The Importance of Names

As we noticed early on, the characters in Song of Solomon all had very peculiar names. Whether it be very unusual like First Corinthian or whether it be more of a nickname like Milkman, Morrison has hidden a much broader and deeper meaning behind many of the names she assigns the characters.

Perhaps the most important idea Morrison attempted to convey was the idea that the more familiar/popular name is often more descriptive than the more original or recorded name given to places or people. We can see several examples of this throughout the book, starting with Milkman himself. While Milkman's official name is Macon Dead III, that doesn't show much other than his biological relationship to his ancestry. However, his nickname Milkman provides us more than that, giving information on the nature of Milkman's unusual relationship with his mother, being breast fed way past the age one usually stops, which everyone in the town seems to pick up pretty quickly from this nickname alone. I also think this could potentially reach even deeper and be referencing in general to the fact that Milkman just seems to leech off what other people produce, for example the way he just seems to be using Hagar to please his sexual desires. There are several more examples of this throughout the book, Mains Avenue being called "Not Doctor's Avenue" referring to previous inhabitance of Dr. Foster, Pilate owning up to the similarity of her name to "pilot" guiding Milkman to spiritual freedom, Circe playing the exact same role as the enchantress in the Odyssey who gives Odysseus crucial aid which helps him get home, and many more. 

When one reaches the end of the book and has discussed and thought of all the meanings behind the naming of the characters, it really is intriguing to look back and read the novel again with a different point of view.

Comments

  1. Amina GDecember 22, 2018 at 2:05 PM

    You brought up some really good points. I found it interesting how you said that you interpreted Milkman's name as symbolizing his 'leeching off of what other people produce' -- I never would have thought of it that way. Morrison does use very peculiar names for her characters in this novel.

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  2. Nic RamkumarDecember 26, 2018 at 2:11 PM

    I disagree with you on Milkman's official name of Macon Dead III having no meaning. I feel like it gives Macon II a certain sense of control over Milkman which is ultimately taken away when Macon III is renamed Milkman. Macon Jr. essentially wants a mini version of himself but he doesn't end up getting that.

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  3. GrantDecember 31, 2018 at 9:00 PM

    Yeah names are very important expecially how they relate to their fathers, and it's very interesting of the epigraph relates them together, it's reflected in the naming of milkman after his father

    ReplyDelete
  4. AdamJanuary 4, 2019 at 3:37 PM

    I wrote a similar blog post on the importance of names, but I tailored my exploration towards the names of Milkman's ancestors/family history and what the process of Milkman discovering these names reveals about Milkman's transformation. This goes to show that not only do names play a very important role in the novel, but also that their interpretation can be taken in all sorts of ways to reveal some very interesting things.

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