Song of Solomon: Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Milkman is struggling through a thick forest, thinking of the gold he will shortly obtain. The narrator compares him to Hansel and Gretel, hungry and tired but spurred on by the promise of a reward. He thinks about the car that took him to the forest, driven by Reverend Cooper’s teenage nephew, who's name is Nephew. Milkman has come to Danville, Pennsylvania, where Macon and Pilate used to live with their father before he was murdered, and made up a lie to disguise his true purpose of finding the gold.

Milkman thinks about his journey to Danville. He flew in a plane, which dazzled him, though he was saddened that Guitar wasn’t coming with him. Guitar had wanted to join, but Milkman told him that it would be suspicious if two men were searching in the woods. Before saying goodbye to Guitar, Milkman explains that he needs the gold to escape from his town and family. Guitar replies that everyone wants the life of a Black man: white men want Black people to be quiet and docile, and even other Black people — Milkman’s father, for instance — want to control Black men. Guitar adds that many Black people live in a state of self-imposed slavery; for instance, Pilate carried the bones of a white man instead of taking his treasure. Guitar recalls how nauseated he felt after his father died in a sawmill accident: his mother cheerfully accepted money from the foreman, and bought her children candy. He reminds Milkman that Macon has evicted him from his home.

Milkman flies into Pittsburgh and from there takes the bus to Danville, where he realizes how difficult it will be to find the cave Macon told him about. He asks a man if he knows where Circe lived, and the man refers him to Reverend Hooper. Milkman finds Reverend Cooper, who knew Macon and is overjoyed to meet his son. Cooper asks Milkman about Pilate, and recalls that his own father made Pilate’s earring.

Over dinner and whiskey, Reverend Cooper tells Milkman about the Dead family’s history. The Butlers, a wealthy white family for whom Circe worked for many years delivering babies, were the people who murdered Macon’s father. No trial or investigation was ever held, because the Butlers were influential in the community, and nobody with any power cared about a Black man’s death. After Macon’s father’s death, Circe secretly sheltered Macon and Pilate at the Butlers’ house. Milkman is confused that no one tried to prosecute the Butlers or take revenge; Cooper is amused and asks if things are different for Black people where Milkman comes from. Milkman doesn’t answer, but asks if he could see the farm where the Butlers lived, thinking that this will be a good time to look for the gold. Cooper agrees to drive him there in four days time.

While Milkman waits the four days for the trip, he meets other men who remember Macon Dead and Macon’s father as powerful, successful men who overcame racism and poverty. They’re delighted to hear that Macon owns an expensive car and multiple houses, and Milkman is happy to give them details about his success.

Cooper and Nephew accompany Milkman to the farm, where Milkman wanders through the forest. He imagines himself as his father and aunt, thinking that the Butlers’ house looks like a dark, murderous place. He goes into the Butler house and climbs up the stairs, remembering the nightmares he had about witches as a child, which would always end in his waking up with an erection.

Upstairs in the Butler house, Milkman is surprised to find a pack of well-groomed dogs and an old, crazy-looking woman. Milkman wonders if the woman is Circe and notices that she is speaking, despite her great age, with the voice of a young woman. The woman, who calls herself Circe, tells Milkman she knew he’d come one day. Milkman tells Circe that Macon is now 72 years old. Circe seems both interested and uninterested; she tells Milkman that the dogs she’s taking care of belonged to Miss Butler, who committed suicide. Circe claims that she brought Miss Butler into the world just as she brought Miss Butler’s mother and grandmother into the world.

Circe mentions Macon’s mother, a woman named Sing who was of Black and Native American descent and bragged that she was never enslaved. Circe asks Milkman if Pilate ever married Reba’s father; Milkman says no. She remembers Pilate’s shame at her lack of a navel, mentions that Pilate lived in a Virginia town called Charlemagne after her father died, and recalls that Pilate “birthed herself” without Circe’s help. Finally, she mentions the cave where Pilate and Macon lived after leaving the Butler house; it’s called Hunters Cave, and Macon’s father was supposedly left there after he died — he was originally dumped in a river, but men pulled him out and left him in the cave.

Milkman thinks to himself that Circe, a woman who has spent her entire life selflessly caring for other people, will die poor and surrounded by dogs. In another life, he thinks, she would have been the head nurse at Mercy Hospital. He offers Circe money, which she refuses, and asks her why she’s caring for the dogs of a racist white woman. Circe insists that she’s not loyal to Miss Butler herself; she merely wanted to help the dogs and preserve the house. Before Milkman leaves, Circe tells him Macon’s father’s real name: Jake.

Milkman leaves the Butler house and heads for Hunters Cave, noting that he has plenty of time before Nephew will be looking for him. He travels through the woods and rocks, thinking with disgust about the white men who stole his grandfather’s property. He enters the cave, but after a great deal of searching, doesn’t find the gold. Furious and starving, he realizes that many hours have elapsed, and Nephew must have left without him. He hitchhikes back to Danville with a man named Fred Garnett, who gives him a Coke. Back in Danville he feeds himself, and walks back to Reverend Cooper’s station house, where he discovers that he’s just missed Cooper.

Dejected at having failed to find the gold and annoyed with Reverend Cooper’s friends, Milkman boards a Greyhound bus to Virginia. He remembers that Pilate told him she’d returned to Hunter’s Cave to collect the dead body four years after finding the gold; this would mean that she entered the cave after men dragged her own father’s body there. Milkman concludes that Pilate lied: if, as she says, she returned to the cave four years later, she would have noticed that there were two bodies there. Instead, she must have entered the cave shortly after her brother left her, and taken the set of bones there, along with the gold. With this in mind, Milkman resolves to trace Pilate’s travels and go to Virginia to look for the treasure.