Creative project

Week 2; Toni Morrison; myth denial

 Explain why you believe Morrison deny's a connection with the myth of Deadulus and Icarus.

 Simply because she wasn't inspired by that text in particular. As readers, we can make any number of connections within or around a text based on an infinite pool of knowledge, but after the writing process is complete, we get a snapshot of the knowledge available to the author at the time of the text's final editing. Which pales in comparison to what any number of readers could know, or have access to. She says quite plainly that she was inspired by the story about flying Africans... Comparing that story to that of Deadulus and Icarus, the story of the Flying Africans makes much more sense. The Greek myth may also have some form of symbolism alluding to freedom, but the story of the flying African connects much more than the Greek myth. The story of the flying African isn't merely about flight as a means of escape, but also about returning to your roots, and rediscovering where you came from. As Toni Morrison said, "...that was his journey, a kinda unlearning and learning,"(~5;50 of video). This connects very closely to the story we read in class; as many of the slaves lost what they had before relearning how to fly. This pretty obviously relates to unlearning and learning. I'm not by any means saying the Greek myth can't be related to the novel, but rather that she didn't specifically select it to be a major source of inspiration within her writing process. 

 Include elements of the the myth of Deadulus and Icarus that could be included in the, Song Of Solomon.

 Icarus didn't heed the warnings of his father and suffered the consequences of his foolhardy actions. Similar to the fact that Milkman would have avoided many issues in his life had he stayed away from Pilate as his father advised. It may be stretching it to postulate that Ruth Dead equates to King Minos as they both were at the base of the problems. Milkman likely would have done as he was told if it weren't for the osticision caused by his mother's behaviour. Similar to how King Minos is the cause of the Greek myth, since he was the one that caused Icarus and his father to need to escape. Flight being a major part of both texts also ties the two together on a certain level. On a basic level the both of them feature freedom as a common theme. It could be said at that point that Morrison took the concept of freedom and questionable relationships to a different level, tying in African mythology as a means of making it more familiar to her, and also allowing her the possibility to take it in an entirely different direction.