Home (Morrison Novel) Lesson Plan

What imagery sticks out to you in the epigraph? How do you think the epigraph might relate to the context and/or themes of the novel?

Students should consider the brief epigraph to the novel:

Whose house is this? / Whose night keeps out the light / In here? / Say, who owns this house? / It's not mine. / I dreamed another, sweeter, brighter / With a view of lakes crossed in / painted boats; / Of fields wide as arms open for me. / This house is strange. / Its shadows lie. / Say, tell me, why does its lock fit my / key?"

Students should discuss the imagery in the text. What images do these lines provoke? Why do they think Morrison included those specific lines in...