Loss,Quest And Growth:An Analysis Of Song Of Solomon As An Initiation Story

Toni Morrison's novels are famous for their vivid black images,attractive plots and far-reaching significant themes.Song of Solomon is Morrison's third novel.Most critics explore the feminism,racism,cultural pursuit or the narrative strategies in it.This text is the only one of her novels with a black male protagonist,narrating a youth's initiation from ignorance to maturity.This thesis intends to explore,from the perspective of the American initiation story,the hero's growing process of overcoming his weakness and pursuing his black self-identity,aiming to help readers better understand Morrison's work and its profound cultural connotations.The thesis argues that the Northern city black hero reconstructs his cultural identity by returning to the black tradition represented by the Southern rural folks,thus gaining growth.This thesis is divided into three parts.The first part is the introduction.Firstly,it introduces Toni Morrison's experiences and works.Secondly,it makes a brief introduction to the story.Thirdly,it summarizes the literature review and structure of the novel and then puts forward the writing purpose and practical significance of this thesis.The second part is the main body,which consists of four chapters:Chapter One is the theoretical framework of this thesis.Firstly,it presents the origin and development of the initiation story.Secondly,it discusses the general features of the American initiation story.Thirdly,it explains why Song of Solomon is an initiation story.Chapter Two dwells on Milkman's loss in detail from the perspective of the initiation story,including his negative self awareness,the twisted love in his deformed family,his confusion of love and sex,and his rejection of black culture.Chapter Three explores Milkman's quest and growth process,including how he quests for his family history and the results of such a quest-growth.This is the most important part of the thesis because quest and growth are the basic themes of this novel.Chapter Four demonstrates three peculiarities of the initiation theme in Song of Solomon,including the marginal youth image in the marginalized cultural background,the juxtaposition of Bildung and anti-Bildung,and the return model of initiation.The Conclusion summarizes the previous chapters and points out the promotion meaning of the novel in enlarging the scope of the initiation story,and also points out a better way to grow up for marginal black youths,which may benefit the growth of youths in our modern society.