Two Sisters, Two Paths
Born in a Fante village, this sister was raised by a stepmother named Baaba and eventually married a British governor.
Who is Effia?
Effia's descendants are spiritually haunted by this element, which reflects the night of her birth and her mother’s escape.
What is fire?
Effia’s son, he was sent to England for education and later struggled with his identity as a biracial man in the slave trade.
Who is Quey?
Ness’s husband, he was lynched after their failed attempt to escape slavery.
Who is Sam?
This real-life fortress in Ghana served as a major hub for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and is the setting for the novel’s opening.
What is Cape Coast Castle?
This sister was imprisoned in the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle after being captured during a raid on her Asante village.
Who is Esi?
Esi's descendants are often symbolized by this element, representing the ocean that separated them from home.
What is water (or the ocean)?
This woman, the daughter of a man called "Unlucky," remains unmarried at 25 because of her father's reputation in their village.
Who is Abena?
This woman, an African who remembered her home, successfully smuggled baby Kojo to freedom in the North.
Who is Ma Aku?
This specific West African ethnic group, to which Esi belonged, was known for its fierce warriors and kente cloth.
Who are the Asante (or Ashanti)?
This woman is the biological mother of both Effia and Esi, though her daughters never meet.
Who is Maame?
his physical reminder of trauma is carried by many characters, such as Ness after her attempted escape from "Hell."
What are scars (or whip marks)?
This is the crop that Ohene Nyarko brings to the village, which brings wealth but prevents him from marrying Abena.
What is cocoa?
As a free man in Maryland, Kojo finds work in this industry along the Baltimore waterfront.
What is the shipping industry (or dockwork/deckhand)?
Effia belonged to this ethnic group, which often acted in business opportunities with the British on the coast.
Who are the Fante?
Before being sent to America, Esi swallows this small, shimmering object given to her by her mother to keep it from the guards.
What is a stone (or stone pendant)?
Passed down through Effia’s line, this black jewelry piece reaches the modern era through her descendants.
What is the black stone pendant (or necklace)?
During her visit to Kumasi, Abena sees this sacred object, which contains the soul of the Asante nation.
What is the Golden Stool?
Kojo’s wife, she mysteriously disappears with their unborn child after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Who is Anna?
The historical name for the coastal region of modern-day Ghana where the novel begins.
What is the Gold Coast?
This is the name of the girl Esi befriends while held in the Cape Coast Castle dungeons.
Who is Tansi?
The name of the plantation in the American South where Esi’s daughter, Ness, is brutalized.
What is Hell?
This childhood friend of Quey sends him a letter that rattles him years after their wrestling match.
Who is Cudjo?
The grandchildren of Ness and Sam, list them in alphabetical order.
Who are Agnes, Beulah, Cato, Daly, Erias, Gracie, H?
Abena flees to this type of religious institution in Kumasi after being rejected by her lover.
What is a Christian missionary church?