“Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly.”
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
Tell Me of Winged Love in a Time of Grounded Hatred
Toni Morrison made words dance. When her pen met paper the words flew off the page and her shackled characters broke free. Song of Solomon tells the story of a flightless man named Macon “Milkman” Dead whose bones are outlined with the skeletal wings of his ancestors, and Morrison graciously invites her readers to join him on his search for feathers. While this novel tells a Black story, it is important to note that Morrison does not use melanin as an excuse to halter any readers’ reconciliation with the trauma in their own lives. Rather, it uses trauma indicative of Black stories as a lens that highlights specific human experiences, reminding us of our collective brokenness and beauty.
What is flight?
To fly is to be free of expectation. It is said that children are unaware of how much space they take up, and it is this unawareness that brings them unlimited freedom and innocence. This is the tragedy of introducing children to scenarios that teach them to be aware too early–they lose their chance to be blissfully and unassumedly free for as long as they can. Toni Morrison plays with this concept as a racial conversation. Did slavery clip the wings, the freedom, of Black men and women? Are Black people in America expected to fall in line with rules placed upon them by the majority White society, stripping them of their chance to fly above what Morrison calls the Master Narrative? These are the questions she expects readers to ask themselves as they follow Milkman’s path of discovery. She also calls on us to ponder our own state of stillness. Do we live for others or for a greater purpose that goes beyond the expectations of the eyes around us? Do we have the ability to fly or do we allow others, or even ourselves, to clip the wings peaking between our shoulder blades? How do we let our wings grow? And how do we use them once they have grown to fullness?
Take the Chance to Fly Today
Today, if you can, look in the mirror. Find the wings that once carried you above expectations. Search for something greater than yourself and help others do the same. What is your name? Who are you? Bring the fullness of yourself to the forefront so that you can see others in their fullness. Choose today to fly.