Questions
1. What happens between Reuben and Zonia, and how does this reflect the themes of the play?

2. What became of Martha Loomis after Joe Turner took her husband away?

3. Why did Martha Loomis choose to start a new life?

4. How does Herald ultimately free himself from all the mental and physical constraints?

5. How did Selig and Bynum collaborate to reunite Martha with her daughter Zonia?

Answers
1. Reuben and Zonia have been friends for three weeks when Zonia must leave with Herald to continue searching for her mother. During their farewell, Reuben tells Zonia that he will find her and marry her when he grows up. This moment echoes the play's themes by showing two characters separated by uncontrollable circumstances. Reuben’s promise to find Zonia in the future mirrors Selig’s role as a people finder, as well as Mattie’s desire to reunite with her lost love Jack Carper, Bynum’s quest to find the shiny man again, and Herald’s search for his wife.

2. When Joe Turner abducted Herald, he and Martha had been sharecropping land together. Unable to manage the work alone, Martha was evicted and moved in with her mother, taking Zonia with her. Later, when Martha’s church relocated up North, she joined them, leaving Zonia with her mother to shield her from the hardships of travel.

3. Believing that Herald had died when he did not return, Martha mourned his loss and decided to build a new life without him. The uncertainty of Herald's fate and the prolonged separation led her to this decision. She returned from the North to collect Zonia, only to discover that Herald had recently come back and taken Zonia with him.

4. Martha Pentecost's arrival acts as a catalyst for Herald to release himself from his mental and physical constraints. He realizes he can no longer hold on to her as his wife, says his farewell, and symbolically cuts his chest with a knife, declaring that he will no longer let anyone bind him. Bynum highlights that Herald has been binding himself by remaining trapped in a slave mentality. Herald overcomes these self-imposed bonds, understands that he can create his own path, and rushes out the door triumphantly and urgently.

5. In his capacity as a people finder, Selig heeds Herald’s description of his wife and tracks down Martha in Rankin. Selig informs Martha that he knows her daughter's whereabouts and takes her to the boardinghouse. Bynum confesses that he has connected Martha and Zonia, revealing that he has fulfilled his duties as a rootworker who chants the Binding Song.