Song of Solomon Chapter 1 - 3
The chapter opens with an insurance agent, Robert Smith, standing on the roof of Mercy Hospital in a Michigan city, wearing silk wings and planning to fly over lake Superior. A mostly African American crowd of the town’s residents gathers below the hospital, and among them stands the pregnant Ruth Dead with her two daughters. Mercy Hospital also happens to be called No Mercy Hospital due to its refusal to admit black patients, just as the street Mains Avenue is now referred to as No Doctor street, since Ruth’s father, Dr. Foster, no longer resides there. The onlookers are distracted from Mr. Smith as Ruth goes into labor, whose clean and expensive clothes indicate that she belongs to a higher socioeconomic class than the other bystanders. Her sister-in-law, Pilate, looks directly at Mr. Smith and sings “O Sugarman done fly away.” Mr. Smith falls to his death as Mercy Hospital reluctantly admits Ruth, its first black patient.
Ruth lives in her deceased father’s large house with her two daughters, Magdalene Dead, First Corinthians Dead, and her son, Macon Dead III. Ruth is married to Macon Dead II, a rich landlord obsessed with accumulating wealth, but their marriage has lost its intimacy as Macon no longer practices any form of sexual intimacy with his wife. This causes Ruth to turn to other means of fulfilling her desire for a connection, which is why she continues to breastfeed her son until the age of four. She stops doing so after her secret is discovered by Freddie, the janitor, and the whole neighborhood begins to call Macon Dead III, Milkman. Macon Dead III becomes a rather peculiar child at the age of four when he learns that only birds and planes possess the capacity for flight. The milkman nickname frustrates Macon Dead II, who spends a lot of his time ruminating about the history of his family and the tradition of their names. Macon II hates that his illiterate father had taken up the surname Dead after a drunk union soldier had made a mistake in filling out an identity card. His father had then taken to naming his children from the bible by choosing the names that appeared interesting.
Macon’s sister, Pilate, feels differently about her name as she truly treasures her own name by wearing an earring that has a case with the name written inside it. Macon had separated from his sister at the age of 17 and now feels disdain for her due to her poverty and her disregard for material wealth. Their relationship reaches a new low when Pilate attempts to help her sister-in-law with her new baby, but Macon chases her out of his home. Macon is an almost tyrannical landlord whose only interest lies in augmenting his wealth. He refuses to allow the grandmother of Guitar Bains, a young bright boy, any more time for her rent as the old lady struggles to make ends meet. Macon learns that one of his residents, Henry Porter, has become inebriated and plans to kill himself, he visits the man to collect his rent but does not deter him from considering suicide. As he is returning home from Henry Porter’s residence, he stops to hide and observe his sister Pilate with her daughter Rebecca (called “Reba”), and her young granddaughter, Hagar, as they sit outside their poor home and sing songs together.
The dead family has a plush green Placard that the neighborhood refers to as the hearse since it differed so significantly from the other cars in the neighborhood. Milkman finds himself seated between his father and mother, as they drive through the neighborhood and make their way towards Honore beach where Macon plans on building another set of residential buildings for the more affluent African Americans in the region. Milkman begins to throw a tantrum as he feels the urge to relieve himself, but his father ignores him at first while making snide remarks about Ruth. He finally relents and allows Lena to take Milkman out to urinate but the boy ruins his sister’s dress when he hears her footsteps behind him.
Milkman befriends Guitar when he is twelve years old, and Guitar leads Milkman to Pilate’s house even though he had been expressly refused to visit her by his father. Pilate welcomes them into her barren yet warm home as she tells him about her childhood with his father, his grandfather, and how he had died while sitting on a stump. They are interrupted due to the arrival of Hagar and Reba, who bring in a clump of berry brambles that they hope to use for making wine. The boys help the women as Pilate tells them about Reba winning a ring for being a millionth customer, and Reba proudly asks her daughter if she had ever gone hungry. To her surprise, Hagar replies that she has gone hungry before which causes both Pilate and Reba serious concern but Reba soon realizes that Hagar hadn’t been talking about food. They sing the same song that Pilate had sung on the day of Robert Smith’s death, and Milkman realizes that he loves Hagar before he leaves their home.
Freddie tells Macon that Milkman had been to see Pilate, and Macon confronts Milkman who in turn questions his father about Macon Dead I. Macon’s mood shifts as he recalls his childhood on a farm in Pennsylvania, and he tells his son that his grandfather had been cheated of his land due to his illiteracy. He decides that it’s time to teach Milkman about his business, and tells him to come to learn the work from him for a couple of hours every day.
Milkman begins to work for his father by collecting rent from the tenants at age twelve. He is happy with the arrangement since it allows him to spend time in Southside where he can meet with Guitar, Pilate, and Hagar. He realizes that his father is not well-liked across town when the pool shop owner casts Guitar and Milkman out for Milkman’s relationship with Macon Junior. They make their way to a barbershop where they meet Railroad Tommy and Hospital Tommy, who chastise Guitar for complaining about being thrown out of the pool shop. Hospital Tommy tells Guitar that there are several things that he would never be able to do due to his race. Later, Guitar confides his dislike for white people to Milkman as he explains how his father had been killed in a sawmill accident whose owner had been a rich white man.
Milkman notices that one of his legs is shorter than the other, and decides to keep that flaw to himself by disguising his limp with a strut. He doesn’t like being compared to his father, and so makes all efforts to ensure that he is perceived to be the complete opposite of his father. Yet, he does his best to ensure that he completes all of his work according to his father’s desires. Macon Junior is extremely happy with his son’s assistance as it allows him enough time to search for other profitable investment opportunities. In his 22nd year, Milkman hits Macon Junior when he strikes his wife during an argument at the dinner table. Macon Junior follows Milkman to his room and explains why he sometimes loses his temper at Ruth. He tells Milkman that Ruth’s father had been a bigoted man who had called black people cannibals even though they had worshipped him. Macon had also disliked how Ruth had insisted that all her children be delivered by her father, which he had found to be very improper. Finally, Macon had found his wife lying naked with the fingers of her dead father in her mouth on the day of his death.
Milkman is deeply disturbed by his father’s revelations, and he is further horrified when he recalls a memory of his mother breastfeeding him when he had been in his knickers. He realizes that his nickname had been a result of his mother’s breastfeeding and that his mother had a personal life outside of being his mother. He finds Guitar at the barbershop where he is discussing the death of a black youth Darren Till, and local white youth. They go to a bar together, and Milkman tells his friend about hitting his father but he admonishes Guitar when he tries to compare Milkman’s problems with that of the recently deceased Darren Till. Milkman realizes that he has always been bored by money, politics, problems of the city, and the racial discrimination against African Americans.
Analysis
Toni Morrison’s Booker-winning novel explores two crucial themes of identity and flight in this first section of the novel. The novel opens with Robert Smith’s death, and his desire to fly is mirrored in the lives of the bystanders that stand to watch him jump off the hospital. Pilate is attempting to escape the impoverishment of poverty, while Ruth is struggling to find love and a place of belonging in a community that does not accept her. It may seem like Macon Dead II is someone who doesn’t consider the feelings of those around him and that seems especially evident during his interactions with Pilate, Ruth, and his tenants but the author shows us a more compassionate side of the character when he secretly watches his sister with her daughter and granddaughter.
The theme of identity is the other essential theme that is explored in this section, as several of the characters dwell on the meaning and significance of their names. Macon Dead II is a wealthy black man who spends a significant of his time thinking about how his illiterate father had named him. On the other hand, Pilate is the daughter of the same man, yet her attitude towards her name is completely different as she treats it like a genuine treasure. The author also sets up Macon Dead III’s struggle in discovering his identity as his true name is soon replaced by a nickname that Freddie the janitor chooses for him. Milkman has a sheltered upbringing steeped in luxury, one which does not allow him to understand his insignificant place in the world and the greater scheme of things.
