Chapter Summary

Akua is the daughter of Abena and Ohene Nyarko, and she was born in 1879 after her mother fled to the missionaries in Kumasi. She now lives with her husband, Asamoah, and her mother-in-law, Nana Serwah, in Edweso. This is a village in Asante region of today’s Ghana. Akua and Asamoah have two daughters, Abee and Ama Serwah. Akua spends her day performing chores with the other women of the village and taking care of her daughters. 

At the start of the chapter, Akua is suffering from recurring nightmares about a fire. These nightmares were recently triggered by the burning of a white man in the village. The people of the village believe that white people are “wicked,” and so even though the man had done nothing, the color of his skin let the villagers to set him on fire. 

This chapter alternates between flashbacks of Akua’s childhood and the present. After her mother’s death, Akua was found by a fetish man, but she was raised by a Missionary in Kumasi. In these flashbacks, we learn that the Missionary takes special interest in Akua and educates her by teaching her that she is a “sinner” and a “heathen” (183). He asserts that it is his mission to save her and that “the British are here to show them [‘all the people on the black continent’] how to live a good and moral life” (184). Throughout Akua’s “education,” if the Missionary is unsatisfied with her answers, he would discipline her with a switch. Apart from missionary school, Akua’s other influence is the local fetish man, who teaches her about the meaning behind the work Abroni and suggests that perhaps the Christian God is more of a question than a given. 

Later, on one of Asamoah’s business trips, he stops at the missionary school and meets Akua. They talk for two weeks before he proposes to her and asks her to move with him to Edweso. When Akua informs the Missionary about this, he outright refuses the marriage and demands that she “ask God to forgive her sins” (185). After his refusal, the Missionary stops Akua’s classes, until one day when he offers to tell her about her mother. He confesses that he had tried to force Akua’s mother to confess her sins by baptizing her in a river. She refused and in his anger, the missionary held her beneath the water until she struggled no more. In trying to “save” her, he drowns her. He confesses that he burned all of her mother’s things in the forest, and he starts shaking while repenting. The Missionary dies and Akua leaves.  

Five years later, Akua is living with her husband, Asamoah, their two daughters, and her mother-in-law. During the timeline of this chapter, the British exile the historical King Prempeh I. The British Governor also demands the Asantes surrender their Golden Stool to them. This demand is significant because the Asante believe that the Golden Stool holds the spirit of the Asante warrior. In response, during a meeting with the Asante leaders, the Queen Mother urges that the Asante men fight the British to protect the Asante kingdom and the Asante traditions. The Queen Mother also stipulates that if the Asante men do not fight, then the women of the region would. 

Once the men of the village, including Asamoah, leave for battle, Akua’s nightmares increase in intensity; she sees a woman holding two children while standing in a fire. During this time, Akua also realizes that she is pregnant. Akua’s constant nightmares and fitful sleep cause her to be dazed throughout the day. Upon noticing this, her mother-in-law locks Akua in the family hut, isolating her from her two daughters and preventing any exit with a guard. Throughout her period of isolation, Akua drifts in and out of a nightmare-induced stupor, and is unable to distinguish between her reality and her dreams. At the week’s end, Asamoah returns from the war and releases Akua from the hut. We learn at this point that Asamoah has lost his leg during the war effort. 

The war ends with an Asante defeat, but life continues for Akua and Asamoah. While many in the village are ashamed for allowing Akua’s mother-in-law to imprison her, others believe that Akua is insane and begin to call her Crazy Woman. In order to maintain any peace in her life, Akua attempts to keep herself awake, hoping to prevent the nightmares that are haunting her. 

Soon after, Akua’s son, Yaw, is born. Akua believes at this moment that both she and her son will be okay. Akua begins to talk again, recovering from her period of isolation. She goes on walks with her children. After one day, Akua and her children return from a walk and the family eats dinner in the hut. Later that night, Akua starts to dream that she is on a beach with a beautiful blue expanse of sea in front of her. Her dream is soon disturbed by the firewoman, once again holding the two children. When Akua reaches for them, they are also set aflame. Soon, she is holding them, and even though they are on fire, Akua feels at peace in her dream. The firewoman, too, is calm and joyful. There are tears of joy streaming down Akua’s face that are extinguishing the fire in her hands. Like the fire, the two children also disappear.

When Akua wakes up, she is being carried out by a group of men who are chanting. They call her crazy, wicked, and evil. They claim that she should die like the white men she was raised by. Akua is tied up with burns on her body, and she is begging for someone to tell her what has happened. She learns that she set fire to the family’s hut and that her husband only had enough strength to save Akua and her son, but was unable to save their daughters. The villagers remain adamant to take Akua away and burn her, but Asamoah pleads for her life. He pleads that their son needs a mother and that Asamoah, himself, has lost too much in his life. The villagers allow Akua to live. 

Character Analysis 

Akua

Akua is the daughter of Abena and Ohene Nyarko. She is orphaned at a young age and grows up in a missionary school in Kumasi before moving to Edweso after marrying her husband Asamoah. She is fearful of fire and regularly suffers from nightmares of it, taking on the form of a firewoman. These visions appear to embody her inner turmoil. The chapter details a number of struggles Akua endures within herself. Over time, she comes to fear the nightmares and eventually sleep itself as she is afraid of encountering the firewoman of her dreams. In the days after Asamoah returns from the war and Akua recovers from her hut exile.

Akua at times feels unwelcome in Edweso, overhearing the people of Edweso talking about her and calling her “not correct” (179), mirroring her mother-in-law, Nana Serwah’s, lack of acceptance and warmth. Regardless of the behavior she receives, Akua is a devoted family woman. Evident in her commitment to the household tasks of cooking and cleaning, she is a loving wife and mother to her two daughters. Throughout the chapter, she is shown to find most peace when with her immediate family. As Gyasi writes of Asamoah’s return from the war, both husband and wife find solace with each other and their children, when “each hoping the others’ presences would fill the wound their personal war had left behind” (191).

Together with her time at the missionary school and her reception in Edweso, Akua exudes a general sense of displacement, which is exacerbated by the death of her mother. As we learn about her years growing up, she turns to others to find answers, from her mother to the Missionary and the fetish man, until she is married to Asamoah. With his arrival, she feels stable, considering him an answer and the one surety amongst all her questions.

Although Akua suffers, she is displayed as resilient and content with her decisions when they are accompanied with clarity. With Asamoah’s proposal, she is determined to leave the missionary school, willing to oppose the Missionary’s wishes as she challenges him “Will you beat me until I stay?” (189), even while he blocks her path to exit. We see more evidence of her self-assurance when she encounters the white man being burnt and recounts the fetish priest’s words about white men. Comfortable with the explanation given to her, she allows him to be burnt and was “not the only person in the crowd who did nothing to help.” (181). Akua is also shown to find comfort in nature and when she is on her own, goes for walks and welcomes the sounds around, even unpleasant ones. Gyasi writes about how “Akua liked walking to the market. She could finally think…” (179) and “she wanted to take long walks with her children” (193). 

Firewoman

The subject of Akua’s nightmares, seen on two instances to be cradling two children. She is shown to be troubled when without them. In Akua’s final dream, during which she burns her own children, the narrative explains that, “This time, the firewoman was not angry,” (197) implying that the sacrifice of Akua’s two girls to the firewoman brings the latter reunification and thus contentment. 

Abena

Akua’s mother who arrives at the missionary church in 1879 while pregnant with her. She is depicted as headstrong and unyielding as we learn of her refusal to repent for being what the Missionary calls “a sinner and a heathen” (183). Furthermore, she holds on to her culture and refuses to abandon it, as we learn “she wouldn’t repent” (189), as described by the Missionary. Even while she experiences rejection from Ohene Nyarko and turns to the British introduced church, Abena “spit at the British” (189), plainly expressing her distaste for them. Abena is portrayed as an affectionate mother to Akua, shown to “shush her, hold her, kiss her face” (180), whenever Akua started crying at her mother’s disappearance.

Asamoah

White Man “Obroni”

A traveler who stops to rest in Edweso under the shade of a tree. Pointed out by Kofi Poku, he is condemned to death as he is burned by the townspeople.

King Prempeh I

Historical figure, ruler of the Kingdom of Asante. He refuses to allow the British to colonize them and is arrested and exiled. 

Nana Serwah

Asamoah’s mother and Akua’s mother-in-law, Nana Serwah is a boisterous woman set in her beliefs about womanhood. She often shows hostile tendencies towards Akua, telling her off for getting lost in her thoughts and disapproving of her mistakes. She shows little affection to Akua, with fleeting moments such as when “Nana Serwah reached out and touched her hand.” (182). Eventually exiling Akua to her hut and watching over the children. Nana Serwah ultimately does what she believes is best for her family. Rather than holding any grudges against Akua for her struggles, in her own way she tries to help her rest and heal so as not to cause any harm to the children or to face judgment in front of the townspeople. With Akua’s emergence from the hut after her exile and upon seeing her condition, Nana Serwah is shown to be regretful and from then on is protective of Akua. She challenges any townspeople who dare to speak ill of Akua and even chides them if she catches any whisperings. 

Abee

Akua and Asamoah’s four year old daughter. She is eager to partake in the tasks with the other women and by the end of the chapter, is shown to have matured and grown. Abee is depicted as being close to her parents, particularly her father as she rushes to his side numerous times; be it upon his return from the war or meetings or her return from walks with her mother and siblings. Abee dies in the fire set by her mother Akua in her sleep.

Ama Serwah

Akua and Asamoah’s two year old daughter. She is shown to be outgoing and fearless, singing louder than the other women and aspiring to be like Yaa Asentewaa in the future. Like Abee, she is close to her parents. Ama Serwah dies in the fire set by her mother Akua in her sleep.

The Missionary

The man who raised Akua in the missionary school. The Missionary is a strict and determined man who is dedicated to the ways of Christianity and shows little to no tolerance for defiance. Set in his ideas, he believes the Asante need help and guidance, as Gyasi writes “All people on the black continent …must turn to God. Be thankful that the British are here to show you how to live a good and moral life.” (184). He is shown to be distraught when he comes across actions that put him down, as is evident when he is called “obroni” by a child as he “turned as red as a burning sun and walked away” (Gyasi 180). Throughout Akua’s childhood, he instills fear in her and disciplines her in the ways of the missionary school and the church. He carries a long, thin switch which he uses to whip Akua of his own volition and for reasons he deems suitable, such as when he tells her “You are a sinner and a heathen” (183). He is against Akua’s marriage to Asamoah because he is not “a man of God.” (186). The Missionary is responsible for Abena’s death as he drowned her while trying to baptize her against her wishes in a river. 

Kofi Poku

A three year old outspoken child in Edweso who points out the white man and ultimately leads to his burning by gaining the attention of the other townspeople. Later in the chapter, he is the only one to openly call Akua “Crazy Woman” when the others stay silent after her hut exile.

The Fetish Priest

A frequenter of Akua’s during her time at the missionary school, the fetish priest is who she turns to for questions she could not find the answers to with the Missionary. She first meets him when she is upset and crying over her mother’s absence after Abena’s death. He is supposed to have been present when the Europeans first arrived at the Gold Coast and continues Asante religious and cultural practices. The fetish man was called such due to his refusal to accept the Christian ways introduced in Kumasi by the British. 

Fredrick Hodgson

The British governor who visits Kumasi and refuses to allow King Prempeh I’s return from exile. He further angers the Asante by demanding the Golden Stool, which is believed to hold the essence of the Asanate. 

Yaa Asantewaa

The historical Queen Mother of Edweso who encourages the men to fight against the British. She is shown to have warrior traits and displays patriotism as she threatens to fight with the women if the men refuse to do so. After the war, she is exiled to Seychelles and not heard from again.

Akos

One of the women of Edweso who partakes in singing when the men are out fighting in the war.

Mambee

One of the women of Edweso who partakes in singing when the men are out fighting in the war.

Akwasi

A handsome man who Akua saw weekly at the missionary church in Kumasi; he was often the subject of mothers trying to get their daughters married to him.

The Fat Man

Appointed by Nana Serwah to guard the door of Akua’s hut while she is in exile and prevent her from leaving.

Yaw

The newborn son of Akua and Asamoah. He is the only one to survive the fire set by his mother in her sleep.

Antwi Agyei

One of Edweso’s elders who pushes for Akua’s burning after she sets her hut on fire, effectively killing Abee and Ama Serwah.

Doctor

He tends to Yaw after the fire set by Akua.

Major Themes and Symbols 

Religion

The chapter on Akua tackles a major theme of Religion, her interpersonal thoughts often leading her to question everything around her. She often finds herself in need of answering existential questions, she had questions for the Fetish Man, for the missionary, for god. However, her pestering quest for answers is met with only “more questions” (188). She feels that whenever she would turn to god for a remedy for her fears, he would “return her fear to her every night in horrible nightmares” (179). The one person who was able to soothe at least some of her religious troubles just by listening to her was the Fetish Man. He resembles a major source of comfort for Akua, indicated by the thoughtful gesture of keeping “nuts in his pocket” for her ever since he gave her one to pacify her as a child, after the death of her mother (182). Once the fetish man had died, she no longer had a vessel where she could spill her ailments. On top of her unexplainable nightmares of the fire woman , Akua’s relationship with religion was further affected by the missionary’s actions. By forbidding her from going to school with Edweso’s other children, he attempts to instill in her negative attitudes towards her own culture and her religion, replacing it with the Christain faith. Yet, Akua does not succumb to his teachings. Instead, she felt that the missionary was feeding “his hunger” (188), calling her a “sinner and a heathen” and using fear as a weapon to comply with his religion. Nevertheless, Akua remains doubtful of any faith, growing more uncertain as her nightmares worsened. Though she had moments of desperation that led her to prayer. Specifically, during her entrapment by her mother-in-law in her hut, she ended up praying to “every god she had ever known” to release her. In her eyes, she had hoped to achieve two things by praying: for any of the gods to alleviate her nightmares, but also for her loud praying to keep her awake as to escape the fiery woman in her dreams. 

Guilt

Another major theme present in the chapter on Akua is generational guilt, which is amplified as the story progresses by Akua’s fear and paranoia. Akua was raised by the missionary to feel the burden of sinning, as she was repeatedly told that she was her mother’s sin and may very well be the cause of her mother’s death. This guilt intensifies with the appearance of the “firewoman” in Akua’s dreams (194), stronger after the missionary informs her of her mother’s death. The firewoman represents Maame, who lost her two children in the fire. Unbeknown to Akua, the firewoman was the result of a generational curse in her family line that she had no control over. In fact, she felt out of control of her own thoughts, as she often “woke up screaming” (180) from the unspoken threat that the firewoman posed. Additionally, she had a strong feeling of guilt over the white man’s burning, she expressed this to her husband: “You and the rest of the leaders should not have burned that white man” (180). Perhaps, she subconsciously feared that burning or killing may cause yet another generational curse that can follow her family line. Akua’s growing fear intensified after her husband left for war, as he was the only “tangible”  person she felt grounded around (188). 

Sound

Sound as a motif recurs in this chapter, which depicts just how loud and chaotic Akua’s inner mind and thoughts were. Her “growing ear” buzzed with every movement, almost anticipating action before it even occurred (180). Specifically, a repeating motif of crying was connected to sound. The missionary’s crying after confessing to Akua about her mother’s death; “It was not the sight of tears that caught Akua’s attention so much as the sound” (191). Sound became a visualiser to her, perhaps more clearly than her sight, especially when she started confusing the firewoman’s existence between dream and reality. At the end, she could not escape the sonorous cries of the children, as their “soundless” cries morphed to smoke that she could see (199). However, the lack of sound brought her peace as well as the calminf of the fireman's anger. 

Fire

The symbol of fire was always present, threatening and culminating in burning people. The firewoman Akua dreams of was a repercussion of the generational curse in the beginning of the book. It is instigated by the burning of the white man and this leads her to face inner remorse of doing “nothing to help” the white man’s calls (183), which were only projected in her nightmares. The dreams were depicted in terms of outrageous rage and anger, inferring that Akua’s mind and its depiction of the firewoman with her children have the same destructive effect as fire.  

Water

Water for the Missionary is supposed to symbolize purification, though it is what kills her. Water also seems to propose the solution to Akua’s problems; for instance, she thought of saving herself from her nightmares by throwing water at the firewoman to “put her out of her dreams” (189). Water is connected to many major themes in the novel as a whole, reflected especially with Akua as she has never seen the ocean herself, yet understands it to be both a source of life and death; water can save her life from the firewoman, but ended her mother’s life. 

“Palm oil” and “Yams”

“Palm oil” and “Yams” were both prominent food symbols present in this chapter and throughout the novel, especially connecting  Akua’s life to that of her parents. The fire that causes the “sizzling” of the oil would often be the object of her obsession, as she often focuses on any source of fire around her. Perhaps, she was unable to separate reality from her dreams, as she could not escape thinking about the firewoman by merely looking at the ignited fire placed underneath the pots with the sizzling oil. The yams are repeated symbolically; they appear in the chapter on Abena and James as their source of income and life by extension. However, their chapters showed the absence of yams as being another repercussion of the generational curse set upon their family. Akua describes her husband's arms to be “thick as yams”, expressing the security of their presence to her (188). Meaning that, yams represented stability, a secured source of sustenance to Akua. 

Death and Destruction

Death and destruction are motifs that are displayed as threats to life, first when Akua felt her kids were threatened, and second, when she endangered her own life by breaking the barrier between her and the firewoman in the end. Even when it instilled in her body leading to sleep, and entering the dream, it drove her to insanity in the end, not even being able to grasp what was happening around her.

Key Quotations

When she entered the dreamland she was on the same beach. She had been there only once, with the missionaries from the school. They had wanted to start a new school in a nearby village but found the townspeople unwelcoming. Akua had been mesmerized by the color of the water. It was a color she had never had a word for because nothing like it appeared in her world. No tree green, no sky blue, no stone or yam or clay could capture it. In dreamland, Akua walked to the edge of the rolling ocean. She dipped her toe into water so cool she felt she could taste it, like a breeze hitting the back of the throat. Then the breeze turned hot as the ocean caught fire. The breeze from the back of Akua’s throat began to swirl, round and round, gathering speed until it could no longer be contained within Akua’s mouth, and so she shot it out. And the spit-out breeze began to move the fiery ocean, dipping down into the depths to collect itself until spiraling wind and fiery ocean became the woman that Akua now felt she knew so well. This time, the firewoman was not angry. She beckoned Akua out onto the ocean, and, though afraid, Akua took her first step. Her feet burned. When she lifted one up she could smell her own flesh wafting from the bottom. Still, she moved, following the firewoman until she led her to a place that looked like Akua’s own hut. Now in the firewoman’s arms were the two fire children that she had held the first time Akua dreamed of her. They were locked into either arm, head resting on either breast. Their cries were soundless, but Akua could see the sound, floating out of their mouths like puffs of smoke from the fetish man’s favored pipe. Akua had the urge to hold them, and she reached out her hands to them. Her hands caught fire, but she touched them still. Soon she cradled them with her own burning hands, playing with the braided ropes of fire that made up their hair, their coal-black lips. She felt calm, happy even, that the firewoman had found her children again at last. And as she held them, the firewoman did not protest. She did not try to snatch them away. Instead, she watched, crying from joy. And her tears were the color of the ocean water in Fanteland, that not-green, not-blue color that Akua remembered from her youth. The color began to gather. Blue and more blue. Green and more green. Until the torrent of tears began to put out the fire in Akua’s hands. Until the children began to disappear. (180)

This passage highlights how Akua is still connected to her ancestors. The firewoman that lost her two babies could be Maame, their great ancestor, and her two babies are Effia and Esi. The dreams Akua have show that even if a person does know his or her ancestors, they are still connected to them and could share the same fate as them. As mentioned earlier, Maame lost both her daughters in the fire, the fire she started in the Fante village and got separated from Effia, and the fire in the Asante village that separated her from Esi. Similarly, Akua lost both her daughters in the fire that she started in her hut, thus, sharing the same fate as her great-great-great grandmother Maame. The smell of flesh Akua smelled in dreamland was the smell of her skin burning and possibly the smell of her daughters' flesh burning as well. The fire babies Akua was holding in dreamland were possibly Effia and Esi, but in the real world they were possibly her burning daughters, the fire ropes were the hair of her daughters caught on fire, and so were the black lips. 

In the passage, there are intensive descriptions. First, the description is of the ocean and watercolor. The reason Akua describe the color of the water as something she has never seen before is that she, contrary to her ancestors from Effia’s lineage, has never seen the ocean before. Moreover, another description of the water provided was the temperature of the water, as it was cool,but then, when Effia tipped her toe in it, it became burning hot. This could be a reference to Abena’s death, Akua’s mother. Water was also described in the firewoman’s tears, the tears that soothed her and put out the fire of her wrath for being separated from her daughters. After she found her daughters, she calmed down and became at peace.

The passage could also be a message that even if, during a person’s course of life, they are separated from their family, they will still be reunited in the spirit world. The dreams Akua has could be interpreted as Maame’s spirit trying to search for her daughters. After some time, both of her daughters die, and thus she was able to reunite with them in the spirit world. Even if the individual were scattered in the real world and died far from home, their spirits would still try to go back home and reunite with their families. Homegoing is an aim for both the living in the real world and the spirits of those who died far from home, far from their families. 

Asamoah clicked his tongue. He had lived in Edweso his whole life. On his cheek he bore the mark of the Asante, and the nation was his pride. (163)

The Asante had a tradition of creating patterns of scars and marks on their faces that are exclusive to them. These scars were linked to their identity as Asante and belonging to their Asante empire. In other words, the marks gave a sense of cultural pride. Thus, this passage discusses the theme of home and having a place to belong. It also highlights the importance of visual markers. The marks the Asantes had on their faces were a visual marker for their identity and belonging to a place common to all the mark holders. On a side note, although Akua is not aware of it, her great-grandmother, Nana Yaa, had Asante scars on her face as well. 

They called him a fetish man because he was, because he had not given up praying to the ancestors or dancing or collecting plants and rocks and bones and blood with which to make his fetish offerings. (165)

The importance of this quotation is highlighted by the name, Fetish man, who called him this name, and why was he called this name. The name “fetish man” was given by the Christian missionaries to the religious priest of the village. The religious priest of the village refused to abandon his ancestors' religion and replace it with that of the British. By the Christian missionaries calling the village’s priest a fetish man, they are labeling the religion that does not align with theirs a label with negative connotations, a fetish. Calling the priest a fetish man because he followed a religion that involved material objects and practices different from those in the British religion highlighted the biased, prejudiced, and racist notion that the missionaries had against beliefs different than theirs.  

Akua was not the only person in the crowd who understood English. She was not the only person in the crowd who did nothing to help. (166)

This quotation discusses the theme of complicity. Complicity is a major theme in the novel, as several tribes were complicit in slavery along with the British. In this passage, all the individuals that understood what the man was saying were complicit in his burning. Whether they were watching the man burn, tying him up the tree, or starting the fire, they all were complicit to the white man’s burning as they all understood what he was saying and knew he was innocent but did nothing, they just stood aside and watched him burn. Therefore, they all took part in the crime.

She had just learned to write her English name, Deborah, that very morning. It was the longest name of any of the children in the class, and Akua had worked very hard to write it. (167)

This quotation displays how in the missionary school, Akua was trying hard to please her teachers. The passage also highlights how the missionaries actively tired to erase her identity by giving her a British name. In the context of the chapter, this is important because it shows that though she is good at being British, the efforts to erase her identity ultimately fail. 

She looked at the Missionary, but she didn’t know how to describe the look he returned to her. After he told her to stand up and bend over, after he lashed her five times and commanded her to repent her sins and repeat “God bless the queen,” after she was permitted to leave, after she finally threw the fear up, the only word that popped into her head was “hungry.” The Missionary looked hungry, like if he could, he would devour her.” (168)

This quotation highlights how the missionaries in Africa were trying to violently convert people into Christianity. The metaphor of consumption highlights an insatiable desire for violence that is disguised by religion. In a sense, the missionaries were trying to consume the locals' identity, and they were doing it in Africa in the same way it was done in the Americas to the enslaved. The quotation is thus also reminiscent of the whipping that Esi received in Alabama, prompting her to shout, My Goodness! 

Big questions like, if God was so big, so powerful, why did he need the white man to bring him to them? Why could he not tell them himself, make his presence known as he had in the days written about in the Book, with bush fires and dead men walking? Why had her mother run to these missionaries, these white people, out of all people? Why did she have no family? No friends? (170)

This quotation highlights an important moment in Akua’s development. Here, Akua is questioning everything she was brought up to believe in the missionary school. Because Akua was born and raised in a missionary school, the missionaries were trying to shape her thoughts, mind, and identity from a very young age. However,  her experiences contradicted all the teachings, which led her to question and wonder about what she was taught throughout the entire course of her life.

After you were born, I took her to the water to be baptized. She didn’t want to go, but I—I forced her. She thrashed as I carried her through the forest, to the river. She thrashed as I lowered her down into the water. She thrashed and thrashed and thrashed, and then she was still.’ The Missionary lifted his head and looked at her finally. ‘I only wanted her to repent. I—I only wanted her to repent… (173)

This quotation is told by the missionary to Akua when he was informing her about her mother and how she died. The quotation shows the violence with which the missionaries tried to convert the locals. By forcing her to be baptized and to repent her sins, he is imposing a morality on her that she does not believe in. Abena knows that Akua is not a sin, and refuses the Missionary’s judgment. He thus kills her.  The passage also mentions of water, which once again links the experiences of the Ashantis with those who were enslaved and sent off to the New World. Like the enslaved who lie at the bottom of the ocean, Abena here dies by water at the hands of the English. It is noteworthy to point out that Akua and Abena come from Effia’s lineage, which is associated with fire. Hence, by the missionary drowning Abena that came from the fire line in the water, the chapter draws a link with Esi’s line.

Historical Context & Additional Resources

War of the Golden Stool

According to BlackPast.org, the Golden Stool is a symbol of power for the Ashanti Kingdom. It is believed that the golden stool was dropped from the sky and landed at the feet of Osei Tutu I, the first Asatehene. It is also believed that the Golden Stool holds the soul of the Ashanti nation. The Stool is fully made of gold; it stands 18 inches high, 24 inches long, and 12 inches wide. It is considered to be sacred and so no one is allowed to sit on it and it cannot touch the ground. A ruler can only be considered legitimate when they have the Golden Stool. Even the new Ashante kings cannot sit on the stool. They are lowered and raised over the stool.

In the 19th century, there were serious clashes began between the Ashanti and the British Empire over the Golden Stool. They fought 3 Anglo-Ashanti Wars between 1824 and 1874, with the British and its allies (other Africans) gaining more territory. In the 4th war, the British and its allies (other Africans and Indians) defeated the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh – the 13th King of the Ashanti Empire. He was captured and exiled to the Seychelles Islands. The 5th and final war (1900) was a rebellion led by Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother and Gate Keeper of the Golden Stool. This war broke out because the British Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, demanded the Stool. Yaa Asantewaa called the rebellion the Word of the Golden Stool, which started on March 28,1900. The war had a higher death rate than the other four wars combined, with over 2,000 Ashanti and 1,000 British and allied deaths, and it ended after 6 months with the defeat of the Ashanti. Due to the defeat, Yaa Asantewaa was captured in 1901 and exiled to the Seychelles, where she died in 1921. Even with the British victory, though, they were unable to capture the Golden Stool, which was hidden by the Ashanti.

Missionaries in the 19th Century

The spread of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing ideology of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African people (96). The sudden inspiration for the missionary movement was mostly because of the anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience Europeans had which made them have an interest in Africa. The Europeans thought that it was the Christian responsibility to regenerate African people (96). The missionary work initially had little success, though, especially with the lack of interest from the African people. In the coastal territories that were filled with European trading communities, Christianity had a little more success.

Europeans first arrived on the West African Coast in the late 15th century for the purpose of slave trade rather than missionary work, and  it was not until the 19th century that there was a systematic effort by the Christian churches of Europe. The missionary work in West Africa not only introduced a new religious faith but also started the foundation of the western style of education (96).

In the late 18th century, a group of missionaries in Ghana sent three African youths to England for training as evangelists. On their return back as ordained priests, they helped  spread the missionary work around Cape Coast and the neighboring area (98).

History of the Term “Obroni”

The term obroni, or oburoni, originates from the Akan language meaning “lagoon person” (buro, lagoon; -ni, suffix for person) (228). It gave the connotation of “foreigner” or “stranger” from beyond the land of Akan world. Later, the word got a different meaning, “European” or “white man.” However, the word also stems from the Akan phrase of “abro nipa” which means “wicked man” (para 1). This is because of the torture and chaos that the Europeans caused to the Akan people. Today, the term Ouroni is also used for non-Ghanaian people born in Ghana but have a lighter complexion (228). The term is also used for other Black people – particularly those from the US. 

Work Cited