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Characters · 10
Circe
Circe may be a minor character in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, but she resonates deeply throughout the story, especially in the latter half when Milkman journeys south to uncover his family's roots.
character
First Corinthians Dead
First Corinthians Dead is the elder daughter of Macon Dead II and Ruth Foster Dead, as well as Milkman's older sister.
character
Guitar Bains
Guitar Bains is Milkman Dead's closest childhood friend and, ultimately, his most dangerous rival—a dynamic that infuses Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon with much of its tragic tension.
character
Hagar Dead
Hagar Dead is Pilate's granddaughter and Milkman's distant cousin and longtime lover in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Macon Dead II
Macon Dead II is the cold, materialistic head of the Dead family in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Milkman Dead (Macon Dead III)
Macon Dead III—nicknamed "Milkman" because his mother Ruth is seen nursing him long after infancy—is the main character in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and serves as the novel's central consciousness.
character
Pilate Dead
Pilate Dead serves as a key moral and spiritual figure in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Reba
Reba is Pilate Dead's daughter and Hagar's mother in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Ruth Foster Dead
Ruth Foster Dead is a peripheral yet psychologically significant character in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Solomon (Shalimar)
Solomon, also known as Shalimar, is the mythic ancestor at the thematic and genealogical heart of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
character
Key quotes · 12
“I wish I'd a knowed more people. I would of loved 'em all. If I'd a knowed more, I would a loved more.”
This tender declaration comes from Pilate Dead near the end of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977).
Pilate Dead · Chapter 15 (final chapter)
“Guitar was the first person who ever made Milkman feel that he was worth something.”
This line appears in the early chapters of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, presented by the third-person narrator to reveal the inner thoughts of the protagonist, Macon "Milkman" Dead III.
Narrator (third-person omniscient) · Part One, early chapters (approx. Chapter 2–3)
“Solomon done fly, Solomon done gone / Solomon cut across the sky, Solomon gone home.”
This folk song chant features prominently in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, sung by the children of Shalimar, Virginia, and echoed in fragments by Pilate throughout the novel.
Children of Shalimar / Pilate Dead · Part Two (Chapters 11–15)
“There is no protection. To be female in this place is to be an open wound that cannot heal.”
This heart-wrenching line appears in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977) and is delivered by Pilate Dead, the novel's most spiritually attuned yet socially marginalized character.
Pilate Dead · <UNKNOWN>
“Grab this here sack of bones and don't let nobody take it from you.”
This line is delivered by Pilate Dead to her granddaughter Hagar (and indirectly to Milkman) early in the novel.
Pilate Dead · Part One, early chapters
“You can't fly off and leave a body.”
This line is spoken by Pilate Dead in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon during a crucial moment when she confronts her brother Macon Dead about their past — specifically regarding the body of the white man they found in a cave after their father's murder.
Pilate Dead
“If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.”
This line is spoken by Pilate Dead in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977) and captures one of the novel's most powerful themes: the potential for spiritual and physical liberation through surrender instead of struggle.
Pilate Dead
“When the man is dead, the children will bury him. When the woman is dead, the children will bury her. But when the children are dead, who will bury them?”
This haunting rhetorical question is voiced by Pilate Dead in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
Pilate Dead
“He just wanted to beat her back, to show her that he was not a toy to be played with.”
This line is from Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977) and highlights Macon Dead II's violent impulses toward his wife, Ruth.
Narrator (free indirect discourse reflecting Macon Dead II) · Part One, Chapter 2
“Momma, did Daddy love us? Did he love you? Did he love himself?”
This piercing question is posed by First Corinthians (or her sister Magdalene, known as Lena) to their mother, Ruth Dead, in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
First Corinthians Dead (or Magdalene called Lena Dead)
“The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior at three o'clock.”
This is the opening sentence of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977), narrated by an all-knowing voice.
Narrator (Omniscient) · Chapter 1 (Opening sentence)
“Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
This line is spoken by Guitar Bains to his childhood friend Milkman Dead in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977).
Guitar Bains
Symbols · 6
Flight
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, flight serves as the novel's key symbol of freedom, heritage, and the struggle between escaping and abandoning one's roots.
Gold
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, gold represents the alluring yet ultimately harmful nature of material wealth and the misconception that our possessions define our identity, freedom, or power.
Names and Naming
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, names and the act of naming serve as powerful symbols of identity, authority, and cultural heritage.
Solomon's Song
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the folk song "O Sugarman done fly away" — a twisted version of the ancestral ballad sung by children — represents the complex legacy of flight in African American history, embodying both liberation and loss.
The Green Bag and Bones
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the green bag and bones that Pilate Dead carries with her everywhere serve as symbols of ancestral memory, guilt, and the living's duty to honor the deceased.
The Peacock
In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the peacock represents the alluring yet suffocating burden of material wealth and vanity.
Literary devices · 12
Extended Metaphor
Flight serves as a central metaphor in the novel, beginning with Robert Smith's leap from a rooftop and continuing through the story of the flying Africans, all the way to Milkman's journey south, both literal and spiritual.
Allusion
Morrison fills the novel with biblical references embedded in the characters' names.
Motif
Names and the act of naming are central themes throughout the novel.
Symbolism
Pilate's brass earring, which is actually a snuff box holding a scrap of paper with her father's name, stands out as the novel's most powerful symbol.
Narrative Poem
Morrison crafts the novel as a quest that also serves as a genealogical detective story.
Imagery
Morrison's imagery is always rooted in the physical and natural world.
Personification
The novel brings the land and the Dead family house to life with a quiet yet steady intensity.
Irony
The novel's central irony lies in its structure: Milkman spends the first half searching for gold to escape his family's oppressive legacy, only to find that what Pilate protects are not riches but the bones of his grandfather.
Juxtaposition
Morrison consistently places Macon Dead and Pilate side by side — siblings who react to the same trauma (their father's murder, their displacement) with completely opposing beliefs.
Alliteration
Morrison uses alliteration in a memorable way to give important passages an almost chant-like quality.
Dramatic Monologue
Several key scenes unfold as extended dramatic monologues that reveal character under pressure.
Conceit
Morrison crafts a rich metaphor suggesting that Black American genealogy is a song — specifically, in the children's game-song that conveys the Dead family's history in Shalimar.
Vocabulary · 25
leaped
Jumped forcefully into the air, here used to describe a man throwing himself off a rooftop in the belief that he could fly, not simply stepping off.
verb · Chapter 1
midwife
A person, usually a woman, trained to assist women during childbirth, working outside of or alongside a hospital's regular medical staff.
noun · Chapter 1
contralto
The lowest natural singing voice a woman can have, rich and resonant in tone, here used to describe the deep, full quality of Pilate's voice.
noun · Chapter 4
navel
The small hollow in the center of the belly left after the umbilical cord is cut at birth; here it stands for a person's physical and spiritual connection to family and community.
noun · Chapter 4
kept promise
A pledge or vow that has been honored and fulfilled; used here as a simile to suggest the green bag hangs with a weighty, almost sacred significance.
phrase · Chapter 4
affection
A gentle, warm feeling of fondness toward another person; used here in a formal letter to soften the blow of a romantic dismissal.
noun · Chapter 5
swollen
Puffed up and enlarged, here describing eyes made puffy and nearly shut from prolonged, heavy crying.
adjective · Chapter 5
tore into
Attacked someone fiercely with angry, cutting words; to verbally assault or berate someone without holding back.
phrase · Chapter 8
exhilaration
A sudden, intense feeling of excitement and freedom, here mixed with guilt after Milkman strikes his father for the first time.
noun · Chapter 9
paralyzing
So overwhelming that it stops a person from thinking or acting normally; here describing an emotional conflict so powerful it leaves Milkman unable to move forward.
adjective · Chapter 9
colorless
Having lost all normal skin pigment or vitality; here used to convey that Circe is so extremely old that age itself has drained all color from her appearance.
adjective · Chapter 10
distinguish
To tell apart or identify one thing from another using the senses; here Milkman identifies individual men around him purely by the sounds they make in the dark.
verb · Chapter 13
retribution
Punishment deliberately inflicted in return for a wrong; here the organized killing of white people by the Seven Days as payback for racial murders.
noun · Chapter 7
vigilante
A person who takes the law into their own hands and punishes wrongdoers outside any legal system, acting without official authority.
noun · Chapter 7
off
Slang for killing someone; used here by Guitar to clarify that the Seven Days targets only white people, not Black people.
verb · Chapter 7
materialism
An excessive focus on owning money, property, and possessions as the main goal of life, at the expense of human relationships or spiritual values.
noun · Chapter 3
patriarch
The male head of a family who holds authority over all its members; here Macon Dead II rules his household with cold, unquestioned control.
noun · Chapter 2
bootlegger
A person who makes or sells alcohol illegally; Pilate brews and sells wine outside the law, which is how she earns her living on the margins of society.
noun · Chapter 4
inscribed
Written or engraved onto a surface; here a name has been carved or marked permanently into a brass earring that Pilate wears.
verb · Chapter 4
retaliate
To strike back against someone who has harmed you or your group; here the Seven Days kills white people in direct response to the killing of Black people.
verb · Chapter 7
potential
Capable of becoming something in the future even if not yet so; here Guitar argues every white person could become a killer of Black people, whether or not they have done so yet.
adjective · Chapter 7
obsessive
Driven by a fixation so strong it controls all thought and behavior; here describing Milkman's single-minded, consuming desire to find the gold.
adjective · Chapter 8
lure
A powerful, irresistible attraction that draws someone toward something, often dangerously; here the promise of hidden gold pulls Milkman back to the cave.
noun · Chapter 12
condescending
Behaving as though one is superior to others and treating them with patronizing disrespect; here Milkman's Northern manner makes the local Virginia men feel looked down upon.
adjective · Chapter 13
heritage
The traditions, history, and identity passed down through generations of a family or people; here Milkman's discovery of his ancestor Solomon gives him a sense of who he truly is.
noun · Chapter 15