Flight is a constant image in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Its first appearance comes to us in the first chapter, when Mr. Robert Smith jumps off of Mercy Hospital in order to commit suicide. He does this while wearing a pair of blue silk wings, claiming that he will fly across the Great Lakes, in order to free himself of his own sad life. Since then, Morrison has extended upon the ideas of flight as a question of freedom, and what it means, physically and mentally, to all of us.

 

When Milkman and Guitar are walking down the street near the end of Part One, trying to rationalize the idea of robbing Pilate, they come across an albino peacock who had possibly escaped from the zoo. The two men decide to chase it for a laugh or two, and make a couple comments:

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‘How come it can't fly no better than chicken?’ Milkman asked.

‘Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can't nobody fly with all that s***. Wanna fly, you got to give up the s*** that weighs you down.’

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These few sentences help to set up (in a not so subtle way) our metaphor. The peacock has represented wealth in many western cultures since the time of the Ancient Greeks. When Morrison has Guitar chase after the peacock to “eat him”, she is highlighting his urge to have money and lightly foreshadowing what lengths he will go to get it, such as rob Pilate or kill Milkman. But, as we learn from Milkman and Guitar’s conversation, the peacock is a flightless bird. It’s “wealth” weighs it down and keeps it from being free. This idea contradicts Macon Dead’s philosophy, and in fact warns against it. Money won’t buy you freedom or make you happy. It will only tie you down.

 

At the beginning of Part Two, Milkman turns down Guitar’s offer to accompany him on his journey to find the gold, saying that he wants to go on his own.

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“This one time he wanted to go solo. In the air, away from real life, he felt free, but on the ground, when he talked to Guitar just before he left, the wings of all those other people's nightmares flapped in his face and constrained him”

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Once again, Flight is used as a representation of Freedom. Milkman is expressing his own need for freedom here. He wants to have his own life, but he feels tied down by the dreams and expectations everyone else is imposing on him. Now that he's started on his journey, and can fly on his own, he is beginning to learn what freedom means for himself. He doesn’t know much, but it’s a start for him.

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After Milkman and Guitar have their last civil face-to-face chat in Chapter 12, Milkman goes back to Sweet’s house and has an interesting dream.

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“It was a warm dreamy sleep all about flying, about sailing high over the earth. But not with arms stretched out like airplane wings, nor shot forward like Superman in a horizontal dive, but floating, cruising, in the relaxed position of a man lying on a couch reading a newspaper. Part of his flight was over the dark sea, but it didn't frighten him because he knew he could not fall. He was alone in the sky but somebody was applauding him, watching him and applauding. He couldn’t see who it was.” 

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This dream is supposed to represent how much Milkman has grown as an individual over the period of his journey. The physical liberation of his journey has taught him how to how to fly on his own and be an independent individual for the first time in his life. The life skills he has learned along the way have given him the ability to sympathize with people and to be his own man. This new sense of self gives Milkman a different kind of freedom. Now that he is confident in his actions, his conscience is free from worry, and he can be content with himself without having to worry about “falling into the sea”, or to be afraid of failure.

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At the very end of the story, Milkman comes home and tells Pilate about everything that he’d learned, and the two of them go back to Shalimar to bury Jake's bones properly. Just after they finish burying his bones, Guitar shoots Pilate in the neck. After she dies in his arms, Milkman has a short revelation about why he had always looked up to her.

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“He knew why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground she could fly.” (pg. 336)

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From the beginning, Pilate has been one of the most unique characters in the book. She has short hair, she sells wine, she wears men's shoes and a box in her ear, and she has no navel. Any other person would take those things has something to be ashamed of, something that would tie you down in life and makes everything harder for you. Pilate does not let that happen. Ever. She doesn't care that she's strange or different, and she never lets anything affect her. She's learned how to not let anything weigh her down and how to make herself happy, not just despite of it but because of it, too. She's never had much money, she's never flown across the country in a big old airplane, and she hasn’t had all or even half of the opportunity other people had. But despite all that, she can fly. And that's what Milkman has always wanted. He has always wanted to be confident enough in himself to live with the same simple joy that Pilate, Reba, and Hagar lived with.

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Pilate is an example for us as well as Milkman. She’s lived her life the way she wanted to live it knowing exactly who she was and what she wanted, and never let anyone tell her otherwise. That is freedom. It doesn't come with money: although that can make it easier, it can sometimes get in the way of true happiness. It doesn't come with education: academics can only teach you so much. True freedom comes after experiencing hardship and overcoming it, coming out better for it in the end. Only then can you gain the self-confidence to be truly free.