Pilate: Christophine 2.0
I would not be very surprised if somebody told me that Toni Morrison took Christophine from Wide Sargasso Sea and turned her into Pilate in Song of Soloman. They are both incredibly strong, independent, female characters.
First of all, both characters are the heads of their homes with no husbands involved in raising their children. Pilate had Reba without marriage and Christophine her son. And both characters are content with their family set up. In fact, they are content with most things they are given, though both endured many hardships throughout their lives, Pilate being orphaned at a very young age and Christophine being essentially a slave and then a servant most of her life (she is given as a gift to Annette.) Neither are rich monetarily, but both are support for the rich people in their lives to rely on and ask for help, not vise versa.
Allow me to expand on that last point. Pilate helps both Ruth and Milkman get what they need/want. For Ruth, that means making a potion (?) in order to seduce Macon to sleep with her and provide for her that love and affection that she has been deprived of. Pilate does almost the exact same thing when she gives Antoinette a potion to get her husband to sleep with her for just one night in attempt to regain his love and passion for her and to help save their marriage. (Honestly, Morrison should be called out for plagiarism or something because those storylines are too similar to be just a coincidence. ) This story also shows another similarity between Pilate and Christophine, they are both somehow involved with magic. Christophine practices Obeah and Pilate clearly uses some sort of magic to get Macon to sleep with Ruth. Pilate is also connected with her father in an abnormal and sort of magical way.
Apart from helping Ruth, Pilate also acts like a mother towards Milkman. She's there at his birth and is the cause of it in the first place and she is also there for him when he steals her father's bones and helps him get out of jail potentially. He spends a lot of time around her in her home and sort of grows up there. She shows him tough love, but that's love nonetheless. It's similar to how Christophine becomes Antoinette's mother figure: taking care of her, finding her friends, stand up for her against Rochester, etc.
To wrap things up, Pilate and Christophine are both, undeniably, amazing and powerful characters in their books and share many similarities. What do you guys think?
First of all, both characters are the heads of their homes with no husbands involved in raising their children. Pilate had Reba without marriage and Christophine her son. And both characters are content with their family set up. In fact, they are content with most things they are given, though both endured many hardships throughout their lives, Pilate being orphaned at a very young age and Christophine being essentially a slave and then a servant most of her life (she is given as a gift to Annette.) Neither are rich monetarily, but both are support for the rich people in their lives to rely on and ask for help, not vise versa.
Allow me to expand on that last point. Pilate helps both Ruth and Milkman get what they need/want. For Ruth, that means making a potion (?) in order to seduce Macon to sleep with her and provide for her that love and affection that she has been deprived of. Pilate does almost the exact same thing when she gives Antoinette a potion to get her husband to sleep with her for just one night in attempt to regain his love and passion for her and to help save their marriage. (Honestly, Morrison should be called out for plagiarism or something because those storylines are too similar to be just a coincidence. ) This story also shows another similarity between Pilate and Christophine, they are both somehow involved with magic. Christophine practices Obeah and Pilate clearly uses some sort of magic to get Macon to sleep with Ruth. Pilate is also connected with her father in an abnormal and sort of magical way.
Apart from helping Ruth, Pilate also acts like a mother towards Milkman. She's there at his birth and is the cause of it in the first place and she is also there for him when he steals her father's bones and helps him get out of jail potentially. He spends a lot of time around her in her home and sort of grows up there. She shows him tough love, but that's love nonetheless. It's similar to how Christophine becomes Antoinette's mother figure: taking care of her, finding her friends, stand up for her against Rochester, etc.
To wrap things up, Pilate and Christophine are both, undeniably, amazing and powerful characters in their books and share many similarities. What do you guys think?
Wow, interesting post! There are so many significant similarities between Christophine and Pilate. One that I found particularly interesting is that although they both possess supernatural abilities, they also both push empathy and communication over magical intervention. Christophine encourages Antoinette to talk to Rochester instead of using a love potion, and Pilate is the character who first sparks introspection and empathy in Milkman by helping him out even after he steals from her. Even though some people might see them both as "witches", they are both portrayed as forces of good.
ReplyDeleteI agree there's a parallel between Pilate and Christophine in that they are both friends of the unloved female, and they both create a "love potion" for that female to seduce and bed their husband. Are the "ethics" between their provision of the love potion much different? One of our classmates referred to Antoinette's use of the love potion on Rochester as rape. Yes, Antoinette basically drugs Rochester for sex. Do we know enough of Ruth's situation with Macon to say the same?
ReplyDeleteWow, this is very interesting! I remember in class we touched briefly on both of their persecution for their perceived supernatural dealings, but I didn't really see the deep connections between them both. As you said they are both these strong women who act as sort of mother figures for our main characters. I didn't see this connection quite so clearly until the end of the novel when Milkman and Pilate really spend some more time together and Milkman even feels love for Pilate. As well, the connection with moth of them making "love potions" for characters who are hurt and rejected by their husbands is uncannily similar. Some of the circumstances in the two are different but the actions by Pilate and Christophine are much the same. Very interesting!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post. I think it's also interesting that Pilate is the only person that Ruth can really depend on and who she goes to when she is in trouble. Christophine is the only reliable person in Antoinette's life and the person she goes to when she needs someone. So both Ruth and Christophine are trustworthy people who are always there for other people to lean on when they need help.
ReplyDeleteThese parallels came up a little bit in the 3rd hour section, but regrettably weren't fully explored. I'm glad that you put this up for everyone to read. I also agree that the similarities go a little too far, and it would be interesting to know if Morrison read The Wide Sargasso Sea, and if she did, how much Christophine actually influenced Pilate.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting comparison. One more similarity between them is that Pilate wasn't planning on staying in the same town as Macon but ends up staying because Ruth needs her help. Christophine tries to distance herself from Antoinette but also ends up failing because Antoinette needs her help.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like how in depth you went on their similarities; it is pretty freaky. Another similarity I noticed was that both Christophine and Pilate stand up to the men in power hurting the women they hold power over. Christophine calls out Rochester for marrying Antoinette for her money and mistreating her, and Pilate goes to Macon and tells him to leave Ruth alone when he is trying to force her have an abortion. PS: This post reminded me of Stella’s post about witches in literature (titled “Concerning Witches”), because a lot of the things that are similar between Christophine and Pilate are their supernatural qualities. That one is also a great post, you should check it out!
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