Challenging Patriarchal Norms In Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi

Throughout history women have challenged patriarchal norms, changing the standards. In the book, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, women are constantly told what they should do, and what they should want. Ness should want to work inside the house, Abena should want to marry for power, and Marjorie should want to be asked to prom. However, unlike other women characters in the book, these three characters challenged their assumed positions as women and in doing so gave their families and men in their lives a new perspective. Every generation made strides in women’s rights, but even as rights and laws adapted to new times, there were still limitations on women that they needed to overcome. Analyzing ‘Homegoing’ through the lens of Feminism provides a perspective

Ness challenges the sexist assumption of a woman’s perceived weakness, both mentally and physically, during this period. While in the slave trade, Ness was forced to marry a husband, Sam, with whom she had a child, Kojo. But Ness was determined to somehow gain freedom. She was led by her motivation to run away, and she became “one of the best field hands [one of the plantation owners] had ever seen”(Gyasi 73). One of Ness’s slave owners, Tom Stockham, found Ness was thought to be “too pretty” to work the field and had been shocked and disturbed by Ness’s scars. “She walked out to her audience of two, her shoulders bared, as well as the bottom halves of her calves, and when Susan and Stockham saw her, she fainted outright, It was all Tom Allen could do to catch his wife while shouting at Margaret to go change Ness at once”(Gysai 73). Ness proved how although she is pretty there is more underneath the surface. Those scars symbolized the internal pain and anguish that left a permanent mark on Ness whether visible or not. This showed that Ness, and women in general, cannot and should not be judged strictly on appearances. For many years, this was the

Abena overcame the stereotype that all women must marry and have children. For centuries, the culture of male-dominated societies taught that woman’s role was to marry a husband and have as many children as possible. In Abena's village, it was unheard of to be unmarried at twenty-five. However, at twenty-five, Abena was still without a husband or children, due mostly in part to her father's reputation. “Abena was certain that she must have inherited the thing that had earned her father his nickname. They called him the man without name. They called him Unlucky. And now his troubles have followed her. Even her childhood best friend, Ohene Nyarko, would not take her as his second wife. Though he would never say it, she knew what he was thinking: that she was not worth the loss of yams and wine a bride price would cost him” (Gyasi 133). In the quote, Abena is being compared to the worth of material items. This puts in perspective how women in this society are looked at as property, and how their worth is dependent on their husband or father's