In addition to presenting us with the first of numerous biblical allusions, Solomon's song introduces us to the intrinsic role that religious and secular songs, in the form of spirituals and the blues, play in defining and transmitting African-American culture. Although Solomon's song is a children's rhyme here, it provides divine guidance, leading Milkman from mental bondage to spiritual freedom. Thus, although different in form, it fulfills the function of the old Negro spirituals — such as "Steal Away," "Wade in the Water," and "Follow the Drinking Gourd" — which often served as "signal songs" to guide escaped slaves along the path to freedom. To these slaves, "Steal Away" often signaled a secret church meeting that would put them in touch with other runaways; "Wade in the Water" warned them to walk in shallow creeks and river beds, thus making it more difficult for bloodhounds to pick up their scent; and "Follow the Drinking Gourd" reminded them to use the Big Dipper to find the North Star. For Milkman, Solomon's song contains the secrets to his inheritance, the path back to his "people."
Throughout the novel, characters' abilities to manipulate language reveal their abilities to cope with reality. Note, for example, Pilate's language, which incorporates puns, proverbs, parables, and folk sayings, and which flows freely from standard English, to black vernacular, to the poetic/sermonic language of the Bible, as opposed to Macon's language, which is marked by literal statements, nonstandard English, and racial epithets. (Other examples include Hospital Tommy, who "talks like an encyclopedia," Corinthians, who uses language to disguise her reality, and Freddie, the town crier, who uses language primarily to spread his skewed version of "truth.") Also note Morrison's use of Homeric epithets, which underscores the message that this story of one young man's quest for identity is part of the universal quest for identity common to all humanity. (Attributed to Homer, Homeric epithets are compound adjectives, such as "wine-dark sea," "bright-eyed Athena," and "rosy-fingered dawn.") Examples of this kind of epithet in the novel include "the cat-eyed boy," "the baked-too-fast sunshine cake," and "ice-pick-wielding Hagar."
