Coming-of-Age

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is a true coming-of-age story. The reader is guided through Milkman’s life as he sees it. The reader experiences his struggles and his realizations along with him throughout the novel. Eventually, he progresses from being an immature teenager to a righteous man with a sense of direction in life. In part one of the book, Milkman’s life from when he was born to when he was about 35 is depicted. Throughout these 35 years, Milkman is illustrated as someone whose life is essentially purposeless and empty. After all, he’s been living in the same city forever and everyone he knows is simply using him for his life, as Guitar puts it. He is stuck with his father's materialistic values and arrogance and his mother’s ignorance towards everyone and everything. As a result, he is greatly selfish and indifferent, lacks all respect for women, and relies heavily on materialistic goods because he perceives himself as one who is inferior to others both economically and socially.

            However, this all begins to change towards the end of part 1. As he is sitting in the bathtub, he begins to realize that “his undersized leg seems to have returned to normal length.” In addition, he describes himself to be uncomfortable in the tub he once used to fit in as a child. Not only does this depict his growth as a person physically, but also mentally; the bathtub is a symbol for the unchanging state he lives in and how he doesn’t want to be confined within everyone else’s thoughts. This sparks his quest for his true identity and independence.