Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a book in which characters build complicated, interlaced relationships with one another based on their similarities and differences. At first glance, Ruth and Pilate appear to be complete opposites. Morrison describes their differences as, “One black, the other lemony. One corseted, the other buck naked under her dress. One well read but ill traveled. The other had read only a geography book, but had been from one end of the country to another. One wholly dependent on money for life, the other indifferent to it.” Nonetheless, Ruth and Pilate are, in many ways, very similar. They often found themselves taking the same side in dilemmas, and they have similar goals. The most obvious similarity between Ruth
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Ruth and Pilate worked together to trick Macon into having a baby with Ruth. Ruth reminisces on it later in the book by saying, “She [Pilate] gave me funny things to do. And some greenish-gray grassy-looking stuff to put in his food.” They also worked together to defy Macon again and save the baby when Macon attempted to get Ruth to abort it. Ruth and Pilate accomplished this when, “Ruth let Pilate lead her into the bedroom, where the woman wrapped her in a homemade-on-the-spot girdle—tight in the crotch—and told her to keep it on until the fourth month and ‘don’t take no more mess off Macon and don’t ram another thing up in your womb.’” Ruth then continued to defy Macon by breastfeeding the baby, Macon Dead Jr., until he was four. Due to this occurrence, Macon Jr. obtained the nickname “Milkman.” We see even the aftermath of Ruth’s defiance—the name “Milkman,”—bothered Macon, because, “Macon Dead never knew how it came about—how his only son acquired the nickname that stuck in spite of his own refusal to use it or acknowledge it. It was a matter that concerned him a good deal, for the giving of names in his family was always surrounded by what he believed to be monumental foolishness.” Ruth and Pilate’s shared goal of defying Macon allows them to work together and become
Ruth and Pilate worked together to trick Macon into having a baby with Ruth. Ruth reminisces on it later in the book by saying, “She [Pilate] gave me funny things to do. And some greenish-gray grassy-looking stuff to put in his food.” They also worked together to defy Macon again and save the baby when Macon attempted to get Ruth to abort it. Ruth and Pilate accomplished this when, “Ruth let Pilate lead her into the bedroom, where the woman wrapped her in a homemade-on-the-spot girdle—tight in the crotch—and told her to keep it on until the fourth month and ‘don’t take no more mess off Macon and don’t ram another thing up in your womb.’” Ruth then continued to defy Macon by breastfeeding the baby, Macon Dead Jr., until he was four. Due to this occurrence, Macon Jr. obtained the nickname “Milkman.” We see even the aftermath of Ruth’s defiance—the name “Milkman,”—bothered Macon, because, “Macon Dead never knew how it came about—how his only son acquired the nickname that stuck in spite of his own refusal to use it or acknowledge it. It was a matter that concerned him a good deal, for the giving of names in his family was always surrounded by what he believed to be monumental foolishness.” Ruth and Pilate’s shared goal of defying Macon allows them to work together and become