Stories

Song of Solomon – Stories

The novel “Song of Solomon,” revolves around stories as the basis for explanation of how things have come to happen. Instead of the author directly telling us how things occurred in the past, she uses the characters and their flashbacks as her method of explanation. Stories are part of the style in which the book is written since every time a new idea or event is introduced, it is followed by a story. Throughout the book, new events or ideas are introduced in a very straight forward manner with no anticipation as to how things occurred. The explanation comes after the event is stated; the characters go back and talk about what happened before that led up to the present.

Storytelling is also used to explain the personalities of the character and the relationships between everyone in the book. An example of that is when Macon sits with Milkman, and tells him the story of when he was a child. Macon tells Milkman about his father, Pilate, and Ruth and how he felt about them. Stories are the way each character expresses what he or she really feels and it gives a deeper explanation of each character’s personality. Storytelling is how we get to meet each character individually and how we understand what led to their present situations. Through storytelling we learn why Macon is so cold towards Ruth, his relationship to Dr. Foster, Ruth and Dr. Foster’s relationship, Pilate and Macon’s relationship, Macon and Pilate’s relationship to their father and their relationship with the gold, etc. At first Milkman wishes he hadn’t heard any of the stories people tell him but throughout the book they begin to influence him more and more. In the end, the stories he has heard and the new ones he hears are what drives him. He claims to be looking for the gold but he slowly begins to be intrigued by all the different stories he hears from his people and about his people. He begins to come up with his own ideas and becomes so interested on what he has heard and in finding out what really happened with his entire family that he forgets he is searching for the gold.




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