An American Marriage

Although the narrative centers on black families in contemporary America, the novel is not titled A Black American Marriage. How does the title work? How does the text reflect issues that are and are not relevant to race?

How does the novel define home? Given the novel’s interest in revisiting the Ulysses/Penelope narrative, discuss the importance of Roy’s comment, “Sometimes when you like where you end up, you don’t care how you got there” (31). 

Discuss why getting an apology from Celestial is so critical to Roy’s recovery from his imprisonment.