The Pitfall Of White Society Exposed In Song Of Solomon

In Song of Solomon, each time the color white appears, it represents a fault or pitfall of white society. These traits build up to form the negative lens under which black society has come to view white people.

The white peacock symbolizes the suppression of black people by upper class white people who believe themselves superior. This is supported by the difference in Guitar’s and Milkman’s reactions to the peacock. When the peacock lands on and damages a Buick, Guitar laughs and taunts, “Faggot....White Faggot”(179). His reaction to an animal is important because it humanizes the bird. He wants to emasculate the animal, as he wants white society to feel the pain and lesser status that black people have felt for so long. He does this by shouting

When Milkman talk to Freddie about the bull that killed his mother, Freddie cries, “Soon’s she said a word, the woman turned into a white bull”(111). In media, bulls are used to represent anger. The white woman walking down the street became angry towards Freddie’s mother simply because she said hello. This connects to the murder of Emmett Till, who was killed for supposedly flirting with a white woman. The murder of Freddie’s mother represents the mass killing of black people for no reason at all. In addition, Freddie being born in the moment before her death represents the frequent rape of black women by white men. The bull represents some of the worst acts of racial violence in American history. Similarly, Circe and her Weimaraners represent the worst period of oppression in American history, slavery. Circe keeps the dogs trapped in the house in which spent most of her life, just as the Butlers did to her. This forced work parallels the forced work of slaves. Additionally, when Milkman first meets Circe he comments that “She was so old she was colorless”(240). Since Circe was a black woman, this means that she is turning white. Keeping the dogs in captivity and forcing them to work is turning her into a white person because her actions correspond to those of a slave owner. Slavery and unprecedented violence all contribute to the image that white

Being an white person, this is the perfect illustration to use. When Macon first sees the man’s smile in the cave he is disturbed: “Macon saw that he was very old, very white, and his smile was awful” (169). This illustrates how, when a black person is in a vulnerable position, just the sight of a lone white person is enough to strike fear into the person. Even though the man may have in fact been friendly, the history of white violence took that possibility out of Macon’s mind. Adding to Macon’s fear was the murder of his father, Jake. Jake was killed by the Butlers, a white family. This killing adds to Macon’s decision to kill the man in the cave because one of his only intimate attachments to white people is the murder of his father. He wouldn’t let himself be caught off guard. Adding further to this dangerous image was the persistence of the man. When Macon attacked him, the white man began to bleed profusely. Even so, Morrison writes that “The man kept coming”(170). This is representative of the things that black society has done to try and combat white power. This shows how when black people do anything to make a dent in white power, the white community just keeps pushing back, so that there is never an end to the fight. They may draw blood as Macon did, but it will not stop the white people from coming back again and again. White society has shown itself to be, as