'Song of Solomon': Approaching Identity through the Myth of the Flying African

Abstract

The representation of the African American community in literature has always been considered debatable due to its history of slavery. Notwithstanding, authors like Toni Morrison have attempted to create a new way of describing the members of this community bearing in mind the differences between the same group. Thus, focusing on one particular character of the novel, this paper seeks to explore the way in which the protagonist Milkman of Song of Solomon (1977) by Toni Morrison evolves and creates his identity anew through the “Flying African” myth. The presence of the myth and its synthesis with cultural aspects such as orature, story-telling, naming and ancestry will be the ideal trigger for the new identity to be fulfilled. There will be a transition from past to present that will lead the main character to acknowledge his own past by embracing what had been previously disallowed by the mainstream. Firstly, there will be a brief reference to the myth in the African American cultural context and then, the main focus of this paper will be the analysis of the gradual evolution undertaken by the protagonist through the myth.