Abstract for 6. The relation between biblical imagery and African-American culture in Toni Morrison’s Home

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the biblical imagery used in Toni Morrison’s Home serves to fashion the black characters’ sense of cultural belonging as they grapple with racial segregation. The study rests on Barthes’s concepts of signifier/signified, denotation/connotation, which help probe the novel’s biblical symbolism, with a view to surfacing its cultural significance. Ultimately, the study reveals that the characters’ reinterpretation of some biblical tropes helps inform their perception of community, solidarity, brotherly love, faith and combativeness against racial discrimination.