The house
Throughout the novel, the house symbolizes wealth and status. Sweet grows up in a poor neighborhood in Florida with his parents. Sweet realizes that Black people do not own houses because they live below the poverty line. Therefore, Sweet’s dream is to buy a house in future to prove that Black people can be wealthy like the White people. True to his dream, Sweet buys a house in the middle of a white neighborhood in Detroit after saving for some time.
The Black Bottom Ghetto
The Black Bottom Ghetto is a symbol of racism. In the 1920s, racism was rampant in Detroit and Black people were prohibited from interacting with White people. For instance, Black people lived in the Black Bottom Ghetto area. The ghettos lacked basic infrastructure such as clean water, roads, hospitals and schools. On the contrary, the White people lived on Garland Avenue in Detroit with a good infrastructure.
The gun
The gun symbolizes the insecurity of Black people. The Black people in the novel are doing everything possible to secure guns to defend themselves from the oppression of White people. When Sweet buys a house on Garland Avenue, a white-dominated area, he senses danger and buys a gun to protect himself. Two days after Sweet relocates to his new home, the White people organize a gang to attack him and his family because they do not want Black people in their area. During the confrontation, Sweet shoots and kills a white man.
