Despite their economic standing, the Dead family is stuck in its unfortunate past and cannot move forward, making them neither a poor African American family nor privileged White one. As the Deads aren't part of the clichéd categories the media portrays, Morrison makes the reader understand social issues in a different way. In this section of the book, the author has shown how Milkman can't look forward and progress and can't either truly understand his history. When taking a ride in the Dead's hearse, Milkman could only look back, something that later Morrison expands on when saying that, "It was becoming a habit--this concentration on things behind him. Almost as though there were no future to be had" (pg. 35). When I began reading this book I expected it to be about poverty-stricken African Americans, probably because of my lack of exposure to this subject, but the author is showing how racial issues go beyond wealth or slavery. Morrison is beginning to show how being different from one's stereotype can create a confusion about oneself. While the book shows how stereotypes can cause uncertainty about identity in African Americans, this is true about segregated groups as a whole.
Clichés about African Americans are evident on the book but I believe there is a similar nature that affects other discriminated groups. In the case of women, even though they're not a minority, by being underrepresented they act like one and might end up in a situation similar to the Dead's. I recently read an article in Time about Sheryl Sandberg, a Facebook businesswoman, regarding her new book intended to reboot feminism. By reading the article and commenting on Lean In, Sandberg's book, with my sister, who read it, I've noticed that I share many of her ideas and can relate women's discrimination to some aspects of Song of Solomon.
As society objectifies minorities, people begin to identify themselves not by their personalities but by the superficial aspects that separate them from others. The issue beneath discrimination isn't only the visible part of it but rather the mental part of it. In the setting of the novel, society taught White people that Blacks were different, but that didn't stop there. Minorities are even more susceptible to become mentally prejudicial against themselves. Corinthians declares that, "Negroes don't like the water"(pg. 35) and Mrs. Bains says that, "A nigger in business is a terrible thing to see" (pg. 22). Self-discrimiantion or differentiation has appeared more in the novel than the evident White bigotry to show that society penetrates our brains with bias. So far in the book, Morrison has shown that intolerance can go deep enough to the point where it influences all our thoughts. Feminism faces this issue in the present now that legal barriers have been overcome. As tangible discrimination is mostly over in the West (or the US at least), feminism slowed down because only mental carries were left. Sandberg proposes to fight against the deep-rooted aspects of discrimination that cause women from impede themselves from being successful. Just like characters in Song of Solomon have prejudices about themselves and Milkman is stuck with his past, many women that decide to work feel insecure about who they are and might try to fit into the male working model. Both cases of discrimination, against African Americans and against women, show that we need to get rid of social stereotypes because they make us limit ourselves, not to mention be treated unfairly by others. Milkman, when talking to his aunt, feels uncertain about his identity. His family is rich but their past, represented by Pilate, was miserable. As Blacks were put all together into one category by society, the Deads didn't quite fit in. Similarly, many people still have outdated beliefs about gender roles. People should change their way of thinking about labor and their "responsibilities" as men or women for life to be fair for all. Segregation or violence against a group are the effects of a discriminative mind that society creates. Although it sounds naive, for those issues to be resolved, there shouldn't be categorization in society.
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