Milkman’s epiphany in Chapter 11 (275-278)

A characteristic crucially representative of Milkman’s character is his selfishness. Throughout the book he demonstrates in numerous situations that he is interested only in himself and absorbed in his own problems. His relationships with his family and with Hagar reveal that not only is he ignorant of feeling and emotions of other people, but he is also unwilling to try to understand and help the people who he supposedly loves. “I am not responsible for you pain; share your happiness with me but not your unhappiness,” states Milkman in this chapter reinforcing his lack of interest and affection towards his family. He has responded with boredom and disgust to the talks he has had with his mother and father about certain moments of their lives in the past. Previously, he has considered his behavior perfectly acceptable, due to his self-centeredness. Being at a deserted area, left all alone, however, Milkman reflects on his previous experiences and reaches a revelation.

In this scene Milkman realizes two very momentous aspects of his manner of acting in general and of the way he interacts with other people. The first concerns the fact that his belief that he deserves other people’s love and attention is a misconception. It is clear for Milkman now that he has not actually done anything to be worthy of his parents’ or Hagar’s affection, support and understanding. These are only due to their good will, not to Milkman’s positive attitude towards them. He has never shown gratitude or respect but he has expected nothing else than that in return. It is peculiar how being away from the Deads and Hagar has helped Milkman become conscious of his mistakes. But his epiphany does not end with this observation. During the past days he has casually but carefully examined the behavior of the people in the small town and has been truly impressed by their methods of communication. The whole hunting scene has revealed the harmony between the citizens and the flora and fauna around them. They are not enemies and it seems as if they are all equal and connected, able to interact peacefully with one another. This as astounded but also saddened Milkman since he has found out that he was never and will probably never be capable of such harmonious interaction in his relationships with people. He might speak the same language as everyone else, but it just seems as if his message does not get delivered and perceived by others and vice versa. Being jealous of the way Calvin reads nature, Milkman understands that he first needs to establish a way to communicate with his close friends and family members. Only then will he be able to advance in his interaction skills to achieve this understanding with each and every bit of the world around him.

This part from Chapter 11 bears a resemblance with a technique frequently used by Greek dramatists and poets in plays. They have often used moments of epiphany at the end of the final acts in order to purify the audience and to lead them to a catharsis after the dramatic happenings. A particular method they have used is the so called deus ex machina, when a God comes in to the scene in order to resolve a conflict, thus enabling the main character to reach his revelation. The manner in which Milkman receives his epiphany is close to the way such moments are depicted on the Greek scene. Milkman is alone, in the woods, a very typical mythological place. He is tired and his thoughts are wandering. In one moment the atmosphere is normal while in the other he comes to a realization, as if something or someone has helped him realize the truth.

Chapter 7, Blues Song

I’ve been there for you, sister,
Ever since daddy’s death.
Look how you paid me back.
I gave you shelter, food, affection,
And all you did was stab me in the back.
My sister, Daddy’s girl, how could you? How could you?

A poisonous snake – this is what you are.
Crawling, hissing, paralyzing me with your venom,
Depriving me from glory, gold, affection.
Now I am gonna take back what’s left,
And then smash your head.

You whispered you were scared.
I will always take care of you, I said.
I knew it, you knew it too.
Feeble and innocent my sister was.
I murdered a person for you, Pilate.
I took away a person’s life.
And you took away my joy.

A poisonous snake – this is what you are.
Crawling, hissing, paralyzing me with your venom,
Depriving me from glory, gold, affection.
Now I am gonna take back what’s left,
And then smash your head.


Little Pilate, Daddy’s girl, Daddy’s ghost,
Haunting me, haunting you.
No more, no more, no more.
Come out, come out

I am different now, wiser, stronger,
Staunch, deprived from affection.
You don’t fool me any longer.
An intruder in the snake’s nest I will be,
So hurry up, crawl away, take your babies
Or I am gonna take back that gold,
Then smash your head.
And if you bite me, I’m gonna bite you back.

The song uses the rhythm and melody of B.B.King's - How blue can you get?

Song of Solomon, Chapter 5

“It isolated her. Already without family, she was further isolated from her people, for, except for the relative bliss on the island, every other resource was denied her: partnership in marriage, confessional friendship, and communal religion. Men frowned, women whispered and shoved their children behind them. Even a traveling side show would have rejected her, since her freak quality lacked that important ingredient – the grotesque. There was really nothing to see. Her defect, frightening and exotic as it was, was also a theatrical failure. It needed intimacy, gossip, and the time it took for curiosity to become drama.

Finally Pilate began to take offense. Although se was hampered by huge ignorances, but not in any way unintelligent, when she realized what her situation in the world was and would probably always be she threw away every assumption she had learned and began at zero. First off, she cut her hair.” (148-149)

From the beginning of Song of Solomon Pilate has been portrayed as an atypical and unconventional character. No parallel can be drawn between her and other major female characters in the novel like Ruth and Hagar. Pilate is a protective mother but she does not crave for love – neither from her own child, nor from a man. In this sense she is strong and steadfast, not depended on anyone’s grace. Macon’s sister does not live according to the social norms; what’s more her behavior is considered inappropriate and even immoral. Not until this chapter, however, is the reason for Pilate’s manner of living revealed. Previously in the book Toni Morrison has left the readers with the impression that Pilate voluntary chose to live aside from society. Chapter 5, on the other hand, presents the reader with the bitter truth behind the woman’s estrangement from the world around her. In reality it turns out that Pilate was forcefully excluded from any kind of relationship by the people around her; she is a true outcaste. “It isolated her,” not she isolated herself.

Pilate no longer seems such a powerful and independent character. On the contrary, she used to be too contingent on people’s opinions, that she shaped her future life around the goal of avoiding the hurtful comments. A proof for this is her initial attitude towards the lack of her navel. At first she considered it something normal, a negligible difference between men and women. Later, however, she started to purposely and cautiously avoid showing her missing navel (“All she had to do, she thought, was keep her belly covered” (146)). By concealing a small part of her body she began to slowly but steadily estrange herself from society. (“Pilate was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to hide her stomach from her husband forever.”(147)). People’s disgust of her defeat became Pilate’s obsession and led her to the decision to abandon the idea of having a normal relationship. It is momentous that she wasn’t the first to take this decision; it was society that has long ago agreed on the fact that Pilate cannot possibly belong to a community. The verdict has been already issued; all Pilate did was to choose the method and place of her exile.

Still, Pilate is an unconventional woman character. Her strength results from the fact that she chose to refute the delusion that she would find love and understanding. When the society excludes Pilate she decides to accept the truth with dignity, to prove that she is not dependent on momentary passions and that she is able to cope on her own with life’s challenges.

Pilate’s story does remind of the fate of another literary character. Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo from the novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame shares a similar to Pilate’s life. He is rejected by society due to his physical deformities. His defect is what startles people and what prevents them from knowing and accepting Quasimodo as a person, not just as a scary monster. Pilate and Quasimodo are alike in that it is their bodies that conceal their souls and make them unapproachable to the people around them. People fear what they do not know or understand which is why both Pilate and Quasimodo are outcasts. In the same way that Quasimodo befriends Esmeralda, might Pilate find a person, with whom she would finally open up and forget about her distinctive defect.