Toni Morrison's novel, Song of Solomon tells the story of Macon "Milkman" Dead, a character completely alien to his community, his family and his legacy. In the novel, readers follow his journey through the fictional city of Shalimar in order to fully understand the cultural heritage that has been left to him. He begins his journey as someone without a home or strong family ties, but eventually finds the place where he finally feels he belongs. The image of the house in the book is often associated with the motif of cherries, which evokes nostalgia in different people in Milkman's immediate family throughout the book. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayMorrison develops a theme about the importance of home and belonging using cherries to symbolize family ancestry Dead.First, Morrison uses cherry trees to represent a loss of home. After Macon and Pilate, then teenagers, flee the scene of their father's murder and spend the night at Circe's house, Pilate immediately remembers the cherry trees. Mâcon and Pilate run to take refuge with Circe, but Pilate regrets what she will miss. “[Pilate] wanted his own cherries, from his own cherry tree, with stems and seeds; not an overly sweet puree” (167). Morrison depicts the tragedy of twelve-year-old Pilate's sudden loss of his home by showing Pilate criticizing Circe's jam for allegedly containing no "stems or seeds" and being "too sweet." Although Circe is considered a close confidante of the children, they do not accept her place as "home", as shown by Pilate's less-than-enthusiastic opinion of Circe's cherry jam. While the cherry trees represent a loss of home, the cherry pies represent an attempt to reestablish family connection. Mâcon tries to keep Pilate away from Milkman as much as he can, “forbidding him to come near” (40) to her and forcing her to leave her son and her house and only return when she can “ show a certain respect for herself” (20). . This forced separation prevents them from forming a bond. Therefore, when Pilate invites Milkman to her home, she begins by extending a metaphorical olive branch. “Your father… he didn’t know how to cook proper poop. One time I made him a cherry pie, or I tried to... Our daddy was dead, you see. They threw him five feet in the air” (40-41). By beginning her tale with a cherry pie and further expressing her willingness to provide information about a story from her perspective, she attempts to reclaim her relationship with her brother's side of the family, which is less familiar with the sordid story between Pilate and Pilate. and Macon. His gamble pays off in the long run, as at the end of the book Macon helps Pilate bury the bones of his deceased father and sings during his flight from life. She finally reconnected with the rest of her family. Later in the novel, Morrison uses artificial cherry flavoring to symbolize a lack of belonging. When Milkman's car breaks down in Shalimar and he goes to a bar to recuperate, he buys a "Cherry Smash" soda from the bartender. Unlike Milkman and Pilate, Milkman does not understand the symbolic value of the cherries from the start, referring to them simply as "red liquid" or "sweet soda water". His indifference to the artificial taste of his drink contrasts sharply with an earlier episode in the novel, in which Pilate tearfully rejects Circe's cherry jam because it is artificial. While Milkman shows no particular emotion regarding the flavor of his..