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Identity: How is an individual's identity and growth shaped by the…

- - - - Milkman has reached maturity, similar to how these grapes are mature and ripe.
  - - - Literary Criticism: Dorothy H. Lee's "Song of Solomon: To Ride the Air"
        "Chapters Seven and Eight bring the call to adventure in
        Milkman's symbolic life journey. They are packed with
        evocative imagery crucial for the book's meaning. Morrison
        comments about "landlocked people" and their "dream-
        bitten" longings to leave for the sea once they become aware
        of their imprisonment (p. 162). Milkman is one of them. He
        needs to be on his own, "to feel the heavy white door [of his
        father's house] on Not Doctor Street close behind him"
        (p. 163, emphasis added). He finds an outlet, as his father
        sends him in search of the gold treasure that he thinks Pilate
        has hoarded" (Lee 67).
        
        Milkman uses Macon Jr's obsession with money and the missing gold as a way to leave the house and leave his boundaries. Milkman is beginning to want independence more and more and learn about his background, which is a sign of maturity. He wants to escape restrictions.
        
        Poem: Mary Oliver's "The Journey", Lines 27- 36
        "There was a new voice
        which you slowly
        recognized as your own,
        that kept you company
        as you strode deeper and deeper
        into the world,
        determined to do
        the only thing you could do–
        determined to save
        the only life you could save".
        Milkman is beginning his journey to save his life and make himself have a positive future by leaving behind the restrictions of his society and family in the meantime.
    - - SOS Quote: Lena tells Milkman, "you've never picked up anything heavier than your own feet, or solved a problem harder than fourth- grade arithmetic. Where do you get the right to decide our lives" (Morrison 215).
        When Lena tells Milkman of how much pain he has caused his family throughout his life, Milkman begins to realize this. This is a reason why he needs to leave to find a larger meaning and purpose in life.
        
        This practically dead tree symbolizes how Milkman's actions have killed the emotions and character of his family members, but he needs to fix this by reviving the tree.
      - SOS Quote: "Infinite possibilities and enormous responsibilities stretched out before him, but he was not prepared to take advantage of the former, or accept the burden of the latter" (Morrison 68). When Macon Jr. hits Ruth, Milkman hits Macon to stand up to his father. When he does this, he has mixed emotions. Part of him is excited to make a decision independently, and the other part of him is not ready to take on the responsibilities that come with independence. This shows how MIlkman is partially ready to change and has partially come to terms with his call to adventure, but he has not fully accepted it.
  - - - SOS Quote: When Milkman and Guitar are out in the end of chapter 3, Milkman is complaining about his problems, and Guitar tells him to worry about bigger issues like the death of Emmett Till. Milkman responds by saying, "Yeah, well, fuck Till. I'm the one in trouble" (Morrison 88). Milkman is blinded by his own immaturity and selfishness and cannot therefore see the true issues of society in the setting of the novel.
      - Poem: Natalie Diaz's "Why I Hate Raisins", lines 32- 34.
        "I hate raisins because now I know
        my mom was hungry that day, too,
        and I ate all the raisins." (Diaz 32- 34).
        In this poem, Diaz recognizes her selfishness as a child and her mother's love for her. When she was growing up, her family did not have much food, and Natalie ate all the raisins while her mother ate nothing. Now, Natalie feels very bad about this. At the beginning of the novel, Milkman has not yet come to the realization of his selfishness like Diaz has, but later he comes to a similar conclusion to Diaz.
      - Milkman is blinded by his selfishness. He does not see the true problems and corruption in society due to his figurative blindness.
    - - SOS Quote: "Taken apart, it looked all right. Even better than all right. But it lacked coherence, a coming together of the features into a total self. It was all very tentative, the way he looked, like a man peeping around a corner of someplace he is not supposed to be, trying to make up his mind whether to go forward or to turn back" (Morrison 70- 71).
        The lack of coherence in MIlkman's face symbolizes his immaturity. He has not yet turned into a man that has his life together and is able to help both himself and others around him. Milkman is clearly self- conscious about how his face looks and how it does not fit together correctly. The use of the word "tentative" shows how Milkman is unsure of himself and his future. The way that a simile is used to compare Milkman's face to a man who is indecisive shows how MIlkman is stuck right now in his life and does not know where to go next.
      - SOS Quote: "By the time Milkman was fourteen he had noticed that one of his legs was shorter than the other. When he stood barefoot and straight as a pole, his left foot was about half an inch off the floor" (Morrison 62).
        Milkman is aware of how his body is not fully developed at this time. The underdevelopment of one of his legs symbolizes the unbalance in Milkman's life and his lack of maturity. Milkman's one foot is stuck on the ground while the other is not on the ground, symbolizing how he is stuck between staying at home and escaping his family.
    - - Literary Criticism: Dorothy H. Lee's "Song of Solomon: To Ride the Air"
        "In order to mature from the infantile condition indicated by his name, Milkman must liberate himself from false values and confront the truth of his identity" (Lee 66).
        Milkman's name is childish and Milkman needs to realize this before he goes through the liminal journey.
      - SOS paraphrase: Milkman is named Milkman because of being fed by his mother past infancy (Morrison 14).The implies a sense of dependence on others and neediness. This symbolizes the delayed maturity of Milkman.
    - - Poem: Marge Piercys "A Work of Artifice", Lines 1-8 .
        "The Bonsai tree
        In the attractive pot
        Could have grown eighty feet tall
        On the side of a mountain
        Till split by lightning.
        But a gardener
        Carefully pruned it.
        It is nine inched high." (Piercy 1-8).
        Milkman is like the bonsai tree in this poem, and Ruth is like the gardener. Ruth coddles Milkman too much, which stunts his growth like the tree and delays his development. Milkman does not have much freedom from his mother or father, who restricts where he can go in town, which does not allow Milkman to live to his full potential.
      - SOS Quote: "When the baby was born the day after she stood in the snow with cloth roses a her feet and a man with blue wings above her head, she regarded him as a beautiful toy, a respite, a distraction, a physical pleasure as she nursed him- until Freddie (again Freddie) caught her at it; then he was no longer her velveteen toy (Morrison 132). The way that Ruth views Milkman as a "beautiful" and "velveteen toy" leads to his immaturity. She treats him as an object and does not have regard for his emotions in the way that she treats him as a toy, This restricts him from developing and maturing as his emotions are overlooked by his mother.
      - This bird is like MIlkman at this point. He is not flying from his nest yet or escaping the restrictions of his family.
    - - Poem: Roger Reeves' "Boy Removing Fleas", lines 3-6 .
        "Like Brueghel's Icarus, for instance, because a boy falls from a great height- white legs, green splash, wax wings- everything must suffer by proxy" (Reeves, 3-6).
        In this poem, there is an allusion to a painting named "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus." Icarus was a son from Greek mythology who wanted to escape from his father's control, so he made wax wings to fly away. Even though his father advised Icarus that the wax wings would melt from the sun, Icarus tried to fly away anyways, and the wings melted so he fell in the ocean. Icarus is associated with pride and stubbornness. In the painting, Icarus is in the background falling into the ocean and is not the focal point of the painting. This shows how the world does not revolve around one person and that tragedy is overlooked. Milkman is much like Icarus in the beginning of the novel as he is prideful and stubborn. Contrary to his own egotistical beliefs, the world does not revolve around him. However, like Icarus, Milkman's actions means that "everything must suffer by proxy." Milkman's selfishness leads to his family suffering, which becomes apparent later when Lena confronts Milkman.
- - - - Ruth is like an empty canvas without her father. She no longer receives love or care. Her emotional emptiness restricts her from creating an identity or connecting with others.
  - - - Poem: Natalie Diaz's "When My Brother Was an Aztec" Lines 1-3
        "He lived in our basement and sacrificed my parents
        every morning. It was awful. Unforgivable. But they kept coming
        back for more. They loved him, was all they could say."
        Even though Milkman continuously does not return love to Ruth, Ruth keeps giving him more and more love. He causes his family and Ruth much pain, but she keeps loving and caring for him.
    - - Secondary Source: Barbara Welter's "the Cult of True Womanhood"
        "Submission was perhaps the most feminine virtue expected of women...Women were warned that if they tampered with this quality, they tampered with the order of the
        Universe" (Welter).
        Women are taught that submission is a positive quality. If one is not submissive, she will mess up order in the world, according to this document. Ruth is taught to be submissive, and she is submissive. Ruth does not stand up for herself when Macon disrespects her, slaps her, or does not want to interact with her. Her submissiveness taught by society restricts her from connecting with others or having emotions.
      - Ruth, like a tree in the winter, has the potential to be alive and emotional, but is restricted. The tree is restricted by the weather, while Ruth is restricted by society's expectations of women and her husband's treatment of her. Ruth is healthy and alive, but does is not emotionally alive. If the restrictions were taken off of her, Ruth would be able to be emotional and express herself, like a tree in summer that blooms.
  - - - The pressure of being an attractive female is placed on Ruth. From the beginning of the novel, the reader sees that Ruth dresses well from the descriptions and characterization of her, which shows that she has been pressured to dress well and look good. However, these restrictions may distract her from expressing herself and her emotions, which is symbolized in the poem as the subject of the poem dies, but dies pretty. It ironically says that she has a happy ending because she is pretty, but looking good does not at all mean a happy ending. Expressing oneself is being happy, but society restricts this by making pretty seem equal to happy.
    - - Ruth is unable to fix the problems in her life, such as her lack of emotions or character. She sits around and waits for a male to fix these issues, like how in the poem boys must remove the fleas from the dog, which represents helpless women. Ruth responds to sorrow by sitting and waiting for someone to fix it, helplessly like the dog in the poem. She is restricted by Macon and societal expectations, so she cannot fix her problems for herself.
        
        Ruth's dependence on her father and on males is like a drug dependence. A hand reaches for drugs in a medicine cabinet in the image. Once Ruth's father dies, like drugs being taken away, Ruth does not know what to do with herself so she remains quiet and submissive and does not have much of a character. She waits and depends on someone else fixing her submissiveness for her rather than doing it herself. Society pressures women to depend on others, which restricts Ruth from doing it herself.
- - - - Poem: Natalie Diaz's "Downhill Triolets" Lines 3-6
        "It’s not the first time. It’s not even the second.
        No one is surprised when my brother is arrested again.
        The guy fell on my knife was his one-phone- call explanation.
        (He stabbed a man five times in the back is the official accusation.)"
        Natalie Diaz, in many of her poems, seems to be scarred from her brother's action growing up. He was arrested many times, and killed someone according to this poem. Similarly, Guitar is scarred by actions of white people that ruined his family and killed his father when Guitar was growing up. While Diaz's parents seem to forgive the brother, like how many people forgive white people like Milkman, Diaz does not forgive her brother and Guitar does not forgive white people for their wrongdoings.
        
        Like Diaz's parents, Milkman forgives white people (not so much forgives as just ignore and not care about) and does not feel the urge to get revenge on the white community in the beginning of the novel. Forgiveness is shown in the image as going to be forgiven by the Lord through a Priest. Contrastingly, Guitar does not forgive white people and wants to retaliate against the white community, similar to how Diaz does not forgive her brother. Guitar's past experiences restrict him from ignoring the corruption of racism or letting it happen.
        
        The fact that Guitar wants to end racism is very positive because it would bring equality to the world. His experiences as a child shaped him to want to be violent and extreme in order to end racism. Guitar has potential to be a positive leader in ending racism, but the experiences that restricted him from going about his goal in a peaceful way made Guitar be violent.
  - - - Guitar sees white people as being diseased. In this image, a mother and child walk by a quarantined house during an epidemic. The red cross means that someone in the house has the disease. Like the mother and child, Guitar wants to avoid any connection or social interaction with the white community. He only wants to use violence against whites and get rid of some of them. During epidemics, many people feel the same way in that they want to get rid of the people with disease to protect themselves.