Taylor Hamilton

October 16,2018

3B

The Matter of Lightness and Darkness

Throughout Yaa Gyasi’s book homegoing the idea of lightness and darkness is

shown throughout the book. Homegoing is a book going through a family lineage, one

side of the family resides in Africa and participates and see’s the things that happen

during the slave trade. The other side of the family has been separated from the family

in Africa as one has been shipped to America on a slave ship. The family that is in

America experiences American slavery all the way to the civil rights movement.There is

judgment of people based on how dark or light their skin is, this plays a major role on

how the characters are viewed by others in the different cultures in this book weather it

is in America or African Asante or fante societies. The major difference between these

two cultures are that in Africa lightnes in this book is seen as a negative quality while

darkness is seen as a more desirable quality for someone to have. While in America in

this book lightness is seen as the more desirable characteristic while being darker

skinned is seen as an undesirable characteristic.

The character Quey’s lightness makes him a negative figure in the African

Asante and Fante societies. Quey is the son of Effia who is a black woman from an

Asante village and a white man named James who is a white man from Britain who is a

slave trader at the cape coast castle. James is a lighter complexion which makes him

seen as less desirable in the African villages cultures. Because of his lighter skin people
see him as a villain in their society and someone not trustworthy.For example when

Quey goes to the funeral of his wife's father who is a asante man of high position in the

Asante society, while at the funeral a girl who caught his sons james eye would not

acknowledge him with a handshake she tells James ( Quey’s son),” Respectfully I will

not shake the hand of a slaver” which James was considered as because of his father's

lightness and “white” ways, This shows how the lightness even carried down to his son

makes them seen as untrustworthy individuals in the Asante society. Quey when

placed in this environment of the African societies even begins to think negatively about

himself not seeing himself as powerful or as much of a man, because of his whiteness

of his culture that he got from his father and his lightness of his skin compared to the

others in this African culture that he is in. When Quey visits his uncle in Africa he sees

himself as less than his darker uncle for example,” It was Fiifi looked powerful, his

graceful alliance of muscles, Quey had taken after his father, skinny and tall, but not

particularly strong.” this shows the insecurities that Quey places on himself when

comparing his lightness of his body and skin to the darker people that are around him.

Throughout this book any instance of lightness is seen as undesirable in African

societies in the ways of lighter people are untrustworthy, not as beautiful, and are not

strong individuals.

Willie is a Darker character living in Harlem in America during the Harlem

Renaissance that struggles to be accepted because of her darkness. Willie being a

darker skinned woman makes her an undesirable woman in the American society

making her quality of her life worse. “ ‘Too dark,’ he repeated. ‘Jazzing is only for the

light girls’” says the man that she tries to audition for. The darkness of her skin makes
her and the people around her not accepted in the workforce environment making it

difficult for her to get a job. Her darkness of her skin also affects the people around her

such as her husband. After moving to harlem and not being able to get a job because

he is mistaken as a white man married to a dark woman, which makes him becomes

distant, ultimately leading to them splitting. Robert being light got the choice of his life

style because of his lightness, “‘He didn’t start out white’ She said. ‘He was more black

when I met him, more yellow than black, really. But still, he was colored.” which shows

because of his lightness he could live a better lifestyle than a darker person of color

because willie describes as “‘White men get a choice. They get to choose they

job,choose they house. They get to make black babies and disappear into thin air like

the wasn’t there to begin with.’” The lightness of Willies husband in America gives him

many advantages in his quality of life just because of the color of his skin. While

because of the darkness of Willies skin causes her to be discriminated against and not

seen as worthy in American society causing her quality of life to be not as good as her

colored light husband.

Throughout the book homegoing the color of one's skin and how light or dark

makes them less or more desirable in a society depending whether they are in Africa or

America. In The Societies in Africa Being light is seen as a negative characteristic

making a person less desirable, and untrustworthy. While Darkness in the African

societies are seen as beauty and strength and the “norm”. But it is vice versa for the

ones in American societies. In America lightness is seen as the desirable trait, if your of

lighter skin tone in America you are more accepted in society, seen as more beautiful,

and allowed more opportunities. While being of a darker skin tone in America societies
are seen as outcast and don’t get as many opportunities or seen as beautiful or the

ideal person in society. Skin color throughout this book matters not in the fact of white

and black but more specifically if you are black how light or dark you are. These things

are noticed by everyone in every aspect and can dictate the quality of your life, social

status, and ultimately how you are viewed by the society that you live in that even

relates to the social standards of today’s American standard of beauty is lightness and

darker individuals are looked down upon.

Works Cited
GYASI, YAA. HOMEGOING. CHARNWOOD, 2016.