Flight Symbol in Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon begins and ends with images of flight, and abounds with allusions to flying throughout its pages. The “flight” the opens the book is a failure: Smith tries to fly away from Mercy Hospital, but winds up killing himself. As Morrison has noted in her introduction, this episode with Smith suggests the imprisonment of Black Americans: their segregation from the rest of the country; their poverty, arising from racism and oppression; and of course their ancestors’ kidnapping from Africa. Milkman falls into despair as a small child when he realizes that he cannot fly away; in other words, that he’s imprisoned in his community and his family. As the story progresses, Milkman will achieve “flight” – freedom, escape – but also revise his definition of what flight can be.

Flight Quotes in Song of Solomon

The Song of Solomon quotes below all refer to the symbol of Flight. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“How come it can’t fly no better than a chicken?” Milkman asked. “Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” The peacock jumped onto the hood of the Buick and once more spread its tail, sending the flashy Buick into oblivion. “Faggot.” Guitar laughed softly. “White faggot.”

Related Characters: Milkman (speaker), Guitar Bains (speaker)

Related Symbols: Flight

Page Number and Citation: 179

Explanation and Analysis:

“Yeah. That tribe. That flyin motherfuckin tribe. Oh, man! He didn’t need no airplane. He just took off; got fed up. All the way up! No more cotton! No more bales! No more orders! No more shit! He flew, baby. Lifted his beautiful black ass up in the sky and flew on home. Can you dig it? Jesus God, that must have been something to see. And you know what else? He tried to take his baby boy with him. My grandfather. Wow! Woooee! Guitar! You hear that? Guitar, my great-granddaddy could flyyyyyy and the whole damn town is named after him. Tell him, Sweet. Tell him my great- granddaddy could fly.”

Related Characters: Milkman (speaker), Guitar Bains, Solomon

Related Symbols: Flight

Page Number and Citation: 328

Explanation and Analysis:

Milkman stopped waving and narrowed his eyes. He could just make out Guitar’s head and shoulders in the dark. “You want my life?” Milkman was not shouting now. “You need it? Here.” Without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees—he leaped. As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arms of his brother. For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

Related Characters: Milkman (speaker), Guitar Bains, Solomon

Related Symbols: Flight

Page Number and Citation: 337

Explanation and Analysis:

Flight Symbol Timeline in Song of Solomon

The timeline below shows where the symbol Flight appears in Song of Solomon. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...Smith, leaves a note on the door of his house saying that he plans to fly from Mercy Hospital to “the other side of Lake Superior”—from the South to the North—at... (full context)

...helping her pick up the petals, and one woman begins to sing “O Sugarman done fly.” Hospital officials gather outside, and though they think at first that they are witnessing an... (full context)

...Her child grows up quiet and introverted, in part because he learns that he can’t fly. His mother, Ruth Foster, lives in the large house that used to belong to her... (full context)

...she isn’t talking about food at all. Together, she, Reba, and Hagar sing, “Sugarman done fly away.” (full context)

...they steal the gold. While they’re talking, they see a beautiful white peacock, which can’t fly because its feathers are too heavy. Guitar calls the bird a “white faggot.” Ignoring the... (full context)

...Three years later, she says, the spirit of her father told her, “You just can’t fly on off and leave a body.” Interpreting this to mean that she can’t leave the... (full context)

Milkman returns to Sweet’s home, where he spends the night with her. He dreams about flying, and feels invincible. The next day, he wakes up early to find that Omar and... (full context)

...differently because Grace was present. Now, Susan tells him that Jake was one of “those flying African children.” (full context)

Milkman asks Susan about the “flying African children,” and she mentions the folktale of the enslaved people who fly back to... (full context)

Milkman tells Sweet that his great grandfather, Solomon, could fly. He can’t wait to tell everyone what he’s learned: Pilate, his father, and even Reverend... (full context)

Milkman remembers the words Pilate claims her own father told her: “You just can’t fly off and leave a body.” He shouts from the basement to Pilate upstairs that Jake... (full context)

...to “Sugargirl don’t leave me here.” He realizes why he loves her — she could fly without leaving the ground. (full context)

Milkman, weeping, runs toward Guitar, asking, “You want my life? You need it? Here.” He jumps into the air, and the narrator says that it doesn’t matter which of them dies.... (full context)

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison

Flight Symbol Analysis

Flight Quotes in Song of Solomon

Flight Symbol Timeline in Song of Solomon