Buried Heritage of Milkman Iii in Song of Solomon

Abstract

This paper focuses on the protagonist Milkman Dead. The paper highlights the buried heritage of Milkman III in Song of Solomon and the oppressed black minorities in isolated communities. Toni Morrison’s third novel Song of Solomon (1977) mainly dwells upon Milkmanand his journey towards self discovery involving racial conflict, social transition, communal values and the peculiarities of human existence that manifest the individual behavior in an African-America heritage. His quest to identify the meaning of his life and his family background in the western racist society is depicted in the novel Song of Solomon. His search for identity involves recognizing racial conflict, social transition, communal values and overcoming his dependence and emotional isolation through assimilation of his familial narrative. Milkman takes a long journey to comprehend the vitality such as artificiality, shallowness and fake values of his life. Milkman eventually completes the stages of a hero’s journey that lead to spiritual transformation from fantasy to realism.Milk man transcends both his humanity and mortality and attains God like stature. Morrison through her exposition of Milkman’s transformation establishes genuine identity in her fictional work.