The Gospel According to Pilate

Abstract

THAT may be the gospel according to Pilate, the protean character of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, but Saint Matthew would be confused: Pilate is misquoting and, furthermore, is referring to Matthew I9:6 or Mark io:9. But the policeman to whom she misquotes the Bible and the nephew she subtly mocks in doing so are never the wiser as this seemingly old, subservient black woman gives her bizarre explanation of why she carries around a bag of bones. We can almost hear the amused people under the breath of the policeman, but we're chuckling under our breath with Pilate, because we know what she knows: that things aren't always as they seem with Pilate. In Song of Solomon, the most identifiable personality is the one with changing identities, and the most eccentric character is the most dignified. Pilate is outside society, often outside the laws of man, and seemingly outside the laws of nature, and yet she is the most reliable commentator on society, man, and nature. Because she is outside the norm she must at times take on roles to conform to society's expectations, and she is so easily protean because of her total alienation from any of these recognizable roles or identities. Nontheless, it is her awareness of these metamorphoses, it is what she knows, that allows her to maintain her dignity in any guise. This is most clear in the situation at the police station where she is called upon to rescue the two who have just stolen from her, the