Song of Solomon: Every Word Has a Deeper Meaning

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.