ipl-logo

Slavery In Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi

1306 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why african americans treated poorly in the late 1800s

Have you ever thought it was you against the world? Out of control? No purpose? This is nothing compared to the force and horror the African slaves in both Ghana and America felt. Gyasi’s characters James, Abena, and Ness were forced and manipulated into situations they never intended to be in. In Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi uses characterization to depict how the terrors of slavery can make one feel separated in their community.

Esi’s daughter Ness was enslaved on a plantation and desperately wanted to leave to give her family a better life. When Ness gets to Hell, she was forced to become married because it would be better for her owner, the Devil, for political reasons. She is introduced to a man named Sam. He refused to learn English. This …show more content…

They would never see Kojo again. When the Devil asked about him, they lied and told him he had died along their journey. The Devil “marched Ness and Same back to Hell...He stripped them both bare, tied Sam so tight he couldn’t even wiggle his fingers, and made him watch as NEss earned the striped that would make her too ugly to work in a house ever again...She could not lift her head, so the Devil lifted it for her. He made her watch. He made them all watch: the rope come out, the tree branch bend, the head snap free from the body” (87). The Devil never let them escape their past of slavery. All they wanted was a better life, but that was not their decision to make. They were slaves and therefore had no control of their own actions. They had no rights, no words, no ideas of their own. Gyasi displays the Devils’ cruelty to his property to explain how slaves had no control of their lives. They were forced on the plantation, forced to marry, and forced to watch the death of their forced loved ones. Sam and Ness never felt like they belonged to their community because of the Devil. He made torturous conditions for his slaves, the …show more content…

Abena’s father James moved to their village to be with her mother, Akusua. He escaped because he never agreed with their family’s ways back home. Marrying someone for politics and shipping slaves away to misery was not the life he wanted to live. When he moved to marry his love Akusua, he fell in love with the community and atmosphere. However, they did not fall in love with him. James could not get his crops to grow, giving their foreign family a bad reputation. Abena was a “unmarried twenty-five-year-old-woman...There were only a few men in her village, and none of them wanted to take a chance with Unluckey’s daughter” (133). Abena never did anything to deserve to be disregarded in her village. She deserved to be treated the same as all the other young women in her village, but her father’s reputation affected her own. James left because of slavery, and this continued to affect his daughter. Even her childhood best friend, Ohene, would not marry her because of the lack of crops. He claimed, “to get the cocoa plants, I had to promise a man in Osu that I would marry his daughter. I will have to use all of the leftover goods from my cocoa trade to pay her bride price. I cannot marry Abena this season. She will have to wait” (152). In Ghana, the men treat the women like they are property. They cannot make their own decisions. Ohene had to be the one to decide if they were to get

Show More
Related

Similarities Between Mary And Equiano

204 Words | 1 Pages

Both Mary and Equiano suffered greatly upon their being taken. They both endured mental, physical, and emotional distress at being torn from their families and friends. Equiano was only a child when he was taken from his village, away from everything and everyone he had ever known, so the natural fear of parental separation would be terrifying in itself. Many years later, as he was being shipped overseas, he witnessed the cruel and inhumane treatment of innocent people. In describing the living conditions of the slave ship, Equiano states, “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable” (Equiano 1279).

Read More

Octavian Nothing Traitor To The Nation Summary

913 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party, by MT Anderson, follows a young boy named Octavian. This book is set in Boston in the 1700s. As a 13-year-old, Octavian’s mother is bought as a slave by Mr. Gitney, the head of the college, as a 2-for-1 deal. Mr. Gitney is conducting an experiment at his college, the College of Lucidity. He is trying to figure out if an African American could be as intelligent as white royalty if they are provided with the same education.

Read More

Creating African Americans Chapter 1 Summary

485 Words | 2 Pages

This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.

Read More

Fire And Water In Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing

966 Words | 4 Pages

In Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, fire and water are used as a way to talk about slavery and Effia and Esi’s sides of the family tree. Fire and water talk about the curse of slavery and the role that it plays during this time period. The motifs of fire and water represent slavery and enable the author to track the lives of one family. Throughout the novel, fire is used as a metaphor for the legacy of slavery.

Read More

Okonkwo And Nwoye Quotes

802 Words | 4 Pages

In Umuofia, Okonkwo has a high title, earned by demonstrating his achievement in his city. He is recognized everywhere for being a great wrestler who beat Amalinze the Cat. In chapter one, it says that “He brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo made it his goal to demonstrate himself powerfully to the community because his father, Unoka, was the opposite. The emotional, lazy, gentile, and unsuccessful Unoka was interested in music and drinking, and he didn 't try hard to make a name for himself.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Rebunk The Myth Of Slavery

814 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Use And Abuse Of Power Essay

498 Words | 2 Pages

The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Negative Effects On Slaves

753 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Okonkwo Analysis

755 Words | 4 Pages

China Achebe demonstrates the disrespect the Ibo men had for woman in Things Fall Apart by depicting verbal and physical abuse within the community. The men have control over a woman through power of authority. This physical and verbal abuse lets the men of the society feel empowerment over the woman. “ Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” Achebe 12.

Read More

Slavery In Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror

828 Words | 4 Pages

In Chapter 3 of A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki, he attempts to understand the hidden origins of slavery. In this essay, I will describe and analyze how Takaki uses race, ethnicity, historical events, and famous people to have a better understanding of slavery. We know that slavery itself is a system where an individual owns, buys, or sells another individual. The Irish served as indentured servants, not just blacks, but as time passed slavery consisted of just African Americans.

Read More

Balance In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

881 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the authors' claim of "balance" within the Igbo tribe is invalid. Although one may view that women and men existing in this society as balanced due to the fact that both the men and women have a particular part in the general public; The men hunt for dinner, while the ladies prepare the meals and care after the kids. However, through close reading, the society is actually imbalance. While the women are living oppressed, the men are holding positions of high power. The women in the tribe not only being socially oppressed by men of high authority, but also physically and emotionally abused by men in their home who likewise holds power.

Read More

Uncle Tom's Cabin Language Analysis

1153 Words | 5 Pages

The novel Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe depicts the reality of slavery while simultaneously pushing the idea to Christian audiences that they should show compassion and put an end to slavery. Stowe exercises the Christianity of the character Uncle Tom to strengthen the idea that acting as a Christian can abolish the institution of slavery itself. In addition, the destruction of slavery is narrated through the character George Harris who's a runaway slave. In particular, Stowe sets up the scene where Harris walks into a bar under the alias of Henry Butler passing in society with his "Spanish complexion" appearing equivalent to the Caucasian community (Stowe 151). However, Harris expressing to his former boss Mr. Wilson his

Read More

Polygamy In Things Fall Apart

970 Words | 4 Pages

In Things Fall Apart, the world of the Ibo people was turned upside down when the white men invade their village, bring their customs with them. Despite the new customs the white men brought, the people of Umuofia stuck to their own principles. Previously the lifestyle of the Ibo was questionable. For instance, the women and children were treated immorally. Foreigners were murdered for gratuitous reasons.

Read More

Gender Roles In Purple Hibiscus

595 Words | 3 Pages

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Purple Hibiscus, reflects her perspective on gender because she distinguishes characters like Mama and Aunty Ifeoma as women with contrasting viewpoints on ‘shrinking themselves’. Mama embodies society’s standard to belittle herself by desiring to return home after Papa abuses her. In Nsukka, Mama decides to travel back to Enugu even though she suffers a miscarriage due to Papa smashing a table on her womb. Aunty Ifeoma compares the twisted family chemistry to “a house [that] is on fire” because of the insensible violence that her “nwunye m” faces (Adichie 213). Ifeoma refers to Mama’s mistreatment as a house that is burning down to foreshadow the rising tension in the family.

Read More

Things Fall Apart Gender Analysis

996 Words | 4 Pages

There are constant struggles between gender, identity and class. Among the men and women in many African tribes that still exist today, there are differences, which will always remain intact because of the culture and the way in which they are taught to treat each other. Chinua Achebe wrote the novel, Things Fall Apart, which is a great piece of African literature that deals with the Igbo culture, history, and the taking over of African lands by British colonization. The ongoing gender conflict is a prominent theme in Things Fall Apart presenting the clash between men and women of the African Igbo society.

Read More

More about Slavery In Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi

Related Topics

Open Document