First Impressions

            “Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn” (Hemingway 11). These are the first sentences in The Sun Also Rises, a book that ends up not focusing very much on Cohn but instead on Jake and Brett’s troubled relationship. So why did Hemingway start the novel talking about Cohn? Cohn is one of the factors that shaped Jake and Brett’s relationship, and therefore the overarching plot of the novel.
            When I started Song of Solomon the introduction reminded me of The Sun Also Rises’ intro because it too focused on someone that ended up not being the main focus of the novel. The story begins by depicting Robert Smith, an insurance agent who “promised to fly” (Morrison 3). However, the main character of the novel turns out to be Milkman Dead, a young boy who was born the day that Smith “flew”. Smith is never brought up again, and there seem to be no real connections between his character and Milkman.
            Will this introduction eventually frame the novel, like Cohn’s description that began The Sun Also Rises did? I can think of a couple ways how Robert Smith’s failed flight could set the stage for the rest of Song of Solomon. Later in the first chapter it talks about how when Milkman “discovered, at four, the same thing that Mr. Smith had learned earlier—that only birds and airplanes could fly—he lost all interest in himself” (Morrison 9). Later in the novel, when Milkman is a young adult we see him being bored with life, almost like he is trapped. This feeling is similar to Smith’s need to fly away from his life. Additionally, when Smith is up on the building he is surrounded by people watching him. Milkman is from a prominent family, and he often feels like everything he does is being judged, whether it is his father’s constant criticisms or the rest of the town walking the opposite way as him.

            What do you guys think? Does Smith’s flight set up themes that are apparent in Milkman later in the book? What other reason could Morrison have for starting his novel with Smith’s, somewhat unrelated, decision?

Comments

  1. What an interesting point to bring up – it does seem pretty weird to devote such a large part of a chapter to a character who can never appear again. I agree with you that Robert Smith might be an embodiment of certain themes in Milkman’s life. What I find even more interesting is that Milkman seems to be pretty similar to Smith as a character – first, both of their jobs are to collect money from people (Milkman collects rent, while Smith insurance), they both feel unfulfilled in their lives, and as you said they both dream of flight and are both in the public eye. It’s hard to tell what this means so early in the novel, but maybe it’s foreshadowing for Milkman’s future?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am wondering if Robert Smith is not just introducing the story to relate to Milkman, but maybe his role in the story becomes bigger as the book progresses. (Not advocating for zombies here!) We know that the things that happened to Macon I and Macon Jr. are important parts of the plot with Milkman in the "present", so maybe Smith had something to do with earlier generations of the Dead family? This would definitely make sense, as it would connect the beginning scene to Milkman's adult life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great connection. I've been wondering the same thing, about how exactly the first couple pages of Song of Solomon are related to the remainder of the novel. Since Robert Smith will not appear as a character in the novel, I was assuming there would be a reference to his flight in relation to Milkman's at the end of the novel, bringing it full circle. But it's interesting how Cohn was much more present in Sun Also Rises, and I forgot the name of Robert Smith until this post. Maybe the references to flight are tributes to Smith, even though his name isn't explicitly mentioned again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooo this is interesting! I definitely thought that the beginning of "Songs of Solomon" was a bit confusing and did not make much sense, but the theme of flight is definitely a relevant one throughout the story. It is also interesting that Hemingway was originally not going to start with that part of "The Sun also Rises" so I wonder if it would be better with its original beginning. This begs the question if maybe it would be better to start with a different point of "Song of Solomon".

    ReplyDelete
  5. I find it interesting that another connection to Robert Smith in Milkman's life is that Robert Smith was in the Seven Days, according to Guitar. Part of that connection is to show that the Seven Days has been going on for longer than any of their lives, but I think its also interesting that Mr. Smith died on the day that Guitar was at the hospital and Milkman was being born. Also I like your connections between Mr. Smith's "flight" at the beginning of the novel and the connection to Milkman being so fascinated with flight.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wish I seen this post before because we shared similar thoughts. However, I didn't so I'll just have to answer as I know now. I definitely think that Smith's rooftop flight attempt set up other themes in the book. Or, at least, I think it foreshadows other possible outcomes in the book. The biggest being that trying to run, here fly, from your problems never works. I'm interesting to see if the novel will play with my thoughts as it has with your thoughts. Great post, Kat!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Like Gloria said, I think it's interesting that the only other connection to Robert Smith is that he was in the Seven Days. I think this connection shows how interconnected people's histories are. Robert Smith is important to Milkman, his mother, his sisters, and Guitar and the other Days. This realization ties in with how as the book goes on, Milkman discovers more about the complexity of his own family history and how it has affected people he didn't know in ways he couldn't have understood earlier.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment