The process of (Un)housing in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon through individualism

and communitarianism

Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon provides an exploration into the struggle for liberty
from oppressive forces of society through the act of “unhousing”, by way of explanation
“the refusal to be represented by hegemonic discourses of the national self and of
extractive neoliberalism”. According to Dolores Resano, this process of “unhousing” of
ones-self is made possible through the construction of new bonds and re-
conceptualisation of domesticities. (Resano, 2020) Toni Morrison delves into the
construction of new subjectivities by juxtaposing different characters who attempt to
transcend racist systems. Throughout the novel, Macon Dead Junior‘s capitalist
individualism is described in unfavourable terms as having incorporated the tools of the
master and enacting the white man’s model through the economic exploitation of his
own people. In fact, according to Cara Nguyen, he is demonstrative of the Booker T.
Washington school of racial progress in which personal growth is rooted within
ownership and materialism. (Nguyen, 2020) However, this essay will argue that such an
attempt to “un-house” himself leads Macon Dead Junior down a path of isolation in
which all his relationships become exploitative and estranged. Moreover, the concept of
homogenous community is introduced through the character of Guitar Bains and his
understanding of communal responsibility through vengeance and violence. Essentially,
in the process of liberation, he becomes a mirror image of what he attempts to eradicate
as his journey towards retribution is marred by hatred. However, through Pilate Dead,
the reader is presented with the possibility of heterogenous community that relies upon
harmony and the acknowledgement of multicultural hybrids. In fact, one can read the
novel as a transgression through which the process of “un-housing” is dependent upon
the incorporation of folk consciousness. This essay will argue that Song of Solomon
delves into the act of liberation from a history of oppressive forces that have engulfed
African Americans. Moreover, an exploration will be made into how different
characters within the novel attempt to “un-house” themselves through capitalistic
individualism as well as homogenous and heterogeneous communitarianism. Thus, a
conclusion will be made that states that if one is emancipate from their oppressive
society, communal bonds must prevail.
Firstly, Macon Dead enacts white modes of supremacist ideology as his mentality of
neoliberal individualism leads him to financially enslave his own community.
According to Desmond Jagmohan, slavery was crucial in the economic and political
upheaval of the nation as slave holders implemented entrepreneurial methods to
transform themselves into powerful forces within the cotton making industry.
(Jagmohan, 2015) Throughout Song of Solomon, Milkman’s father replicates this
slaving mentality in order to enact his materialistic demands. This is made evident in the
following lines:

Let me tell you right now the one important thing you’ll ever need to know:
Own things. And let the things you own own other things. Then you’ll own
yourself and other people too. (p. 117)

This short passage depicts how Macon’s relationships are established through retaining
hierarchical power relations. Through his insistence on ownership, Macon Dead Junior
is unable to “un-house” himself as he incorporates capitalist attitudes that encourage
exploitative abuses towards his community of non-whites. Moreover, these materialistic
tendencies are recurrent within the novel through Macon Dead Junior’s views regarding
the value of land in terms of production. According to Cara Nguyen, capitalism relies
upon the extractive neoliberal mindset that regards African land as a recourse. (Nguyen,
2020) In Song of Solomon, Macon Dead adjudges his tenants as a-spatial by regarding
their homes as sites of economic accretion rather than homes where families coexist.

What’s it gonna profit you, Mr. Dead, sir, to put me and them children out?
“Saturday, Mrs. Bains. (p. 55)

Through this passage, Mrs Bains and her children are threatened with eviction by the
tyranny of Macon Dead as Morrison exemplifies Macon’s lack of empathetic
connection towards his community. The manner in which Macon Dead partakes in the
commodification of Mrs Bains’ life correlates with the “a-spatiality” of black
populations that is elaborated on by Adam Bledsoe and Willie Jamaal Wright.
According to the scholars, the modern conceptualisation of space is unequivocally tied
with power relations within society. In fact, spaces that are associated with black
populations are often regarded as “unhallowed” territories which are never truly
considered occupied. (Bledsoe & Wright, 2018) Through Macon’s merciless actions,
one can establish that he treats his tenants as abject humans due to him having
internalised the colonial trope in which locations inhabited by black people are deemed
available for exploitative accumulation. Via the deterritorialisation of black space,
Macon Dead Junior reproduces the violent actions of the white purveyors of capital that
murdered his father:

They had a fine place. Mighty fine. Some white folks own it now. Course that’s
what they wanted. That’s why they shot him. Upset a lot of people here, a whole
lot of people” (p. 431)

Macon Dead Junior’s actions reflect the manner in which he has enacted the role of the
white imperialist as he attempts to “un-house” himself by generating harmful bonds
within his community. In fact, it is Audrey Lorde’s words that resonate within the
character of Macon Dead Junior as “that piece of the oppressor planted deep within each
of us”. (Lorde, 2018)

Moreover, Macon Dead’s capitalistic environment leads him to reproduce exploitative

patriarchal violence towards those that he encounters. Song of Solomon invites the
reader to recognise how his enactment of the white man’s model of enslavement leads
him to fear and reject the communal bonds established by Pilate. This can be seen in the
following lines:

the houses were in league with one another to make him feel like the outsider,
the
propertyless, landless wanderer. It was this feeling of loneliness that made him
decide to take a shortcut back to Not Doctor Street, even though to do so would
lead him past his sister’s house. In the gathering darkness, he was sure his
passing would be unnoticed by her. (p. 65)

Through this passage, one can see how Macon Dead is fearful of embracing his
community as the darkness of the street parallels his internal void and isolation.
However, one is invited to speculate whether he yearns this relationship as the use of the
terms “outsider” and “landless wanderer” are indicative of his marginalisation from
society. As stated by Muhammad Ilyas Mahmood, this alienation in human relations is
consequential of capitalism in an urban environment. According to Mahmood his race
for materialism generates a love for capital and power that gives rise to feelings of loss
of moral value and hatred. (Ilyas, 2021) This estrangement of family relationships is
present in Macon’s treatment of Ruth:

Macon didn’t wait to put his fork down. He dropped it on the table while his
hand
was on its way across the bread plate becoming the fist he smashed into her jaw.
(p. 138)

The physical violence inflected upon his wife is indicative of Ruth’s liminal position as
the victim of exploitative patriarchy that is generated through capitalism. As stated by
Audre Lorde in her publication of essays, “the masters tools will never dismantle the
masters house”. (Lorde, 2018) For men such as Macon Junior, the process of unhousing
is initiated once there is an acceptance that the hoarding of power is an instrument that
will not achieve justice or liberation.
Moreover, Guitar Bains’ attempts to “unhouse” himself through retributive violence
impairs his community due to the devastation that he inflicts upon innocent lives. By
homogenising his white victims, Guitar generates the same dichotomy that racism is
grounded upon. The following lines represent how through the 7 days movement,
Guitar manifests his internalisation of anger as he replicates the atrocities that are
committed upon his community:

doesn’t matter who did it. Each and every one of them could do it. So you just
get
any one of them. There are no innocent white people, because every one of them
is a potential nigger-killer, if not an actual one. (p. 298)

Guitar’s outburst provides readers with insights into black rage as he categorises white
individuals into a singular narrative of evil. According to Katy Ryan, Morrison utilises
the 7 days to depict the idea that if men were to act in a similar sacrificial manner to
Guitar, the oppression of ‘black folk’ would have ended a long time ago. (Ryan, 2000)
However, whilst Guitar’s vindication may appear reasonable due to the suffering that
his community has endured, the novel appears to transit towards a critique of these
atrocities. In fact, as stated by literary scholar Roy Francis Smith, what is highlighted in
Morrison’s novels is the importance of mutual respect irrespective of who is positioned
as the other. (Smith, 2000) However, what becomes apparent in the following passage is
that Guitar is incapable of facing his responsibilities:

Too much tail. All that jewellery weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly
with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.
(p, 340)

Guitar’s metaphorical flight does not allow him to “un-house” himself as his murderous
actions leave a trail of devastation that he must acknowledge. Therefore, one may
suggest that through Guitar, Morrison is suggesting that black people must embrace the
multicultural hybrids in a globalised society that encourages cooperation and
heterogenous community. Essentially, this is the type of community that one must
pursue if they are to liberate themselves truly.
Finally, within the novel Pilate Dead is able to “un-house” herself through the spirit of
community and her deep connection for human relationships. Moreover, she re-
conceptualises the home, not as a space of productive potential, but as a space that
provides protection and healing for the individual. The importance of community
incorporates the notion that change is only possible through feelings of affection
towards the other. It is through Pilates embrace of her heterogenous community that she
is liberated from the anger that paralyses Macon Dead and Guitar. In the following
lines, one can see how Pilate recognises that love is inclusive irrespective of any
differences:

“A brother is a brother if you both got the same mother or if you both—”Pilate
interrupted her. “I mean what’s the difference in the way you act toward ’em?
Don’t you have to act the same way to both?” (p. 96)

Through Pilate’s insistence on generating respect towards individuals, the novel sets up
a clear dichotomy between Macon Dead Junior and Pilate as it is the latter who transits
away from the slave mentality towards freedom via interrelatedness. Thus, Pilate has
become a responsible member of the community that has kept her grounded, but
allowed her to fly as she establishes harmony and coexistence through communal
participation. Moreover, according to Roshani Dhamala, Pilate ‘Un-houses’ herself
from the conventional idea of the home in order to embrace the ‘home’ as a space that
provides healing and reconnection through belongingness. (Dhamala, 2019) Within the
novel, Toni Morrison describes Pilate’s simplistic living conditions as the reader is
invited to embrace these forms of habitation that are detached from materialism:

“where Pilate lived in a narrow single-story house whose basement seemed to be

rising from rather than settling into the ground. She had no electricity because
she would not pay for the service. Nor for gas”

It is through Morrison’s description of the home that one is able notice parallelisms with
Dolores Resano’s description of ‘un-housing” and particularly the notion that liberation
is not rooted in financial stability as the unlearning of long standing belief systems and
life expectations means the rejection of the materialistic mindset of the oppressor.
(Resano, 2019) According to Roshani Dhamala, the home is a space where racial
history matters as the sense of belonging is enhanced within the home. The strong
connection that Pilate possesses with the domestic allows her shape a sense of
belongingness and identity. (Dhamala, 2019)
In conclusion, Song of Solomon juxtaposes neoliberal individualism with homogenous
and heterogenous communitarianism in order to express different forms of blackness.
However, it is only through Pilate Dead’s inclination towards mutual respect and
communal bonds that she is able to begin to “unhouse” herself from a history of
structural violence. Throughout the novel, Macon Dead Junior views his land only in
terms of productive potential. In fact, in the the process of acquiring capital, he forms
antagonistic bonds with his community that are dependent upon empowerment and
exploitation. Consequently, he is unable to liberate himself as his disengagement from
his community leads him down a path of isolation and anger. Moreover, Guitar Bains’
participation with the “7 Days” demonstrates his attempts to “unhouse” himself through
retributive violence. However, in the process, Guitar generates a projection in which the
violent actions of the oppressor are replicated through the homogenisation and killing of
innocent lives. Finally, Pilate Dead allows the reader to conceptualise new possibilities
of integration in which hybridised communities can coexist. Moreover, it is Pilate’s
unlearning that gives rise to habitability that is not rooted to physical space as her
actions resonate with Dolores Resano’s A House at Odds with Itself in that through the
reconceptualisation of new domesticities, one is able to “unhouse” themselves truly and
progress towards the creation of new cultural bonds. (Dolores, 2022)

Works cited

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