Journey to Ancestry: Reclaiming of Identity and Home in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon

Abstract

Journeys play a vital role in the lives of African Americans insofar as their quest for home in America is concerned. These journeys substantially contribute to their understanding of the impact of slavery and racism on themselves and their ancestors without which they are not in a position to materialize their dream for a viable home and identity. ‘Memory’ and ‘re-memory help them to evoke traumas that their ancestors had undergone and compare the same with their firsthand traumas in the present. These journeys thus enable them to get matured and knowledgeable so that they can adapt themselves to the new condition. The paper is an attempt to explore in a better way Toni Morrison’s representation of pain and pleasure of such journeys in her novel Song of Solomon, which enable her black characters to reconstruct their identities and regain self-esteem so that they find themselves in a position to make home possible.