Ruth and Pilate contrast, yet their plight is shared.

“She arrived with suitcases, a green sack, a full-grown daughter, and a granddaughter, and found her brother truculent, inhospitable, embarrassed and unforgiving. Pilate would have moved on immediately except for her brother's wife, who was dying of lovelessness then, and seemed to be dying of it now as she sat at the table across from her sister-in-law listening to her life story...” (Morrison 151).

In the above passage, Ruth suffers from a withdrawal of being loved because the only one who loved her, the doctor, no longer loves her (as he is now dead). This lovelessness, in contrast to her previous state of being loved, makes her like a drug addict. Becoming selfish from this lovelessness, Ruth clings to all she really has, which is Milkman. Her love for Milkman sustains her, yet she becomes dependent on Milkman as she draws her power from him.

Ruth grew up in a rather affluent lifestyle, where she was bred to clung to wealth and turn her nose up at those with less fortunes. This type of superiority complex make her fear being poor. Her addict-like affinity for wealth overpowers any hate or disdain for Macon Jr., allowing her to cling to her man’s wealth. Ruth draws her power from both Milkman and Macon Jr., making her dependant on all the men in her life.

Pilate is different. Her plight draws more from (ironically) her own headstrongness and care for others. Like Hilary Clinton, her actions are for the betterment of those less fortunate than her, contrasting Ruth’s semi-elitist point of view. Unfortunately, Pilate’s attributes, the men and some women in the town and her life often view her as an evil bitch. This irony of her Independence, care, and headstrongness hurts Pilate as it isolates her from everyone else.

(Morrison’s possible fondness of Pilate’s strength makes me wonder why Morrison endorsed Obama instead of Clinton when Clinton obviously represents the same attributes as Pilate, and Obama has a similar elitist-complex like Ruth).