Comparing Song of Solomon with Star Wars and The Hero's Journey
During our class discussion of the book The Song of Solomon, Taehan and I realized that the novel was weirdly similar to Star Wars: A New Hope. Both are stories that describes a "hero" going on an adventure and on the way discovers their past (also the last name Skywalker and Milkman's ancestors being able to fly is a funny similarity). Our theory was further enhanced once our class began talking about how Milkman's experience in act 2 follows the hero's journey. After finishing the book, I decided to look back and compare the differences and similarities of The Song of Solomon (SOS) and Star Wars and found it extremely interesting.
To make this blog more organized, I will be talking about the comparisons in the order I believe they appear in the hero's journey (as seen in the picture).
Both stories begin with the view being in a middle of a intense scene that is not directly related to the main character, yet multiple character in the scene would be important later on. SOS begins with the man wanting to jump off the hospital and introduces multiple important characters like Pilate and Guitar, while Star Wars begins with Leia being captured by Darth Vader, two very important characters within the story. One of the key differences between SOS and Star Wars though...besides the whole space thing, is the pacing of the plot. In SOS, the Act 1 of the Hero's Journey takes up a large part of the book. I believe the "ordinary world" is Milkman's hometown and the "call to adventure", quite different to most fiction because it is not exactly physical, is Milkman's journey to discover his family's past. Milkman's mentors include Pilate, Ruth, and Macon Jr as they all contribute not only helping his on his quest, but also are the ones who makes him accepts the call after he refuses it several times. This part takes up the entire first act of the SOS, in Star Wars, however, this part of the hero's journey is only the beginning of the movie, where Luke finds the call to adventure from Leia's message, and then his mentor in Obi Wan.
Part 5 of the hero's Journey, "Crossing First Threshold" is pretty obvious in New Hope, it is when after Luke's family dies, he decides to go and save Leia. In SOS, though, this section is not so clear. Physically, he crosses to the "special world" when he leaves his hometown. However, at this point he is still only looking for the gold, not the objective of the call to adventure I spoke about before. It is only after he goes to Shalimar, and finds out about his past, Milkman truly begins his quest. After crossing the threshold, Milkman goes through "tests" by surviving Guitar's assassination attempt, then finding allies, or at least support in his journey in the people of Shalimar and Circe. This is quite similar to Luke going through tests to save Leia and finding allies in Han and Chewy.
Another similarity that the two have, that not all hero's journey does, is a return back home/safety. Milkman goes back to tell what he heard to Macon Jr and Pilate, while Luke and co meets the Rebel Alliance to turn in the information on R2-D2. A difference though, relating to this point, is when does the mentor die in each story. In Luke's case, Obi Wan dies from Darth Vader's strike and becomes one with the force, this scene appears before Luke's meeting with the Alliance. In SOS however, Pilate dies after Guitar shoots her when trying to shoot Milkman, which is after Milkman returns home and comes back with Pilate.
Finally, the ending of the two are also drastically different. New Hope has the classic hero's journey ending: hero wins after long struggle, returns home and get awards. SOS though, seems to end at the climax, when Milk lunges at Guitar. Even though it ended so abruptly, I do think this was a satisfying ending for Milkman as he did achieve his goal of discovering and appreciating his family's past.
I will remind all readers that, adding to the weirdness of these coincidences, both the novel and the movie came out the same year. There must have been something in the water in 1977 to render hero's journey narratives popular again.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love about Milkman's strange version of this narrative is that his "tests" gradually move from physical to something more spiritual or moral--it's less about holding his own while fighting the guy at the general store and more about having deep empathetic insights into how he treats other people and their experience. And I like the parallel we touched on in class, where Luke is emboldened to learn that he is in the exclusive line of Jedis, and Milkman is ecstatic to learn that he is a descendant of a "flying tribe." There's this sense of a deeper, mystical kind of identity that lies dormant in the "ordinary world" but is brought out by the risk and drama of a journey.
The similarities in the endings of both Star Wars and Song of Solomon are really interesting if you look at how both Luke and Milkman embrace something from their past to achieve the ending, Luke with the force instead of the targeting computer and Milkman with his flight off the cliff with guitar.
ReplyDeleteThe whole hero's journey arc in Song of Solomon seemed a little out of place, especially considering how much the first act takes up in the book. But, the similarities from there are clear and an interesting observation. The ending to Song of Solomon fits the book better than if a traditional heros journey ending. The ambiguous sudden ending fits much better in the strange world and storytelling of Song of Solomon.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I didn't think that A New Hope and Song of Solomon would be so similar, even with the different pacing. I find it interesting that there's so many parallels between the two yet such drastically different endings for each.
ReplyDeleteHey Yan, I think you did a really good job at comparing "Song of Solomon" and "Star Wars: A New Hope" in the context of the hero's journey. It's interesting to consider the ways in which Milkman's journey to discover his family's past and his own identity mirrors the classic hero's journey narrative, while also incorporating unique elements and differences such as the slower pacing of the plot and the timing of the mentor's death. I agree that the abrupt ending of "Song of Solomon" is satisfying in the context of Milkman's character arc and his goal of understanding and appreciating his family's past. Overall, nice job.
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