Injustice In Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi

In the novel, Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, almost every character is faced with some sort of injustice or prejudice, whether it be because of their race, ethnicity, or gender. Specifically, Esi, Kojo, and Robert all dealt with racial injustice throughout their lives, which negatively affected themselves, as well as the surrounding characters. Esi, Kojo, and Robert all grew emotionally or physically isolated from their families due to injustice, impacting both their own lives and the lives of their families.

Esi’s experience of being captured and sold into slavery scarred her emotionally and physically, affecting Ness’s development as a person. Upon being captured, Esi’s life immediately changed for the worse, beginning her fight for life. To cope

Kojo had been born into a life of mistreatment, constantly fearful of white authority despite his clean reputation as a free man. Whether he was working or walking on the street, “He was always jumpy around police, or anyone in uniform…Ma Aku said he’d been like this since their days in the woods, running from catchers, from town to town, until they’d hit the safe house in Maryland” (111). Since he was young, Kojo’s response to injustice had been fear. He had been living in a time and place where existing as a black man could be deemed a crime. Kojo understood that his life was in danger from an early age, thus his display of caution and anxiety around police. Kojo’s fear of white authorities affected his relationship with his family because as much as he wanted to have faith in their freedom, he wished they would be as alert as he was. As stated in the novel, “Jo had worked so hard that his children wouldn’t have to inherit his fear, but now he wished they had just the tiniest morsel of it” (125). Due to Kojo’s experiences with injustice in Baltimore, he knew that he would have to work hard to protect his family. While he always made sure that his wife and children had their documentation and behaved correctly, Kojo was still fearful, and he wished his family would be the same. Anna’s kidnapping destroyed Kojo emotionally, which created a rift in his relationship with his children. Years after Anna’s disappearance, “His children could not stand to be around him anymore, and, though he hated to admit it, he could not stand to be around them” (131). After Anna was kidnapped and sold due to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, Kojo felt alone in his despair. Kojo’s response to this injustice was to emotionally isolate himself from children, who eventually could not bear to be with him