Song of Solomon--Christine Ellis

In Toni Morrison's book, Song of Solomon, the characters evolve through decades, surviving hardships and adverse poverty. Two characters in particular, Macon Dead and his sister Pilate Dead, have a special connection to the wilderness in early 1900's Danville, Virginia. Their mother died giving birth to Pilate so their father, the original Macon Dead, raised the two kids as he was raised: with great reverence for the Earth and a love of all things wild. He loved working the land and was one of the only black men to actually acquire his own land instead of sharecropping. Tragically, the father is shot and killed for this same land that he loved so much. The two children, orphaned, run away from the farm that they grew up on and hide out in the tiny attic room of a family friend who worked for the man that killed their father. Cooped up in that tiny space, the two were miserable, Pilate especially. They decide to risk life and limb just to be outside again. "The first day was joyous. They ate raspberries and apples; they took off their shoes and let the dewy grass and sun-warmed dirt soothe their feet. At night they slept in a haystack, so grateful for open air even the field mice and the ticks were welcome bedmates" (Morrison 168). Its amazing how even people, with all of their brain power and advanced civilizations, still crave the primeval sensations of animals. Homeless and on the run, the Dead children are able to find solace in nature.