gay rights
...e theory of quest as a motivating and organizing device. The impact of the community on the individual's quest for self is one of the particular problems of Black women, and the laughter and pain which characterise the survival struggle of Black Americans. (Thus Sethe is destroyed by her memories and her isolation with the ghost of Beloved (haunted by slavery), until the community intervenes and saves her.) There are a number of similar themes which pervade the novels: in Song of Solomon, Milkman Dead's spiritual quest is part of an actual journey during which he must confront his past and his origins. (Compare with Paul D.'s need to confront his past, and Sethe's.) Finally he experiences a rebirth of the self rather than a terminal isolation in madness or death (as Sethe is reunited with Paul D. and is liberated from the horrors of ...