Abstract: Song of Solomon is one of the most famous works written by Toni Morrison, an American black woman writer. This novel is mainly based on the legend of “The Blacks Can Fly”, which is the symbolic core of the story. In addition, this novel tells the story that a young man named Milkman who comes from a wealthy black family in the north goes to the south to look for gold. Unexpectedly, he finds the root of his family and the cultural origin. In this novel, the author creates a large number of symbols to reflect ethnic conflicts. By analyzing such things as flying, naming and misnaming of characters and places, this thesis reflects the issue of ethnic conflicts existing for a long time and also shows the reason why the black people depicted in Song of Solomon try to pursue the roots of their own national culture.

Key words: Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon, symbols, ethnic conflicts

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

  1.1 Introduction to Song of Solomon

  1.2 Literature Review

  1.3 The History of Ethnic Conflicts

2. Symbols Reflecting Ethnic Conflicts in Song of Solomon3

  2.1 Flying

2.1.1 The Legend of “The Blacks Can Fly” 

2.1.2 Flying

  2.2 Naming and Misnaming

  2.2.1 Naming of Some Places and Characters

  2.2.2 Misnaming of the Character

3. Conclusion .8

Bibliography.9

Acknowledgements.10