The Two Different Sides of the Dead Family: Macon vs. Pilate
One crucial concept that this book explores is the opposing dynamic between Pilate and Macon. Pilate and Macon Jr. have always been at odds in their adult lives and eventually, as we see in the bulk of the book, it makes them act as though they don’t even know each other anymore. Pilate and Macon are so isolated from each other that our protagonist, Milkman, doesn’t even meet his aunt or cousins until the age of 12, despite living in the same town as him. As we can see, these two sides of the dead family are starkly separated, but it also poses the question, why are Pilate and Macon so different? As we later find out, this conflict between the two siblings did not always exist and according to Pilate “Macon was a nice boy and awful good to me. Be nice if you could have known him then.” (Morrison 40). Pilate makes it seem as though in some moment during their childhood she and Macon Jr. got along, but somewhere along the road, he changed for good and it caused him and Pilate to have a f