Previous
Mood
Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Forbidden Sexuality:
Incest and forbidden sexuality emerge as a key motif in Song of Solomon. Indeed, there are multiple examples of this: Milkman's attraction to Hagar, his cousin's daughter; Pilate's strange relationship with Macon Dead II; Ruth's prolonged breastfeeding of Milkman; and the incestuous relationship Macon Dead II believes Ruth had with her father.
Note the following excerpt from Chapter 3, in which Ruth's strange relationship with her father is described:
"In the bed. That’s where [Ruth] was when I opened the door. Laying next to him. Naked as a yard dog, kissing him. Him dead and white and puffy and skinny, and she had his fingers in her mouth."
Ruth commits several social sins in this passage, incest and necrophilia among the most prominent. She cannot abide her father's passing, holding on to him longer than is normal. Similarly, Ruth cannot handle the fact that Milkman is growing up and consequently growing away from her. In a futile attempt to slow this progression, she chooses to continue breastfeeding him—against the advice of all others. These aspects of delayed development are directly connected to sexuality: after a certain age, children begin to learn that society largely regards breasts through a sexual lens, yet Ruth allows her son to continue to nurse, accepting those sexual implications.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Beauty:
Throughout the text, Morrison contemplates the ways in which Black women are torn down by society and by the men in their lives, seen as secondary or as accessories. This motif—beauty and self-image as impacted by White supremacy and patriarchy—can be found in many of Morrison's other major works, including The Bluest Eye.
Note that the following excerpt from Chapter 13, focused on Hagar's self-image, is a classic example of the way Morrison imagines beauty as a kind of performance. Her characters often fail to adequately embody this beauty in some way, either disappointing society's White-centric beauty standards or those of their lovers:
From the moment she looked into the mirror in the little pink compact she could not stop. It was as though she held her breath and could not let it go until the energy and busyness culminated in a beauty that would dazzle him. That was why, when she left Lilly’s, she looked neither right nor left but walked on and on, oblivious of other people, street lights, automobiles, and a thunderous sky. She was thoroughly soaked before she realized it was raining and then only because one of the shopping bags split.
Hagar imagines herself beautiful, fixated on performing for Milkman, only for her fantasy to be shattered by cold, harsh reality breaking through. Her shopping bags split, the rain pours down, and the beauty Hagar so carefully constructed dissolves. She eventually goes mad with grief, chasing after an impossible ideal—some procedure or beauty technique to make her more appealing to Milkman. Such a procedure does not exist.
Related Themes:
