Characterization in 'Homegoing': Effects of Being a Black Women in a Racist and Patriarchal Society Anonymous 10th Grade

“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is a black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black who is this”.

This Malcolm X quote was sampled in Beyonce’s album, Lemonade which expressed the pain and triumph in black womanhood. Women are burdened with the stereotypical roles and misogyny that society has embedded in people. Specifically, Black women deal with sexism as well as the oppression that comes with being a person of African decent. All of these adversities hindering black women from controlling their own lives limited their opportunities and quality of life. Similarly, in Yaa Gyasi’s, Homegoing, she reveals through characterization and setting changes, that African American women in a patriarchal and racist society are suppressed to a standard of being weak but through their strength they were able to choose the right path in men are of no influence.

Through setting change in Effia's narrative Gyasi reveals the harsh gender restrictions in society that limited women's choice but proved how through enlightenment she was able to choose a different lifestyle. As the slave trade began to pick up speed, Effia's father gives her to a white colonist...