The Cost of Flight in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon
A noteworthy character trait for the men in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomonis they spend a substantial amount of time in flight or learning how to fly. Flight is important these men because when they are in the air they feel a sense of security and success. Insurance agent Robert Smith, members of the 332nd Fighter Group, and Milkman Dead are all examples of men who find comfort in being airborne. It is critical to note that the males are usually the ones who are depicted as flying or having the ability to fly, whereas, the women are seen as support systems for the men. The women in the novel sing songs in the background or pass along folklore that inspires the men to take flight. The novel is bracketed with the imagery of flight. In the beginning, Robert Smith’s suicide jump from Mercy hospital is a failed attempt at flight, and in the end, readers see Milkman’s successful flight after having an argument with Guitar. Not only does displaying Robert Smith’s failed flight in the beginning and Milkman’s ambiguous flight in the ending generate a contrast between the two characters but also it allows multiple interpretations of the thematic element of flight.
Robert Smith divulges to the public with a small note that he is planning to take flight from Mercy hospital. In his note, he tells the community that he plans to fly on his own wings and that he loved them all. His note generates grimness and an element of shock in the first chapter. But Smith’s oddness is quickly shifted into something graceful, “Mr. Smith emerged as promptly as he had promised form behind the cupola, his wide blue silk wings curved forward around his chest, she dropped her covered peck basket, spilling red velvet rose pedals” (5). This first chapter is crucial in the understanding the multiple meanings flight can have in the novel because there are lines that celebrate Smith’s decision to fly from Mercy in poetic fashion, as well as, the real terror the citizens of Not Doctor Street have for watching this insurance agent commit suicide. Smith’s suicide is precluded by a group of women who sing for him, “O Sugarman done fly away / Sugarman done gone / Sugarman cut across the sky / Sugarman gone home” (6). The song means next to nothing for the audience present at Mercy but later becomes a powerful refrain and reference to Milkman’s great-grandfather, Solomon, who flew back to Africa. It is revealed toward the end of the novel that Solomon’s flight is not merely metamorphic but exists on a historic level. While in conversation with Susan Byrd, she reveals to Milkman that, “He flew. You know, like a bird. Just stood up in the fields one day, ran up some hill, spun around a couple of times, and was lifted up in the air. Went right on back to wherever it was he came from” (323). Susan Byrd’s matter of fact tone implies that she sincerely believes in the history of the flying Africans legend. Conceptualizing that Solomon and his descendants that could fly belong to a historic lineage rather than an attractive fable is important when analyzing Robert Smith’s flight.
Smith’s flight appears to have the pure intentions of wanting to fly home, similarly to Milkman’s or Solomon’s flight. However, Smith’s flight lacks the same significant cultural meaning. When Smith flies, he chooses to do it on his own wings, wings that he constructed himself to appear bright and blue. This hints to the reader that a man cannot fly on his own assets — he instead needs the support from others to fly and he needs to be in touch with his community — not an outsider. Indeed, the true feelings of Not Doctor Street’s community are revealed when the narrator describes his jump, “Jumping from the roof of Mercy was the most interesting thing he had done. None of them had suspected he had it in him” (9). Robert Smith’s flight is an important aspirational failure within the novel. While he does not succeed in actually flying, he implants the desire for flight — which sets in motion a trajectory that men later in the novel will discuss and hope to achieve. Namely, Milkman, who is compared to Smith just a few sentences after his death:
Mr. Smith’s blue wings must have left their mark, because when the little boy discovered, at four, the same thing Mr. Smith had learned earlier — that only birds and airplanes could fly — he lost all interest in himself. To have to live without that single gift saddened him and left his imagination so bereft that he appeared dull even to the women who did not hate his mother. (9)
Milkman’s reverence for flying is upheld throughout the novel, as he remains enamored by the principle that certain distinguished men have the ability to fly.
This reverence is particularly noted in the beginning of chapter three when Milkman and Guitar meet men who were pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group at Feather’s pool hall. The men are described as follows, “Their beautiful hats and gorgeous leather jackets were carefully arranged on chairs. Their hair was cut close to the skull; their shirt cuffs were turned neatly back on their forearms” (57). Milkman and Guitar are both in awe of the pilots and the awkward dialogue they have with the pilots indicates an impression of inferiority to the older gentlemen. The boys’ inferiority is warranted due to the historical significance the 332nd Fighter Group has for the black community. The men provided tremendous representation for African-Americans during an era with a segregated military. The fighter pilots, in the novel, command respect both for what they accomplished for the African-American race and for being among an exclusive rank of airmen.
With Robert Smith’s death at Mercy, his flight can be viewed as a failure. With the 332nd Fight Group, their time spent on dangerous missions in World War II can be viewed as a success. And the flight that Milkman partakes at the end of the novel can be viewed as an ambiguous mix of failures and successes. Perhaps most conspicuously, Milkman’s surrender to air is seen as a success because he has upheld the historic tradition of Africans flying home. Literary critic Gay Wilentz remarks in her essay, “If You Surrender to the Air: Folk Legends of Flight and Resistance in African American Literature, that this tradition of flying Africans is important because, “The legend in its entirety is a life-giving force to build community strength and resist oppression. It is through the acknowledgment of one’s African heritage and the learning of the power of the ancestors that the African American community can achieve wholeness” (Wilentz 28). Milkman’s character arc at the end of the novel shows that he has grown, even if only marginally, into a more selfless individual who can appreciate what the people that came before him in his family has done. Milkman’s coming-of-age story has a romantic ending but it must be noted that he leaves other people behind in the process.
Guitar serves as Milkman’s best friend, yet the two constantly riff against one another. At the end of the novel, it is questionable to say if they could still be friends, considering Guitar is aiming a shotgun at Milkman as he attempts to fly. Pilate tells Milkman herself that, “You can’t take a life and walk off and leave it. Life is life. Precious. And the dead you kill is yours. They stay with you anyway, in your mind. So it’s a better thing, a better thing to have the bones right there with you wherever you go. That way, it frees up your mind” (208). Pilate serves as a higher conscious for Milkman in times when he appears unperceptive to the penalties for his actions. It would be extreme to categorize Milkman as “aloof” but his growth into a better man would never have been accomplished without the help of Guitar, Pilate, Hagar, and Reba for example. Milkman is constantly in need for others to take care of him, and so, perhaps, it is unfair that Milkman has the opportunity to fly away at the end — because there is no certainty that he would teach others the legend of flying Africans. With the success of Milkman’s flight comes the cost of others having to remain grounded.
The thematic element of flight in Song of Solomon represents what is possible for African-Americans. The legend is on display to give characters something to aspire toward. The readers can see men like Robert Smith who joined the Seven Days with good intentions, couldn’t handle it, and decided to see if the flight would heal him of his pain. Guitar and Milkman admire the men of the 332nd Fighter Group for the brave flights they contributed to World War II. Part 2 of the novel is almost exclusively dedicated to Milkman’s belief that he belongs to a special kinship of people who are able to fly on their own merits. Through the multiple characters that participate in the act of flying, a reader can see that theme of flight is more than an act of transcendence or escapism, but an opportunity for African-Americans that have been displaced, to connect with their history.
Works Cited
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage Books, 1977.
Wilentz, Gay “If You Surrender to the Air: Folk Legends of Flight and Resistance in African American Literature,” MELUS, 16.1 (Spring 1989 — Spring 1990): 21–32.
If you’d like to know more about the tale of flying africans, here are some links.
