The Search Of Soul

Toni Morrison is the first Afro-American woman writer who wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. As a black woman, she always keeps reflecting and exploring the African American history, fate and spiritual world.Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison's third and representative novel, is the only one of her up-to-now publications with a male hero. In this novel, through the depiction of the American black young man, Milkman Dead, Morrison shows the living situation of blacks in the so-called mainstream white culture, and the process of their growth and maturity. Meanwhile, she also attempts to find out a way out for black people as a race in modern society.Through analyzing the protagonist Milkman's journey south for his family legacy, this thesis studies the levels of meaning of the search theme of Song of Solomon. It can be divided into three parts. The first part deals with search for roots. In the journey of seeking his family history and authentic names, Milkman ultimately discovers his roots and thus gains his racial identity. The second part is search for cultural tradition. Milkman not only inherits Afro-American traditional culture but also assumes the responsibility of passing it on. The third part is search for human nature. During this process of tests, rebirth, and baptism, Milkman learns to love, to give, and to shoulder responsibility in his self-examination.In short, from a cultural orphan with inauthentic name to a successor of traditional black culture; from the loss of humanity to the awakening of it, this is the procedure of Milkman's search. While, rooting in American reality, comprehending black history, and inheriting traditional culture are meanwhile a way out Morrison gives to direct the Afro-Americans in modern society.