History Literature / SongOfSolomon

* BellyButtonless: Pilate Dead, the sister of the second Macon Dead, was born without a belly button, as she crawled out of her mother's womb after she died in the throes of childbirth.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Even if Milkman considers "Macon" to be an EmbarrassingFirstName, it's hard to deny that the surname "Dead" is pretty badass. In a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]], though, Milkman and his father resent the name because it was given to them without their consent (see NaturalizedName).

* {{Landlord}}: Macon Dead II's occupation in the story. A rather shady one, he tries to get his son Milkman to follow in his footsteps.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Pilate threatens one of her daughter's ex-boyfriends when he . [[spoiler:When Milkman breaks up with Hagar and is quite cold to her, Pilate knocks him out and ties him up in the basement after Hagar dies of a fever]].

** One of the Seven Days members, Henry Porter, urinates on the women surrounding him while Macon Dead tries to talk him down from a suicide.

* DomesticAbuse: Macon Dead II at one point slaps around his wife Ruth. Milkman, who witnesses the incident, comes to his mother's defense and hits his own father. Milkman's two sisters, however, just stare at him as if not appreciating what their own brother was doing, and as Milkman later learns from his sister Magdalene, they see him as just an inheritor of the abuse throne who can do anything he wants with his own sisters.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: The story begins with a man ,named Robert Smith on the roof of the hospital, falling to his death as he attempts to fly with a suit he has created. One of the women in the crowd of onlookers goes into labor, and the next day gives birth to the protagonist, Milkman, the first black child born in that same hospital. He then grows up and learns to fly himself. Maybe.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: The story begins with a man ,named Robert Smith on the roof of the hospital, falling to his death as he attempts to fly with a suit he has created. One of the women in the crowd of onlookers goes into labor, and the next day gives birth to the protagonist, Milkman the first black child born in that same hospital. He then grows up and learns to fly himself. Maybe.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: The story begins with a man named Robert Smith on the roof of the hospital, falling to his death as he attempts to fly with a suit he has created. One of the women in the crowd of onlookers goes into labor, and the next day gives birth to the protagonist, Milkman, becomes the first black child born in that same hospital. He then grows up and learns to fly himself. Maybe.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: After Milkman and Guitar complain to Railroad Tommy about being denied a beer by the proprietor of their neighborhood's local gin joint, Tommy busts out with [[TheLongList an epic rant about all of the finer pleasures in life that, as Black men in the 1960's, they'll never get to experience.]] Just as he's finished, and Milkman and Guitar are turning to leave, he adds, "And ''no'' baked Alaska! None! You never going to have that!" Guitar, who's stayed nonplussed through the whole rant, finally cries out in horror, [[SarcasmMode "No baked Alaska? You breaking my heart!"]]

* StealthPun: The majority of the book's action takes place during TheSixties, and despite being born into his father's wealth and being looked after all his life by his mother and sisters, Milkman remains bitter and indifferent to his family's travails. It's safe to say he's not a member of the Creator/GratefulDead.

The story follows Macon Dead III starting from the very day he was born, which was also the day Robert Smith committed suicide at the very hospital where Macon III was born. Macon is more commonly known as Milkman due to an embarrassing incident witnessed by a neighbor when he was about five. Milkman has a mother who loves to the point where it almost seems excessive, a father who is ashamed of him, and two elder sisters. His friend Guitar introduces a twelve-year-old Milkman to his strange aunt, Pilate Dead, his cousin Reba, and her daughter Hagar, who he immediately falls in love with.

** One of the Seven Days members urinates on the women surrounding him while Macon Dead tries to talk him down from a suicide.

* FamilyThemeNaming: The Dead family have Biblical-themed names: Milkman Dead's sisters are Magdalene (called "Lena") and First Corinthians (occasionally nicknamed "Corrie"), his mother is Ruth, his aunt is Pilate (after Pontius Pilate), and his cousin is Hagar (Abraham's maidservant). And of course, there's Solomon, the ancestor of the Dead family.

The title has nothing to do with a book from Literature/TheBible that is also called "Song of Solomon", though the title was chosen in reference to this. The Bibical Song of Solomon is a collection of love songs, and love is one of the central themes in this book.