Finding a space to call home in Tayari Jones’s Leaving Atlanta
Finding a space to call home in Tayari Jones’s Leaving Atlanta

Summary/Abstract: Tayari Jones, one of the more memorable contemporary African American voices, debuted at the beginning of the 20th century with her novel Leaving Atlanta (2002). She did not gain notable recognition until the publication of An American Marriage (2018) a decade later. Nevertheless, a number of scholars praised her first effort and included it in famous African American critical anthologies as an example of the voice of a new generation. In her debut while she tackles a painful episode in American history, the Atlanta Child Murders, Jones achieves a multivocal child-led narrative that supplies a new perspective on the events, which does not take as a starting point statistics and easy solutions. Tasha, Rodney, and Octavia are left to navigate their oft dangerous and difficult social and private environment as the threat looms over their lives as an ‘unspeakable’ and invisible presence. Each of them becomes a victim to the spaces that predetermine their existence. The present article evaluates the characters’ ability to find a space that they would consider a home in order to reach conclusions about general belonging patterns, coping mechanisms, and available alleys for escape.

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