Song of Solomon Precis
Critical Analysis by Eunice Choi
Chapter 7
Guitar the Sunday Man
In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison, claims that Guitar's anger at whites and desire to free blacks from oppression may be justified on a psychological level especially growing up poverty-stricken and watching his mother accept money for her husband's dead body was instrumental in Guitar's growing dislike for whites. Morrison establishes by juxtaposing Pilate and Guitar together-- like Pilate, Guitar knows that if Milkman wants to fly, he must first relinquish his extra baggage, including his illusions of independence, his arrogance, and his materialistic values and Guitar tells Milkman "Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down."(179)--thus Guitar shares Pilate's innate wisdom; however, he lacks the ability to make rational decisions and the wisdom to temper his knowledge with love which makes him unable to fly because he has not given up his own baggage that weighs him down, such as his hatred of whites. Using her personal opinion, Morrison uses an aggressive and strong tone through Milkman that Guitar's reasoning does not justify his actions, in order to prevent the audience to think that it is simply an act of revenge, when it is a serious crime to be a serial killer. Morrison speaks this message for both whites and blacks because she tries to show both perspectives and say that it is not right to kill.