Let's get started!

Welcome back everyone, here’s to a summer of interesting books and lively discussion. The rules here are pretty loose. Obviously we should be respectful of each other when we post responses/questions/comments/etc. just as we would in a classroom setting. Also, I would appreciate it if you would include your name with your posting (because some of you just have silly email names). There will be no timetable or schedule, I just hope you read a little each week so that we can finish Morrison’s Song of Solomon by the end of July.

For those of you who have started reading, there is already much to talk about. Chapter one is dense, so I will point out a few things to get us started.

First, notice the book begins with the failed flight and subsequent death of Robert Smith. Flight is a motif in Song of Solomon. As a metaphor, flight can represent any number of things (personal freedom, spiritual triumph, supernatural powers, abandonment of others, triumph, risk, etc.). For more background information, check out the African folktale “The People Who Could Fly.” Other items we might discuss are the water mark as a symbol, the naming of characters and the significance of names, Ruth and breastfeeding, and Pilate…to name a few.

With Morrison, I have always appreciated how she mixes the real and the fantastic--how she intertwines history with myth and folklore—but I realize that some may find this very difficult. So please ask questions, because together we can find acceptable answers.

Sheehy

MR.SHEEHY!!!

Mr. Sheehy, Im going to be reading my book this first week of July but i will not have any computer access, as i will be out of town...what should i do???

when do we

start? no one has posted ne thing yet so i decided to...