Inclusive Spirituality in the Song of SolomonWhen the slaves were brought to America they were taken away from everything they had known and forced to live in a land of dark irony that, while promising life , freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, provided them only misery. In a situation like the one the slaves found themselves in, many people would have relied on their religion to survive. But would slaves be able to find spiritual comfort within the parameters of a religion that had been passed down to them by slave owners? In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, African Americans struggle to find a spirituality that responds to their needs and understands their experiences in a way that the religion of the dominant culture does not. The Song of Songs deals with the African American struggle to find a spirituality not defined by a dominant culture religion. From the beginning of the novel, Morrison alludes to Christianity with the names he chooses: Hagar, First Corinthians, Magdalene, and Ruth for example. However, the two main allusions Morrison refers to are the name "Pilate" and the name of the biblical book Song of Songs. In the narrative in which Pilate is mentioned, Pilate's father, who cannot read, lets the Bible open and points to a series of lines that seem pleasant to him. It just so happens that the word enunciated in those lines is "Pilate", the name of the Roman who hands Jesus over to be crucified. The midwife who witnesses Pilate's birth asks the father if he really wants to name the child after the person who killed Jesus, and the father replies: "I asked Jesus to save my wife for me", and continues: "I asked him all the night long" (19). Yet his wife was not saved, and Pilate's father believes that... in the middle of the paper... the position of the meanings shows both majority and minority readers that the African-American spiritual experience, although touched by the experience of the majority, they must not be trained by it. The Song of Solomon deals with the struggle of African Americans to find a spiritual path that meets their needs and reflects their experience. The text helps people examine different ideas, learn about different experiences, and become sensitive to various needs. If we can learn something from the Song of Songs, truly learn something, perhaps life, freedom, and happiness will finally find us. Works Cited Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Visions: Toni Morrison. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 1990. Middleton, David. The Fiction of Toni Morrison: Contemporary Criticism. New York: Garland, 1997. Morrison, Toni. Song of Songs. New York: Plume, 1987.