Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

In the novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the importance of the home was shown throughout all of the characters. The idea of the home illuminates the larger meaning of the work because it refers to a house being more than a house, it indicate a person's personality, and their love for materialistic things in the society they live in. Throughout the novel we encountered different types of homes with different types of settings. The biggest picture that was drawn is that although you may have biggest house and well furnished home, it is evident that it is more deceased rather than the other homes, and thats what causes Milkman to search for a “home”, from his family's home, Pilates home, and Lincoln's Heaven To the Milkman’s family, a home is not a place where you live and dwell. A home to them is a symbol of what you own, a rank indicator. Milkman's father is a hard working man, and does not cut any slack for most people that live on Not Doctor Street, but he possess something that no one else on that street has.

Milkman’s family differentiated themselves from the rest of Not Doctor Street because of their family issues and they have the biggest house on the street. “That propertied Negro who handled his business so well and who lived in the big house on Not Doctor Street had a sister who had a daughter but no husband, and that daughter had a daughter but no husband.”(Morrison, 20) In a way Macon loves the attention that comes along with what he has, because he’s worked hard for it. Although you have everything you want, that does not mean you connect to people or a social life.

The status that you build or you stand at does not give you the divine right to be accepted socially. Ruth was detached from the society, she had everything she had wanted in the big house of hers but she was missing a friend, cousin, or someone that she will communicate with. ”because the fact is that I am a small woman. I don’t mean little; I mean small, and I’m small because I was pressed small. I lived in a great big house that pressed me into a small package.' (Morrison 124) Ruth’s social experience was crushed by the walls that kept her locked in by the great amount of wealth that surrounded her. She was never exposed to the outside world. As to Pilates house she had a more appealing house then Macon’s house, because her house was not filled with things she did not need. She doesn’t have much, but it’s a lot more welcoming than the Dead’s house, that’s for sure. We wonder what kind of newspaper articles and magazine pictures are on the walls. Pilates house brings about a logistical feeling of a fairy tail Pilate doesn’t clutter her home with anything she doesn’t need.

“She had dumped the peelings in a large crock, which like most everything in the house had been made for some other purpose. Now she stood before the dry sink, pumping water into a blue-and-white wash basin which she used for a saucepan.” ( Morrison 39). This shows that Pilate takes advantage of the things she has, she make it possible that a tool is useful for more than the purpose it was made for. Lincoln’s Heaven is the ideal home in the novel, it was a source of inspiration to the Dead’s and other individuals around the area. “Sixteen years later he had one of the best farms in Montour County. A farm that colored their lives like a paintbrush and spoke to them like a sermon. 'You see?' the farm said to them. 'See? See what you can do? Never mind you can’t tell one letter from another, never mind you born a slave, never mind you lose your name, never mind your daddy dead, never mind nothing. Here, this here, is what a man can do if he puts his mind to it and his back into it. Stop sniveling,' it said. 'Stop picking around the edges of the world. Take advantage, and if you can’t take advantage, take disadvantage. We live here. On this planet, in this nation, in this country right here.

Nowhere else! We got a home in this rock, don’t you see! Nobody starving in my home; nobody crying in my home, and if I got a home you got one too! Grab it! Grab this land!”(Morrison 235). This house was a working home for 16 years, it implements creativity in what it inherits and name it has also it creative. Lincoln’s Heaven plays the role of a mogul to all the other houses, it obtains deliciousness in its works, and it is unique by having its own pond. The name of the house, came about because President Lincoln freed the slaves and the house is to symbolize the end of racism although it was still occuring during the time. As for Ruth, her home is Milkman. She posses a astronomical type of for Milkman. They've been through different scenarios in which her love grew strong for him. “Maybe it’s you I should be killing. Maybe then he will come to me and let me come to him. He is my home in this world. And then, aloud, 'He is my home in this world.' (Morrison 137). A home is shown in a different scenario at this part of the novel. Rather than having a physical home as her home, she views Milkman as her home. She developed a comfort for Milkman and she is trying to make him visible of that.

All in all, the theme of the home played a significant role in characterizing majority of the characters in the novel. Only Milkman question himself on where is his home. As for people form the Dead house they are hardworking people and they like to show that they are hardworking by having things other do not, and also it ties back to their social status in the community. As to Pilate people from her household are open to the world, they do the things other do not think is normal as to having kids but no husband. Lincoln's heaven is here to serve as to the house that everyone looks up to. Each household obtains their unique personality, that makes their house what it is.