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The characters' attachment to their home coupled with their understanding that they must leave their homes and familiarities behind is a major theme within the novel. Papa has grown up on 141st Street and made it the best home possible for his own children, so he in particular cannot let go of the memories of his childhood in reference to his new home and his desire to stay. He knows that he is lucky to have had the chance to raise his children where he was raised, but he feels poorly that he cannot provide enough for them to afford another home in the same neighborhood to avoid uprooting the children. Papa actively tries not to project the anxiety he feels about the possibility of leaving home onto the children although it represents an equally painful rupture for him as it does to them.

Mama feels...