Home by Toni Morrison Book Analysis Essay Example

The historical fiction novel Home, by Toni Morrison follows a veteran named Frank Money who struggles after the Korean war and must help save his sister but also learns about who he really is during the journey. The novel takes place in 1950’s America, primarily in Lotus Georgia post-war. In order to emphasize the failings and injuries of the 1950’s Toni Morrison assesses theme’s of identity crisis and the past throughout her novel by focusing on Frank and whether he is a monster or a victim, introduces Cee and her self-issues after her incident, and extends this through the “man in the suit” that both characters must put in the past. 

Toni Morrison focuses on the identity crisis that Frank undergoes throughout the story and who he really is, a monster or a victim of war. This is first seen when Frank tries to remember why he was thrown in the mental hospital, he recalls “apologizing to them for acts he had never committed”, and by them he means people he upset or attacked (15). Throughout the story Frank is plagued with PTSD which affects him and who he thinks he is. Frank might think it cannot be him doing this because he cannot see himself being a monster when in reality he has done these things, but just does not associate himself with the other side of him, the darker side. Instead he may associate those acts with those of another person which is referenced again. Later in the novel Frank is traveling on a train to Georgia, when the train stops for a break and when Frank gets off he sees a man watching two women fighting. Aggravated by Frank watching, the man approaches, and Frank has an outburst of rage and brutally beats him “the thrill that came with each blow was wonderfully familiar” (101). Earlier in the book Frank describes himself as not brave, and in this moment here Frank is beating a ban almost to death for approaching him which is uncharacteristic of Frank. Small moments like these are seen throughout the novel, where Frank has small outbursts of rage that turn him into a monster just like how he acted in the war. In chapter 14 Frank confesses that he lied about what happened in Korea, “I hid it from you because I hid it from me” (133). He killed the little girl in cold blood over his own uncontralable sexual temptation. Not only is Frank a monster for murdering a young girl he’s also a monster for being a pedophile. That memory cannot be tied to PTSD because the war was still going on and he was still fighting, and this happened during a peaceful night time, not during an intense battle, so what Frank described was the real Frank, a monster.

Later the novel focuses on Cee after her events with Dr. Beau, and now she must confront her past and move on and focus on who she is going to be now that she can no longer have children. After she is healed, she consults herself and questions “did she have a mind or not” (129). For the duration of Cee’s life she has lived underneath Frank’s side being protected by him, but after realizing Frank was unable to prevent what happened she knows she must be her own guardian. She must move on from the past and become her own person, not just the little sister of Frank. She tells herself  “she didn’t need him as she had before” (131). As stated before Cee relied on Frank for most of her life but after realizing that without Frank she is nobody, she decides she cannot live by Frank’s side and must become her own person. Now that she knows the truth about herself she could “accept it, and keep on quilting”, meaning that she could move on and continue her life (132). Unlike her brother who lied about the truth, Cee accepts hers and is able to move forward with the notion “keep on quilting” (132). Frank however is unable to do this because he has lied from the truth for so long that he made himself believe that he did not kill the young Korean girl.

Frank and Cee were visited by a man in a suit throughout the novel, and both see this man during different times, and each time he visits represents a time of growth and change. When the man in the suit appears to Frank in his dream “its glow revealed the same little man in the pale blue zoot suit”, it is during his journey to save his sister, but the journey was also for Frank (33). While traveling to save his sister Frank learns about himself and who he is. Frank tries to convert to a normal life but the PTSD he suffers with, plaques him every day and sometimes brings him down to dark places. After Cee is healed and goes with Frank to give a proper burial to the man they saw as children being buried, Cee is visited by the man “it looked to her like a small man in a funny suit” (144). The last time this man is seen by Cee is when they are burying the man, indicating that Cee has moved on from her past and has decided the person she is going to be. Right when they bury the man, they paint a wooden marker that says “here stands a man” (145). Symbolically this could represent both Frank and Cee burying their trauma and their pasts and moving on. Cee burying what happened to her and the fact she can no longer have children, and Frank burying the truth of what happened in Korea.

Morrison succeeded in emphasizing the failings and injuries of the 1950’s by demonstrating the identity crisis and difficult pasts that people had to live through, especially with Eugenics and the Korean War.