I'm sure I wasn't alone in noticing similarities between Song of Solomon and Wide Sargasso Sea, not just in the characters but also the themes.
I think perhaps the most obvious parallel is between Pilate and Christophine. They both seem to have supernatural powers, and even give another character a love potion. But besides that, they also fulfill similar roles in the books. Both act as a sort of mother figure to the main character, in the place of the main character's weaker biological mother. They also are at odds with the male figure trying to 'take away' the main character, whether Macon or Rochester. I especially found this interesting since we briefly discussed in class the potential racism of putting Christophine in a caretaker role. There are of course differences between the two characters. Pilate just has more autonomy, probably because she lives in a predominantly black environment that white people rarely intrude on (versus Christophine being constantly under the thumb of the British colonialists).
(I think Christophine's dynamic with Antoinette might be more similar to the relationship between Pilate and Reba and Hagar. But that's besides the point.)
Both books also have the theme of different, conflicting worlds. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the worlds are in conflict because one is more white and the other is more black; one is the colonized and one is the colonizer. Similarly, in Song of Solomon, one world is 'whiter' while the other is 'blacker'. The two worlds are divided by class as well. This division leads the main character to come under threat. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the clash between the world of Antoinette and the world of Rochester leads to Rochester brutally overpowering Antoinette and her world. In Song of Solomon, there are clear tensions between Milkman and his non-Honoré friends, like Pilate, Hagar, and Guitar. This also leads to tragedy: Hagar dies, and Guitar turns on Milkman and sets out to kill him.
Finally, I think Antoinette and Milkman go through similar empowering epiphanies at the end. Antoinette realizes that she can exact justice by burning down Rochester's home (ie her prison). She gives no thought to her own life because it does not matter in the face of her discovery.
Milkman goes through a similar realization. In the final scene of the novel, even in the tragedy of Pilate's death, he makes an elating discovery. And like Antoinette, he launches himself at Guitar without worrying about his death, because he's finally realized an essential truth: "If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."
I think perhaps the most obvious parallel is between Pilate and Christophine. They both seem to have supernatural powers, and even give another character a love potion. But besides that, they also fulfill similar roles in the books. Both act as a sort of mother figure to the main character, in the place of the main character's weaker biological mother. They also are at odds with the male figure trying to 'take away' the main character, whether Macon or Rochester. I especially found this interesting since we briefly discussed in class the potential racism of putting Christophine in a caretaker role. There are of course differences between the two characters. Pilate just has more autonomy, probably because she lives in a predominantly black environment that white people rarely intrude on (versus Christophine being constantly under the thumb of the British colonialists).
(I think Christophine's dynamic with Antoinette might be more similar to the relationship between Pilate and Reba and Hagar. But that's besides the point.)
Both books also have the theme of different, conflicting worlds. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the worlds are in conflict because one is more white and the other is more black; one is the colonized and one is the colonizer. Similarly, in Song of Solomon, one world is 'whiter' while the other is 'blacker'. The two worlds are divided by class as well. This division leads the main character to come under threat. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the clash between the world of Antoinette and the world of Rochester leads to Rochester brutally overpowering Antoinette and her world. In Song of Solomon, there are clear tensions between Milkman and his non-Honoré friends, like Pilate, Hagar, and Guitar. This also leads to tragedy: Hagar dies, and Guitar turns on Milkman and sets out to kill him.
Finally, I think Antoinette and Milkman go through similar empowering epiphanies at the end. Antoinette realizes that she can exact justice by burning down Rochester's home (ie her prison). She gives no thought to her own life because it does not matter in the face of her discovery.
Milkman goes through a similar realization. In the final scene of the novel, even in the tragedy of Pilate's death, he makes an elating discovery. And like Antoinette, he launches himself at Guitar without worrying about his death, because he's finally realized an essential truth: "If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."
Nice post! I saw the intial connections while reading the novel, but didn't think about them much. This definitely makes a lot of sense, though! The tension of "whiteness" and "blackness" are some really interesting common themes between the books. Also (side comment) I think Morrison likes to include these kind of alternate reality worlds/worlds with some magical aspect, because last year we read Beloved in Af-Am lit and there was a sense of things being haunted though it was a realistic world.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! There are a lot of similarities, and you did a good job discussing both them, and some important differences. One of the similarities that stood out to me while we were reading was the importance of names in both novels. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette loses her "self" when Rochester begins calling her Bertha instead of by her real name. In Song of Solomon, names are often not only descriptive and important, but full of metaphorical significance (Pilate, Milkman, etc.)
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Song of Soloman, I definitely found Pilate and Christophine to be very similar characters as both were guiding figures and had supernatural abilities that aided the protagonist. You bring up a very interesting point that both Christophine and Pilate subvert the male authority in both novels and this brings the parallels even closer.
ReplyDeleteI think that this post really makes the connection between the two stand out. As Mr. Mitchell talked about in class they are similar and that's the reason he put them next to each other on the syllabus. However, this takes it a step farther and makes the connections clear. I had thought about Pilate and Christophine but not about the similarities of the endings of both books.
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