The Search For Black Male Identity In Toni Morirson’s Song Of Solomon

Unlike Toni Morrison’s other novels, Song of Solomon is the only one which shechooses a male character as the protagonist. Many critics interpret this novel fromthe perspective of post-colonial study, feminist reading, and archetypal criticalapproach and so on. As we know, Morrison’s most works concern the issues of theBlack women. Some scholars argue that she always degrades Black male’s identityand ignores the Black male’s destiny. However, this is an exception in Song ofSolomon. By depicting Milkman’s searching for family history and African tradition,the author tries to explore how the Black men construct their self identity.In Jacques Lacan’s concept, the human being goes through three differentpsychological stages: the Real, the Imaginary and the Symbolic, which is suitable torepresent the track of psychological development of human beings in this novel. Inthe light of the Lacanian theory of psychoanalysis, and through a close reading ofSong of Solomon, this thesis analyzes the psychological world of the three main maleBlacks to reveal the process of their psychological development, and then to explaintheir different behaviors and destinies.This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part contains a briefintroduction to the author and her writings, literature review about Song of Solomonand methodology used in this novel.The second part is divided into three chapters, which mainly focuses on theego identification of the three protagonists, Macan Dead, Guitar Bain and MilkmanDead. The three protagonists are trapped in the problem of self identification, in therelationship of family, Black community and modern white society throughout thenovel. Their behaviors and destinies are in accordance with their psychologicaldevelopment.Chapter One presents Macan’s road to pursuit of property. Macan traps in the Symbolic Order dominated by the white’s ideology all the time, constructing his selfidentity by pursuing the external wealth. Chapter Two shows Guitar’s road to takingvengeance. Guitar is wondering between the Imaginary Order and the SymbolicOrder, trapped into the extreme hatred towards the white，and finally leading to hismental disorder. Chapter Three explores Milkman’s whole process of searching forthe self identity. Milkman is the only character who can transcend from theImaginary Order to the Symbolic Oder, and finally gets into the Real Order with thesuccess of construction of self-identity as a black man.The conclusion part sums up the whole thesis. In addition, it restates the purposeand significance of using Lacan’s psychological study on Song of Solomon, and thecontribution of this research. That’s through the analysis of the psychologicaldevelopment of the three male characters by Lacan’s psychological theory, Morrisonshows to the reader that only through combination of the past and the present, theself and the other, can the male blacks succeed in finding their self-identity inmodern African American society.