Toni Morrison's novel Song of Solomon tells the story of Macon “Milkman” Dead, a character completely alienated from his community, family, and heritage. In the novel, readers follow his journey to the fictional city of Shalimar that he takes to fully understand the cultural heritage he was left with. He begins his travels as a person without a home or without strong ties to family, but eventually finds the place where he finally feels he belongs. The image of the house in the book is often associated with the motif of cherries, which evokes nostalgia for several people in Milkman's immediate family throughout the book. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Morrison develops a theme about the importance of home and belonging using cherries to symbolize the ancestry of the Dead family. First, Morrison uses the cherry trees to represent the loss of home. After Macon and Pilate, then teenagers, flee the scene of their father's murder and spend the night at Circe's house, Pilate immediately thinks of the cherry trees. Macon and Pilate run to Circe's house for refuge, but Pilate regrets what she will miss. “[Pilate] wanted his cherries, from his own cherry tree, with stems and seeds; not too sweet a mush” (167). Morrison portrays the tragedy of twelve-year-old Pilate's sudden loss of his home, showing Pilate being critical of Circe's jam, which is said to have "no stems and seeds" and is "too sweet." Although Circe is considered a close confidant to the children, they do not accept her place as "home", as evidenced by Pilate's less than enthusiastic opinion of Circe's cherry jam. While the cherry trees represent a loss of home, the cherry pies represent an attempt to re-establish it. family bond. Macon tries to keep Pilate away from Milkman as long as he can, "forbidding him to come near" (40) her and forces her to leave her son and her home and not return until she can "show some respect for herself" (20) . This forced separation prevents them from forming a bond. Therefore, when Pilate invites Milkman to her home, she begins by extending a metaphorical olive branch. “Your father... couldn't cook well. One time I made him a cherry pie, or tried to... Our dad was dead, you see. They blew him five feet into the air” (40-41). By beginning her tale with a cherry pie and further expressing her willingness to provide insight into a story from her point of view, she attempts to reclaim her relationship with her brother's side of the family, the one that knows least of the sordid history between Pilate and Macon. His gamble works in the long run, as at the end of the book Macon helps Pilate bury his dead father's bones and sings during his escape from life. He has finally reforged a bond with his remaining family. Later in the novel, Morrison uses artificial cherry flavoring to symbolize a lack of belonging. When Milkman's car breaks down in Shalimar and he goes to a bar to recover, he buys a "Cherry Smash" drink from the bartender. Unlike Milkman and Pilate, Milkman does not understand the symbolic value of cherries from the beginning, simply calling them a “red liquid” or “sweet soda water.” His indifference to the artificial taste of his drink contrasts sharply with an earlier episode in the novel, in which Pilate tearfully rejects Circe's cherry jam because it is artificial. While Milkman shows no particular emotion regarding the taste of his soda, Pilate “began to cry the day Circe brought her white toast and.