Essay Sample on Homegoing Book: The Importance of Water and Boat

“The first time he saw the ocean up close, it had made his stomach turn, all that space, that endless blue, reaching farther than an eye could hold.” (Gyasi, 284). Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, is a book about the bloodlines of two sisters. The story continues by showing the reader the point of view from each bloodline. One of the sister’s bloodlines were slavers, while the other bloodline became slaves. However, both bloodlines were heavily influenced by slavery even after the slave trade ended. Throughout Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi uses water and boat to represent the effects of slavery and racism, showing that even after many generations later, people are still heavily affected by the slave trade. 

Water is normally associated with freedom, openness, and joy.  But Esi’s first encounter was the opposite. She was just taken out of the castle, where she was held captive, to be put on a slave boat bound for America.  “The scent of ocean water hit her nose. The taste of salt clung to her throat.” (Gyasi, 49).  The word “hit” vividly portrayed pains Esi felt, and also portraits the beatings that the slaves have to endure.  The word “clung” also evokes the feeling of helplessness, much like how the slave’s dreadful fate “clung” to them, and they can’t ever free themselves from it. She felt “A strange burn, like nothing she had ever felt before, like cool fire, the scratch of salty wind” (Gyasi, 44). The “burn” and “scratch” are premonitions of the torture she has to endure for the rest of her life as a slave. Right after her first encounter with the ocean, she was sent to the dungeons, abused and tortured, like every black slave on the boat.  Gyasi uses the ocean water to symbolize the beginning of Esi’s bloodline’s dark experience with the slave trade. 

Gyasi continues to use water and boats to symbolize the struggle of the black people against the systematic oppression in the chapter about Kojo, the grandson of Esi.   Kojo escaped the plantation with Ma Aku as a baby and was raised as a free man. He works in Baltimore, a city that is relatively friendly towards black people. The time was just before the Civil War, a period when the country was deeply divided. Abolition of slavery is gaining more momentum, some slaves like Kojo, were free; more were still enslaved. In the story of Kojo, Gyasi directly associates water and boats with slavery and how they served as tools to sever black people from their heritage. Kojo works on boats, but Ma Aku doesn’t think it is right for him to work on boats, the very machine that brought the slaves to America. Ma Aku told Kojo: “there was something evil about them building up the things that had brought them to America in the first place, the very things that had tried to drag them under.” (Gyasi, 111). Ships are used to connect people and keep them safe along the journey, but the slave ships are used to separate black people from their home countries and rob them of their heritage, cultural identities, and freedom.  Once the slaves were shipped to America, they were prevented from using any language other than English. Slave owners punish their slaves for speaking in their native language and for practicing their religion, thereby taking away their cultural identity. Kojo never experienced slavery, therefore did not associate water and boat with the pain suffered by the black slaves. He enjoys working on ships and helping fix them. But, this changes when he finally experiences the horror of the slave trade when his wife is kidnapped and sold into slavery. The pass of the Fugitive Slave Act means that Kojo’s freedom could be taken away anytime. The specter of the oppression against the black people torments him, and Kojo finally leaves his work on a boat. 

The fear of water continues with Marcus, the final descendent of Esi. Marcus was a successful young man, finishing his Ph.D. at Stanford. Slavery has ended, and segregation and Jim Crow laws have been removed. But Marcus still doesn’t like water; the ocean nauseated him. Gyasi uses Marcus’ continued fear of water to symbolize that the systematic oppression and the effects of slavery still exist today. In this chapter, the discussions of water echo the previous chapters. Marcus felt “that wet salt stink clung to his nose and made him feel as though he was already drowning.” (Gyasi, 284). The word “clung” brings us back to the beginning of the book, when the exact word was used to describe Esi’s first encounter with the ocean water. The word “drowning” reminds us that during the painful journey across the Atlantic Ocean, a lot of slaves tried to escape, but drowned in the end. Marus’ father Sonny told him “that black people didn’t like water because they were brought over on slave ships. What did a black man want to swim for? The ocean floor was already littered with black men.”(Gyasi, 284). This echoes Ma Aku’s complaint about Kojo being a shipworker.  Gyasi brings the slave trade bloodline to full circle in the last chapter.  Marcus went to visit the Cape Coast Castle.  At the dungeon where Esi was kept, Marcus felt the connection, and he was overwhelmed with anxiety.  

The ocean water and the boats are symbols representing the slave trade, and it shows how the effects of slavery last for generations. Although slavery has long been abolished, its effects of it are still prevalent in the modern world. Racism and other forms of discrimination can be directly traced back to slavery when the white people justified slavery with the belief that their race is superior to African Americans. This injustice has been carried over for generations, haunting society for centuries. Gyasi uses water not only to show the fear and pain that slavery has caused but also to show how much the slave trade has affected generations of people.  Gyasi did end the book with a very uplifting image of the ocean water.  Marcus was able to overcome his fear and follow Marjorie into the ocean water.  Initially, the water moved into his nose and stunned his eyes.  But he was able to lift his head, and breathe.  He saw Marjorie laughing, and started laughing too. This is a great picture showing the reconciliation between Effia and Esi, the slavers and the slaves. Society will right the wrongs of the slave trade.