Murder/Death in "Song of Solomon"

page 140
[Ruth Dead speaking] "Nobody lives forever, Pilate."
"Don't?"
"Of course not."
"Nobody?"
"Of course, nobody."
"I don't see why not."
"Death is as natural as life."
"Ain't nothing natural about death. It's the most unnatural thing they is."
"You think people should live forever?"
"Some people. Yeah."
"Who's to decide? Which ones should live and which ones shouldn't?"
"The people themselves. Some folks want to live forever. Some don't. I believe they decide on it anyway. People die when they want to and if they want to. Don't nobody have to die if they don't want to."

Questions:
1) Did Pilate want to die at the end of the novel? Above she says that people decide when they want to die. Did Guitar give her much of a choice?
2) Does Milkman have a choice? Is the decision he made based on what he wanted or what he knew was inevitable?

Comments:
I think at the end of the book Pilate is ready to die. She had finally learned the truth about her family, she has put her father's bones into the ground, and she has buried her grand daughter (who was like a second daughter to her). I am not sure if she has much desire to live. I don't think this justifies her murder however, since she was shot without warning. Milkman doesn't have much of a choice either. He can either leap to his death or be killed by Guitar. I do think Guitar would have followed Milkman to the ends of the earth, just to put a bullet in his head.

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