摘 要

《所罗门之歌》是非裔美国女作家托尼·莫里森于1977年出版的作品。讲述了出身于北方富裕黑人家庭的奶娃在南行寻金之旅中意外找到身份之根，了解到民族文化之源的故事。

莫里森用奶娃从自我迷失到找寻和构建个人身份、回归本族文化的过程来探索美籍非裔关于身份和文化认同的道路。即在以白人文化为主流的美国社会，为避免白人文化对黑人传统文化的侵蚀与同化，需要黑人自身植根于自己的民族文化，并以此为基础来构建个人身份和提升文化自信。同时，无论是个人身份的构建、家庭身份的重塑还是文化身份的认可都是个人发展的重要方面，而个人发展又是民族进步的前提和基础。因此只有一代又一代的年轻人不断认同自我身份、传播本族文化，才能推动整个民族的长远发展。

关键词：《所罗门之歌》；身份追寻；身份重建；黑人文化；文化认同

Abstract

Song of Solomon, published in 1977, is the masterpiece of Toni Morrison, an African-American writer. It tells the story of Milkman Dead who was born in a wealthy black family and his a gold-hunting journey on which he finds the root of his identity and the resource of national culture.

Morrison tries to use the mode of Milkman to explore the way of identity construction and cultural recognition for African-Americans. Milkman’s process from identity loss to identity exploration and identity reconstruction, then to his return to national culture shows that in the white-dominated society, it is important for African-American themselves to be rooted in national culture, build their personal identity, and enhance cultural confidence in order to avoid the erosion and assimilation of white culture. Whether the construction of personal identity, the reconstruction of family identity, or the recognition of cultural identity, it emphasizes the importance of personal development. And individual development is the premise and foundation of national progress. So the everlasting development of the whole nation relies on constantly self-identifying and culture spreading from generation to generation.

Key Words: The Song of Solomon; identity exploration; identity construction; black culture; cultural identity

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction to the Author and Her Works 1

1.2 Literature Review 2

2 The Identity Lose of Milkman Dead 5

2.1 Loss of Personal Identity: loss his name 5

2.2 Loss of Family Identity: the isolation from family members 6

2.3 Loss of Cultural Identity: the incomprehension of black culture 8

3 Identity Pursuit of Milkman Dead 10

3.1 Gaining a New Name 10

3.2 Rebuilding Family Relationship 11

3.3 Returning to Black Culture 13

4 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

An Identity Exploration of Milkman Dead in Song of Solomon

1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction to the Author and Her Works

Toni Morrison is an African-American novelist. She is considered as the representative of Black American Literature. She has gained recognition from both critics and readers. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Besides the literary distinctions, she was selected the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1996. And on May 29, 2012, Barack Obama granted her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As a black female writer, Toni Morrison shows great concern for the black in her writings. Her works are praised for “epic power, unerring ear for dialogue, and poetically-charged and richly-expressive depictions”. ^①

Morrison was born on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She was the second of four children from a black working-class family. Her father, George Wofford, witnessed the lynching of two black businessmen when he was about fifteen. So he chose to move to Lorain in escaping of racism. Morrison’s father and mother developed her a sense of culture and language through telling traditional African-American folktales, ghost stories and singing songs, building a solid foundation for her works. When she was about two years old, the landlord set fire to the house they lived because her parents could not pay the rent. Instead of putting themselves into despair, her families just laughed at the landlord. In 1949, she entered Howard University where she first encountered racially segregated restaurants and buses. This unfair treatment made Morrison write about the black Americans in an unfair society, their struggling for life and seeking their identities. In 1967, she became the first black female editor in fiction at Random House where she played a vital role in bringing Black literature to the public eye through publishing a great number of works of Afro-American writers, Nigerian writers, and South African playwrights.

Morrison started writing at Howard University. Her first novel, The Blued Eyes (1970), is a story of an adolescent black girl who is deeply influenced by the beauty standard of the white and longs to have blue eyes. All her life, Morrison has composed 11 novels, 5 children’s books, 2 plays, a set of songs and an opera. Her novels include The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), Paradise (1999), Love (2003), A Mercy (2008), Home (2012), God Help the Child (2015).

Song of Solomon is her second novel. Published in 1977, the novel was an immediate success and brought her national fame. It won the National Book Critics Circle Awards and became a main selection of the Book of the Month Club. It follows the life of Milkman Dead from his birth to adulthood, especially focusing on his journey of identity exploration.

At the age of four, Macon Dead Ⅲ realized that he could not fly, he lost his interests in his home life. He also given the nickname Milkman at that time because his mother still breastfed him. This suffocating emotion, with the addition of his father Macon Dead Ⅱ’s capitalist values concerning money and the indifferent family atmosphere, Milkman was grown into an alienated and indifferent child who shows no interest in his family members and his life. And he was equally alienated from the community and culture of Southside and this is mainly manifested in his relationship with Guitar who fought violently against white oppression and racism. After knowing the existence of money, he started a gold-hunting journey to Pennsylvania. There he met Reverend Cooper who shared memories of Macon Dead and made him have a connection with his ancestors. He also met Sing who offered some family history information. He noticed the “Song of Solomon” and found the secret of his real name. He, therefore, completed the transformation of personal identity naturally. Then, the bobcat hunting with the elders in the tribe provided him a chance to directly connect to his national culture. And communication with inhabitants and reflection in the forest, he gradually changed his habits and minds formed in the city or influenced by his father and finished the rebuild of family identity and cultural identity. Though Milkman began this journey in the hope of financial independence, he actually experienced the process of self-seeking, culture-exploration, and identity transformation. And Milkman stands for a typical mode that only when the black rooted in their culture and community, can they keep a balance between ancestor’s history and mainstream culture.

1.2 Literature Review

Song of Solomon not only brought Morrison national fame, but also caught scholars’ attention at home and abroad. Though there are some similar perspectives like feminism, identity exploration, and mystery among foreign studies and domestic studies. Foreign academics in general pay more attention to the interpretation of writing background or the author’s writing purpose, while domestic scholars more focus on practical interpretation of character defects and identity construction.

The historical background and writing purpose have often been discussed among foreign scholars. The majority of scholars hold the opinion that the background is postmodern and the author’s writing purpose is to promote the position of black culture in the mainstream of white culture through personal identity exploration and culture investigation. Valerie Smith thinks that Morrison’s attention focuses on the impact of racism on the lives of the black during specific American history. In her book Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination, she points out that Song of Solomon presents the consequence of geographical dislocation and cultural isolation, the cultural and identity confusion on African-American influenced by systemic racism, and the trauma passed on from generation to generation. Catherine Carr Lee also focuses on the situation of the black. She concludes in her essay “The South in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon: Initiation, Healing, and Home” that the power of stories and myths, love and friendship can encourage self-investigation, self-reflection, cultural reconstruction and thus creating the sense of healing and belonging.

Some scholars focus on the cultural elements hidden in this novel. Areths Phiri analyzes the black culture from the conversations, music, and play of the protagonist in her essay “Expanding Black Subjectivities in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah”. She concludes that Morrison’s typical mode of emphasizing on subjective being and belonging roots decreases persistently fluid and indeterminate. There are also scholars like Dana Medoro who mention the justice and citizenship reflected in Song of Solomon. She argues in her essay “Justice And Citizenship in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon” that Song of Solomon is a novel about the power of articulation of citizenship and animates justice. Moreover, this articulation can above blood relation. And the characters are helped to represent the civil rights Movements from various positions.