All the Précis.
Song of Solomon Précis Collection
Pilate the Sage (Chapter 6)
In chapter 6 of the novel Song of Solomon (1977), award-winning author Toni Morrison emphasizes Pilate's role as an all-knowing voice of reason that "you certainly had to take...seriously," making her presence embody an ultimate return to sanity. Morrison sets the groundwork for Pilate's resoluteness in logic and sound state of mind by juxtaposing her clearness in mentality ("equilibrium") with Ruth's and Hagar's relentless romantic fixations ("the absence of control") on Milkman, thus establishing a dichotomy of mindsets to build upon with consequent dialogue. Amid Ruth and Hagar's quarrel over whom Milkman belongs to, Morrison utilizes Pilate's entrance as a cease-fire with the statement "Now she held up her hand...and silenced Hagar's whines" (138); this establishes a piece of even ground for the women, in order to justify that their concerns are similar--"But it looks to me like you ought to be able to understand her"--and in turn, lead them to sensibility, so that they progress beyond their obsessions and regain their senses. In this way, Morrison allows the reader to reflect on the usefulness of Pilate's grounded mindset, despite her soul being in flight, using a pragmatic tone to form a description of her extensive wisdom--"the other had read only a geography book, but had been from one end of the country to the other" (139); consequently, Pilate becomes almost omnipotent, being the bearer of utmost rationale or the force that brings a person back to earth when he or she is too lost in fantasy.
How Corinthians Found Herself (Chapter 9)
Within chapter 9 of the novel Song of Solomon (1977), renown author Toni Morrison effectively features Corinthians's journey to forming her identity that allows her to undergo a moral metamorphosis, challenging the circumstances that "unfit her for eighty percent of the useful work of the world" (189) and made her a walking Dead. Morrison highlights this transformation in Corinthians's previously subservient character at the beginning of the chapter, where Corinthians realizes the difficulties in which "she lacked drive [ambition and motivation]" (188) (addressing her relative immobility in life), and carries out her transformation utilizing three key events that progressively cause her to stray from stagnancy and move on her own accord--to establish herself. With the initial event of Corinthians finding a job at Miss Graham's residence, Morrison plants the seeds of her eventual rebirth--occupation with meaning (purpose)--creating a gateway to the world outside of Macon Dead's residence in order to provide her with a central, missing aspect of her life, "what she never had in her own [home]: responsibility" (190), which consequently exposes her to Henry Porter--the source of both the second event, the instigation of Corinthians's first actual romance for ages (gaining her identity as a woman), and the third event, her first act of literal, fearless mobility, where "Corinthians ran toward it [Porter's car] faster than she had ever run in her life" (197), finally submitting to her own individualistic desires instead of her father's. In facilitating Corithians's progression to independence, Morrison allows the audience to see Corinthians as a dynamic character, who realizes the importance of action and change in one's personal development, unlike most members of her family, using an assured (and almost relieved) tone to emphasize her newfound sense of confidence--"she now felt a self-esteem that was quite new" (201)--which ultimately allows her to, even just for a moment, break free from her Dead existence to act individually and live.