RACISM AND QUEST FOR AN IDENTITY AS DEPICTED IN TONI MORRISON’S SONG OF SOLOMON

Since the days of the Civil War (1861-1865) Afro-Americans came on the forefront of American literary scene. Many Northern American writers had tried to present the suppressed and meaningless life of Afro-Americans in their writings. But they are not able to capture the psyche of Afro-American community. Even after hundred years of Civil War illegal practices like lynching, castration, and racial discrimination were going on. In the decade of 1960, Afro-Americans had united themselves and fought vigorously for their rights. They won their battle and in this win the Afro-American writers have played a crucial role. They make their suffering visible in front of their readers. Dense in style, Afro-American writings used many allusions, their own past history and myths. This paper tries to explore how Toni Morrison has presented the grotesque system of racism in her novel Song of Solomon. In this paper I have also tried to present how Morrison has presented Afro-Americans quest for identity to counter argue racism in Song of Solomon