The Essence Of Flight

5 Pages 1180 Words

In Toni Morrison’s, Song of Solomon, the image of flying is used wonderfully to uplift this novel. This metaphor is used to represent freedom, mythology, and the recreation of one’s life.
The essence of flight is part of a myth that grows and develops as people grow and develop; it is an attitude and spirit as a pervasive way of thought For the young children in Shalimar, the "Song of Solomon" game characterizes flight as simple nonsense, with "a boy in the middle, his arms outstretched, turning around like an airplane, while the others sang some meaningless rhyme". But with maturity comes a broader understanding of flight, as Milkman came to know a different image of flying. "In Solomon's store... he still felt the sense of lightness and power that flying had given him." At Sweet's house, Milkman felt the exuberance of flying in a dream, but the dream gave way to reality when put face to face with a seemingly certain death. Milkman took flight "without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees, he leaped". Learning to fly was the essence of flight itself. Milkman always admired the things in the world that had the power to go beyond the boundaries of gravity. When seeing the peacock, he shouts, "‘look, she's flying down.' Milkman felt again his unrestrained joy at anything that could fly. “Some jive flying, but look at her strut”. Throughout her life, Pilate could fly in the spiritual sense. Despite being shackled to the earth by nature, Pilate was beyond humanity and nature. That was a trait that Milkman always loved in her, that "without ever leaving the ground, she could fly". Milkman never knew the power of flight until he knew the unrequited freedom of his soul that he found in Shalimar, a place that became "hill country. Mountain Country. Flying country”. Even if he did not know it at first, the essence of flight was attitude, evolving from simple notions and games into beliefs and f...