Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon-A Quest Story In Structure And A Promotion Of Womanism In Content

African-American female writer Toni Morrison's third novel Song of Solomon recounts the black male protagonist Milkman Dead's journey down the American South in search of identity, family ancestry and African heritage. By analyzing the structure of the novel from Joseph Campbell's archetypal hero's journey of quest and the content of the novel from Alice Walker's womanist criticism, the thesis concludes that Song of Solomon fits into the Campbellian"Separation—Initiation—Return"tradition in structure and that in content the story subverts this quest tradition as an attempt to promote Morrison's womanist concepts—her challenge of white oppression and her celebration of the traditions and values of her African community.This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One, Introduction, is devoted to the discussion of the theoretical approaches of this thesis, namely, the Campbellian archetypal hero's journey and Alice Walker's womanist criticism.Chapter Two examines the protagonist Milkman Dead's journey down South within the framework of Campbellian archetypal hero's journey of quest, and intends to demonstrate that the novel fits into the"separation, initiation (transformation) and return"monomyth outlined by Joseph Campbell and Reg Harris.Chapter Three centers on how this novel subverts the archetypal quest tradition as Morrison endeavors to promote the idea of womanism. The subversion of the tradition is achieved through Morrison's intention to disrupt the white supremacy over her own people, and her emphasis on the values, beliefs, ideas and traditions of her African-American community.Chapter Four is the conclusion part. Based on the discussion in Chapter Two and Chapter Three, this part concludes that Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is not only a reflection of archetypal hero's journey but also a subversion of traditional quest story as Morrison attempts to promote womanist ideology.