The Myth of Icarus in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon Essay

The Icarus Myth in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon Throughout literature it has been common for authors to use allusions to complement recurrent motifs in their work. In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon, Milkman learns that his desire to fly has been passed down to him from his ancestor Solomon. As Milkman is figuring out the puzzle of his ancestry, he realizes that when Solomon tried to take his youngest son, Jake, flying with him, he dropped him and Jake never arrived with his father to their destination. Sound familiar? Well, it seems quite probable that Morrison drew from the DaedalusIcarus Greek myth. Daedalus was a well-known architect and engineer in Athens. King Mines invited Daedalus to Crete to build him a labyrinth, and when it was completed, Mines jailed him within it. In order to escape, Daedalus built two sets of wings - one pair for himself, and the other for his son, Icarus- using wax and feathers, which they used to fly off from Crete. On their journey to Athens, Icarus decided to try to challenge the sun, even though his father had warned him that if he got too near to the sea his wings would dampen and fall apart, or if he got too close to the sun, the wax in his wings would melt, and he would lose the ability to fly. Ignoring Daedalus' warnings, Icarus flew too high and the sun melted the wax that held his wings together. Icarus fell into the Aegean Sea and died. Solomon, a slave, had been a leader when he worked in the cotton fields in the South. One day he decided to fly back to Africa with his youngest son, Jake, leaving behind his wife Ryna and their twenty other children. Black lady fell down on the ground Come booba yalle, come booma tambee Threw her body all around Come konka yalle, come konka tambee...(303). This verse of the popular children's song...