In a world far from perfection, love is argued to be the closest thing mankind has to magic. However, throughout Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the positive nature of this intense affection is challenged. Morrison explores the detrimental effects of a lack of mutuality when it comes to love. For some, receiving unconditional love from another is truly a blessing, for love's ferocity can detach even the most high strung people from life's complexities. In contrast, in the face of repudiation of that love, it can become a weapon, with the ability to transform a person. This is mostly due to the fact that expression of this kind of endearment takes courage and confidence and when denied, can take on a hopeless form. The overwhelming power of love drives Hagar's pursuit of Milkman and disables her from recognizing the imbalance of feelings in their relationship, which is truly the center of her internal conflict. This rejection can be seen clearly through Hagar and how Milkman's inability to return Hagar's feelings toward him, his rejection of her love, left her scared and consequently, her unappreciated love becomes the force behind her transformation and descent. .
Hagar exemplifies the result of an overbearing essence of love without reciprocation. The beliefs of the Southside community emphasizes the discussion of love over the course of this novel. The author remarks that the community "had seen women pull their dresses over their heads and howl like dogs for lost love" (128). They had said to themselves, "thank God I ain't never had one of them graveyard loves" (128). The author sets up a foreshadow to the result of loving too much. Hagar, like the women described, is blindly devoted to Milkman and allows herself to be used and abandoned. The community's equation of humans to animals in the face of love shows love's transformative influence on a person, that is explored in this novel.
