Conversely, although Ruth seems reluctant to admit that she is anything like the unkempt, eccentric Pilate, the women have several things in common. Both communicate frequently with their dead fathers and share an intuitive, internal wisdom that transcends the mundane, external knowledge of others. Both have found a way to manipulate Macon and undermine his oppressive, domineering behavior. And both share an intense love for Milkman and an ardent desire to see him succeed in the world. But while Ruth attempts to steer him into the medical field, Pilate encourages him to follow his own spiritual path.
Ruth's difficulties as a wife and mother stems in part from her failure to experience a close, nurturing relationship with her own mother. Unlike Pilate, who has fond memories of her mother, Ruth's only memory of her mother is as a rival for her father's love. Like Hagar, Ruth's "narrow but deep" passions render her incapable of differentiating between sex and love. Consequently, for Ruth, nursing Milkman is not a maternal, nurturing act but a secret, furtive ritual she engages in for her own sexual pleasure. Frustrated by unfulfilled desires, she perceives her son's imminent death at the hands of his lover not as a tragedy that would deny him the opportunity to achieve his potential but as "the annihilation of the last occasion she had been made love to."
