Song of Solomon Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

And the one person who dared to but didn’t care to was the one person in the world he hated more than his wife in spite of the fact that she was his sister. (1.1.17)

Macon sure hates the women folk in his life. Pilate is the only person in Song who is not afraid of Macon Dead.

Quote #2

Then Pilate spoke. "Reba. She don’t mean food." (1.2.49)

Though living a more liberated, more relaxed lifestyle than Ruth Dead, Hagar is equally starved for physical affection when we meet her at the age of seventeen.

Quote #3

Beauty shops always had curtains or shades up. Barbershops didn’t. The women didn’t want anybody on the street to be able to see them getting their hair done. They were ashamed. (1.3.62)

Beauty Shops are places where women go to maintain their beauty. The fact that the shades are always drawn in beauty shops suggests a level of shame, as though women are ashamed of being anything but pretty and perfectly put together. If there were no men on the earth, would beauty shops still draw the shades? Are the women hiding their beauty rituals from each other or from men? We only hear men talk about the overcrazy, graveyard loves that women are often afflicted with. We never really hear women talk about this kind of love. Beauty is closely linked to love in the world of Song.