Song of Solomon Interpretation

In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead becomes a man by learning to respect and to listen to women. In the first part of the novel, he emulates his father, by being deaf to women's wisdom and women's needs, and casually disrespecting the women he should most respect. He chooses to stray from his father's example and leaves town to obtain his inheritance and to become a self-defined man. From Circe, a witch figure, …

…that will set him free. To get the inheritance, he must listen to women, which necessitates relationships of reciprocity with men and with women. His inheritance, knowledge of his ancestors, helps him to create a relationship of reciporical kindness with the matriach of his family, who gives him another inheritance, the burden of responsibility to others. In Toni Morrison's novel, Song of Solomon, Milkman becomes a man by choosing to respect and learn from women.