Song of Solomon Race Quotes

We’ve just entered the world of the book, and the tone, the point of view is very journalistic and neutral. The point of view shows no allegiance to any one particular character or group. But it’s only after we finish the novel that we realize that this moment is one of the few moments that we are allowed into the thoughts of white people. The nurses and doctors automatically assume that the only reason a group of black people would come together would be for reasons of "racial uplift" or of promoting civil rights. This early passage is a barometer, showing us the nature, the temperature of the social climate. It also helps to give a broad perspective of the Not Doctor Street society before we zoom in on the Deads.

Here we watch racism play out. When disrespectfully addressed by a white woman, Guitar’s grandmother, who is a revered elder, must drop her eyes, not make eye contact in deference to the white nurse. Despite the fact that Guitar’s grandmother knows more of life (even setting aside the fact that she is so cool and has prevailed against so much hardship, there’s the simple fact that Guitar’s grandmother has lived longer), she must diminish herself. This scene stands in strong contrast to the way Macon Dead, her landlord, treats her not too long after. He shows no respect for her, only concerned about his money. We see right away the inequality running rampant in all aspects of society, making it nearly impossible to survive, to live peacefully as a black woman.

Mrs. Bains, Guitar’s grandmother, comments on Macon Dead and we have the beginnings of a discussion of the way materialism and capitalism affect (or infect) the concept of community. Macon’s businessman-ways have diminished his humanity, his ability to sympathize with an elderly woman trying to raise two grandsons on her own.

Dr. Foster’s renown in the black community isolates both him and his daughter from the community itself. The fact that he becomes the first black doctor in the city is a huge point of pride and celebration for the community, but Dr. Foster is not interested in maintaining a connection to this community. As such, Dr. Foster and Ruth Foster become a kind of malnourished, isolated aristocracy, completely disconnected from the world of Not Doctor Street. It is interesting, then, that Macon Dead, a man who began his life on Lincoln’s Heaven in a world so very different from Not Doctor Street, wants to join this afflicted aristocracy. It is also interesting that the novel never lets us see how Macon Dead is able to amass his wealth by the age of 25. In any case, "success" (as defined by the materialistic white society that dominates) seems to entail isolation for a black person in America at this time.

Here again we see how racism systematically affects American society, such that poverty runs rampant among the black community.

Sears is a name we still recognize today. Because of the color of her skin, Reba is denied the celebration honestly earned by being the 500,000th person to walk through the Sears doors. Here we see how racism can result in the bending of rules, how there is no such thing as fair or just.

According to Macon, the patriarch of the Dead family, Dr. Foster, establishes an obsession with color of skin, and a reverence for lighter skin color. This obsession trickles down the family tree, haunting and infecting his grandchildren, isolating them even further.

In the barbershop, we see the reality of the politics and racist society play out. Guitar tells Milkman much later on that there are no courts; there is no justice for a black person in America. The barbershop is as close to a court as the black community has in the world of Song. Despite the fact that the barbershop congregants have nothing to do with this recent murder (with the exception of Empire State), each of them are suspects simply because of the color of his skin. Skin color is enough to incriminate a person in America.

Milkman can’t relate to Guitar or to the barbershop congregants. He doesn’t deny that "insults, violence, and oppression" are part of their lives, but he doesn’t understand why they aren’t interested in talking about other things. To the congregants, these issues are integral to how and why they live their lives. To Milkman, these issues are peripheral, as though the congregants have a selection of issues to choose from and always end up choosing a discussion of "racial problems." We see how far away Milkman is from these issues.

A discussion that starts out about a soft-boiled egg turns into a discussion of how race and skin color play out in France and in colonial France. Here we are given an analysis of another country, as though to provide a frame of reference for the broken, racist American society. France features again in Song, because we know that Empire State meets and marries a white French woman who eventually cheats on him, and we know that Corinthians spends a year in France and is sought after by many a French man. We see here Guitar’s belief that skin color determines what you can or cannot be in life; that skin color can either limit or broaden your freedoms. By mentioning the Congo, Guitar points to the fact that (despite the seeming acceptance of black people in France), this acceptance disappears in colonized Africa.

Guitar has found no other explanation for white people’s ability to commit such hate crimes, such abominable acts of intolerance. It’s interesting that he doesn’t talk anymore about money and how money plays into white supremacy. While Milkman tries to argue that good, natural white people exist, Guitar is skeptical and prefers to generalize that the white race is unnatural, with every white person capable of committing hateful crimes.

Guitar points to culture (books, movies, art, poems, performance) as the way of measuring the nature of a society. He feels that white America knows that it is unnatural, and this can be proven by looking at the cultural pieces produced by a society. Our antennae immediately perk up here, because, as readers, we know we are reading a product of American culture and American society. Where and how does Song fit into Guitar’s theory?

When Milkman meets Susan Byrd and Grace Long, we have the first discussion of "passing," calling to attention the fact that, to escape the injustice, violence, and intolerance rampant in America, people would deny their heritage to live a more free life. Here we see the connection between skin color and shame in America.