Home

The title of Morrison’s novel is Home. How does the novel define the idea of home, and how do Frank’s and Cee’s journeys home compare?

How does Morrison present the African American experience of life in the 1950s?

How and why does the figure of the financially independent, autonomous African American woman feature so prominently in Home?

Discuss the role of knowledge and wisdom and their opposite—ignorance—in Home. Where does Morrison show that the truest wisdom lies?

Discuss the relationship between Frank’s first-person account of events and the narrator’s third-person narrative. How do the two versions of the story complement and contradict each other?

Discuss Home’s depictions of travel and migration. How and why does Morrison describe how the characters get from place to place in such detail?

Although Home’s world picture is primarily an African American one, the main characters interact with people of other races. How does Morrison present these interracial interactions, and what significance do they hold for the novel as a whole?

Discuss Morrison’s portrayals of different types of African American masculinity in Home. How does Morrison show that the African American male experience has its own particular challenges?