The Voice of Reason

So far, the only person in Song of Solomon who seems mature and reasonable to me is Pilate. All of the other characters seem to be either far too "young at heart" or are just impossible for me to understand. It seems this has a lot to do with gender--the women generally seem to be the "younger" ones, while the men have control over them and are able to make them "crazy." Let's start with the Dead household: Macon Dead (II) is clearly in control, and is very controlling. I almost understand him, but he just seems so incredibly greedy, abusive, oppressive, and mean. Because of his jealousy complex, he abuses his wife, and therefore abuses his son in an attempt to further abuse his wife (whether he is consciously trying to abuse Ruth is debatable, but maybe it doesn't even matter), he oppresses all of his family members as if they are all very badly-behaved young children, and he is greedy for money and status, which is demonstrated by his crazy attempts to find the gold from the cave.

Now, if we analyze relationships with people outside of the Dead household, we see the same sort of gender dynamic. Milkman is a cowardly jerk in his relationship with Hagar, and although she is older than him, she seems like a child throwing a tantrum when he leaves her. This is entirely Milkman's fault, because he has treated her like something to be ashamed of for years. He has become his father in this respect, because he is emotionally abusing Hagar in the same way that Macon emotionally abuses Ruth. At least Milkman hasn't physically abused Hagar (as far as we know). In this relationship, Milkman is in the power position: he gets to make all the decisions and treat Hagar like a child. Of course, this puts Hagar below him in a very childlike position.

Looking at Corinthians's relationship with Porter draws similar conclusions. Although Corinthians is above Porter status-wise, she is humbled by Porter and must almost literally throw herself at his feet. Porter seems very much like the adult in this situation where she is banging on his window and then lies across the hood of his car, because he allows her to have her "tantrum," then rationally and calmly comforts her, and then gets his way and takes her home with him. This seems to be the most healthy romantic relationship in the book though. Corinthians genuinely cares about Porter and he seems to genuinely care about her. Of course, it is crushed by Macon (and Milkman who is dying to have the power that his father does).

Who keeps their head on throughout all of this? Pilate. Pilate is strong and tall like Macon, and this is a symbol for being just as powerful as a man. She is calm, cool, and rational, even more so than Macon, and gets her way for the benefit of not just herself, but for those she loves. Sure, Pilate is eccentric and a little bit weird, but she is incredibly intelligent. She is also pure--not in a childlike way, but in a non-corrupt way. In this way, she is similar to other women who maintain their childhood and therefore their purity in a sense. Pilate, however, does this in a very adult way. She doesn't become corrupt, power-hungry, and greedy like Macon and Milkman do; she sees the value in human life over the value of a bag of gold. Even though she didn't kill the man in the cave, she took responsibility for it and went back for the bones, in respect for the dead. Pilate is my favorite character in this book. She is confident and strong like a typical man, but she has not become corrupt and cruel the way so many male characters have.