Review the Foreword to the novel, then write an essay in which you summarize Morrison's aims in writing the novel. How effectively do you believe she accomplished her aims? Support your discussion with evidence from the novel. 

At one point in the novel, the narrator states that romantic love and physical beauty are "[p]robably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought" (122). How do ideas about beauty, especially Eurocentric ones, serve as destructive forces in the lives of the characters? Do you agree with this statement? Use evidence from the novel to support your position.

Morrison introduces the Dick and Jane primers at the start of the novel and returns to remixed versions of them throughout the novel. Discuss the function of the primers in the novel.