The Song of Songs, by Toni Morrison, explores how each character searches for something, and the novel examines the ways they cope when they can't find it. In the novel, many characters are trapped by their materialistic desires. The need to satisfy those desires eats away at their souls, making them bitter. For some of these characters, their wants and needs are in the form of gold. Song of Solomon examines the human condition of being trapped physically, spiritually, and financially through the classic symbol of desire, gold. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The protagonist, Milkman, is trapped physically and mentally. He feels like his life has no meaning and that if he could leave his situation on Not Doctor Street, he could be happy. Ever since he was little, Milkman wanted freedom and escape from his life, or “fly away.” He becomes sad and isolated from his friends and, later, isolated from his family. He feels like his future is defined by the events of his past and is constantly troubled by the problems of others. He believes he has done nothing to deserve the weight of knowledge people have given him and is too inside himself to appreciate the love his family members offer him. His desire to escape his life is shown when Morrison says, "He wanted the money - desperately, he believed - but beyond looking for leads outside the city, away from Not Doctor Street, Sonny's Shop, Mary's Place and Hagar, he couldn't imagine a life so different from the one he had. New people. New places. This was all he wanted in his life” (179, 180). its Aunt Pilate. For Milkman, gold represents what he has always wanted, freedom and escape. This is demonstrated when Morrison describes Milkman and Guitar's first encounter with what they thought was gold: “They both saw it [the sack of gold]. 'gold] at the same time. It was heavy, green like the green of Easter eggs left in the dye too long. And how Easter promises everything: the risen Son and the only desire of the heart" (185). to satisfy this desire and reach the happiness makes Milkman selfish and cruel, causing him to betray his loving aunt by stealing from her. When he discovers that Pilate does not have the gold, he sets out on a journey to find it where he ends up along the way. After gaining a sense of identity, the journey becomes more about mentally liberating yourself than finding gold and physically escaping. He has an epiphany where he is overwhelmed with happiness and realizes that he no longer wishes to escape from his family's problems or his life and, similarly, gives up on finding gold. This is described by Morrison's quote: “[H]e felt a sudden surge of affection for them all… He apparently thought he deserved only to be loved – at a distance, though – and to be given what he wanted. .. Maybe all he was really saying was: I am not responsible for your pain, share with me your happiness but not your unhappiness” (278). new identity when he realizes the freedom that gold can bringing it to him is not worth the betrayal required to obtain it. Milkman's experience supports the symbolism of gold for worldly desires because his desire for gold disappears just as his pursuit of happiness ends. When he gives up what weighs him down, he finally succeeds to fly However, other characters are not as lucky as Milkman in abandoning the worldly desires that trap them.Guitar, Milkman's best friend as a child, is short on financial resources. He lives in poverty on the south side of the city and longs to escape and live a richer life. He compares himself to rich white people who kill innocent African Americans and cannot understand how the situation is right. He says "[Everyone] wants a black man's life... Right is another thing I've given up on" (Morrison 222 , 224). These internal and external conflicts consume him and he sees no other way to deal with them than to become a killer. Like Milkman, he sees gold as an opportunity to liberate himself through the wealth it can bring him. This is demonstrated when Morrison writes “…he [Milkman] wondered if Guitar simply couldn’t resist the lure of something he never had: money” (180). He talks to Milkman about all the things gold can buy him, not knowing that the gold will lead him to attack his best friend. His point of view is ironic because once, while giving advice to Milkman, he says: "[All] those jewels weigh [the peacock down[...] Nobody can fly with all that shit. If you want to fly, you have to give up shit that weighs you down” (179). His view shows that, like the peacock's tail, materialistic desires weigh down your soul, and you must give them up to be free. This contradicts his obsession with wealth, which ultimately burdens him to the point of committing murder and betrayal. Milkman gives up on finding gold, Guitar continues. Ultimately, Guitar becomes trapped by his greed and obsession to improve his life financially through gold. culminates when he kills Pilate, Milkman's father is a slave to his desire for property and power, making him spiritually trapped. A humble country boy turned wealthy real estate agent, he is bitter about his past. After witnessing his father's murder as a boy, he runs away where he finds gold, beginning his desire for wealth and power that will last the rest of his life. "Gold... Life and security and luxury fanned out before him like a peacock's tail, and as he stood there trying to make out each delicious color, he saw his father's dusty boots standing right by the other part of the shallow pit… Pilate rushed around the cave calling to him, looking for him, while Macon piled the sacks of gold in the tarpaulin” (170, 171), describes his transformation from a humble country boy to a money-hungry man trapped by the his lust for property and prosperity. As the quote describes, Macon is indifferent to the ghost of his father who he claimed to care so much about. Even though he believes that wealth will be the solution to all his problems, it actually isolates him from his family and the people who love him. The traumatic event of his father's murder changed him, as Morrison describes what he writes "[T]he numbness that settled over him when he saw the man he loved and he admired falling from the fence; something wild ran through him as he watched his father's murder. "body writhing in the earth" (50, 51). This, combined with his desire for money, his father's rejection of his wife, and more later, seeing his wife kiss his father's dead fingers, transforms Macon into a cold, heartless and broken man. He is trapped by sadness, anger and a hunger for power, which make him spiritually disconnected from love, from his family. and by the intangible things of life. When the possibility of obtaining the gold resurfaces, he is naturally attracted to and stays behind the plan to rob his sister, Pilate. The prosperity that the gold could bring him is just another form of psychological imprisonment for Macon, which pushes him further away from his sister and love. His desire for gold.