Jr., and standing with her two daughters, Lena and First Corinthians, a gold-toothed man, and a singing woman. Ruth
Where as others see her relationship as inappropriate, Ruth views the ritual of breastfeeding as comparable to the “gold thread spun by the miller’s daughter in Rumpelstiltskin, the milk from her breast nourishes her son as “golden thread stream from her very shuttle” long past the age when a child would nurse” (Bloom 56). Ruth was seen by the janitor Freddie, who for years will keep this secret, but marked the child with the nickname Milkman. Ruth breastfed him till age four. Macon Sr. blames Ruth for the nickname and the repetition given to the family causing a disconnect in the relationship from Macon. Macon abandons Ruth throughout the relationship due to the hate he feels of her. The event also causes the nickname Milkman to follow him into adulthood, causing him to also despise and disrespects Ruth for most of his life. This is reflected in him developing odd relationships towards with women such as his cousin Hagar. Growing up, Hagar and Milkman develop an intimate relationship. The relationship is seen as peculiar due to their bloodline relation of Hagar and Milkman. Hagar falls deeply in love with Milkman. The relationship goes on for twelve years until Milkman reaches age thirty-one. Milkman tries to abandon the relationship breaking due to the fact that
which give the reader additional insight into their emotional abuse by males within the text. The two characters, most reflective of this are Ruth Dead and Hagar, the lovers of Macon and Milkman. In the Bible, Ruth is a woman who travels with the mother-in-law of her dead Jewish husband. Ruth was the only one to take care of her mother-in-law due to the shame against her for marrying out of her family or nation. As a result, Ruth was a loyal caretaker for her. She also gains a reputation for her loyalty to her mother-in-law. This is in contrast to the reputation of Ruth Dead’s father with her husband, Macon Dead Sr. Macon Dead Sr. despises the idea of Ruth’s father, Dr. Foster, being the obstetrician for his pregnant wife. Macon Sr. did not like Dr. Foster’s “notion of his being his own daughter’s doctor”(Morrison 70). Although Macon Dead Sr. felt strongly about this, Ruth stands loyally by her father’s decision and agrees that he would be best for this procedure. Also, Ruth at victim to the way her husband treats her with unimportance and as a tool throughout their marriage. In an essay, Karen Carmean says, “Ruth's helplessness, domestic ineptitude, and blandness develop to protect her from the men in her life, who consider her only in terms of her usefulness to them” (Carmean 111) . Even though she sees the way her treats, she still never leaves his side or ask for a