History And Culture In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

Abstract

My paper aims at showing the impact of history on the life of the African American community which, despite the white man’s attempts to “wipe it out” survives in the minds and memories of these people. In addition, the paper focuses on how this “historical” heritage is presented and expressed in the literature of the African American community in the mid 1970’s. In Song of Solomon for instance, history is given a mythical dimension that transcends the hands of time and place to remain one of the most important imports of “cultural and individual” identity. In the novel, the writer attempts to get rid of the “reductionist” stereotypes which are attached to both black male and female characters in the dawn of a new African American culture revived from the wounds of the past and clearly fed with the spirit of reconciliation between its members.