This week in class we started reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. In this book Toni Morrison's attention to detail is mind-boggling. We analyzed a couple examples of this in class by diving deeper into the text. The first example of this attention to detail is when she talks about the symbol of flowers. When Ruth goes into labor when she's pregnant with Milkman, she drops flower petals. These petals are fake rose petals that are sewn together. When first reading this, I didn't pay much attention to Ruth dropping these flower petals. After digging deeper during class, we realized that the petals are representative of fake love in this case because they are fake rose petals. They represent the fake love that Milkman will encounter throughout his lifetime, whether between him and his mother, him and his dad, him and Hagar, etc. Flowers are used throughout the book with the vase flowers and the tulips too, but we didn't talk much about those. Another really interesting connection was about the coffee. When Milkman was talking to Guitar about his mother and the tulips he "called it a dream" because he didn't want to tell him the truth, that "he had really seen it," (Morrison 104). While he is talking to Guitar, Milkman pours out the rest of his coffee. The coffee is a symbol for reality and waking up. People drink coffee so they can wake up because the caffeine energizes them. In this case, Milkman pours out the rest of his coffee because although he is aware of what he is doing he doesn't want to wake up and deal with his actions. These examples are very interesting to see the literary genius that Toni Morrison is and all the thought that goes into her books.
This week in class we read a piece called Show and Tell by Scott McCloud. This piece showed (and told) the importance of pictures in readings. It started off with a short anecdote of this kid in front of his class explaining how his robot toy transforms into an airplane. He uses a mixture of words and plain showing how it does what it does. This develops the author's main argument that "words and pictures have great powers to tell stories when creators fully exploit them both," (McCloud 809). I believe that images in books don't make a work of literature any less intellectual. If the content is meant to be intellectual, pictures aren't going to make it any less. Actually, images bring a different dynamic and can allow for more intellectual content. If an author were to include a statement where there could be many interpretations, that would be considered intellectual, but if you add an image to that and turn it into a comic, there could be an infinite amount of i...
I like how you incorporated our class discussion on Friday in your blog post. I agree that the symbolism for fake love and general ignorance is key. Most characters that Morrison has so far revealed in the book are just living to get through life and do not even try to hide their general ignorance for the world.
ReplyDeleteThere is indeed a large amount of detail stuffed into the book, such as the ones you described, which further emphasizes the complex themes in the relations between races in the United States and how it effects our society today. This is shown by the dynamic between the cast of characters as they use what power they have to progress in such a setting.
ReplyDelete