Race is a pervasive theme in "Paradise." The novel examines the experiences of African Americans in a racially charged and divided society. It delves into questions of identity, both individual and collective, and discusses how one's racial identity can impact their sense of self and place in the world. Characters in the novel grapple with questions of racial authenticity and what it means to be "black enough." This is substantiated multiple times throughout the novel by multiple characters but is clarified most explicitly by Reverend Misner:

Whether they be the first or the last, representing the oldest black families or the newest, the best of the tradition or the most pathetic, they had ended up betraying it all. They think they have outfoxed the whiteman when in fact they imitate him.

Readers sense the heavy-handed implication here: Reverend Misner refers to the false notion that there are right and wrong ways to be black and the wrong type of blackness. Race—and the discussion of how it does and should appear—flows into the themes of community and isolation. The tension between community and isolation is central to the novel. Ruby, the all-black town, prides itself on its isolation from the outside world. The Convent, on the other hand, represents a different form of isolation, as the women there seek refuge from societal norms and expectations. The way that the Oven is used symbolically throughout the novel represents many things, including community.

As new fathers, who had fought the world, they could not (would not) be less than the Old Fathers who had outfoxed it; who had not let danger or natural evil keep them from cutting Haven out of mud and who knew enough to seal their triumph with that priority."

Within every community there exists the possibility of division. The Oven brings people together but remains a dividing line. The novel explores the consequences of both types of isolation, including the challenges of maintaining a close-knit community and the dangers of being cut off from others. Interwoven throughout this sense of community is the awareness of Blackness—and the colorism, sexism, and classicism that divide it.