Toni Morrison Home Analysis

In Toni Morrison’s novel Home, Cee and Frank first consider home as something burdensome but come to consider home as a place of comfort. The brother and sister see their hometown of Lotus as a problem which they solve after learning of its unique value, despite all their previous misfortunes. As the characters change in personality, their attitude towards home becomes more appreciative. As Cee and Frank grow older, they move closer and closer to home and develop a better attitude moving forward in life.
At first Frank loathes Lotus, his home, calling it “worse than any battlefield” (83). Since they find no warmth there, Frank and Cee consider Lotus a trap. They choose to run from it.
A bad influence in Lotus who triggers Cee’s runaway is their very own grandmother Lenore. Lenore always chastises Cee, calling her the “gutter child” (45). As Cee grows up, she is “ordered about by not only Lenore but every adult in town” (47) to do chores. Cee’s childhood ruins her view on her hometown community, where she thinks that everyone is against her,

The opening poem brings up ideas of unfamiliarity and distance. Frank is confused with how his house has changed so much after he has come back from war, but in reality, he was only denying his past, deceiving himself. The lock and the key represent how even though Frank wants to get rid of his bad memories, they’ll always stay with him, just like how his past can never be erased. In contrast, at the end of the novel, the poem positively finishes the story, using words such as “strong,” “beautiful,” “alive and well.” It completely contrasts the beginning where darkness looms with the “shadow” of the house. Cee in the end, says the words “Let’s go home,” again emphasizing her pride for her home, Lotus. Also, the novel’s last word, “home” resolves the internal battle that has recurred throughout Cee’s and Frank’s