A Quest for Gold in Song of Solomon

More likely than not, literary journeys are something more than just travel from one destination to another in search of a desirable material or person. Authors often make a journey for the main character seem desirable with one intention, but a completely different and life-changing outcome occurs for the journeyman. Toni Morrison, a renowned author, has written multiple interpretive novels in which the outcome is at first undesirable for the journey’s intention, but the result is much greater than any material possession.

In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman’s quest for gold turns out to be a life-changing experience that can affect all readers alike.

As a desirable material, gold is highly valued and will bring in money to those who have it. Many have searched for gold and come up short, only to lose more money through expenditures to find the desirable metal. After learning that the green sack hanging from Pilate’s ceiling was filled with bones rather than the sought-after gold, Milkman decides to travel south to find the wealth once left by his father and aunt in the “Hunter’s Cave.” Milkman does not allow Guitar to travel with him because he claims he wants “to go solo” to find his ancestors himself “with no input from anybody” (p. 220). After flying – a spiritual symbol for freedom – south to Pittsburgh and then busing to Dansville, Pennsylvania, Milkman is directed to Reverend Cooper’s house. The Reverend is waiting for his car to be repaired so he can escort Macon Dead Jr. to the Butler’s old farm. As Milkman is forced to wait, he hears many stories of his father, as well as his aunt, Pilate, who used to live on the outskirts of Dansville. As the townsfolk speak highly of the Dead family, Milkman wonders why everyone down in the south regards his lineage with such high remarks, but back home in Michigan, no one cares for the Dead family.

Upon arriving at Circe’s, the ex-maid of the Butler family, Milkman is mistaken for his father, Macon. In search of the cave that contained the gold, Milkman learns about his lineage through Circe’s stories of the old farm and how his father and Pilate grew up. Milkman was the recipient of the knowledge of his father’s name and how great a man he was. Thanking Circe for the knowledge of the cave’s location, Milkman goes on through the field to the “Hunter’s Cave.” He quickly learns that he is not suited for southern outdoor living, making this section of his journey difficult to execute. After wading in water and breaking his shoes, Milkman discovers the gold is gone from the very cave his father and aunt visited many years ago. Milkman decides to follow in Pilate’s steps in search of the gold. He continues his journey, where the AAA office helps Milkman find Shalimar, Virginia, the ancestral town of his father’s father, Jake – the twenty-first son of Solomon. If it wasn’t for the cheap fan belt that broke, Milkman would have missed the small town completely.

Coming off as a standoffish Yankee, the young men in Solomon’s General Store did not want Milkman to stay in Shalimar for very long. After being beaten by the dwellers inside, the elder men outside the store give Milkman respect and invite him to go hunting. Milkman agrees, although he has never held a rifle. He finds himself struggling to keep up with the men who are much older than him and is forced to take a break. This break leads to several things: he realizes that these experienced hunters know what they are doing, he is enlightened by them, he appreciates their dogs’ howling and killing ability. It also makes him remember Hagar and her lust back at home. Milkman misses home, but knows that he is in Virginia for a reason: to retrace the steps of Pilate. While out on the trail, Milkman learns of Reyna’s Gulch, a cave that sounds similar to a person screaming when the wind hits it the right way. After a near-death experience and a long night, the team of hunters skins the bobcat that will become dinner. As the skinning is occurring, Milkman has lapses of his life and reflects on why Guitar tried to kill him back in the woods. Despite the corruption he encountered in Shalimar, Milkman has become a new person, feeling a sense of belonging, unlike any feeling he has had before. There was something spiritual in this transformation of Milkman during his journey to the south, which was initially provoked by the search for gold, but not anymore.

Rising to be a new man opens Milkman to more knowledge of his past lineage that once lived in Shalimar, Virginia. The enlightenment that Milkman is exposed to changes his life to the point that he even does something for someone else – Sweet. The act of caring for Sweet at the end of chapter 11 reveals a whole new side of Milkman. He is satisfied that he did not get the gold, but instead learned much about himself and where he comes from. He now understands who he truly is. Toni Morrison beautifully correlates how the gold, a standard symbol for power and wealth, has transformed Milkman’s life into an enlightened journey.

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