Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi Sparknotes

The book “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi follows two half-sisters named Effia and Esi, who were born in different villages in Africa, and follow the descendants of their family tree for about three centuries. Many of the problems in this story involve both sides of the African people in the Atlantic slave trade and the aftermath of its demise. Even as soon as the first couple of chapters, starting with the chapter “Effia” where Effia marries a British governor named James and lives in the Cape Coast Castle with the dungeons below holding slaves. As well as in the next chapter called “Esi”, where Esi is captured after they attacked her village and sent to live in the dungeon until they sent her to America as a slave. “The Atlantic slave trade was

But her stepmother does not want her to marry but to marry a white man so she can get away from Effia. In the Atlantic, slave trade villages on the gold coast would offer their tribal women to the Europeans to better help the village out in negotiations and alliances with the Europeans (). As shown on page 15 of the chapter when Abeeku says, “If the white man wants her, he may have her. All the better for our business with them. All the better for the village” (). Showing how giving away women to a European help their alliance with them. This leads to her side of the family tree staying in Africa well after the Atlantic slave trade is

As shown on pg 42, “ Abrocoma said. “Tell them where I am. Tell them where I am and there will be no blood between us.”…… Esi decided then that she would send the message. Early the next morning she went to the messenger who lived on the edge of the village.” (). Her village loses the battle, and she hides in a tree, trying to avoid being seen by the warriors from the other village. The captors eventually saw her and shackled on a long walk to the coast where the Cape Coast Castle is located. On pg 43 it talks about the long and grueling walk to the coast “And indeed the first few days were not so bad, but by the tenth, the calluses of Esi’s feet split open and blood seeped out, painting the leaves she left behind.” (). The white people viewed African women as non-human, so most times, they were sexually abused and, most of the time, raped (). Esi, unfortunately, gets caught in a situation like this in the Cape Coast Castle. On pg 49 it says “He looked at her carefully, then blinked his eyes and shook his head. He looked at her again and then began checking her body as he had others. When he ran his fingers between her legs, his fingers came back red.” (). Shortly after that, she was taken away to America to become a slave. Where this leads to a lot of her descendants hating white people and the injustice that