# Epigraph explained — Plum Bun

> Chapter companion for Plum Bun by Jessie Redmon Fauset.

## What happens

The epigraph presents a nursery rhyme about going to market to buy a plum bun and returning home, which serves as a thematic prelude to the novel's exploration of markets—both literal and social—and the transactions of identity and belonging.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Ambition

The nursery rhyme's reference to 'market' and 'plum bun' subtly evokes themes of commerce, desire, and the pursuit of social or material gain.

### Freedom vs. Restraint

The cyclical structure of going to market and returning home suggests a tension between the freedom to venture out and the restraint of coming back to familiar confines.

## Key lines

> To Market, to Market To buy a Plum Bun; Home again, Home again, Market is done.

Going to the marketplace to purchase a sweet bun, then returning home once the shopping is finished.

_This nursery rhyme frames the chapter as a journey of acquisition and return, hinting at the novel's central conflicts around identity and belonging._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plum_bun_se/chapters/epigraph
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plum_bun_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plum_bun_se/chapters