Where is home in Homegoing?

Homegoing was definitely one of my favorite reads from this semester. I loved how the book tells the narrative of a family that was affected in two very different ways because of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. One side of the family was forced to emigrate to the United States from their homes on Africa’s Gold Coast. Esi was the first relative to become enslaved, and while her descendants were able to eventually escape slavery, it took many long and grueling years. The other side was able to stay in Africa, but only because Effia married James Collins, a White man, and had a child with him. She could have easily been in the same situation as her sister Esi. It baffles me that only a few floorboards separated these two sisters, who would never meet each other and end up leading very different lives.

Throughout the novel we see the evolution of the two sides of the family; children are born, people get married, and people die. Both sides struggle for different reasons despite one being free and the other enslaved. Esi’s side struggles with commodification, violence, racism, and discrimination in the United States. Effia’s side struggles with mixed-race identity, conflicting morals, and ostracization. Because of the resilience the two sides of the family demonstrate throughout the years captured in this novel, the final two descendants are able attend college, a major accomplishment for where they have come from.

The title is the most important part of a book, because it captures the readers’ attention and creates a first impression about the ensuing text. After finishing Homegoing, I thought about why Yaa Gyasi chose this title for her book. Where is home? When I think of “home”, I think of a place where people love you, where you have roots, and where you can always return.

Until we reach the end of the story, the majority of all characters are living pretty transient lives. Marjorie and Marcus seem to have the most stability of all of their parents or ancestors. I suppose that when Marjorie and Marcus return to Ghana, the home of their ancestors, it is a homegoing. For Marjorie who had visited her grandmother there many times, Ghana was familiar and a place she cherished. People welcomed her, despite her having not returned for 14 years. Marcus’ side of the family on the other hand has been far removed from Ghana, and I wonder if he will be able to trace his roots back to Maame, Big Man Asare, and Esi. Though he feels a connection to Ghana while visiting the castle, I wonder if he will ever be able to see it as a “home”. Personally, our family does not know when our first ancestor came to the United States, and we may never know. I do not think of Africa as home per se, but rather a place where we came from at some point in time.

WC: 492