Essay on Names in Song of Solomon - 1485 Words

The Importance of Names in Song of Solomon Abstract: In Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon, names have great implication. Language is extremely personal and deeply rooted in culture. Names are an integral part of language, and they help to establish identity, define personality, and show ownership through formal and informal usage. Tis but thy name that is my enemy; / Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. / Whats Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part / Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! / Whats in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; / So Romeo would, were he not Romeo calld, / Retain that dear perfection which he owes /†¦show more content†¦The concept of naming in Song of Solomon was first introduced through a local road known as Not Doctor Street. The streets title was commonplace after years of colloquial reference from locals, but never truly official: Town maps registered the street as Mains Avenue, but the only colored doctor in the city had lived and died on that street, and when he moved there in 1866 his patients took to calling the street, which none of them lived on or near, Doctor Street. Later, when other Negroes moved there, and when the postal service became a popular means of transferring messages among them, envelopes from Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama and Georgia began to arrive addressed to people on Doctor Street. The post office workers returned these envelopes or passed them on to the Dead Letter Office. Then in 1918, when colored men were being drafted, a few gave their address at the recruitment office as Doctor Street. In that way, the name acquired a quasi-official status. (4) However, the status did not last long because city legislators disapproved and posted numerous bulletins in local establishments stating that the road, had always and would always be known as Mains Avenue and not Doctor Street (4). Locals were then able to both obey the local ordindances and satisfy their interests by referring to the road as Not Doctor Street. The residents were able to take some control of the areas situation byShow MoreRelated Essay on Song of Solomon: The Names of a Society1164 Words   |  5 PagesSong of Solomon: The Names of a Society    Think of a time when the black society was still getting used to the word freedom and the white society hated the thought of it. The book Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison in 1977, takes place in Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior. The book emphasizes the racial and social tensions between blacks and whites between the 1930s and the 1960s. The Dead family goes through many phases of self-discovery throughout the story. In an effort to hideRead MoreSong of Solomon - Whats in a Name? Essay909 Words   |  4 Pagesaward-winning novel Song of Solomon is full of very interesting, deep symbolism. Macon Dead III, nicknamed Milkman, is a very symbolic character throughout the novel. His character is not only symbolic, for so is his name. Also, Milkmans paternal aunt, Pilate, has an extremely significannot and symbolic role in the novel. To her father, she represents the child who killed her own mother and took away her fathers wife. Seeing that Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death, the name Pilate seems toRead MoreEssay on Song of Solomon: A Bildungsroman of Milkman 1092 Words   |  5 PagesIt can be said that Song of Solomon is bildungsroman which is defined by The Encyclopedia Britannica as â€Å"a class of novel that deals with the [coming-of-age or] formative years of an individual†. Furthermore, in a bildungsroman, a main protagonist usually undergoes some transformation after seeking truth or philosophical enlightenment. In Morrison’s novel, the plot follows the main protagonist Milkman as he matures within his community while developing relationships with others and discovering hisRead MoreWell-known American Author Toni Morrison1182 Words   |  5 Pagescharacterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American realit y. Her novels are amazing themes, vivid dialogue, and detailed African-American characters; among the best known are her novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, which helped her in 1998 as she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in. In 2001 she was named part of The 30 Most Powerful Women in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 1949 Morrison entered Howard University, where she receivedRead MoreA Comparison Of The Tanach And Bible1380 Words   |  6 Pagesin worship, daily living and conduct. While Christianity and Judaism have numerous similarities because of the mother-daughter link, differences still exist. The sacred text for Judaism is the Tanach while for Christianity the Bible is used. This essay will explore the structure of each sacred text, the type of literature is in each canon, authorship of the text and how it is used in daily practice such as food, interpretation of the commandments and how a Torah is used in a synagogue. STRUCTURERead More Essay on Flight in Song of Solomon1579 Words   |  7 PagesTheme of Flight in Song of Solomon    Clearly, the significant silences and the stunning absences throughout Morrisons texts become profoundly political as well as stylistically crucial. Morrison describes her own work as containing holes and spaces so the reader can come into it (Tate 125), testament to her rejection of theories that privilege j the author over the reader. Morrison disdains such hierarchies in which the reader as participant in the text is ignored: My writing expects, demandsRead More Essay on Multiple Voices in Morrisons Song of Solomon1942 Words   |  8 PagesThe Significance of Multiple Voices in Morrisons Song of Solomon  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Of the various manifestations of voice that participate in the interplay of voices in Song of Solomon, I would like to name three - the narrative voice, the signifying voice, and the responsive voice - each of which is dialogized within itself and in relation to the others.    In the opening scene of the novel, the third-person omniscient narrative voice [emphasis added] informs us that at the time of day thatRead More A Comparison of Christian Symbols in Song of Solomon, Sula, and Beloved2397 Words   |  10 Pagesitself: religion and spirituality. Religious structure is built upon dogma, rituals, history, and tradition; spirituality exists as the unchanging foundation to that religious structure. Carolyn Mitchell explains both concepts most clearly in her essay titled, Biblical Revisions in Beloved: Religion is the worship of God; spirit is God; spirituality is the individual manifestation of God in everyday life and experience. Spirituality creates an authentic relationship to one’s own life, callingRead MoreThe, Mexican Feminist Theorist Gloria Anzladua s An Analytical Framework For Considering The Relationship Between Minority Faces,3216 Words   |  13 Pagesthe American 1800s more largely, a â€Å"black gift,† a form of â€Å"black nationhood,† and have used music to historicize slave experience in a larger racial and cultural context (DuBois; Epstein, 103). Taking the form of religious spirituals, sorrow songs, work songs, and even instrumental performance, black music serves to humanize black production to their white masters and to themselves during a period where blacks were considered nothing more than chattel. As agents of musical production, blacks confrontedRead MoreThe Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding2117 Words   |  9 PagesCopyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other. I would