Family

The theme of Family is explored in many ways throughout the course of the novel. At the beginning of the novel the focus is on the relationship between James and Alice, showing how close they are, and that they had a special psychic bond with one another.

The other focus in the Prologue is on the relationship between the Grandparents and the grandchildren. It is their intense desire that their grandchildren be fully educated and learn to speak well so that the white community would not be able to take advantage of them. This is a belief that is handed down through the generations, and one can see it being passed along from James to his daughter Amelia.

Later, the focus is on Bobby and his family. Bobby loves his mother to the point of hero worship. His family dynamic, however, is bad. There is little...