Publisher's Synopsis
This study explores Toni Morrison's use of the African American motif of flight, from the myth of the flying Africans--those who flew back to Africa rather than been slaved--to the folktales of colored men flying in her novels. While images of flight--birds, planes, pilots, wings--are clearly at the center of her third novel, Song of Solomon, they are also present in Morrison's other novels. As Morrison seeks to restore and revitalize the myths, she reveals that women and children fly as well as the men and that flight may represent not only escape and freedom, but also transcendence and a return to one's roots.
