STUDY QUESTIONS

1) Examine the issue of naming in the novel. How does it connect to African American history and how does Morrison deal with that history?

2) Analyze the characters of the older generation of African- American women in the novel, especially Ruth Foster and Pilate, but also taking into account Mrs. Baines. What function do they serve in establishing the novelÂ’s Themes?

3) Trace the course of the relationship between Guitar Baines and Milkman Dead from its beginnings to its ending. How can this relationship be read as emblematic of African-American history?

4) Map the town in Michigan where Milkman grows up--the distinctions between MilkmanÂ’s neighborhood on Not Doctor Street and Southside and Honore Island.

5) Trace MilkmanÂ’s search for family origins in his connections with the people in the south whom he encounters.

6) Examine the issue of internalized racism in a character analysis of Hagar Dead. Concentrate especially on her last scene when she searches through town for the right cosmetics and clothing to attract Milkman.

7) Examine the issue of death in the novel. How is it regarded by various characters?

8) Analyze the descriptions of LincolnÂ’s Heaven. How does the farm and what happens to it connect with the history of the Reconstruction period?

9) Trace MilkmanÂ’s change over the course of the novel from self- involvement to other-focused. What prompts this change?

10) Trace PilateÂ’s progress from the time she was left in the cave by her brother to the time meets him again in Michigan.

Table of Contents | Downloadable/Printable Version