The Lack of Consummate Love in “Song of Solomon”

Love has been a consistent theme within human society, whether it be romantic love or devotion between a man and a woman. Love has always remained prevalent. Literary works have made use of this to record the many forms of love, as well as to emphasize its relevance in culture. Love is a complicated emotion to explain due to the many different forms it can take. It seems to have become a rule that authors, regardless of love being a difficult subject, use the love between their characters to make statements about how love affects our society.

Toni Morrison, arguably one of the most well-known African American authors of all time, is no exception to this rule. Morrison's statements concerning love are made apparent in her novel "Song of Solomon". Morrison uses the ever-changing emotions of love between her characters to demonstrate her belief that true consummate love is almost impossible to achieve. Consummate love is love that encompasses the following attributes: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Without all three of these attributes, consummate love cannot exist. Although it is possible to achieve consummate love, none of Morrison's characters in the novel attain it. It's through this lack of consummate love in "Song of Solomon" that her true beliefs are revealed.

There are numerous different relationships within "Song of Solomon" that highlight Morrison's point that consummate love is nearly impossible to attain. The first relationship depicted in the book is that of Ruth and Macon Jr. It becomes evident in their relationship that a long-term couple cannot maintain the passionate love necessary to keep consummate love. The reader isn't informed if Ruth and Macon ever achieved consummate love, but during the time period shown in the novel, it becomes clear that any traces of consummate love the couple might have shared have been obliterated. Macon believed Ruth had a sexual relationship with her own father. Consequently, when Ruth stated that she "certainly [was her] father's daughter," he reacted violently, his hand "smashing into her jaw" (Morrison 67). Any passion or affection that used to exist within the relationship vanished. Morrison’s use of flashbacks, with Macon recounting to Milkman the story of the disturbing relationship between Ruth and her father, further explains Macon and Ruth's mutual distrust. Morrison’s use of flashbacks suggests the importance of memory and how it subsequently destroyed the passionate and intimate elements of Macon and Ruth’s relationship. However, the love shared by a couple is not the only kind of love depicted in the book. Macon and Ruth are one of the few married couples explored in the novel, yet Macon "could not even tell [Milkman] [he] loved her" (Morrison 70). Morrison believes that married couples will always encounter fractures in their relationships. Even an apparently happy couple, Empire State and his French wife, seem intimate and passionate, yet they lack the commitment that bonded Macon and Ruth. This proves that while two aspects of the love triangle may exist, at least one component of consummate love was missing. This lack of consummate love is apparent not only in older couples, but also in younger ones.

Milkman and Hagar represent puppy love, but their connection is truly flawed. It seems due to their lack of love, Hagar was consumed by Milkman. And while Milkman had the passion necessary for consummate love, he lacked the commitment and affection towards Hagar necessary to make the relationship work. Hagar's fixation on Milkman led to the termination of their relationship, which drove her to insanity. Morrison uses intriguing negative diction and alliteration to highlight Hagar's emotional distress, stating, "She felt a longing so bitter and tight it tugged her out of a sleep swept clean of dreams." (Morrison 127). This quote, with its alliteration on "sleep swept" and its figurative language of being pulled from a dream, emphasizes Hagar's sense of loss. Milkman later meets and enters a relationship with Sweet. Milkman and Sweet share a romantic love, a love characterized by mutual affection and passion. Despite this, Milkman is unable to reciprocate commitment, and hence he is unable to achieve a level of consummate love.

Love is more than romantic – it can be shared amongst everyone. Guitar, despite his violent ways, asserts that his actions stem from love, "No love? No love ... What I'm doing isn't about hating white people. It's about loving us. About loving you. My whole life is love." (Morrison 160). Even Pilate harbors such strong familial love for Hagar that when she is drunk, she delivers one of the most poignant lines of the novel, "I wish I'd known more people. I would have loved them all. If I'd known more, I would have loved more." (Morrison 336). Although achieving consummate love is challenging, Pilate underscores that love is worthwhile despite whether you achieve the perfect balance of love. Society is crying out for more love.

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