Plot
Homegoing follows the descendants of two half-sisters through multiple generations on these two continents.
What are Africa and North America?
This symbol represents legacy, fate, and the inability to escape the past, as most of Effia's descendants are fearful of it.
What is fire?
This character is the youngest son of Kojo Freeman, and is sent to work in a coal mine for a crime he did not commit.
This character is the granddaughter of Crazy Woman (aka Akua).
Who is Marjorie?
This theme is reflected in each character's story, and shows how trauma can be passed down through the years.
What is generational trauma?
This woman helps Ness and Sam attempt to escape "Hell," and after the two of them are recaptured, brings their son Kojo to Baltimore.
Both Effia and Esi possess this object, but only Effia's descendants pass it down through generations. It symbolizes heritage and identity.
What is the stone pendant?
This character is the half sister of Effia, though neither of them ever find out about each other.
Who is Esi?
This woman was meant to marry her village's chief, but ends up married to a British governor.
Who is Effia?
Through the mistreatment of the female characters in Homegoing, the staggering power dynamics between men and women are highlighted in this theme.
What is gender inquality?
Sonny becomes involved in activism during this major political movement to achieve racial equality in the U.S.
What is the Civil Rights Movement?
The dungeons in this building symbolize the true horrors of the Atlantic Slave Trade and its lasting effects on future generations.
What is the Cape Coast Castle?
This character is a descendant of Esi's lineage who struggles with a heroin addiction in Harlem.
Who is Sonny?
Effia's son, this character is sent to England for school and constantly struggles with his blended identity as both African and European.
This theme is representative of each character's struggle to define themselves and where they belong.
What is identity/belonging?
Willie leaves the South to pursue her singing career in this city, but only finds racism and struggle there.
These physical symbols are visual reminders of the traumas these characters have faced as a consequence of colonization and slavery.
What are scars?
This character is the son of Quey who decides to reject his father's strong European influence and embrace his Asante heritage instead.
Who is James Richard Collins?
This woman, nicknamed Crazy Woman, is plagued by visions of a "Fire Woman," and burns her home down during a nightmare, killing her daughters and scarring her son.
Who is Akua?
The differences in Effia and Esi's descendants show how this broad system shaped Africa and America from the 18th century to the present.
This traumatic event in U.S. history left Kojo to raise his children alone after his wife was taken, despite being a free woman.
What is the Fugitive Slave Act?
This symbol represents both separation and connection between family, especially when Marjorie and Marcus reunite at the ocean.
What is water?
This modern-day Stanford student is studying the African diaspora, leading him to reconnect with his African roots.
Who is Marcus?
This character sacrifices her freedom from a plantation she calls "Hell" to save her son from the same fate.
Who is Ness?
What is displacement?