ipl-logo

Song Of Solomon, Pilate Dead Exile Analysis

542 Words3 Pages

Exile can be both alienating and enriching. In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, Pilate Dead, experiences exile as such. Pilate's experience connects to the text's larger theme of quest for self-identity.
From the moment of her birth, Pilate is "exiled". Due to the fact that she was born after her mother's death, Pilate is considered an anomaly as soon as she takes her first breath. In addition, upon her birth, she is separated from others because she is born without a navel. In childhood, Pilate is unaware of her oddity and unable to fully comprehend their implications. As she grows older, however, the knowledge of her differences alienates her. At age twelve, after her father's death, Pilate, and her brother, Macon, live in exile. After hiding away in a house for some time becomes suffocating, the two live in the woods until they separate. After leaving her brother, Pilate is determined to find her family and relieve herself of the isolating lifestyle. Unfortunately, this task is not as easy as she hopes. Within a couple of months of finding someone to take her in, Pilate's bare skin, where a navel …show more content…

"She [stops] worrying about her stomach, and [stops] trying to hide it," signifying that she cares more about embracing who she is than she does about what people think of her. Additionally, she "[throws away every assumption she had learned and [begins] at zero"(149). She refuses to continue leading a life defined by assumptions and thoughts of others rather than her own. Pilate's experience and being in control of her life separates her from the other character's in the book, such as Ruth.
Pilate's overall experience with exile relates to the novel's theme of search for identity. Her experience is necessary for her determining who she is and what she hopes to get out of life. Also, her exile precedes her nephew, Milkman's,

Show More
Related
225 Words | 1 Pages

She sings and flies like a songbird. This contrasts Milkman’s black and white perspective. He has the traditional belief that women have a certain place in his life, and mentor is not one of them. Pilate creates the connection between her and Milkman with her ability to fly “without ever leaving the ground”. Without Pilate, Milkman’s flight at the end of the book is not possible.

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

She narrates some of the most important parts of the book. She is described as a stupid fifteen year old girl with a bad attitude that hasten changed from when she was a little girl. As she ages, there

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

Pilate’s name is significant and very interesting throughout the novel “Song of Solomon”, for the reader knows who she is from the moment they learn her name. Pilate was named after the biblical figure, Pontius Pilate, the man who was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, but Pilate does not resonate with Pontius Pilate at all. Although she doesn’t share any characteristics with the origin of her name, when pronounced as “pilot” her name fits her like a glove. Pilate is very knowledgeable when it comes to geography and has migrated to many different places to call her home, such as Virginia. Instead of following the path that her name made for her, Pilate avoids the evil that is found in the name and makes a new path as a pilot.

Read More
1063 Words | 5 Pages

And a baby girl at that … You don’t want to give this motherless child the name of the man that killed Jesus, do you?” (Morrison 19). Unlike Omoro in Roots, Pilate’s father had no regard for the meaning behind her name, it was just a random selection, even after being warned against it because of the meaning behind it. Although rather than taking on the characteristics of Pilate from the Bible, Pilate makes her own life, full of giving and

Read More
269 Words | 2 Pages

Pilate is the protagonist of Song of Solomon because she serves as the novel’s moral compass. In the novel, Toni Morrison does not give a direct insight into the feelings or thinkings of Pilate, but here importance is still understood within the audience. Pilate Dead’s name is purposefully used by Toni Morrison to draw a contrast to the biblical reference of Pontius Pilate. In the Bible, Pontius Pilate is a man that looked for himself in adversity and choose the easy way out.

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Fourth, Milkman’s relationship with his sisters mirrors Macon II’s relationship with Pilate. Both take the actions of their siblings for granted and in Milkman’s case he uses his sisters just as he uses everyone else in his life before his personal rebirth. Magdalene later confronts Milkman when he tells Macon II about First Corinthians relationship. However, Magdalene is disgusted and has a similar viewpoint as Guitar. Up to this point in his life Milkman has never helped a single soul and she does not trust him just like Guitar when he sees Milkman lift a crate for someone and assumes it is only for his personal gain because he has never helped anyone.

Read More
1418 Words | 6 Pages

As a mother, teacher, and spiritual guide, she gives Milkman the affection, comfort, and wisdom that he does not get at home. Catherine Carr Lee states that: ”Pilate begins by instructing Milkman in practical, everyday knowledge: to say what you mean...Because she values nothing but human relationships...” For instance, Milkman and Guitar attempted robbery for the “gold’ in Pilate’s house, but end up getting arrested until Pilate comes to the rescue and they realize it was just a sack of bones. She pays no mind to the fact that they stole from her and puts on an act to prevent them from going to jail. “She didn’t even look the same.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, he explains how powerful exile plays an important role in the narrator’s journey to finding out who he really is. According to Edward Said “Exile is… a rift forced between a human being and a native place,…its essential sadness can never be surmounted…a potent, even enriching” .The narrator’s journey to finding who he is, was alienating and enriching. The narrator’s journey to alienation and enrichment began in chapter six of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man.

Read More
245 Words | 1 Pages

Pilate’s responsibility in literally carrying her past with her, whether in her earing or her father’s bones stressed to Milkman how little of his past he knew. She drove him down his path to their past. The name motif follows Milkman as he travels south. Upon reaching Solomon and discovering that many people,

Read More
1269 Words | 6 Pages

She spends her days waiting on a hero like Lancelot to come sweep her off her feet and return her to her kingdom. Its as if herself and other women in the story are not intelligent enough to think on their own and save themselves. Nonetheless, the mere fact that she is “in distress” and “kept away” seems to make her all the more

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

Meeting her mother 's daughters for the first time, is something that is very important in developing her. Accepting that her mother had this other life before her, makes it more believable in why she was the way she

Read More
1301 Words | 6 Pages

At first Piri speaks of cultural pride, but he does not act on his own advice until reaching maturity. When fighting with José, Piri tells Pops that “there’s pride galore in being a Negro,” but he still feels ashamed and alternates accepting and rejecting his African heritage (Thomas 151). In street arguments, he pretends that he is as white as his siblings and mother, but in the South he embraces the bold masculinity that he feels accompanies being a black man. When he is released from prison, though, Piri realizes that he has been suppressing his true identity, responding to adversity by hiding behind societal ideals instead of showing confidence as an Afro-Latino man. When he sees his reflection after “making the scene” with his old friends, he feels “as though [he has] found a hole in [his] face and out of it [are] pouring all the different masks that [his] cara-palo face had fought so hard to keep hidden” (Thomas 321).

Read More
3503 Words | 15 Pages

She has never felt the love of her mother. She believe that it is because of her colour ; her dark skin, dark eyes, and "woolly" hair, that she is not seen as beautiful, and from these thoughts she begin to hate the beauty of the white children. Pecola once visits her mother at her working place with her friends; she tries to ouch the silvery pan near the stove to see if it was hot. Pan tilts under Pecola’s fingers and falls to the floor, splattering blackish blueberries everywhere. Mrs. Breedlove enters and slaps her and in a voice thin with anger says, “Crazy fool . . .

Read More
1743 Words | 7 Pages

We can totally tell because its significance brings the plot of the story. She only worried about herself at the end of the story. She begs for her life to Misfit however she doesn’t worries about her family until she has no other

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

She decides to travel to locate her son who she gave up when she was younger. She does not know where her son was sent by the nuns, after being forced into signing the adoption papers. Her travels lead her closer to an epiphany whereas Evelyn’s travels bring her back into her reality. Philomena is accused of "carnal incontinence", denied pain relief during her breech birth as penance for her "indecency", and still hankers after forgiveness for her shame. She is very different to Laura and Evelyn in the way that she is dependent on Martin.

Read More

More about Song Of Solomon, Pilate Dead Exile Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document