english 213—junior english - alan reinstein · web viewguitar, notice in the nurse ... explain...

JUNIOR ENGLISH 231 Name: WEBSITE: http://www.alanreinstein.com email: [email protected]

Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon READING ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Reading #1: Chapter 1 (pgs. 3-30): Names and Characters1. How does Robert Smith finish his short note (“on the door of his yellow house”) announcing his flight

from the top of Mercy Hospital, in Michigan, 1931? (Extra: Later in the chapter, how is dressed for flight?)

2. Briefly recount how Mains Street became Not Doctor Street.

3. Watching Robert Smith prepare to fly, and beside the “well dressed” pregnant doctor’s daughter (Ruth Foster Dead), is a poor woman singing. Write down the words of the song.

4. What does the little “cat-eyed boy,” named Guitar, notice in the nurse’s words that reveals his intelligence? (Extra: These same “cat eyes” show up again later in the chapter. When?)

Characters5. Ruth Foster Dead. Briefly write down some important details of the “large water mark” on the “fine

mahogany table” in Ruth Foster and Macon Dead’s home.

6. Milkman. Briefly recount the story of Macon Dead III’s nickname.

7. Macon Dead, Jr. Review this character at the end of the chapter and give two or three details that sum up Macon’s character.

8. Pilate. Give the details of her father’s naming her on pages 18-19.

9. Henry Porter. What does have to say about love and hate on page 26?

10. Macon, Jr., and Pilate. Give details of the final scene of the chapter, in which Macon stops to listen to his sister and her daughter and granddaughter outside their house.

Passage or Question of InterestChoose TWO lines or passages from the reading that interests you for ANY reason and that you may discuss with a classmate, the teacher, or the entire class. Maybe it’s a passage that you don’t understand. Write it down, along with the page number and the explanation for your choosing it. OR choose any of the above questions and respond to it fully. FILL THE GIVEN LINES BELOW.

PASSAGE/QUESTION #1:

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Reading #2: Chapter 2 (pgs. 31-55)

1. Explain the meaning of the comment: “The green Packard belied what they though the car was for” (32). That is, why is it called “the hearse”?

2. How does Corinthians respond to her mother, Ruth, after she asks her father, “Daddy, would you let us live next to a barmaid?”? Briefly explain her answer.

3. Give some details of the reader’s first impression of Pilate on pages 36-38. Include how she shames Milkman.

4. Retell the significant details of the death of Pilate and Macon Jr’s father. (Look at page 40 and then again on pages 50-51 and 53.)

5. Pilate asks, “What difference do it make if the thing you scared of is real or not?” Describe the story that she shares to illustrate this point.

6. Describe the details of Reba’s good luck.

7. What would Milkman say are the reasons that “the first time in his life that he remembered being completely happy” (47)?

8. Some of my days were hungry ones,” says Hagar (48). What does Pilate imply Hagar means by this comment? (Extra: And what does Pilate do afterward? Where have you heard this song?)

9. Give a few details of life at “Lincoln’s Heaven” and briefly retell the story of how Macon, Jr.’s father (Milkman’s grandfather) was named (and why did wife make sure he kept it?).

10. As Macon tells Milkman, “Pilate can’t teach you anything you can use in this world (55), what is he planning to do to keep his son away from his sister?



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Reading #3: Chapter 3 (56-89)

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1. Although Feather kicks Milkman out of his pool hall, the Tommys (Railroad Tommy and Hospital Tommy) welcome him and Guitar into their barbershop. What advice/wisdom do they try to offer the boys?

2. Briefly explain why Guitar “can’t eat sweets” (61).

3. When Milkman is fourteen, what physical deformity does he notice about himself?

4. Briefly give the details of the dinner scene—when Milkman is twenty-two—that begins with Ruth’s story about Mrs. Djvorak’s daughter’s wedding.

5. Macon Jr’s story to Milkman contains some important revelations:a. Give some details of Dr. Foster’s treatment of Macon Jr. and why Macon Jr. calls him a hypocrite.

b. Give the significant details of the scene that Macon Jr. witnessed, with Dr. Foster lying dead and Ruth beside him.

6. Milkman walks to Southside to find Guitar:a. What is the other picture that “emerged,” the disturbing memory that only now comes to

Milkman?

b. Although there is no explanation given for everyone walking in the opposite direction as Milkman walks to Southside to find Guitar, what might the symbolism suggest?

7. Briefly describe the nature of the disagreement between Freddie and Guitar about the Emmett Till murder case that the men are discussing in the Tommys’ barbershop.

8. What does Guitar mean near the end of the chapter, when he advises Milkman, “But look here, don’t carry it inside and don’t give it to nobody else” (88)? What is “it”?



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1. “…annoyance at her refusal to make him hustle for it…She was the third beer” (91). Describe Milkman’s feelings toward Hagar, now that he has been with her almost twelve years.

2. Milkman recalls his beginning relationship with Hagar—on “a throw-away day in March” when Milkman was seventeen—with a memory that involves Pilate and Reba and Reba’s “new man friend.”

a. How does the scene describe Pilate’s strength and fearlessness?

b. What is the reason for the red mark, or “hickey…forming on his forehead” (97)? (Pilate calls this her “inheritance.”

c. What does Hagar mean by “This is what I do in the meantime” (97), as it relates to her relationship with Milkman?

3. Back in the present, describe the Christmas gift, along with the letter Milkman writes to Hagar—and what is the letter’s effect on Hagar?

4. Give brief details about the news of the sixteen-year-old boy “on his way home from school” (99), the connection to Winnie Ruth Judd, and the comment about “white madness” (100).

5. Briefly describe the discussion that Guitar has with Milkman about “things that interest me that don’t interest you” (103). [Milkman is interested, for instance, in Honore Island (recall the place from page 33).]

6. Describe the dream about his mother and a tulip bulb that Milkman describes to Guitar on pages 104-105.

7. What does Guitar say to Milkman about “the wrong direction” on page 106, which forces Milkman to recall a memory? And on the next page, 107, what is Guitar right about—“partly”? (I know these are two questions, but they’re quick ones.)

[MAGICAL REALISM: On page 109, Freddie tells Milkman that “Ghosts killed my mother.” Here’s another reminder of the magical possibilities of the world of this novel.]

8. What does Freddie seem to be suggesting to Milkman when he tells him (on page 111), “Some strange goings on round here”? [Extra: And who, at the very end of the chapter, does he suggest knows more about it?]



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Reading #5: Chapter 5 (pgs. 113-151 [38 pages])

Milkman at Guitar’s Place (113-120)1. By the end of the first section of the chapter, Guitar agrees to leave Milkman alone in Guitar’s apartment.

What is Guitar worried about? (Or what’s with Milkman’s fear of the ice pick that opens the chapter?)

Ruth’s Story (120-126)2. In this second section, where does Ruth eventually go when Milkman follows her—and describe

Milkman’s reaction.

3. Briefly describe the story of Ruth’s conception of Milkman and Pilate’s involvement.

4. What does Ruth tell Milkman about why/how her father really died?

Hagar and Milkman (126-130)5. Describe the events from the bottom of 129 until the end of the section on 130: What is the result of

Milkman’s battle with Hagar?

6. How does Pilate usually react when Hagar attempts to hurt or kill Milkman?

Ruth and Pilate (131-151)7. Why does Ruth refer to Milkman as “her single triumph?” What does this do to our understanding of

Ruth’s character and her relationship with her son?

8. Look at page 139. Why does Morrison spend an entire paragraph highlighting the differences between Ruth and Pilate?

9. Explain the parallels between Ruth’s relationship with her father and Pilate’s relationship with her father. (Look at page 147, too).

10. Briefly recount Pilate’s life after her father died and before she came to the wine house. What made most people afraid of her? And then why does she eventually move to her brother’s (Macon’s) town?



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Reading #6: Chapters 6-8 (pgs. 152-186)

Ch. 61. Explain the reasoning and the method of the Seven Days Society.

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2. What new information is given about Robert Smith’s beginning-of-the-novel flight/death?

3. What does Guitar mean when he says to Milkman, “My whole life is love” (159) and later, on page 161, what does he have to say about his “slave name” and “slave status” (161)?

Ch. 7 4. Explain “For Milkman it was the door click” (163). What is Milkman yearning for and what is the plan that

he tries to express to his father?

Macon’s Story5. Who is Circe and what is the role she plays for the new orphans, Macon and Pilate?

[OPTIONAL] When Macon and Pilate are on their own, who is seen standing at the mouth of the cave and “motioned them to follow him” (168)?

6. Give the significant details of the morning when “Macon woke from a light and fitful sleep” (169).

7. What is the dispute Milkman and Pilate have about the contents underneath the tarpaulin—and what does Macon find when he returns to the cave “three days and two nights later” (171)”?

[OPTIONAL] What are Macon’s instructions to his son just as the chapter ends?

Ch. 88. What is Guitar’s dilemma, in the opening pages of the chapter, which seems to have a solution with

Milkman’s news and plan?

[OPTIONAL] What strange animal do Milkman and Guitar see while walking down on route 6?

9. How does Guitar’s comment, “You got a life? Live it!” (183) help Milkman?

10. How do Pilate and her father (Macon Dead I) have significant roles in the very final scene of the chapter?



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Reading #7: Chapter 9 (pgs. 187-216) [final chapter of Part I]

1. “Corinthians was naïve, but she was not a complete fool” (190). What is the significance of this comment in the context of her work as a maid for the poet Michael-Mary Graham? (By the way: an amanuensis is a literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.)

2. Corinthians and Porter’s relationship. [Answer two of the three below, but pay attention to the other one.]

a. What is “the problem” as Corinthians sees it (on page 195), which causes Porter to drive away?

b. What does Corinthians experience “the moment she had put her foot on the step leading up to the porch” that leads her to run “faster than she had ever run in her life” (197) and then “to hang on, to never let go” (199)?

c. What does Porter give to Corinthians “[i]nstead of roses” (200) and other romantic gifts?

3. Although Macon, upset that Guitar was invited to join Milkman in the theft, thinks that Guitar’s status from the Southside is the reason the police picked the two men up, Milkman jokes that it’s another reason. That is, what are the contents of the sack, Pilate’s “inheritance”?

4. Give the significant details of the story of the sack that Pilate gives to the police—in addition to her changed appearance in the police station.

5. In telling the real story of the cave, what was her father “right, you know” (208) about what he told her to do?

6. Milkman’s shame. Explain the significance of the following: “But nothing like the shame he felt as he watched and listened to Pilate” (209).

7. Milkman recognizes six of the seven members of the Seven Days Society as he walks toward Guitar’s place. Who are they and what is the important connection he makes with the Oldsmobile?

8. Describe the significance of the maple tree (page 214) to Lena, with its significance to her slapping Milkman in the face.

9. What is the effect of Milkman’s telling Macon about Corinthians and Porter’s relationship—and what does

Lena misunderstand about his reasoning?



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[OPTIONAL] How does Milkman perceive the house that he stands before as the chapter opens?

[OPTIONAL] In a mild flashback, the narrator recalls Milkman’s trip to Pittsburgh: “The airplane ride exhilarated him, encouraged illusion and a feeling of invulnerability. High above the clouds, heavy yet light, caught in the stillness of speed (‘Cruise,’ the pilot said), sitting in intricate metal become glistening bird, it was not possible to believe he had ever made a mistake, or could…This one time he wanted to go solo. In the air, away from real life, he felt free” (220).

Choose any of the words or phrases in the above passage and briefly consider how it contributes to our understanding of either Milkman’s character or his story.]

1. When Guitar speaks to Milkman about “Everybody want[ing] the life of a black man,” what question does he ask his friend (on page 223) at the very end of his speech?

[OPTIONAL] What is Guitar worried about in his comment to Milkman, “And I sure hope you don’t have no second thoughts about getting it back here” (225)?

2. In Danville (where he “did not remember ever asking anybody in the world how they were” (229)), Milkman meets Reverend Cooper. Give several details of their encounter, which begins in earnest once Milkman introduces himself with, “I could use your help, sir. My name is Macon Dead” (229).

3. What is behind Milkman’s response of “And nobody did anything?” (232) to Reverend Cooper? (Considering Milkman’s character, why does the reader take note of this?)

[OPTIONAL] What is meant by Reverend Cooper’s comment at the bottom of page 232, “The ways of God are mysterious”?

4. Explain the new understanding that Milkman has about his father, which comes on page 234.

5. What was the significance of Macon Dead’s death to the other “young boys at the time” (235)”?

6. Back in the present: Meeting Circe. Make mental notes of all of the questions but write answers for two:

a. [OPTIONAL] Note her strangeness (240).b. What information does she give about Milkman’s grandmother, Sing?c. What information about Macon Dead’s bones does Milkman’s father not know about?d. What is Circe’s reasoning for staying in the old Butler mansion with the pack of Weimaraner dogs? (See

page 247.)e. [OPTIONAL] Note Macon Dead’s real name?

7. Give the details of Milkman’s quest for the gold in Hunters’ Cave.

8. At the freightyard, after just missing Reverend Cooper, Milkman—who is “too tired to say no or explain” (256)—does a small act of kindness for an old man. What does Milkman do?

9. About Milkman’s view of the gold “now he knew that all the fine reasons for wanting it didn’t mean a thing” (257). What are some of these “fine reasons” and what does he understand to be its real significance?

[OPTIONAL] Try to sort through the Milkman’s reasoning through the puzzle of Pilate and the dead mens’ bones at the very end of the chapter. Where’s he off to now as the chapter closes?



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1. What is significant of the first paragraph of this chapter? Give some details that set up the contrast between Shalimar and Milkman’s home in Michigan (or even Danville)?

2. What appears to be the reason that Milkman’s “morale had soared and he was beginning to enjoy the trip” (260)?

3. What is the message that Milkman receives from Mr. Solomon, as well as its significance? And how does Milkman reason that “Guitar was in trouble” (264)?

[OPTIONAL] What is the comment that Milkman makes at Solomon’s store that creates “all the hostility” among the men (265)?

4. Give the significant details of the scene that follows.

5. During the hunt with the men, what is the “sound of the sobbing woman” (274)?

6. After tiring and separating himself from the rest of the group, Milkman rests, and “when he was breathing almost normally, he began to wonder…” (275). Answer one of the following:

a. Consider the significance of Milkman’s wondering.

b. And relate this to his interest in the word deserve.

7. Give some relevant details of Milkman’s thinking (a kind of religious experience) that ends with “a sudden rush of affection for them all” (278) that Milkman feels.

8. What “cut like a razor into his fingers” (279)? Briefly explain the scene and its resolution.

9. Consider the significance to Milkman of the following: “The tongue lay in its mouth as harmless as a sandwich. Only the eyes held the menace of the night” (283).

[OPTIONAL] Who is Susan Byrd?

10. Describe with some modest detail Milkman’s experience with the prostitute Sweet, the “nice lady up the road a ways” (285), which represents the final scene of the chapter.



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[OPTIONAL] Note the “total mystery” (286) that makes up the first paragraph of the chapter?

1. Meeting Susan Byrd (and Grace Long). What significant information does Milkman learn from Susan Byrd?

[OPTIONAL] “You all are relatives!” (289). Describe the family relationship between Susan Byrd and Milkman.

[OPTIONAL] Passing: “She probably started passing like the rest of them” (290). Passing refers to the effort of a minority group member to “pass” her- or himself off as a majority group member—in this case Sing, a Native American, passing as white in Boston (this, by the way, appears to be “a dead end” (291) to Milkman.

Consider the “meaningful look” (291) that Grace gives to Milkman.

2. Describe what follows from the narrator’s comment that Milkman “was curious about these people” (292).

3. What does Milkman guess about the ghost’s message to Pilate? (Note that Milkman has begun to accept the magical world of ghosts: “Pilate did not have a navel. Since that was true, anything could be, and why not ghosts as well? (294).)

4. Explain how Guitar’s misunderstanding about the gold is related to Milkman’s changing character? How is the confrontation resolved?]

5. Give a few significant details of Milkman’s “warm dreamy sleep” (298).

6. What is the song that Milkman hears the children singing while walking to school?

7. Milkman’s slow growth is reflected in homesickness for Michigan. Give some details of his sympathetic affection for

a. his mother and father

b. Hagar

8. Milkman tries to piece together the meaning of the song alongside other family information he’s learned. Describe significant details of his effort to “put it all together” (304).

9. At the end of the chapter, why was Milkman “as eager and happy as he had ever been in his life” (304)?



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Reading #11: Chapters 13-15 (306-337)Chapter 13 (306-319)

1. Summarize Guitar’s message to Hagar, just after her final unsuccessful attempt at Milkman’s life. (How is love like slavery?)

[OPTIONAL] Explain Guitar’s criticism of Pilate in his question, “What had Pilate done to her?” (307)

2. When Hagar sees herself in the compact hand mirror, she says, “No wonder” (307) and then repeats the phrase. What does she mean?

3. Give the significant events of Hagar’s trip into town and return home.

[OPTIONAL] Explain what Pilate means by the following: “How can he love himself and hate your hair?” (315)

4. Give details of the final section of the chapter, and include a comment on the following: “And she was loved!” (319)

Chapter 14 (320-325)5. Visit to Susan Byrd yields more information.

a. What is the “old folks’ lie they tell around here” (322) about the flying Africans?b. Give pertinent details from the story of Solomon, Ryna, Jake and Sing.[OPTIONAL] What connection is there between Ryna and Hagar?c. Why is Jake the “only song of Solomon” (323)?

Chapter 15 (final) (326-337)[OPTIONAL] Consider Milkman’s need for “the sea! The whole goddam sea!” (326) and to share it with Sweet, as the chapter opens.

6. What is the source of Milkman’s great excitement and pride as he plays with Sweet in the river? [Also, note his gentle treatment of her hair at the top of page 328.]

[OPTIONAL] On the bus, heading back to Michigan, what does Milkman note about what you should do “when you know your name” (329)?

7. Describe Milkman’s thoughts about Guitar (their relationship and Guitar’s mission) while on the bus.

[OPTIONAL] Explain the significance of the following quotation: “Perhaps that’s what al human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? Or would you take it?” (331)

Home in Michigan[OPTIONAL] How does Pilate respond to Milkman, as he “opened his arms wide so he could hold all of her in a warm embrace” (331)?

8. Explain “Suddenly Milkman began to laugh” (333) as it relates to both Pilate and Milkman’s relationship with Hagar. And what is in the box that Milkman has with him as he returns to his home on Not Doctor Street?

9. What is the news of Corinthians (and why will the Seven days “be looking for a new recruit” (334))?

Back in Shalimar and Solomon’s Leap10. Summarize the significant events of the end of the novel. (Include what the bird flies away with and the strange

ambiguity of the final scene.



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