page 329: [Milkman] read the road signs with interest now, wondering what lay beneath the names . . . How many dead lives and fading memories were buried in and beneath the names of the places in this country. Under the recorded names were other names, just as "Macon Dead," recorded for all time in some dusty file, hid from view the real names of people, places, and things. Names that had meaning. No wonder Pilate put hers in her ear. When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do. Like the street he lived on, recorded as Mains Avenue, but called Not Doctor Street.
Questions:1) Why does Pilate bury the box with her name in it at the end of the novel if what Milkman thinks here is true? Why doesn't she hang on to it?
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• Milkman says you should hang onto your name unless it is noted down and remembered. Well, Pilate will definitely be remembered. She knew her name as did many other people. Her name will forever be carried in the stories of Solomon and Jake. She is remembered in Danville, PA as well as Shalimar, VA. Not only in those towns but others, as well. I find it very appropriate that she buried her snuffbox with her father because the piece of paper that carries her name is the only thing that Jake had ever written. Also, she buried her name where her people live and even though the proof of her name is buried the existence of it will be carried on. With that said, there is no need for her to hang on to it.
Based on the speculations of Milkman, Pilate buries the box with her name in it with her father because she wants to be remembered. She wants to be remembered in a different way, however, than in the stories that would tell of the “old crazy lady who sold cheap wine.” Pilate wants the story of her namesake, the ink that first named her, and the record of one of the only things her father, Jake, had ever written stored forever with the memory of her father. She trusts that Milkman will see this action and keep the story, complete with the new chapter added by Pilate’s actions and death, alive and breathing for generations of “people” to come. She obviously valued the name and its story because she kept it close to her, hooked to her body and stored away safely in a metal box. Pilate was adding meaning to her name and wanted the spirit of it carry on far after she did. Had Pilate kept the box, she would have missed a larger point for which her name may have been remembered. She also would have not paid this final tribute to her father, that of giving back her name to its origin and linking herself again to him after the many years she had spent without him.
Pilate buried the box because she wants to be remembered especially with the man she loved the most, her father. The box contained the only thing her father had ever written and I'm sure that meant a lot to Pilate. Another reason why she didn't hold onto the box is the fact that she wasn't known in Michigan like she was in Pennsylvania. Like Gage said she didn't want to be remembered as the "poor, crazy lady with no navel" she wanted to leave with some dignity in her surname. She wants to be remembered in a class with her father, a truly respectful individual.
She buries the box because she will be remembered directly by family and friends and indirectly through stories. Just as Milkman believes your name will die when you do unless it is recorded or remembered, Pilate’s name will be remembered. Now that she will be remembered, there is no need to hang on to it. It is ironic how Milkman began his trek looking for gold and riches and has shifted to finding himself and his family. He was crawling in a cave for gold and is now wondering what people and stories are buried underneath the ground he now walks. Pilate burying the box with her father not only symbolizes the appreciation and love to her father for the name, but also that she has been given a name, a life, an identity, and when she buries the box, she is giving her life back to the earth—buried in the ground. This symbolization is backed up by Pilate’s murder shortly after burying the box.
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