Pilate In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

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In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon Pilate Dead is an extraordinary woman. Ironically, Pilate is named after Pontius Pilate in the Bible after her mother dies giving birth to her. The name was chosen in the Bible by her grieving illiterate father who selects a name from the Bible without being able to read it. Pilate is shunned by her brother Macon and she is the outcast of the Macon Family. Pilate with a snuffbox earring in her ear is unique. She has traveled around the world, and not to mention she has no navel. The narrator states that "Pilate is also as tall as her brother, has short hair, and she does not dress nor act like an ordinary woman. As the aunt of Milkman, she guides him as he goes on a search for his identity. Pilate shines …show more content…
In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon Pilate is independent and confident, has magical and spiritual abilities, and she is selfless in her relationships.
First, Pilate is independent and confident. Pilate did not have an easy or simple life growing up as a child. After the deaths of Pilate and Macon’s parents, they became orphans and lived with a woman named Circe. However, keeping the children in secret was starting to become hard, and one day Macon and Pilate just got up in left. The next couple of days Pilate and Macon lived in the woods where they slept in haystack and bathed in streams. After a while, Macon and Pilate have a falling out after fighting over a dead man’s gold causing them to split up. Pilate then made goals to head for Virginia and she had to learn how to survive on her own. Sadly, Pilates’s life journey was hard because of her lack of a navel. Because she had no navel, Pilate was viewed as inhuman by others when they saw her bare …show more content…
Felong states that Pilate’s “unselfish help to others that make her heart peaceful, not material wealth” (Felong 2). Pilate always does the best she can by lending a helping hand to others. As a matter of fact, one of her first selfless acts she does in Song of Solomon is helping Ruth. Macon has not touched Ruth in years after he sees her in bed naked with her dead father’s finger in her mouth. Pilate helps Ruth out by giving her herbs that make Macon fall in love with Ruth again. The help that Pilate gives Ruth plays a major part in the birth of Milkman, and it actually saves Milkman and Ruth’s life. When Macon discovers Ruth is pregnant, he forces Ruth to try everything and anything to abort the baby. Pilate puts an end to that by telling Ruth what she should do and creates a voodoo doll to protect her and the baby from Macon. Pilates serves as a protector to Ruth and she provides the strength that Ruth does not have with her actions. In a like matter, Pilate is aslo selfless in her relationship with Milkman. It all starts when Milkman is born, Pilate sings and watches over baby Milkman. Eventually, when Milkman gets older they meet again and Pilate shows him a life he had never known. Marshall states that “Pilate begins by instructing Milkman in practical, everyday knowledge: to say what you mean, how to cook the perfect egg. Because she values nothing but human relationships” (Marshall 113). Even after
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