the Dead family

E454606

The Dead family is the central, multigenerational African American family in Toni Morrison’s novel "Song of Solomon," around whom the story’s complex history, identities, and secrets revolve.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
the Dead family canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional family
literary character group
appearsIn Song of Solomon
centralTo plot of Song of Solomon
conflictType intergenerational conflict
intrafamilial conflict
createdBy Toni Morrison
ethnicity African American
linked to: Black Americans
familyNameOrigin clerical error by a white registrar
firstAppearanceYear 1977
hasAncestralRootIn Shalimar, Virginia
hasFamilyName Dead
hasMember First Corinthians Dead
Hagar
Jake
Macon Dead I
Macon Dead Jr.
Magdalene called Lena Dead
Milkman Dead
Pilate Dead
Reba
Ruth Foster Dead
Sing
languageOfWork English
literaryPeriod postmodern American literature
matriarch Ruth Foster Dead
narrativeFunction connects personal identity to ancestral history
embodies multigenerational African American experience
nationalContext United States literature
patriarch Macon Dead Jr.
relatedTo Butler family
Byrd family
setIn Michigan
Pennsylvania
Virginia
symbolismAssociatedWith burden of history
possibility of transcendence
power of names
themeAssociatedWith ancestry
flight and freedom
identity
materialism vs. spiritual values
trauma and memory
timeFrame early to mid-20th century

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ruth Foster Dead associatedWith the Dead family