Essay Sample on Lasting Effects of Slavery in Gyasi's Book

Introduction

Slave trade ended but the scars of the slave trade will last forever. Some of the undying effects of the slave trade would haunt generations after generations. The story of two sisters resonates the story of any slavery by Ayala Gyasi than any other story of an African that lived during the era of the slave trade. The impact of slavery on the people of Ghana include loss of parents as only the strong were captured while the children were left to either die or fend for themselves. In Africa, the descendants have to live with the pangs of conscience in African. Up until now, the descendants of Effie have to contend with the images of slavery fresh in their minds. For example, while Esi is sold to slavery and shipped to a far away country - American colonies, a country that they will never call their home. Her sister Effia lives to in Africa but as a wife to a wealthy slave trader.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The lasting effect of slavery is the emotional damage that slavery had on the slaves and their descendants. Even now, visiting the dungeons affect their descendants emotionally as they imagine the about the lives that their ancestors went through. The novel tells the story of loss to the Africans who were enslaved the people who lost their relatives to fellow African raiders who capture their kin and sold them to the whites. It is clear that the resilience of the few who made it to an American colony and Britain via the slave trade ships weakened them. The experiences of the captured slaves broke them as they acquired inexorable and significant emotional damage. Even though a slave may be freed, the effect of their experiences is irreparable. The descendant has to contend with the emotional damage their ancestors such as Effia accumulated over the years of slavery.

The book covers over 250 years but those years of solitude can break an individual mentally considering the fact that Esi and Effia was blood sister in gold costs (now Ghana). The plot twist that sees Esi forced into a dungeon and shipped off to America as a slave is unique in that she was the daughter of a Fante worrier who played a major role in the sales of his fellow Africans captives into slavery. Esi's tribulation leads her to develop a hard heart and the impact is the loss of innocence and emotions that she does not even cry when her daughter Ness is forcefully taken from her to be sold into slavery in 1796. Ness is never traced by her family members and that resulted into years of solitude. The other impact of the slave trade is despair. The salves and their descendants lost all hope and their only goal in life was to seek love. Ness and her husband Sam wanted their son Kobo to lead the lives of a freeman despite themselves not having felt the freedom. Both Esi and Effie's descendants sought for happiness in the things of people that would hope such as the promise of a new life or their love for the child whom they hoped would enjoy a food life full of freedom and opportunities.

The former slaves cannot forget that they were once captives even though slavery ended years ago. Just like fishermen who cast the net into the water, he might return some back to the water to catch tomorrow but a few are prepared for the day's meal (Gyasi, 2016). One of the main reasons why the Africans are still affected by the slave trade is that they were also captured and sold on their own. The black men were captured and sold by their African leaders. For example, tribalism and the ethnic rivalry started in West Africa when tribal leaders sent their soldiers to raid rival tribal villages to kidnap voyagers for sales into bondage. Despite the African communities being rich in ritual and tradition, they were shackled into a land that never welcomed them but put them into more shackles and rides on their back to prosperity.

The main source of slaves was the African villages where the chiefs who raided rival tribal homes to capture people to be sold into slavery. For example, the Cobbe of the Fante people organized raids and sold the captured people to while slave trader. The Fante people had the advantage of slaves because they had strong armies that could raid homes and were more interested in becoming rich by all means even if it means selling their fellow Africans. The worst case scenario was if the local Fante chief wanted more wealth to control the people and to marry many more wives who would give her male heirs. The Cobbe of the Fante people enslaved Maame and raped her and impregnated her of which she bore Effia. Baaba is the wife of Cobbe who sells Effia to James Collins under the guise of marrying her to the governors. Babe's intention was to get rid of Effia never came to pass and the irony is her daughter being sold to slavery instead of Effia. The Asante and Ahanta people also participated in the slave trade but not in the same capacity as the Fante people to maintain third prestige. The tribes that did not participate in the slave trade is not provided.

References

Gyasi, Y. (2016). Homegoing. New York City: Penguin Random House.