Snakes and Pilots From Both Sides

"Just listen to what I say. That woman's no good. She's a snake, and can charm you like a snake, but still a snake."
                                      ~Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon


In the book of Genesis chapter 3, Eve comes across a serpent. This serpent is one who deceives Eve into disobeying God, telling her to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is an act that not only causes Adam to go against God's will, but also births sin into the world forever. A well known part from the Bible, this is the story where Satan, the serpent, takes advantage of Eve's innocence and leads her and Adam to commit their first acts of sin. Within Song of Solomon, Macon Dead compares his sister Pilot to a snake, warning Milkman to stay away from her.

Within the Bible, the serpent is extremely cunning and charming; traits that lure people in, like Eve, and cause them to act in a way that harms them in the end. Macon Dead makes the same claims, stating that, "[Pilot] is a snake, and can charm [Milkman] like a snake" (54) the very traits of Satan the serpent. At this time in the book, neither the reader nor Milkman can tell whether or not Macon Dead's words are true. It would seem that after the previous scenes where Milkman interacts with Pilot that his father is only attempting to vilify Pilot for his own selfish reasons and not out of warning Milkman. But this could also be the author attempting to trick the readers into falling for Pilot instead of Macon Dead, just as Eve falls for the Serpent's honeyed words.

Pilot's name is also a bad omen in itself. In the book of Matthew, Pontius Pilot is the very man who condemns Jesus Christ to the cross. Although he is reluctant to do it, as he questions the people's hate for Jesus, in the end, it is he who gives the command. Pilot in the book, she herself may be a character who is not a serpent, but one who causes complications for the Dead family for reasons the reader is still unknown to early in the novel. Eve is an innocent character who tricks Adam into the eating of the forbidden fruit. Pilot's role could be the same, her intentions may be good, but the outcome only causes further dilemma.