Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, demonstrates the oppression caused by colonialism, imperialism and slavery. The novel follows the lineage of a family dating back to the eighteenth century. Gyasi illustrates the struggles faced by each generation of the family, which further establishes the cycle of oppression. “Homegoing traces the multigenerational journey of two sisters who experience the impact of slavery in very different ways.” The novel is about two half-sisters, Esi and Effia, who are born in two different villages, both unaware of the other. She marries an Englishman and leads a life of relative comfort in Cape Coast Castle. The other is captured during a raid on her village, imprisoned in the same castle and then sold into slavery. Homegoing shows the two different paths the sisters have taken and how their descendants are influenced across eight generations. Gyasi shows the parallel between life on the Gold Coast and oppression in America. Esi and Effia were the children of Maame and when Effia was born her village was burned. For this essay I will focus on one sister and how her descendants and their identities were influenced. The novel shows how both sisters' legacies play a role in constructing the identities of their descendants for eight generations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Identity is not only constructed by what people create and maintain for themselves, but also consists of identification and understanding through heritage. The connection that exists between people is sometimes hindered by conflicting histories and legacies. Effia and James (James Collins is Effia's husband) have a mixed-race boy named Quey. He was one of many mixed-race Gold Coast children. Quey wanted to cry but that desire embarrassed him. He knew that he was one of the half-caste children of the Castle, and like the other half-caste children, he could not fully claim either half of himself, neither his father's whiteness nor his mother's darkness. Neither England nor the Gold Coast. Quey's biracial heritage prevents him from reclaiming his own identity. He begins to feel uneasy about his own identity, which is above all the result of colonization, he does not feel like he belongs to the land of the Fante or to the English. Colonization affected his identity because it separated him from his origins. Quey is neither inside his lineage nor outside: he is stuck in the middle due to his status as a biracial child. “Cudjo held out his hand and asked Quey to do the same until they were arm in arm, skin touching. 'Not like me,' Cudjo said.” The fact that Quey is called white by a Knave reveals how colonization is a factor in determining the identity of a person who is a product of that system. His pale skin places him outside the land of the Fante. This sense of not belonging anywhere prevents Quey from understanding his own identity, instead, his identity is constructed through the lineage of his father and mother. He chooses to continue his father's legacy of slavery and accepts his role in the slave trade even if he does not approve of it. His participation in the slave trade stems from colonization and his need to please his father. “He wouldn't be weak. He was in the slavery business, sacrifices had to be made.” Quey's acceptance of his role in the slave trade ultimately leads him to construct an identity for himself that he initially did not approve of, but due to his heritage, he is stuck with it. James, Quey's son, has an identity crisis due to his decisionfather. take part in the slave trade and marry for power. However, James rejects his father's ideas and lineage. He questions his family's involvement in the slave trade and tries to create a different and better life than the one he inherited. During a visit to her mother village, an Asante girl decides not to shake hands with James because he participates in the slave trade. This makes James question himself and whether or not James had any direct involvement in the slave trade. “That was my father and grandfather's job. It's not mine." His legacy has defined who he is as an individual even though he took no part in his family's practice. After meeting Akosua James begins to question his identity and wants to free himself from his lineage. James tells his grandmother about his desire to create his own identity and is motivated by her response. “This is how we all came into the world, James. Weak and needy, desperate to know how to be a person. But if we don't like the person we've learned to be, should we just sit in front of our fufu, doing nothing? I think, James, maybe it's possible to create a new path.” James uses Effia's story to shape his own identity through his heritage. James separates himself from his family and heritage to create his own identity and live an honest life. James fakes his death during a battle to escape his family and moves to another village with the same Asante girl who made him doubt his identity. James' granddaughter Akua is also influenced by Fante's legacy. She is plagued by nightmares about the fire which eventually lead her to the point where she tries to kill her own children by setting fire to her cabin. Akua's nightmares involve fire being shaped like a woman holding two children. “In his dreams, the fire was in the shape of a woman holding two children over her heart. The firefighter took these two little girls with her to the woods inland and then the children disappeared." This refers to his ancestors Effia and his unknown aunt Esi. This shows how her legacy extends into her life and begins to define her. Although Akua believes those dreams are due to witnessing a man being burned, it is clear that the relationship between the dream and Akua is her legacy. Even though Akua knew nothing about her lineage, she was still influenced by it. She is dealing with the effects of her ancestors' actions while her family has had to suffer the consequences of what was sown generations ago. During one of her dreams, Akua burns her hut with her children inside. “The crying women were behind the men. "Evil woman!" some of them shouted 'evil,' others said.” Akua must bear the burden of her family's legacy creating an identity for her as a madwoman. He has to live with the guilt of killing his children because of his family history. Akua is influenced by her family's history even though she never knew her family, her heritage still played an important role in shaping her. Marjorie, the youngest descendant of Effia's family tree, grew up in a different country, but centuries later her identity is influenced by her ancestor's actions. She is stuck between being American or Ghanaian, just as her Uncle Quey was stuck between being Knave or being British. In America, Marjorie's blackness was defined differently than other African Americans in America due to her cultural background. The girls at her school made her feel alienated in her home because of her background. “Now, holding her head down and holding back tears as Tisha and her friends called her 'white girl,'., 91(4), 58-61.