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摘 要

托妮·莫里森的《所罗门之歌》生动的描述了主人公奶娃通过南方之旅寻找自我身份的过程。本文包括五个部分,将主要从文化身份和爱的能力这两个方面分析奶娃的自我困惑及其寻找自我身份之旅。奶娃的困惑主要来源于他对自我文化身份的迷失，而这一点也导致了他爱的能力的缺失。在困惑和迷失的情绪影响下，奶娃踏上了寻找自我身份之旅。通过南方之行以及在家乡人的帮助下，奶娃最终重建了自己的黑人文化身份并获得了爱的能力。

关键词：奶娃；文化身份；爱的能力

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. A Brief Introduction to Cultural Identity and Love Ability 3

4. Milkman’s Journey to Find His Self-identity 4

4.1 Milkman’s Confusion of His Self-identity 5

4.2 Milkman’s Finding of His Self-identity 8

5. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

Until now racial discrimination still exits in American society though many laws claim that both white and black are equal. Many black writers have been focusing their attention on the conflicts between the black and the white and many great works appear. Gradually Afro-American literature plays an important part in American literature and many distinguished writers have made great contributions to it. Among them, there are many excellent black women writers. Clearly, black women writers have dominated the literary scene in Afro-American literature since 1970s. Toni Morrison is one of these outstanding black women writers who can’t be ignored. “To Morrison, it is her deep rootedness in black culture and her ability to present what is vital to her people that contribute to her success as a writer.” (Hu Jun, 2007: 3) In 1993, Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize and this has made her the first black woman writer in American literature. The problem of cultural identity is usually a major concern in Toni Morrison’s novels.

As the third one among her nine novels, Song of Solomon is the first one that takes a male as the protagonist. Song of Solomon has been highly praised since it was published in 1977 and won National Book Critics Circle Award at the same year. In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison ponders over the problem of the identity of Afro-Americans. In this novel, she expresses the idea that the blacks can find their cultural identities only in the way that the blacks return to their traditional culture. The black cultural identity will help the black find their positions in a culture dominated by the white and build up their culture confidence which also will accelerate the preservation of black traditional culture. The leading character—Milkman was born in a family of middle class and was taken good care of by his families, living a comfortable material life. But Milkman took it for granted and showed no respect and responsibility for his beloved families. What is most important is that he didn’t have the ability to love and didn’t know how to care for others, especially for his families and lover. As he grew older, he stepped into the society, but failed to find his true cultural identity as a black man in a culture dominated by the white. Confused by the feeling of aimlessness, Milkman set foot on his journey to look for gold. Unexpectedly, on his journey he knew more about his ancestors and the family tradition.

This paper consists of five parts, focusing on Milkman’s confusion of his self-identity and his finding of his self-identity. Troubled by the feelings of loss and confusion, Milkman determined to go to the south to find the hidden gold. Accidentally, on his journey Milkman gradually established his cultural identity and gained the love ability with many native people’s assistance.

2. Literature Review

In the west, the criticisms on Toni Morrison’s works began from the late 1970s. In 1977, the first comment on Toni Morrison’s work was published in First world. After Morrison won the Nobel Prize for literature, comments on her works became deeper and wider. In the 1990s, critics usually adopted the race and gender perspective, such as Barbara Hill Rigney’s The Voice of Toni Morrison. Later, the essayist made a comparison between Toni Morrison and others, such as Sarah Orne Jewett, with their attention to African American culture. In the 20^th century, psychoanalytic approaches were often used to analyze the works of Toni Morrison.

In China, the studies on Toni Morrison’s works started from around 1993 in which she won the Nobel Prize as the first black woman writer in America. In 1999, Gender, Race and Culture—Toni Morrison and 20^th Century African Literature written by Wang Shouren and Wu Xinyun published. It became the first Chinese book to study systematically the works of Toni Morrison in depth, which meant domestic studies on Toni Morrison’s works had stepped into a new era. Afterwards, detailed introduction about the author and her works was made in many books, such as A Survey of American Literature written by Chang Yaoxin, A Study of the Identity Pursuit of African Americans in Toni Morrison’s Fiction by Hu Jun and so on. The collection of critical essays titled Critical Essays on Toni Morrison’s Fiction reveals that Chinese critics have made a great deal of efforts in promoting the study of Morrison in China. Many scholars have been studying Toni Morrison’s works and they usually adopt the perspectives of feminism, narratology, culture, etc. Very few critics make an analysis from the two aspects of cultural identity and love ability simultaneously.

In summary, the previous studies of Song of Solomon concentrate on the topics of metaphor, narration, race and gender. This paper tries to conduct an analysis of Song of Solomon from perspectives of love ability and cultural identity. The analysis of black cultural identity helps the Afro-Americans know more about their own culture and make a good survival in a culture dominated by the white. Black culture plays a vital role in American culture and it is also a necessary part of it. The love ability promotes the establishment of harmonious relationships, which facilitates the harmony of the world. Song of Solomon promotes readers’ understanding of African traditional culture and the importance of love ability. Song of Solomon could help readers comprehend more about black culture which is beneficial to the preservation of black culture and assures the world culture integrality.

3. A Brief Introduction to Cultural Identity and Love Ability

“Identity is a concept that combines the personal world with the collective space of cultural forms and social relations…Therefore, identities are improvised--in the flow of activity within specific social situations--from the cultural resources at hand.” (Wang Langlang, 2010: 27) Identity consists of the Individual Identity, Collective Identity, Self Identity and Social Identity. Self-identity is the recognition of society based on one’s own experiences and reflections. Establishing one’s cultural identity will help a person to promote his or her gain of love ability, which is essential to his or her spiritual growth and also an important element for his or her self-identity.

Stuart Hall, a British sociologist of culture elaborated his ideas of cultural identity in the article “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”. “Cultural identities are the points of identification […] within the discourses of history and culture. Not an essence but a positioning. Hence, there is always a politics of identity, a politics of position […]” (Hall, 1990: 226). Afro-Americans are often confused and can not find their own positions in the culture dominated by American white culture. So it is essential for the black to find their position in the American society. In a broad sense, the cultural identity will help the black find their positions in a culture dominated by the white and build their culture confidence.

Erich Fromm is a famous psychologist, sociologist and philosopher in the 20^th century, the founder of the depth psychology. He explains his own understanding of love from a totally new perspective in his book The Art of Loving. According to Fromm, “any theory of love must begin with a theory of man, of human existence.” (2006: 22). Love ability is essential to human beings，an important part of one’s self-identity because it promotes to the sound development of human beings. Without love ability, men could not develop the sense of responsibility. Fromm believes that the essence of love is giving. Love is an art, an activity, and a kind of ability. Through hard work and diligence, the ability of love can be learned. Besides, there are many different kinds of forms of love, including philanthropism, motherhood, sex, and self-love. Certain basic elements are common to these different kinds of love, and “they are care, responsibility, respect and knowledge.” (Fromm, 2006: 41). Being lack of love ability, Milkman, the protagonist of Song of Solomon, did not know how to care for others with his families and lover no exception. It is not because he did not want to but he did not have the ability to love at first. On his journey to the south, he gradually gained the ability to love and care for others in a proper way.

4. Milkman’s Journey to Find His Self-identity

Pilate is the typical representative of black traditional culture. She knew her black cultural identity and inherited the black traditional culture well. In her daily life, she protected the traditional culture and loved every black people as far as she could. At the end of the novel, before her death she told Milkman that “I wish I’d a knowed more people. I would of loved ’em all. If I’d a knowed more, I would a loved more.” (Morrison, 1998: 336) This impressed Milkman a lot and promoted him to find his self-identity. Under Pilate’s influence and many natives’ assistance in his father’s hometown, Milkman finally established his black cultural identity and gained the ability to love others as far as he could instead of being an indifferent guy who was lack of identity.

4.1 Milkman’s Confusion of His Self-identity

Supplied with comfortable material life and the families’ love around him, Milkman became a selfish guy and he was indifferent to others’ feelings. He did whatever he wanted, but did not have the ability to love others. Thus he could not find his self-worth, his identity in the family. After he stepped into the society dominated by the white, he became confused by his cultural identity as a black man. Without knowing his self-identity, he was aimless and did not know what he could do and what he should do to realize his self-worth.

4.1.1 His Loss of Cultural Identity

According to Hall, “cultural identities are the points of identification […] But a positioning. ”(1990: 226) The loss of cultural identity means the loss of positioning in the culture. Milkman was an Afro-American and he lived in a culture dominated by the white. Milkman knew nothing about his ancestors until Pilate told him some matters about the family. When he was 12, he worked in his father’s company and spent more time with his father. His father, Macon Dead, was a black merchant who accepted the white culture and lost his position in the black culture and thus lost his black cultural identity. Milkman was deeply influenced by his father and did not know clearly about his black cultural identity. Instead, in many aspects, he acted and thought like a white man. Afterwards, he made friends with Guitar, who was a black boy and detested the white for that his father was killed by the white brutally and his mother had to accept it when he was a little child. Together with Guitar and his friends, Milkman heard of some news about some poor black men’s abnormal deaths. Almost everybody there was furious, but Milkman was calm and could not understand their anger. As an Afro-American, he did not have the consciousness to protect his own people even when his siblings were killed deliberately by the white. Confused by the different attitudes of his father and Guitar towards the black or even black culture, Milkman could not find his own cultural position in the society.

4.1.2 His Deficiency of Love Ability

According to Fromm, love is a kind of ability and needs to learn. Hard work and practice accelerate the gain of love ability. Without love ability, people do not know how to love others and show their love in a proper way. At the beginning of this novel, Milkman didn’t have love ability and thus he cared for nobody. He disrespected his father, mother and Pilate, being irresponsible to Hagar and indifferent to his sisters and his friend.

4.1.2.1 His Disrespect and Indifference to his Family

Milkman came from a wealthy black family of middle class. His grandfather was a renowned black doctor and his father was a prosperous merchant. When he was born, his father was already 40 with his two sisters of more than 10 years old. His parents once had a happy time together, but several years after marriage, their relationship became worse and worse. Macon misunderstood the relationship between the doctor and his daughter—Macon’s wife Ruth, which led to the breakup of their relationship. Macon’s lust for money made him not a father to his children and not a husband to his wife. The whole family was afraid of Macon. “Solid, rumbling, likely to erupt without prior notice, Macon kept each member of his family awkward with fear.” (Morrison, 1998: 10) Macon was disappointed with his girls and wife. “His hatred of his wife glittered and sparked in every word he spoke to her. The disappointment he felt in his daughters sifted down on them like ash, dulling their buttery complexions and choking the lilt out of what should have been girlish voices.” (Morrison, 1998: 10) In a word, it was a rich family lack of warm atmosphere. But, as the youngest and the only boy in such a family, Milkman enjoyed everybody’s care, but he took their love for granted.

Milkman was the only boy among the children, thus Macon placed great hope on him. When he was 12, Macon asked him to work in his company as an assistant preparing for his inheritance of the whole company. Milkman did not take good use of this opportunity to learn more in order to help his father who was becoming older and older but spent the time meeting his lover Hagar instead of collecting the rents. At 22, when he saw his father hit his mother at table, he hit his father back, showing no respect to him at all. After doing it, he felt glee and then strutted around the table without any guilt towards his father. He thought he did the right thing, but his father was already 62 at that time. When his father told him the reasons he did not know, Milkman only felt annoyed instead of taking care of his aged father’s feelings. Ten years later, tired of the aimless life, he decided to run away from the house and the people in it ignoring his aged father’s beg and his responsibility as the only boy in the family.

Before he was born, the relationship between the couple was ruined. Ruth’s pregnancy of Milkman was the work of a special herb mixed in Macon’s tea and the herbs was offered by Pilate, Macon’s sister. At first, Ruth took the baby as the tie between her and her husband and when it failed, the boy became her emotional sustenance. In daily lives, she took good care of her little baby. When he was 12, the mother still nursed her boy. While he happened to see his mother in the street in the midnight, Milkman followed her secretly in order to find her secrets instead of worrying about her safety. After his mother informed him why she did so, he felt annoyed regardless of caring for his mother’s poor condition and complained why his father and mother both told him those annoying things. He took his mother’s love for granted but did not love her and even didn’t respect her. Just as he committed: “He had never loved his mother, but had always known that she had loved him. And that had always seemed right to him, the way it should be. ” (Morrison, 1998: 78-79)

As the youngest child in the family, Milkman’s two elder sisters took good care of him in daily lives. The two girls had to look after him with caution, but Milkman did everything he wanted without caring for others. Just as what Lena complained to Milkman after he told his father Corinthians’ dating with a black guy, “Our girlhood was spent like a found nickel on you. When you slept, we were quiet; when you were hungry, we cooked; when you wanted to play […] everything in this house stopped for you.” (Morrison, 1998: 215) Milkman showed no real concern to his two sisters, never listening to their hearts.

Pilate was Milkman’s aunt, and she loved Milkman so much. After Milkman’s birth, she was very happy and was always available to take care of him until she was driven away by Macon. Later Milkman came to Pilate’s house and Pilate treated him with delicious food and told him the things about Milkman’s father and his grandfather, which made Milkman know more about his family tradition. But after hearing the news of gold which could be hidden in the house of Pilate, he made up his mind to steal the gold, and planned that if Pilate was on his way, he would knock her unconscious without considering Pilate’s love to him and her identity as his aunt which deserved his respect.

4.1.2.2 His Irresponsibility to his Lover Hagar

Hagar, Pilate’s granddaughter, was Milkman’s lover and spent 12 years accompanying him. When Milkman was 31 and Hagar was 36, their attitudes towards this relationship were different. “She placed duty squarely in the middle of their relationship; he tried to think of a way out.” (Morrison, 1998：98) Finally, he abandoned her with the terrible excuse that they were families. Clinging to the love towards Milkman, Hagar became mad and announced to kill him. But when she eventually had the chance to kill him, she gave it up for the only reason that she loved him and it was impossible to kill one’s beloved. She died because of sadness. Milkman’s reaction was totally indifferent. He took Hagar’s love to him for granted without considering his responsibility for her.

4.1.2.3 His Indifference to his Friend Guitar

As a close friend, Guitar always helped Milkman when he was in trouble. Faced with something unpleasant, Milkman always came to Guitar for help and poured out all his bad feelings. Guitar always comforted him patiently and could truly understand him. In this relationship, Milkman was always on the side of asking and Guitar was always on the side of giving. Guitar tolerated Milkman and made friends with him sincerely. On the contrary, Milkman enjoyed Guitar’s tolerance and benefited a lot from this relationship. To Milkman, Guitar was “the one person left whose clarity never failed him […]” (Morrison, 1998: 79) But Milkman paid much less attention to Guitar’s feelings and cared nothing for his radical actions towards the white. In the end, Guitar could not help telling the truth that he was not satisfied with Milkman’s childish manners. “A lecture is when somebody talks to a thirty-one –year-old man like he’s a ten-year-old kid.” (Morrison, 1998: 103)

4.2 Milkman’s Finding of His Self-identity

Milkman was weary of the aimless and wondering life, and after Macon told him the news of gold that may be hidden in the cave, he decided to go to the south to find the gold. At that time, everything around him made him escape. “Lena’s anger, Corinthians’ loose and uncombed hair, matching her slack lips, Ruth’s stepped-up surveillance, his father’s bottomless greed, Hagar’s hollow eyes—he did not know whether he deserved any of that, but he knew he was fed up and he knew he had to leave quickly.” (Morrison, 1998: 220-21) Unexpectedly, he found his self-identity through his journey to the south.

4.2.1 His Establishment of Black Cultural Identity

Before the journey to the south, Milkman was a selfish black guy who was deeply influenced by the white culture under the impact of his father. Macon Dead was a black merchant, but he accepted the whole white culture and lost his black cultural identity, which made him not be accepted by both the black and the white. Guitar was a radical racialist and detested the white; as a result, he took revenge on the white, which proved to be unwise. Milkman was confused by these two cultures and did not know how to deal with it. Troubled by the boring and aimless life, Milkman desired to escape from all of these. He decided to go to the south, which finally assisted him in finding his cultural identity as a black man.

Milkman knew little about his family tradition before he went to the south, thus he had little feelings towards his ancestors. After he arrived at Danville, he was informed that his family was respected by the people around and the old men who still existed today still remembered the glory of his family, which enhanced his sense of honor of his ancestors.

Four days at reverend cooper’s house as his guest […] every old man in the town who remembered his father or his grandfather […] repeated various aspects of the story […] they looked at Milkman with such rheumy eyes, and spoke about his grandfather with such awe and affection, Milkman began to miss him too. (Morrison, 1998: 234)

This was the first time that Milkman felt proud of his families as a black man.

Later Milkman went to the place--the murderer’s house, where his aunt Pilate and his father once hidden by Circe after his grandfather was killed. “Milkman stood still a moment…” (Morrison, 1998: 238) and imagined their troublesome life and the difficult situation they faced at that time there, which made him feel closer to his father and Pilate.

When he was hit by a group of black guys, he finally realized that “if he still had an appetite for money just like his father, he would never be accepted by his siblings and be integrated in African culture.” (Xu Wenpei, 2002：74) In the process of hunting with a group of black men in Shalimar, Milkman rethought of the problem of identity without any exterior burdens or help. “His watch and his two hundred dollars would be of no help out here, where all a man had was what he was born with, or had learned to use.” (Morrison, 1998: 277) From then on, Milkman realized the uselessness of material wealth and it was these burdens that prevented his integration from other blacks. Without these burdens he could realize the dream of flying back to the traditional culture.

With the help of many people, including Reverend Cooper, Circe and Grace, and stimulated by the word of the song sung by a group of black children, Milkman made a clear understanding of the tradition of his family and established his cultural identity as a black man. Afterwards, he returned to his hometown and told Pilate the truth that what she had collected for many years was the bones of her father. They decided to bury the bones in Shalimar where Pilate’s father had always wanted to. The relationship between the families improved, especially between Macon Dead and Pilate. At the end of the article, Milkman realized his dream of flying without leaving the ground. “For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.” (Morrison, 1998: 337)

4.2.2 His Gain of Love Ability

Milkman did not have the ability to love others before his journey to the south. Although his families, his lover and his friend all cared for him and gave him their love, Milkman just took their love for granted, instead of giving his love to them. According to Fromm, love is an art and an ability, which could be mastered through hard work and practice.

The journey to the south did not go smoothly, Milkman met with a lot of troubles on his way. Before his journey, he was supplied with almost everything except asking for help. But on his journey, things were different. “He had never had to try to make a pleasant impression on a stranger before, never needed anything from a stranger before, and did not remember ever asking anybody in the world how they were.”(Morrison, 1998: 229) On his journey, he learned to face the problems by himself instead of escaping from them. “He had stopped evading things, sliding through, over, and around difficulties. Before he had taken risks only with Guitar.” (Morrison, 1998: 271) During the progress of hunting, Milkman thought about the problem of love and rethought of his understanding of love. The turning point of Milkman’s recognition of love was that he offered to bathe the lady, Sweet. This was the first time that Milkman actively proposed to do something for others. When he listened to the song about his ancestors sung by a group of children, “he was homesick for Pilate, for her house, for the very people he had been hell-bent to leave.” (Morrison, 1998: 300) Then he thought of his father--an old man, his mother and his sisters. He felt silly for his hatred towards them. “His mind turned to Hagar, and how he had treated her at the end.” (Morrison, 1998: 301) He felt deeply regretted for what he had done to Hagar. In a word, it was on the journey to the south that Milkman gradually made a full understanding of the essence of love and learned the ability to love, and thus was able to care for others. At the end of the story, when Pilate was killed by Guitar for him she told him, “If I had a knowed more, I would a loved more”, (Morrison, 1998: 336) which impressed Milkman a lot and finally helped him understand the true meaning of love as a black man who inherited the traditional black culture. Milkman began to care for Guitar’s feelings and had a better understanding of Guitar when Guitar even intended to kill him.

5. Conclusion

When the story began, Milkman was just like a culture orphan, he knew nothing about his own cultural identity. Influenced by his father, Milkman almost became a white but was not accepted by the white and was also rejected by the black. Guitar made him know more about racialists’ ideas that proved unwise. Confused with such two different attitudes, Milkman was aimless in the society because he did not find his position in the society. After his journey to the south, he knew the history of his family and had a better understanding of traditional black culture; what’s more, he established his black cultural identity and found his own cultural position in the society. Finding his black cultural identity made him know who he was and his responsibility to others which helped him to promote his gain of love ability. In short, it is on the journey to the south that milkman finally found his self-identity.

Works Cited

[1] Fromm, Erich. The Art of Loving. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.

[2] Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: community, culture, difference. Ed. Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence amp; Wishart, 1990: 222-237

[3] Hu Jun. A Study of the Identity Pursuit of African Americans in Toni Morrison’s Fiction. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 2007.

[4] Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. New York: Vintage, 1998.

[5] Wang Langlang. Identity-Building in Toni Morrison’s trilogy: Beloved, Jazz and Paradise. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press, 2010.

[6] 徐文培. 《谈所罗门之歌主人公双重意识的觉醒》. 佳木斯大学社会科学学报，2002（5）: 74-75.

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