Have you ever read a book, and when reading, it brings you to draw parallels comparisons like some you have read from the bible? Tony Morrison’s use of biblical names like Hagar, Pilate, and Ruth encourages readers to draw connections between the lives of the biblical characters and some of the characters in the novel, adding depth, meaning, and richness to the story.
Hagar in the novel was Pilate’s granddaughter and cousin to Milkman. Hagar devoted herself to Milkman even though he lost interest and frequently rejected her. Used and rejected, she ultimately goes crazy and attempts to murder Milkman; Song of Solomon, Chapter 5 Page 126-130. Her plight demonstrates the inevitable abandonment of women who love men too much. Pilate who is
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Milkman’s aunt is named for the Roman perfect Pontius Pilate, the man who crucified Jesus; The Norfolk Library Book Group. Pilate lost her mom before she was born. She lost her dad and her brother within weeks of each other, when she was only a little girl, for the reason why she’s spent a good chunk of her life alone. (Shmoop Editorial Team “Pilate Dead in Song of Solomon”). Pilate took care for the people she loved and even gave her life for Milkman at the end of Chapter 15 page 336 in Song of Solomon. Ruth was Macon’s wife and Milkman’s mother. Ruth stopped having sex with her husband because he couldn’t stand her and frequently criticized her. Ruth’s one love in life has always been her father. Nobody cared if Ruth died or lived like her father. According to chapter 5 in Song of Solomon, even though Ruth admits that he is “not as good man and is “often foolish and destructive” (Page 121-124) Ruth’s loyalty to her father is so big, she would wake up in the middle of the night and travel by bus and train to get to her father’s grave just so she could talk to him. Hagar in the bible (Genesis 16 in KJV Bible) was an Egyptian woman, the handmaid of Sarah. Since Sarah, Abraham’s wife bare him no children she told Abraham to go unto Hagar so that way she could obtain children by her. Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael, Abraham’s first son. Both stayed with Abraham and Sarah until Sarah could give birth. Sarah with anger reproached Abraham for the results of her own act. Sarah was then able to have a child named Isaac. Sarah saw how Ishmael was laughing at Isaac and how he was bad influence on Isaac, therefore she requested Abraham to send both Hagar and Ishmael away. (Genesis 21:8-14). Hagar in both the novel and in the Bible, were used, manipulated and later abandoned by men. Both got their hopes up in finding a loving partner, but ended up feeling even more lonely than before. Abraham from the Bible wanted a son from Hagar, meanwhile Milkman only wanted Hagar for his entertainment. Hagar is used for years, satisfying his sexual needs and then gets abandoned when he eventually gets tired of her. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea, known as the Christ killer.
“The chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude to ask Barabbas, and that Jesus should be put to death. The governor answered and said to them, which of the two do you want me to release? And they said: to Barabbas. Pilate said to them: What, then, will I do about Jesus, called the Christ? They all said: Be crucified! Then he released Barabbas to them; and having scourged Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified” (Matthew 27:20-26 KJV Bible). Sort of like Pontius Pilate, on the inside Pilate seemed bad, which was how Macon Jr. described her as a “snake”. But on the inside, she could also be viewed as good like how Milkman saw her. When Pilate is dying at the end of the novel she says something that is associated to what a good a person would say. She tells him “she wishes she could have known more people so that she could have loved more people” (Song of Solomon Page 336). Pilate is an opposite of her namesake. Pilate in the book of Song of Solomon was a female while Pilate in the Bible was a male. Pilate in the novel was independent, caring and she sacrificed herself for Milkman. Meanwhile Pilate in the bible seemed to have favored negotiation rather than confrontation. He kind of sends Jesus to death out of peer pressure and didn’t really feel responsible for …show more content…
it. In the land of Moab, there lived a man named Elimelech with his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.
These two young men took for wife’s Orpah and Ruth. Both Mahlon and Chilion died ten years later, leaving her mother Naomi with her two daughters in law. Naomi told both Orpah and Ruth, “Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God”. (KJV Bible, Ruth 1 Verse 8-16). Ruth in both the Bible and in the novel, were alike. In the Bible, even after her husband dies, she refuses to leave her mother in law. In Song of Solomon, after Ruth’s father dies, she refuses to leave him for a new life. They both stayed loyal to their love ones. Some differences between Ruth from the Bible and Song of Solomon are the following… in the Bible Ruth’s husband died while Ruth father died in the novel. Ruth in the Bible kept on with her life. She and her mother in law moved to Belen, where Ruth picked up spikes in the field of Boaz. Over the time Boaz took care of Ruth and
eventually they got married, giving birth to their son, Obed (Ruth 3 and 4 KJV Bible). Meanwhile in Song of Solomon, Ruth has been abandoned by her husband Macon Dead who is cold, controlling and domineering, to a point where she needs a physical reminder that she’s alive. Ruth is clearly not happy with him but she rather be stunned into her silence than start a new life. In conclusion, Tony Morrison’s various allusions to the bible effectively add context to the novel by showing a way of reconciliation and forgiveness from a psychological and religious aspect through the means of the biblical allusions. These characters names carry with them not only their personal history as described in the novel, like their personalities and behaviors but also the history of a biblical namesake. It also shows that the human nature depicted in that era is still prevalent today.
One of the first things said about Pilate after she is born is a comment by the midwife, who said on the topic of her name “Christ-killing Pilate. You can’t get much worse than that for a name.”(19). The association of Pilate Dead with Pontius
The book called Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, deals with many real life issues, most of which are illustrated by the relationships between different family members.
"The scream that boomed down the cave tunnel and woke the bats came just when Macon thought that he had taken his last living breath. The bleeding man turned toward the direction of the scream and looked at the colored girl long enough for Macon to pull out his knife and bring it down the old man's back. He crashed forward, then turned his head to look at them. His mouth moved and he mumbles something that sounds like 'What for?' Macon stabbed him again and again until he stopped moving his mouth, stop trying to talk and stopped jumping and twitching on the ground" (pg. 171). This is an excerpt for the novel The Song of Solomon (1987), by Toni Morrison. Macon one of the main characters, only a child at the time, kills a man whom he thinks is threatening him and his sister's, Pilate, life. After killing the man the two children travel to the man's camp where they discover three bags of gold. Macon also sees, " the dusty boots of his farther" (pg 170). Becoming alarmed, Pilate says, "It is Papa!". To her cry a voice whispers 'sing, sing'. Macon greedily packs up the gold while Pilate searchers frantically for their farther. After a terrible fight the two separate. Ironically years later they end up living in the same small Michigan town. Macon and Pilate hate and their family secret all the while still grows in differnt directions. Macon moves on with his life and marries Ruth. The couple have three children, Lean, First Corinthians, and Macon who receives the nickname of Milkman.
Toni Morrison, in her novel Song of Solomon, skillfully utilizes symbolism to provide crucial insight into the story and to help add detail and depth to themes and character developments. Fabricating a 1960’s African American society, Morrison employs these symbols to add unspoken insight into the community that one would feel if he or she were actually living there, as well as to help the reader identify and sympathize with the characters and their struggles. By manifesting these abstract concepts into tangible objects such as gold or roses, the author is able to add a certain significance to important ideas that remains and develops further throughout the story, adding meaning to the work as a whole. Pilate’s brass box earring, containing
Cofer, Jordan. "The "All-Demanding Eyes": Following The Old Testament And New Testament Allusions In Flannery O'connor's "Parker's Back." Flannery O'connor Review 6.(2008): 30-39. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
As a result of his spoiled childhood Milkman takes women for granted. He doesn't consider how his actions affect them. This is shown when he realizes he is bored with his cousin Hagar, whom he has been using for his sexual pleasure for years. Instead of buying her a Christmas gift he gives her cash and a thank you note. He thanks her for everything she has done for him and considers the relationship over. Hagar becomes obsessed with killing Milkman. She makes several attempts to take his life but fails because of her love for him. Her last attempt to kill him is when he is hiding from her in his only friend, Guitar?s room. Hagar tries to stab him but after she sees his face she cannot. Milkman tells her to stab herself and says, ?Why don?t you do that? Then all your problems will be over.?[pg 130] This portrays how Milkman is cold hearted towards the opposite sex.
Abstract: In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, names have great implication. Language is extremely personal and deeply rooted in culture. Names are an integral part of language, and they help to establish identity, define personality, and show ownership through formal and informal usage.
Rather, she discusses the thought that women are too dependent on men. One can argue that Ryna’s and Hagar’s reactions to their partners abandoning them are too extreme. When Hagar dies, Pilate exclaims “she was loved,” expressing that Hagar’s depression revolving around Milkman was needless, since she had a whole support system in Pilate and Reba. Another example of this is Macon’s abandonment of Ruth and Ruth’s dependency. Ruth, throughout the novel, is dependent on men for love. She forms a too intimate relationship with her father, but eventually he dies and she is left without his love. She does have a husband, but he denies physical affection and emotional support to her, and she becomes desperate without those presences. When she has her child, Milkman, she has almost a possessive relationship with him, not wanting him to leave her because she is afraid of losing another man, though Milkman does not really love his mother, much like he does not really love Hagar due to his blindness to other people’s emotions and wants. Morrison writes Ruth as obsessed with having a mutual sense of affection with a man after they emotionally abandon her, even though it is not really a necessity for her. Pilate helps clarify this, exclaiming that Ruth treats Milkman like a “house,” and says that if he does not have him, then that is
In Morrison's novel we were constantly shown the theme of love with Pilate given to show us the strongest and healthiest example of it. Pilate who lurked in the back of the reader's mind, who was most loved of all of the characters. She is considered a mystery to those inside and outside of the story, because of her perceptive ability and her lack of agenda. Pilate was the strongest of the characters, no passive woman as well. She truly is an unusual piece of work, someone the reader wishes they saw more often in the world around them. Pilate is a personal favorite as well, and it isn't hard to see why. Pilate is the embodiment of what love is supposed to be and that is why she is so important and so dearly loved among readers. In the words of Milman, “There must be another one like you,” (336).
In the same episode, he begins his incestuous affair with Hagar, leaving her 14 years later when his desire for her wanes. Milkman's experience with Hagar is analogous to his experience with his mother, and serves to "[stretch] his carefree boyhood out for thrifty-one years" (98). Hagar calls him into a room, unbuttons her blouse and smiles (92), just as his mother did (13). Milkman's desire for his mother's milk disappears before she stops milking him, and when Freddie discovers the situation and notes the inappropriateness, she is left without this comfort. Similarly, Milkman ends the affair with Hagar when he loses the desire for her and recognizes that this affair with his cousin is not socially approved, leaving Hagar coldly and consciously, with money and a letter of gratitude.
When an emotion is believed to embody all that brings bliss, serenity, effervescence, and even benevolence, although one may believe its encompassing nature to allow for generalizations and existence virtually everywhere, surprisingly, directly outside the area love covers lies the very antithesis of love: hate, which in all its forms, has the potential to bring pain and destruction. Is it not for this very reason, this confusion, that suicide bombings and other acts of violence and devastation are committed in the name of love? In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the reader experiences this tenuity that is the line separating love and hate in many different forms and on many different levelsto the extent that the line between the two begins to blur and become indistinguishable. Seen through Ruth's incestuous love, Milkman and Hagar's relationship, and Guitar's love for African-Americans, if love causes destruction, that emotion is not true love; in essence, such destructive qualities of "love" only transpire when the illusion of love is discovered and reality characterizes the emotion to be a parasite of love, such as obsession or infatuation, something that resembles love but merely inflicts pain on the lover.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants. While having the power to act independently seems easy to obtain at first, in reality the state of freedom is an untenable goal for many. In the novel Song of Solomon, the author, Toni Morrison, describes the journey of a young man finding his freedom. For most of Milkman’s early years he struggles to find meaning in life and become independent. His father, Macon, states that “money is the only real freedom there is” and urges his son to follow his footsteps to accumulate more wealth. Though Macon may feel more secure being financially stable, money is not freedom. Having money may help one become free, but money itself
Freedom is heavily sought after and symbolized by flight with prominent themes of materialism, classism, and racism throughout Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon. The characters Milkman and Macon Dead represent these themes as Macon raises Milkman based on his own belief that ownership of people and wealth will give an individual freedom. Milkman grows up taking this idea as a way to personally obtain freedom while also coming to difficult terms with the racism and privilege that comes with these ideas and how they affect family and African Americans, and a way to use it as a search for an individual 's true self. Through the novel, Morrison shows that both set themselves in a state of mental imprisonment to these materials
The character Pilate in Song of Solomon is portrayed in the role of a teacher or "guide". She tends to be a spiritual leader as well as a spiritual guide for Milkman and the rest of the society. It could be argued that she is the main cause of Milkman's liberation and better being. She represents the motherly love and gives the spiritual education that Milkman needs, in order to go through the monomyth process. She teaches Milkman the necessities of life not with severity but rather by means of being her own self. Her being connected to her heritage and traditions is also involved in changing Milkman into the hero. Pilate is not the typical teacher that a reader could expect to have in his or her classroom. Pilate is to a certain extent, very mother like and caring towards Milkman. She gives Milkman what he feels he can't get at his rich home, care and affection. When Milkman is alone, it is at Pilate's house that he finds comfort, not only from the people but also from the surroundings of the house. He feels comfortable being in a neighborhood of people that are of lower class than him. Pilate takes on the role of mother to Milkman by showing how a family is supposed to be, which is not divided like his house, but rather caring and loving towards one another, like the environment at Pilate's house. As Joseph Skerrett points out, Pilate does begin teaching Milkman, starting from their very first meeting. Her whole lesson with how the word "hi" sounds like the "dumbest" word and that if someone was to be greeted with a hi, they should "get up and knock you down" seems to get Milkman to notice her. Her role as a parental guide changes to that of one of the teacher and she tries to teach him what is right and wrong. She exemplifies to Milkman how life should be led. She shows him how goals in life should be aimed for and how they should be accomplished. For example, her whole lesson on how to make the perfect egg shows Milkman how even something as little as frying an egg has consequences to it.
Rebollo Page 1 When one is confronted with a problem, we find a solution easily, but when a society is confronted with a problem, the solution tends to prolong itself. One major issue that is often discussed in today’s society that has been here for as long as we’ve known it, is racism. Racism is also a very repetitive theme in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Almost every character has experienced racism, whether it be towards them or they are the ones giving the racism in this novel. Racism is a very controversial topic as many have different perspectives on it.