Fly Away

Song of Solomon transcended my initial impression of weird, incest novel. The end left me in a conflict as to whether flying was good or bad. There were several pieces of evidence in the book that made me think flying, while initially appearing like a majestic form of leaving behind the bad parts of society, whetehr that be racism, slavery, or insurance collecting, is bad because of the other things you leave behind. People depend on others, and chances are if you fly away you are leaving behind someone who loves or depends on you. That is why Pilate heard her dad telling her that you can't just leave someone. That is why Ryna still screams when the wind hits her gulch right. And that is why Hagar died. However, Morrison's last sentence really makes me feel like flying is not all bad. It is Milkman's dream, and the way he discovers it is possible seems like an incredible experience to me. I decided that when Milkman flew, he was not leaving anyone behind. Hagar had already died because he left her, after he told his family about his history they were somewhat indifferent, and Pilate had just died in his arms. I think the message is that people should fly if they can, but they have to be careful they do not cause pain to those they leave behind.

I am looking forward to reading Jazz, which Morrison said was her best novel in her interview.

Yuck

First off, that incest scene was nasty. Besides Ruth lying with her dad "naked as a yard dog, kissing him," the part that really got to me was Macon's description of the dad as a "white rat" (73). The image grossed me out. Which is probably good because if it did not then something is wrong with me. Nightmares are coming. What is Milkman supposed to do? His dad's story just completely messed him up and now he is having flashbacks of himself breastfeeding.

Till has it worse though.

Milkman is growing up and it seems like he is on teams. He is on a team by himself against his family and he is on the team blacks that is fighting against the discrimination of whites. He is caught in the middle of the civil war within his family. His dad hates his mom and his sisters are just there. They make rose petals and glare at him when he knocks down Macon but they do not really seem to do anything. The story about Till puts Milkman against more opposition besides his family, whites. A white man can do anything to a black man without consequence because there "ain't no law for no colored man except the one sends him to the chair" (82). So far I am seeing Milkman against the world. At least he is together with the other black men fighting racism, but still it seems like the odds are against them winning.

Flight seems like an important theme. When Hagar says that "some of [her] days were hungry ones," Pilate realizes "she don't mean food" (48-49). Pilate then sings the same song she sang when Robert Smith tried to fly away. I was confused when I read this part, but here is my interpretation: I think Hagar wants to "fly" away from something. Maybe poverty or maybe oppression, I am not sure. Pilate's recollection of her mother's "blue...ribbons" that she wore before she "died" also reminded me of flight (42-43). Robert Smith was wearing blue wings when he tried to fly away. I think blue could represent flight or death or both. Flying could be a way to freedom, and so could death.

My point is this. The Newsday writer who said, "[Morrison's] writing evokes the joyful richness of life" must not have read the book about which he or she was talking (back of the book).

Colorful

The color imagery in Song of Solomon really stood out to me in the beginning of the book. Robert Smith had a "little yellow house" (3). He had his "wide blue wings" stretched around him before he tried to fly away (6). The "red velvet rose petals" scattered around into the snow that would soak "through them" (5). And "white-coated surgeons" work in mercy hospital (7). I already think white must represent something treacherous because Mercy did not allow black patients until they admitted Ruth, and the snow is trying to ruin the red roses that they girls have worked so hard to make. I also think yellow could be something bad because Robert Smith was trying to escape from his yellow house. Escape on blue wings. Blue could be escape and red could represent toil.

Names also caught my attention. I feel like they must be important just because of how much they stand out: First Corinthians and Pilate are clearly biblical allusions. I wonder why it was so important to the whites that Mains Avenue wwas not called Doctor Street. Maybe because they do not want the black doctor to be recognized.

Whatever

Chapter 19 of King Leopold's Ghost gives several examples of murder not mattering to people. Just like the exhibit of the Soviet Union, the exhibit of the Congo has "no hint" of the "millions of Congolese" that died (293). The murder of the Congolese was considered insignificant at the time it happened, so exhibits of the Congo do not display its horror. The Company's nonchalance towards its treatment of the natives in Heart of Darkness shows how little the Europeans thought of the Congolese.

Another similarity between Chapter 19 and Heart of Darkness is European reaction to rebellion. The statues that have "every nail and blade" inserted into them to represent 'retaliation" remind me completely of the heads on poles that Kurtz used to instil fear in the natives. The Europeans were scared of losing power in Africa so they would terrorize the natives to make sure they kept their power.

Women

The women in Heart of Darkness all seem significant to me. I only remember four. The two at the beginning, one of whom "preceded [Marlow] into the waiting-room" (14). She could be important because she kind of marks the beginning of Marlow's journey. However, what I really noticed about Marlow's encounter with her was how he "only...just began to think of getting out of her way" when she "walked straight at [him]-still knitting with downcast eyes" (14). Marlow barely even thought of moving out of her way until she was about to walk into him. His actions made me feel like he thought he was above her. Then, at the very end of the book, we meet the "wild-eyed and magnificent" African woman (113). As Marlow and the crew leave Kurtz's station Marlow blows the steamboat's whistle to scare off the native onlookers, and "only the barbarous and superb woman [does] not so much as flinch, and [stretches] tragically her bare arms after [them] over the sombre and glittering river" (127). This woman seems powerful, steady amidst the terror felt by all around her. Finally, Marlow meets the lady that loved Kurtz. She seems to bring all the grief hat has happened in the novel together through a "feeling of infinite pity" (144). The scene with this lady repeats Kurtz's "very last words" in a "persistent whisper that seemed to swell menacingly" (145). She encompasses all the darkness Marlow has seen through her mourning of Kurtz. The women can be insignificant, powerful, or somber. Yet the men have power of them. Marlow treats the first lady in a way that makes her insignificant. The native is willful, but Kurtz and Marlow still leave her behind making her seem helpless. And Marlow has to save the last woman from overwhelming anguish that would have been "too dark" by lying about Kurtz's last words. Marlow alone lived with the knowledge of the "horror," at least until he told this story to his shipmates.

The End

Someone once told me the only activity proven to make people smarter is reading. I feel like if I could just understand Heart of Darkness a little better I could feel myself getting smarter as I read it. I am obviously no expert on literature but I feel it is the most well written book we have read so far this year and we have read some very well written books. I definitely started noticing black and white imagery more and more as I got towards the end of the book. A few examples really stood out to me when Marlow goes to visit the lady in the Kurtz's painting. "The tall marble fireplace had a cold and monumental whiteness. A grand pianio stood massively in a corner, with dark gleams..." (139). "She came forward, all in black, with a pale head" (139). "That great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness" (142). Even when all is dark around Marlow and this woman they are in the middle of a light because they knew Kurtz.

I really did not understand "The horror! The horror!" (130). Did Kurtz, in death, understand the true horror of the world? Or maybe of his actions?

Bald as Ivory

I am trying to figure out what Marlow thinks of Mr. Kurtz. He talks about Kurtz in different ways, usually making me think he does not respect Kurtz, but sometimes his commentary is not always consistent. His goal is to find find Kurtz, the man who is "grubbing for ivory" in the middle of the "wretched" jungle (77). At this moment, Marlow thinks of Kurtz as a man trying to find ivory by any means neccessary. Marlow's use of the word of "grubbing" gives a negative connotation. I picture a fat, greasy man grubbing at his food, scraping everything he can off his plate.

However, when Marlow starts to think that "Mr. Kurtz is dead...by this time," a "sense of extreme dissapointment" overcomes him for the sole reason that now he cannot have "a talk with Mr. Kurtz" (86). I think Marlow is so dissapointed because he wants to confront the man that seems to encompass everything that he thinks of as the "heart of darkness." Maybe that is why "of all [Kurtz's] gifts the one that [stands] out preeminently , that [carries] with it a sense of real presence, [is] his ability to talk" (86). I think ivory is a symbol of evil in Heart of Darkness. Ivory represents the white man's greed and evil in the novel. Marlow describes Kurtz as "an ivory ball" because of his bald head (87). Conrad turns Kurtz into the ultimate "white" man. His bald appearance actually reflects his personality: greedy and inhumane.