Homegoing Analysis

Homegoing is a novel by Yaa Gyasi. It follows two half-sisters’, who do not know each other, stories and continues down the family line. It takes place in America, where one sister is sent to become a slave, and in Ghana, where the other sister stays. It also shows the change in both countries as time goes on. Each generation shows a different struggle in that specific time period. Gyasi wrote this book because she wanted to show how African Americans were treated and how the tribes in Ghana were part of the slave trade. She talks about how, even after slavery ended, African Americans struggled to have a good life and to give their children a good life as well because of the way other people treated them. She also wanted to show the different

At the start of the book, the family was normally one man who had many wives. He would have many children with each wife. The men ran the village while the women were expected to cook, clean, and take care of the children. For example, when Effia asked Abeeku a simple question her parents gave her a sharp look to tell her she should not have done that (8). As the book goes on and the tribes start to trade with the British, the women start marrying the white men from the castle. The women were still treated the same in Ghana, but the family started to change. When they married the white men they were having children that were both white and black. They also did not have as many wives. Part of this was they could not afford more than one or two like Ohene Nyarko (152). Another reason was because the white men only married one woman and their children normally held this belief

The chief was the leader of the village and made political decisions like who to be in alliance with or who to go to war with. He typically was the wealthiest and most powerful. Towards the end of the book, there were more of a group of Elders who made the choices like when Elders decided Abena’s punishment for having sex outside of marriage (146). Throughout the whole book the wealthy have the power. An example is when a man wanted a woman he had to pay the most to have her or another man would get her. An example is when Effia’s parents decided to find a way to marry her to James instead of Abeeku because they would get more money out of James (15). There also was a lot of wars between the tribes in this book. The more power a tribe had the more advantages that tribe had. At the end of the book, the people were not as concerned about power because there was not as many wars and slavery was over. The people were more focused on surviving and the white men in the