Paradise

Religion is important for the people of Ruby, a small town with three congregations—the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Pentecostals. What commentary, good or bad, does Paradise make on organized religion?

Each chapter is named after a woman. Since Morrison chose to organize the chapters by these women’s names, what effect does this have on the narrative structure, and what does it say about the role of women in the novel?

With such an enormous cast of characters, who would you argue is the main character and why? In what ways might Ruby and the Convent be characters themselves?

In the novel, love between characters is challenged by their community’s values (Menus and his light-skinned fiancée), love is tempered with violence (Mavis’s abusive husband, Frank), or love is believed by different people to be different things (Reverend Pulliam versus Reverend Misner). What is the novel’s ultimate picture of love, and how does Morrison use it to comment on the human condition, race notwithstanding?

Paradise takes place mainly in Oklahoma but involves movement from across the United States. How does the setting augment the narrative, illuminate the characters, and contribute to the story’s overall mood?

Food appears a lot in the narrative. For example, Mavis’s improved cooking correlates with her character growth, Gigi is very hungry when she arrives at the Convent, and Connie sells produce from the garden to people from Ruby. Choose two passages about food and analyze how Morrison uses it to develop the narrative.

Gigi and Mavis are at odds from the moment they meet. Are they character foils or something more? Compare and contrast the two characters, and analyze what each woman’s experiences, personalities, and interactions tell us about the other.

Considering gender roles, describe how the women of Ruby and the Convent adhere to or challenge the positions traditionally assigned to women. How might a feminist reading of them shift how we read their servility or supposed promiscuity?