Pilate takes on the role of mentor towards Milkman in Song of Solomon, teaching him to craft an inner balance between protection of family and responsibility in presenting herself with unwavering duty to her family while also retaining her natural free spirit and sense of adventure. Pilate is characterized as having obtained the secret to equilibrium between family and responsibility in her settling down in the north in order to provide a secure and healthy environment for Hagar to grow up in. Such equilibrium is first introduced to Milkman when he noticed that she had "one foot pointed east and one pointed west,"(36) expressing how she has managed to hold onto the roots and value of family found in the south while also living as a free woman
