What Role Does the Gold Play in Song of Solomon?
Throughout the history of American literature, there have been thousands and thousands of authors who have used an entity in order to portray a change or simply keep the story moving along. In Toni Morrsison’s Song of Solomon, this style of writing is portrayed beautifully as Milkman, the main character who struggles to find himself and all about his heritage throughout the novel, sees his relationships change dramatically as the story went on. The main reason for this change was the “Gold Bag” as Morrison liked to call it, as it was able to manipulate Milkman’s thinking and change the mood of the story. One point which must be discussed is the fact that without the gold bag, there would be no second part to the story. The reason for this occurrence would be that Milkman’s journey to Virginia in search of the bag is what the second piece of the novel discusses, allowing the reader to finally receive a grasp as to what Milkman heritage is all about, and who he sees himself as being. The gold bag portrays a major change in the relationships which Milkman had developed, whether it is for the better, or for the worse, it allows the reader to see precisely what such a precious object has the power to do.
orldwide, money has the power to do pretty much anything which it wants, and in the case of this novel, it broke relationships. Although being lifetime friends, Milkman and Guitar were both brought down by the beast of the gold bag, and cut off their relationship as friends. As unfortunate as it may be, the two even came to the point where one saw death in the blink of an eye. Towards the middle of part one of the story, Milkman approaches Guitar with an offer that nobody would ever decline, even if it meant for a friendship to be broken. After Guitar had heard Milkman out about stealing the gold bag from Pilate’s house, they both agreed on when to go through with the mission, only to be disappointed by finding it to be a bag of bones. While the two were shocked, they both at the same time determined. They had transformed from being friends into being nemesis as they both wanted to search for the gold by their lonesome, setting a barrier between themselves, that barrier being the bag of gold. The two had just begun to start building an even better relationship, but their greed and needs for the money overtook them and led to disaster. It seems as if the two began o finally figure each other out, ask Morrison writes, “He also knew that all his life, Guitar had never seen Milkman give anybody a hand, especially a stranger”(296). For a couple of lifelong friends to experience such a incident like the one at hand, it is even possible for one to wish death upon the other. That leads to the other horrible deed which Guitar was forced into thinking was necessary by the gold. Without the manipulation of the gold and without the two gentlemen seeing pride and respect, the friends may have stayed friends, but such a little object can do so much, even to Milkman. One final relationship in which the gold bag manipulated is the connection b
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Approximate Word count = 1246
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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