Home (Morrison Novel) Literary Elements

Fiction

The United States and especially Georgia, in the 1950s

There are two narrators: one is a third-person narrator, the other is Frank Money. Frank also converses with the third-person narrator towards the end of the novel.

Tone: pensive, somber, detached, mournful, as well as poignant, encouraging, hopeful

Mood: brooding, haunted, desolate, as well as determined, thoughtful, peaceful

Frank is the protagonist, Dr. Beauregard is the antagonist.

There is conflict within Frank—will he acknowledge what happened in Korea, reconcile with it, and move on—as well as conflict within Cee—will she survive, and will she learn to be her own woman?

Frank bursts into the doctor's house and takes Cee away.

1. The books about race and eugenics on Dr. Beauregard's bookshelf foreshadow his intentions regarding Cee and the true nature of his "fascination with wombs."
2. When Mrs. Scott defends Dr. Scott as not being a Frankenstein and says his experiments help people, this foreshadows what happens to Cee

1. When Frank asks young Thomas what he wants to be when he grows up, all he says is "a man" (33). This is an understatement since he will be much, much more than that.
2. "But he never warned her about rats" (52) is an understatement, as what Cee experiences with Prince and the doctor is far more traumatic than "rats" suggests

1. The Reverend John Locke is an allusion to the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke.
2. The town of Lotus may be an allusion to the Lotus-Eaters of "The Odyssey."
3. There are numerous allusions to the Great Depression, WWII, WWI, the Korean War, Jim Crow
4. Cee mentions she read "Aesop's Fables," a 7th century BCE text
5. Frank and Cee compare themselves to Hansel and Gretel, the children in the fairy tale
6. When Cee mentions Prince's name to Thelma, Thelma says "You mean frog" (56) which is an allusion to the fairy tale "The Princess and the Frog"

The imagery of journeying is pervasive: Frank literally journeys to get Cee, and both of them metaphorically journey through their painful memories to achieve wholeness. There is also recurrent imagery of burial and excavation which is both literal and metaphorical—the burying of memories and then their excavation, the setting things to rest, etc.

Frank thinks that he is protecting Cee and shielding her from all of life's hardships when in fact he is making it more difficult for her to live as an adult and take care of herself.

1. The term "white sheets" is used as a metonym for Ku Klux Klan (28).

1. "[Lotus's]...unforgiving population, its isolation, and especially its indifference to the future..." (16)
2. "Out in the street in front of the bus station the sun hurt him" (25)
3. "The train's rocking and the singing rails soothed him into a rare sleep" (24)
4. "Of course, she waited the nine days before naming, lest death notice fresh life and claim it" (40)
5. "The quiet seemed to slither, then boom..." (52)
6. "Frank released the haunting images always ready to dance before his eyes" (97)