Identity In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, names and identity play a very big role for the characters, for nearly every character’s name is related to who they are. For most of the novel the audience follows Macon “Milkman” Dead III through his coming of age and his quest to find out his true identity. Throughout the novel he pieces together his family history and ultimately ends up accepting who he is and appreciating his heritage. Through him, the audience sees what life is like for African-Americans during the time between World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. Although he is a protagonist of the novel, he is not the only one. His aunt, Pilate Dead, can also be considered a protagonist. In the story, she got her name when her father picked

it randomly out of the Bible. As she grew up, she traveled around the country and met many people, and because of this was exposed to the real world relatively early. She eventually settles down in the same town that Milkman’s father and Pilate’s brother, Macon Dead Jr., is living in. In Song of Solomon, Pilate serves both as a guiding force, a “pilot” to the characters of the book, and also demonstrates that she can “fly” without ever leaving the ground, which is a major theme of the book.
In the novel, the personality and actions of Pilate reflect not her Biblical allusion of Pontius Pilate, but the homonym of her name, “pilot”, for she is constantly acting throughout the novel as a figure that both is protective and someone who leads someone else who is in need in guidance. In the Bible, Pontius Pilate is the name of the Roman official that sentenced Jesus to death. Although Pontius Pilate was reluctant and had is doubts about sentencing Jesus to death because he knew that he would be known as the killer of Jesus, he did so anyway. On the other hand, Pilate in Song of Solomon is a protector, and has no doubts. Before Milkman was even born, Pilate was protecting him from harm. In fact, “Pilate was the one brought [him] in the first place” (124). Once Pilate helped to get Ruth pregnant, Macon Jr. tried to stop her and get rid of Milkman: “Macon…tried to get her to abort...the half ounce of castor oil Macon made her drink, then a hot pot recently emptied of scalding water on which she sat, then a soapy enema...and finally, when he punched her stomach, she ran…looking for Pilate…” (131). Pilate retaliates by defending Milkman, because he cannot defend himself: “Pilate put a small [voodoo] doll on Macon’s chair…he left Ruth alone after that” (132). Morrison uses this example to demonstrate how Pilate’s name does not define who she is; although her name is that of a person who killed, she does the opposite; she protects life. She also does this with her daughter, Reba; when one of her man friends was fighting with her because she had no money to loan him, she puts a knife into his chest and scares him away (93-94). In addition to protecting, Pilate also acts like a pilot. Early on in her journey, Pilate had to “pilot” herself in order to find herself a home, until, once having a family of Reba and Hagar, realized that home was with herself and her family. Later on during the novel, she guides Milkman along his journey. Starting when he was a child, Pilate told him stories that introduced him to his past and made him intrigued to find out more about the other Macon Deads. In addition, when Milkman gets arrested for carrying the bag of bones from Pilate’s house, she goes and takes on the role of a subservient African-American in order to get Milkman out of jail; she helped “pilot” him out of jail. Morrison uses these descriptions of Pilate to bring out the contrast between Pilate and her namesake, which helps to also show this defying of what your name is occurs with Milkman. Throughout the book, Pilate acts as a guiding force for those around her.
Pilate also helps to demonstrate to the audience, and Milkman, that one can “fly” without actually leaving the ground or loved ones behind, and highlights that there are multiple ways for a person to “fly”.

Throughout the novel, the idea of flight is a major thematic subject; the book opens with the flight of Robert Smith and closes with the flight of Milkman, and Milkman’s heritage is centered on his great-grandfather Solomon’s flight. Morrison demonstrates there are multiple ways to “fly” throughout the book. There is the harmful flight of Robert Smith, who said he would “take off from Mercy and flay away on [his] own wings” (3), and Solomon, who, according to the myths of those in Shalimar, “flew…like a bird...and went right on back to wherever it was he came from” (323). This type of flight is shown to be a negative form of flight, for Robert Smith flies (commits suicide) in order to escape his troubles, and Solomon flies in order to escape slavery, and leaves behind his wife, who becomes overcome with grief and goes insane, and twenty-one kids. Milkman also goes through this type of flight when he goes to Pennsylvania and Virginia to find the gold and eventually his history; because of this Hagar dies: “He had left her. While he dreamt of flying, Hagar was dying” (332). In stark contrast, Pilate is, according to Milkman, “without ever leaving the ground, she could fly” (336). This is demonstrated multiple times through Pilate’s actions. Thus, because she can fly in such a manner, Pilate is able to be a benevolent person to all. She is be free partially because, like Milkman did at the end of the book, she accepted who she was despite the fact that she was alienated for having no navel and faced racism like other blacks at the time. In the first part of the book, Pilate can be seen in stark contrast to Milkman, because he seems spiritually dead while she is not; he uses Hagar until he does not want her anymore, but later on in the book Milkman helps others

benevolently, such as when he helps the white man lift the crate onto the train (256). These kind actions are similar to Pilate, who helps Ruth keep Milkman alive, protect Reba despite having to put a knife to a man stronger than her, and at the end of the book, says “If I’d a knowed more, I would a loved more” (336).