Toni Morrison uses Pilate’s motif of names to represent the importance of heritage to Milkman. Beginning with her own name, Pilate embraced the name her father gave her despite the connotations it carried. She appreciated how thoughtfully he chose it to the point of wearing it in her ear. Before travelling to Virginia, Milkman’s name bore no significance to him. He didn’t know the history of his family, and he didn’t go by his given name. 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,