Homegoing Essay

Women’s Relationships and Slavery in Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, explores several themes related to the 18th century slave trade including family separation, cultural displacement, discrimination, racial inequality, and gender. Set in 18th-century Ghana, the novel follows the divergent stories of two half sisters and their descendants. The focus of the novel is set in the epigraph, which is an Akan proverb expressing that “the family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position” (Gyasi 1). This quote not only alludes to the family separations among the families whose stories are told but also to the fact that some Africans participated in the exploitation of their fellow Africans into Chattel slavery. This essay discusses the relations between women and the issue of slavery in Homegoing. The central argument here is that Yaa Gwasi’s novel portrays women as slaves of society who do not uplift each other and explores the ways through which slavery created cultural displacement. In Homegoing, Gyasi presents women as subjects enslaved in a patriarchal society, yet they are their own enemies and push each other deeper into slavery. The relationship between Effia and Baaba is a proper illustration of the hatred and unsupportive relations between women in Gyasi’s novel. Effia, born of fire in Fanteland, is resented by her step mother, Baaba, because she was borne to her husband and their house girl. The women in this triangle are all slaves in a patriarchal society where the role of women is to procreate, yet they do not support each other. Effia’s mother, Maame, abandoned her daughter, while Baaba, her step mother, contrives to have Effia sent away by marrying her off to a British man. In another example, Esi, born of water in the Asante tribe, in her naivety, believes that her father had to abuse their slave girl Abronoma so that the village would not think him to be weak. To this, Maame replies “You want to know what weakness is? Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you. Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves” (Gyasi 44). Esi grows wiser after experiencing slavery in America, during which she lost her own daughter in an attempt to escape. Her story shows that women were enslaved in their African society as well as in Chattel slavery. In addition to a critical view on relations between women - who are slaves of society Gyasi’s novel presents the view that all forms of slavery are unethical by showing the impacts of slavery on the Fante and Asante peoples. Chattel slavery created cultural displacement in Fanteland and Asanteland because it shaped the lives of all of Maame’s descendants – with some becoming enslaved while others sold slaves. Even after the abolition of slavery in the United States, Maame’s descendants through the Esi’s lineage have to grapple with Jim Crow and incarceration. The grandchildren of those that were enslaved still feel like they are slaves, while those that were slave masters have to forge relationships with those that perceive them as enslavers. Gyasi writes “No one forgets that they were once captive, even if they are now free” (255). In this powerful assertion, Akua urges Yaw to be free, though both of them are not slaves. Clearly, slavery changed the ways of life for the Fante and the Asante, robbing them of their cultural practices such as intermarriage and displacing their cultural values. In conclusion, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing is a historical novel that presents several themes related to slavery, and which depicts women as slaves fighting themselves in a patriarchal society where slave trade has robbed the people off their culture and displaced their values. Through the relations between Baaba, Effia, Maame, and Esi, Gyasi exemplifies that patriarchy enslaves women in domestic roles. Gyasi illustrates that women are their own enemies and are unsupportive towards each other.