It should be obvious to anyone reading this book that Toni Morrison knows a great deal about the Old Testament. This is easily supported by the fact that most of her characters all share names with religious figures. In this paper six of them will be described. This will be done by first summarizing the excerpt from the bible then an explanation of the relationship. The list starts with Hagar.

We know Hagar as the jealous murderous lover in the book but look how she compares to the bible's Hagar. Hagar was Sarah's Egyptian maid. God had

First Corinthians shares her name with the letters written by The Apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was the chief missionary of the early church. He wrote letters to keep in touch with the churches he founded. The First Corinthians were letters written in 55 AD, in Ephesus. The Seventh and Eighth books of the New Testament were letters from Paul to members of the Christian church he founded in Corinth, Greece. He discussed problems that were reported orally, especially the problem of divisions within the church. Also he discussed questions Corinthians raised in a letter they had written him. He reminded the Corinthians how important it was for them not to be divided from one another, that they had to always seek unity of the church. He reminded them that all of them had gifts given to them by God, and that the greatest gift of all was love. The First Corinthians was also the first written account of the Last Supper and the Resurrection. First Corinthians 11, 23-26 First Corinthians 15, 3-9. There is a strong relationship between these letters and First Corinthians. Once again it is not direct but easily understood. The letters said that the family needed to be unified and that everyone had the gift of love. Now this is related because of the relationship that First Corinthians had which led to Milkman breaking up the family by telling about it. These worlds are both related by this breaking up of family or church. The Corinthians spoke to avoid it and First Corinthians' relationship led to the breaking up of her family.

Once again only Toni can tell. The next religious reference falls on the face of Ruth. In the bible Ruth was a Gentile from Moab. She married a Jew, but when he died she traveled with her mother-in-law, Naomi. No one would take responsibility for a foreign widow, or perhaps no one was very interested in her because she married out of her nation. When Naomi decided to return home to Bethlehem, her two daughter-in-laws followed. One gave in to her requests to go back to Moab, but Ruth refused to leave Naomi. The reputation Ruth had gained for her loyalty to Naomi made her attractive to a youn

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1430
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)