Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: A Study Guide Main Menu About this Reading Guide Introduction to Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi Family Tree Timeline Part One Part Two Analysis of Some Major Themes and Images

Marcus

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Chapter Summary

The last chapter of the novel is about Marcus, who is Carson “Sonny” Clifton and Amani Zulema’s son. Marcus is a student getting his Ph.D. in sociology at Stanford University. Since Marcus is studying at Stanford, he hasn’t seen his parents in a long time, but he remembers all the stories his father told him about his family history and heritage. He researches history since he wanted to write a book that discusses systematic oppression in America, but feels very overwhelmed about his family’s personal relationship to this historical oppression.  Marcus meets Marjorie, and the two of them become friends as they learn that they have a similar family origin. The chapter starts by introducing Marcus’ fear of water however, it ends with Marcus and Marjorie swimming in water - indicating that he could overcome his fear.
The chapter begins with the idea of Marcus being afraid of water and how uncomfortable it made him feel. This was because his father always told him stories about the various issues their family had faced in history as well as the racial injustice in America. There were many stories that Sonny had told Marcus that were not in his traditional history books, but when Marcus was in college, he started researching more about the stories his father told him and found that they were true stories about his family as well as his heritage.
Diante was Marcus’ friend in college and he was someone who reminded him of home. Diante was the one who made Marcus go to different events and parties in college - one being the party hosted by a lesbian couple that Diante knew.
Marcus hadn’t seen his parents in a very long time and since he missed Harlem, he used to call them every week on a Sunday afternoon because that was the time his entire family would be in Ma Willie’s house after church. He has vivid memories of his grandmother’s voice since it made him feel strong feelings of hope, love and faith. There were certain moments where Marcus hoped his family would be together in different situations.
Marcus is getting his Ph.D. in sociology at Stanford University. At college, he tries to research a lot about his family heritage. He wanted to focus on Great Grandpa H. and his life but he realised that his family heritage is too vast and he would have to focus on Grandma Willie and his father, along with other historical events such as the great migration. The entire family history made Marcus feel very overwhelmed and frustrated at times.
Marcus meets Marjorie at a party and feels an instant sense of comfort from her presence. Both of them found comfort in opening up about their family heritage as well as their fears. Marcus told Marjorie that he was afraid of water, while Marjorie revealed to him that she was afraid of fire. They spent a lot of time together trying to learn more about their family heritage by finding people who would know Marcus’s great-grandpa H, as well as doing research on Pratt City. The both of them also visit Ghana together. Marcus learnt a lot about Ghana from Marjorie since she showed him the Cape Coast Castle and also taught him words in Fante. During their visit to the Castle was where both of them were able to overcome their fear of fire and water, at the place where both elements came together.

Character Analysis 

Marcus Clifton

     Marcus Clifton is the son of Sonny Clifton and Amani Zulema, Esi’s Descendant. Moreover, Marcus’ dislike of water serves as a reminder complex history behind his lineage as slaves were shipped across the ocean to reach North America. This is significant because it showcases the extent of generational trauma as a consequence of slavery in the United States. An instance of this generational trauma occurs as he visits Cape Coast’s dungeon and immediately feels unwell as it is the same dungeon that his ancestor, Esi, was once kept in unwillingly as a slave. Furthermore, his instant connection with Marjorie, although she was born in Ghana, suggests that he relates to her on many different levels, despite the fact that he does not know of their shared ancestors. This complexity suggests that Marcus’ character connects to the novel since it showcases the relevance of the past on modern situations and experiences related to the descendants of slaves.

Marjorie Agyekum

     Marjorie Agyekum is the daughter of Yaw Agyekum and Esther Amoah, Effia Otcher's Descendant. Moreover, Marjorie’s fear of fire in the chapter on Marcus implies that she also experiences generational trauma as a descendant of Effia. For instance, she is cautious of the fire while visiting Ghana with Marcus, but still faces her fear. Although her ancestors participate in the slave trade and benefit from it, she makes peace with it by acknowledging it just like Akua, her grandmother, did. Her acknowledgment of her family’s wrongdoings is significant because it showcases the possibility of progress and learning from the mistakes of others to prevent them from happening again.

Sonny 

     In the chapter on Marcus, Sonny, or Carson, is Marcus’ father. He is the son of Willie and Robert. He protests against segregation and is addicted to heroin. He eventually attempts to stay sober after learning more about Robert, his father. Sonny is highly relevant in the novel since his character reveals the effects of segregation, poverty, and racism in the United States.

Amani 

     Amani, or Marcus' mother, is the jazz singer that introduces Sonny to drugs. 

Ma Willie

     Ma Willie is Marcus’ paternal grandmother. She is one of the first descendants of Esi to receive joyous, free childhood.

Diante

     Diante is Marcus’ close friend who wants to search for a woman at the museum.

Mrs. MacDonald

     Mrs. MacDonald is Marcus’ teacher.

LaTavia

     LaTavia is the girl that Marcus holds hands with.

Grandpa H

     Grandpa H is Marcus’ grandfather who was falsely arrested for staring at a white woman. Grandpa H is important in the chapter on Marcus because he serves as a reminder of the mass incarceration and slave labor of African Americans after the abolishment of slavery.

Aunt Josephine

     Aunt Josephine is Marcus’ paternal aunt and Ma Willie’s daughter. She lives with Ma Willie and often criticizes her brother, Sonny.

Major Themes, Symbols, Motifs, and their Analysis

Family: Family is the most important theme in this chapter out of several others. Marcus values his family a lot and takes pleasure in their company. He has spent every Sunday at his grandmother's home ever since he was a young child. Sonny, his father, was the person he looked up to and believed to be the smartest person alive. Marcus is repeatedly reminded what family is throughout the chapter, and when he met Marjorie, he felt as though he had found his place. He had the same emotion when his mother kidnapped him and his father discovered him. Marjorie made him feel protected and safe. Marcus would frequently picture a larger family, and occasionally he would picture them living in huts. One of the key motives for his research was his interest in his family's history; he appreciates the heritage and history of his family. Marcus is keen to use his degree and the information gained at the university to understand more about his ancestry.
Identity: Identity was prevalent in this chapter with both characters, Marcus and Marjorie. Marcus acquired a fear of the ocean as a result of Sonny's statement that black men would be sent abroad on slave ships. Marcus did not experience these things, yet he nonetheless became afraid of the sea. For the ensuing years of his life, Marcus struggled with this fear. Whenever there is a pool party, he pretends to be sunbathing while avoiding beaches. Marcus pictured himself drowning and having trouble breathing due to the water. Whenever he would take a shower, he would always lower his head to avoid water. Marcus is not the only one that struggles with his ancestor’s past, Marjorie is also afraid of fire because of her ancestor’s trauma with fire. All of their fears ultimately date back to their ancestors.
Heritage: Heritage was a frequently discussed theme in this chapter. Marcus did not know why exactly he was studying, but he knew he was highly interested in learning about his family’s heritage. He would often hear stories about his ancestors from Ma Willie or Sonny, but he never really believed in them until he went to university and learned about them. Each character shows their appreciation for their heritage in different ways. For example, Marcus shows his interest through knowledge and learning more about his heritage. While another character, Marjorie, shows appreciation by learning the language and communicating with people from the same heritage. These characters are proud of their heritage and embrace it throughout the chapter. When Marcus and Marjorie went to Edweso, they faced their fears in the homeland. 
Racism: Racism is a theme that is ongoing in the book, in this chapter, Marcus faces racism as a child. When Marcus was on a school trip and he lost his group, a white man approached him but Marcus was so scared of him. Racism is a topic embedded in a child at a young age, they are always taught to be cautious. When the old man was talking to him, Marcus kept on imagining that the old man is gonna hit him. Although he was young, he was aware of serious topics like racism. Marcus always had to control his frustration so he does not get judged or harmed by others.  
Overcoming: Unlike other chapters, this chapter contained different forms of overcoming. Marcus was the first person in his family to go to a prestigious university like Stanford, he overcame his family’s road with education. His eagerness to learn about his heritage and past motivated him to keep on studying. Overcoming is mostly visible when Marcus and Marjorie overcome their fears at the end by going near the ocean and the fire next to it. Both characters overcame their family's fears that haunted them for decades. 
Major Symbols

black stone: The black stone is a recurring generational symbol, from Effia to Marjorie, It is passed down for generations. It symbolizes connection, when Maame gives each of her daughters a black stone, she connects them to their heritage. When both sisters separate, the connection is broken and both of them suffer different traumas. Decades later, Marjorie reconnects both her and Marcus’s families when she gives him the pendant, she somehow reconciles both sisters again and unified her and Marcus's families. Marjorie and Marcus were connected through the stone on their own land, at the beach, which contrasts between past and present.

Major Motifs:
Fire: Fire is a motif in the book that represents the family’s trauma and sufferings over the years. The fire haunts the family throughout the decades, reminding the characters of their ancestor’s sins. Since the family’s ancestors participated in the slave trade, the family line suffers because of the actions. Daughter of Yaw, Marjorie was frightful of fire, her grandmother used to say that the family was born from a great fire. Marjorie never really understood what that meant but her emotions toward fire turned into fear. The idea of Marjorie being afraid of fire without knowing why relates back to the generational trauma her family suffers.  
Water: Similarly, Marcus’s fear was also related to history. He grew fearful of water when his father, Sonny told him about the slave trades overseas through ships. Water symbolizes the slaves suffering from slave trading and racism, they would get kidnapped and brutally treated. Marcus is also an example of generational trauma, even though he did not go through what his ancestors went through, he still developed a fear of certain things, in this case, water. His feeling toward water did not change until the end when he overcame his fear with Marjorie. 
 

 

Key Quotations

“He got into the blue-tiled shower and let the water beat over his head, never lifting his face up toward it, still scared of drowning. “ (261)

This passage shows how Marcus’s fear of water is extreme. Although he is taking a shower and he cannot drown from it, he still avoids any contact with water towards his face. The trauma suffered by his ancestors still haunts him even though he did not experience it.

“And if he slammed the book down, then everyone in the room would stare and all they would see would be his skin and his anger, and they’d think they knew something about him, and it would be the same something that had justified putting his great-grandpa H in prison, only it would be different too, less obvious than it once was. “ (264)

This passage shows how Marcus’s awareness of his heritage projects into his thoughts.  He was so frustrated that he was afraid that if he reacted in any shape or form, people would make racist stereotypical assumptions about him.

“He couldn’t remember exactly when the need for studying and knowing his family more intimately had struck him.”(264)

This passage shows how Marcus is always motivated by his heritage, he is eager to learn about his ancestors. He wants to know about his ancestor’s sufferings from racism and slavery.

“Not the being lost, but the being found. It was the same feeling he got whenever he saw Marjorie. Like she had, somehow, found him. “ (267)

This passage illustrates how Marcus feels love. When his father found him after his mother took him, he felt safe and found. Once he met Marjorie, he felt the same way of love and protection. 

“the Castle was a glowing white. Powder white, like the entire thing had been scrubbed down to gleaming, cleansed of any stains. Marcus wondered who made it shine like that, and why. When they entered, things started to look dingier. The dirty skeleton of a long-past shame that held the place together began to show itself in blackening concrete, rusty-hinged doors. “ (271)

This passage shows how badly the people suffered in these castles. The outside looked proper, but the inside was a reminder of the slavery that happened back then. The outside was taken care of so it could appeal to the tourists while the inside was the opposite. Marcus felt nauseated once he entered and had to live. The trauma his ancestors had suffered gleamed onto him. 

“Here,” Marjorie said. “Have it.” She lifted the stone from her neck, and placed it around Marcus’s. “Welcome home.” (273)

This passage shows how the interaction between Marjorie and Marcus reconciled both of their families even though they do not know what went on between them. Marjorie’s necklace symbolizes their unification of them and building of bridges between both families.  

“Marcus doesn’t care for water; the ocean had always nauseated him. His father, Sonny, had told him that black people didn’t like water because they were brought over on slave ships.” (284)

This quotation is the first sentence as the chapter opens. It relates to the key theme of identity and slavery which is prevalent in this chapter since it shows how although Marcus did not personally experience going into slave ships, the fact that he feels the discomfort of it shows how he has inherited his family's heritage. This quote also features the effects that slavery had on individuals who were facing it.

“In that room, with his family, he would sometimes imagine a different room, a fuller family. He would imagine so hard that at times he thought he could see them. Sometimes in a hut in Africa, a patriarch holding a machete; sometimes outside in a forest of palm trees, a crowd watching a young woman carrying a bucket on her head; sometimes in a cramped apartment with too many kids, or a small, failing farm, around a burning tree or in a classroom. He would see these things while his grandmother prayed and sang, prayed and sang, and he would want so badly for all the people he made up in his head to be there in that room, with him.” (290)

This passage relates to the theme of identity as well as family since it is describing the image that Marcus would have liked to see of his family. The theme of heritage is significant in this quote with the image of a forest of palm trees and a woman carrying a bucket on her head which links to the culture in Ghana. The theme of family is prevalent throughout since it is something that Marcus had longed for, and his grandmother's song was what evoked these images in his mind. There is the image of fire in this quote, where it states “around a burning tree” which could be a link to Effia and the significance of fire when she was born and the pain and suffering that her descendants would have to face. Although Marcus himself comes from Esi’s side of the family, the fire could be a link to Effia’s side.

“I hate the beach,” Marcus said. At first Marjorie smiled at him, like she was going to start laughing, but then she stopped, and her eyes turned serious. “Are you scared of it?” she asked. She let her finger drift slowly from the edge of the map down to the wall. She rested her hand against the black stone necklace she wore every day. “Yeah, I guess I am,” Marcus said. He had never told anyone before. “My grandmother said she could hear the people who were stuck on the ocean floor talking to her. Our ancestors. She was kind of crazy.” “That don’t sound crazy to me. Shit, everybody in my grandma’s church caught a spirit at one point or another. Just because somebody sees or hears or feels something other folks can’t, doesn’t mean they’re crazy. My grandma used to say, ‘A blind man don’t call us crazy for seeing.’ ” Now Marjorie gave him a real smile. “You want to know what I’m scared of?” she asked, and he nodded. He had learned not to be surprised by how forthcoming she was. How she never gave in to small talk, just dove right into deep waters. “Fire,” she said. (293-294)

In this passage the key idea of fire and water is explored. Marcus’s fear is water, while Marjorie’s fear is fire, however, when they come together they are able to overcome it. It also explains how both of them got their fears due to their family heritage and stories that their elders have told them. Marjorie’s father had an incident with fire which was what evoked her fear, while Marcus’s fear was evoked by the stories his father told him. The image of fire could connote to the slave trade that her family had faced. The image of water could connote to the idea of family being separated since it was in the slave ships in which the black men were shipped to be slaves. The key theme of heritage and identity is explored in this passage because of the influence that history had on both sides of the family Effia’s and Esi’s.

"How could he explain to Marjorie that he wasn’t supposed to be here? Alive. Free. That the fact that he had been born, that he wasn’t in a jail cell somewhere, was not by dint of his pulling himself up by the bootstraps, not by hard work or belief in the American Dream, but by mere chance."

This quotation links to the theme of identity, history of slavery and family since it explored the idea of how Marcus feels about the fact that although his family faced many issues of systemic oppression and racism, he is still able to live a life that has more freedom than what his family members had lived through in the past.

Historical Context & Additional Resources

 

The Marcus chapter is the last chapter of the novel which is based in present time, so there is not a lot of historical context that can be mentioned. However, there are some historical events that are mentioned in the chapter which Sonny had mentioned to Marcus, as well as some events that Marcus was studying for his course. These include the Great Migration, convict-lease system, the Ghana slave system and the prison labour complex. 

In a journal article written by Tolnay, it states that the Great migration refers to an important part of the African American history in which many individuals were moved from the South to the Northern cities in America.  At that time, the south of the United States was very north was urban. Due to the industrial age, workers were needed in factories. They were not treated properly or paid fairly as industrial workers and many of them also faced racial prejudices.  

The Great Migration began as a result of racial inequality in the south during the civil war and reconstruction era of the 1870s, and Jim Crow segregationist policies were quickly adopted by everyone. The Jim Crow laws were a set of state and local statutes that made racial segregation legal (History.com Editors).

 

Works Cited

History.com Editors. “The Great Migration.” HISTORY, 30 Aug. 2022, www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration.
Tolnay, Stewart E. “The African American ‘Great Migration’ and Beyond.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 29, no. 1, Annual Reviews, Aug. 2003, pp. 209–32. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100009.

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