Song of Solomon The Supernatural Quotes

Though Macon lives in a world of order and defies his little sister who, to him, represents unnaturalness and evil, this is one of the only moments when we see a grown-up Macon aware of, or freaked out by, a supernatural presence, by a power greater than he.

Indeed, who knew that not having a naval would make life so tough and lonely for a girl? Pilate’s lack of a naval precludes her from belonging to any group or community, even the black community. She is constantly on the periphery, and, therefore, understands outcasts and human suffering better than anyone else in the book. Though we get to hear her whole story, how she came to be who she is, Pilate remains a kind of mythical, magical healer. Plus, she puts that little Voodoo doll on Macon’s chair that scares the living daylights out of him. Hehe.

Song doesn’t even pretend to make its ghosts seem ambiguous. The ghosts are for real in the world of this novel, and both Macon and Pilate tell stories of seeing their father’s ghost.

"Remember, with great power comes great responsibility." Thank you, Uncle Ben, for this excellent Spider Man advice. Pilate seems to embody these sage words. She inspires fear in everyone around her, but she never let’s this fear supersize her ego. She is generous to everyone.

Milkman, Milkman, Milkman. You need to start believing in something, and why not start with ghosts? If the crazy town crier who gave you your nickname believes in ghosts, then, probably you should listen to him. Here we see the way that ghosts haunt not only the Dead family, but the greater community as well. They exist.

Hagar is driven crazy without Milkman’s love. She is almost inhuman without it, skirting life and death. She has ceased to be her own person and has ceased to be human in many ways. And yet she is driven crazy by one of the most human emotions out there: grief.

Pilate’s the most grounded and sensible person in the world of Song and the lady converses on a daily basis with her dad’s ghost. Hmm.

Now we know for sure that ghosts exist in Song. Even though Milkman and Guitar are completely oblivious to the sighs and the ghostly figure of a man standing next to them, we the readers know that these sounds and visions are indeed Pilate’s dad. And now, it’s not only Pilate and Macon who have experienced ghost encounters, but Milkman and Guitar have too (even if they don’t realize it), making the witnesses of ghosts a grand total of five (Pilate, Macon, Guitar, Milkman, Freddie, and maybe even Ruth. The lady talks to her dad’s grave almost every night). The reason we’re so obsessed with who’s seen a ghost is that, if ghosts exist, then anything is possible. Including flying.

For some reason, we’re not totally obsessed with finding out whether Circe is a dream, a mirage, a figment of the imagination, or a ghost. Circe is Circe, and it seems to make perfect sense that she is still around and kicking, living with a pack of inbred, nicely groomed dogs. It’s just another day in the life of Milkman Dead. We’re becoming accustomed to the Dead world, where we have to suspend our sense of reality or throw it out the window because, what is reality anyway and who decides?

You took the words right out of our mouth, Milkman! You’re not the only one trying to explain what a ghost has done. In this moment we realize that Pilate’s belly button is the one fact we are absolutely certain of in this novel that proves that supernatural things are definitely possible. Her lack of a belly button functions kind of like 3D glasses function when watching a 3D movie. Pilate’s navellessness makes us throw all rules and laws out the window, and allows us to see beyond the boring 2D world that we know so well. And boy, is it exciting.