What happens in Part Two, Chapter 15 of Song of Solomon?
In this chapter, Milkman's journey south grows richer as he spends time with Sweet, a woman in Shalimar who shows him genuine tenderness—a mutual intimacy he hasn't experienced with women back in the North. Their relationship, though short, unfolds at a leisurely pace, standing in stark contrast to the violence and urgency around him. At the same time, Milkman starts to piece together the fragments of a children's ring-game song he heard in Shalimar, recognizing names woven into its lyrics—Sugarman, Jake, Solomon—that connect directly to his own family's history. He meets with elderly residents of the town, including Circe's distant relatives and local elders, who share the oral history his family in Michigan never passed down. The chapter builds to Milkman's realization that Solomon, the legendary flying African of local folklore, is his great-grandfather, and that the children's song serves as a living record of his heritage. The gold he initially sought in the south fades from his thoughts, replaced by something far more precious: a name, a story, and a newfound sense of belonging to an unbroken human lineage.
Analysis
Morrison uses the children's song as the backbone of the chapter, showing how oral traditions preserve what written history often leaves out. The song serves as a lullaby, an elegy, and a genealogical record, blending folk elements with the literary novel. Milkman's interpretation of the lyrics reflects our own role in unearthing suppressed Black history.
The relationship with Sweet is portrayed with careful balance: Morrison highlights the small favors each does for the other, creating a formal symmetry that signifies Milkman's first experience of mutual care rather than exploitation. This shift in tone—from transactional to reciprocal—marks a crucial psychological turning point for him, as significant as any plot twist.
The flight motif, prominent since the novel's beginning, is redefined here. Solomon's leap transforms from mere myth to ancestral reality, and Morrison balances its glory with the pain of abandonment: the man who soared away also left Ryna crying in the fields. The chapter emphasizes that heritage is never just a simple inheritance; it carries both grief and pride.
In this chapter, Morrison's prose noticeably slows—sentences stretch out, descriptions linger—reflecting Milkman's own shift from a frantic desire for acquisition to a more patient, receptive stillness. The South emerges as a character in its own right: its red clay, wise elders, and encoded songs all work together to teach him the art of listening.
Key quotes from Part Two, Chapter 15
“He could fly! You hear me? My great-granddaddy could fly! Goddam!”
Milkman erupts in exhilarated disbelief after the elders confirm Solomon's legend, the profanity marking the moment as viscerally felt rather than intellectually processed.
“She washed his hair. He washed hers. She did his laundry. He ironed her dress.”
Morrison's spare, parallel syntax catalogues the mutual acts of care between Milkman and Sweet, formally enacting the reciprocity that defines their relationship.
“Solomon done fly, Solomon done gone / Solomon cut across the sky, Solomon gone home.”
The children's ring-game lyric, sung innocently in the Shalimar dust, is revealed as the encoded oral history of Milkman's own ancestor's mythic flight.