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Literary Application #3

Erica Wellman

CMMU 4031

May 6, 2010

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It is human nature to want to belong to a group and embrace our personal identity. The

destructive part of socializing and group involvement initiate sacrifices individuals will make to

maintain the identity and characteristics of the group. We, in a sense, sell our „mental‟ soul in

return for belongingness and affirmation from groups. In this paper, I will explore the quandary

of human experience: In order to be human we must be part of a group but once we are in a

group, the contradiction between who we are individually and who we are socially begins to set

in. In, Toni Morrison‟s 1977 novel, Song of Solomon, examples of this ontological function of

communication is demonstrated in characters through communicative theories such as Symbolic

Interactionism and Cognitive Dissonance.

We‟ve learned from George Herbert Mead‟s 1934 Theory of Symbolic Interactionism

that in order to be human we need to be socialized into a large community as well as create a

sense of self. Symbolic interactionism is defined as “communication through symbols; people

talking to each other” (Griffin, 2009, p. 60). Mead reminds us that our reality is created through

communication. We identify with what we are not. We create our own identity through a

process called the “looking-glass self” by “imagining how we look to another person” (Griffin,

2009, p. 63). In order for self perceptions to develop humans need to be recognized by the

generalized other. Griffin defines the generalized other as “the composite mental image a person

has of his or her self based on community expectations and responses” (2009, p. 65). We are

who we are by what we are not. Communication and interaction in groups also identify this way.

Group reality is created within a group, as a group, through talking amongst each other and

knowing what they are not.

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An example from the novel, Song of Solomon that is applicable to the theory Symbolic

Interactionism is when First Corinthians, an educated and wealthy young black woman, took on

an job as a maid for Michael-Mary Graham, a state poet laureate. She lied to her parents that she

was working as a secretary in order to get out and feel independent. She met a man on her bus

rides from work name Henry Porter. The two began to date secretly because First Corinthians

was scared her father would find out and not approve. Porter was someone that she was not

according to society at the time, and this would upset her father. Corinthians individually

identified with what she was not. She wasn‟t the same as the other women on the bus. Porter

and Corinthians were forced to talk about the secrecy of their relationship when Porter asks her if

she is ashamed of him. As the fight escalates Corinthians illustrates the many differences she

and the other women possess.

Why don‟t you drop a greeting card in one of their laps?...They‟d love to have a greeting

card dropped in their lap. Just love it. But oh, I forgot. You couldn‟t do that, could you,

because they wouldn‟t be able to read it…It wouldn‟t matter a bit that it was the most

ridiculous, most clichéd, most commercial piece of tripe the drugstore has to offer. They

wouldn‟t know mediocrity if it punched them right in their fat faces…But no, you wanted

a lady. Somebody who knows how to sit down, how to dress, how to eat the food on her

plate. Well, there is a difference between a woman and a lady, and I now you know

which one I am. (Morrison, 1977, p. 197)

Corinthians is aware of the generalized other of the working class, sexually promiscuous,

illiterate black woman. She became self mindful through recognizing what she was not.

Socially however, she was identifying her wants as a human: to be socialized and belong to a

group. Corinthians wants Porter to give her love and affection, and pursue her. Corinthians‟

personal identity and desire for belongingness are contradicting one another. Because of the

desperate crave Corinthians has to be a necessary and included component in this group of

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relationships, that are symbolically constructed, she turns back to Porter. She continues to throw

herself at him, begging for his forgiveness and his affection so she could feel a sense of

belongingness. Corinthians believes that there is a type of woman who falls in love with a man

like Henry Porter. Whether that woman is First Corinthians, is an internal conflict she creates.

Conflicts such as Corinthian‟s occur when we are socializing and who we think we are

and who the other thinks that we are, are not in alignment. “The distressing mental state caused

by inconsistency between a person‟s two beliefs or a belief and an action” is a term Leon

Festinger coined as Cognitive Dissonance (Griffin, 2009, p. 205). Cognitive Dissonance is

useful in both personal and group dynamics. In the novel, Song of Solomon, Guitar Bains‟

involvement in the group “Seven Days” demonstrates Cognitive Dissonance. The Seven Days‟

hypocritical approach to their justification of their murders is a prime example of beliefs not

corresponding with their behaviors. The members of the Seven Days were morally repulsed by

the ability the white men had to kill innocent African-Americans however the Seven Days group

in turn did the exact same crime. Members of the Seven Days would find an innocent white

male to murder every time they heard that a black male was murdered. Through Symbolic

Interactionism, Seven Days developed their group identity and core values. The foundation the

group built on of evening out the races creates a type tension or dissonance, persuading group

members to act. These actions can be comprised of a murder of an innocent man or simply

justification and reaffirmation of their group to outsiders. The persuaders, or the initial six

members of the Seven Days tapped into Guitar‟s Cognitive Dissonance he had about the group in

order recruit him.

It is the job of the persuader, in any context involving this theory to get the persuadee to

confront this contradiction to feel and not shirk the dissonance, and to utilize that

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discomfort as a resource for change. Yet that perception, itself, will become clear only

because of the cognitive dissonance that we experience. (Swartz, 2001, p. 159)

Group members have the ability to persuade influx members to join because the everlasting

tension between being ourselves or being apart of the group. Is being part of a group worth

sacrificing aspects of your individual identity? Where is the line drawn before the commitment to

a group has taken over your personal character? Does selling our mental soul to fully integrate

into groups and participate in behavior that can be unethical, such as murder, outweigh the need

for belonging?

These are concepts that I have learned about communication as a whole. As humans we

have an innate desire for social interaction and in order to fulfill these desires we sacrifice part of

our individual identity thus, creating an unbalanced mental state between our actions and beliefs,

also known as Cognitive Dissonance. As illustrated through characters in the novel, Song of

Solomon, the answer to the question: Are sacrifices of individual identity worth it in order for

group inclusion and belonging? …is Yes. I have discovered that humans desire belonging to a

group and formulating their group identity over a necessity to maintain a complete individual

identity.

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References

Griffin, Em. (2009). A First look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher

Education.

Morrison, Toni. (1977). Song of solomon. New York: Penguin Group .

Swartz, O. (2001). Persuasion as a critical activity. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing

Company.