LitCharts (2024)

Esi describes how the smell around her is unbearable. In the corner, one woman is sobbing. In another, a baby is crying because its mother, Afua, has no milk. There are hundreds of women, all pushed together in the women’s dungeon of the Cape Coast Castle.

One year prior, when Esi turned fourteen, she had been in Asanteland, in her father’s (Big Man’s) compound. He had been the best warrior in the village, and so everyone had come to pay their respects to her, including the man she would have married.

A soldier enters the dungeon, holding his nose and speaking. The women do not understand him. He comes into the room and takes the baby from a woman named Afua. When she cries, the soldier slaps her.

Esi asks her friend Tansi why they are taking the baby. Tansi tells her they will probably kill it. Afua had conceived the baby out of wedlock, and as punishment, the village chief had sold her to the British.

Esi asks Tansi to tell her a story, but the soldiers interrupt them again. They bring porridge to the women, the only food that the women eat. They are not allowed outside the dungeon to go to the bathroom, and so the ground is littered with their feces.

Tansi asks Esi if she knows the story of the kente cloth. Esi shakes her head, even though she does know it. Tansi tells the story: two Asante weavers had been hunting in the forest when they met Anansi, the mischievous spider. They saw how magnificent his web was, and went home to weave the cloth the way Anansi did. From that, kente cloth was created.

Esi compliments Tansi on her storytelling. The previous story she had told Esi was of her capture by northerners while her husband was off fighting a war. She had been taken with other girls, but the rest had not survived.

By morning, Afua has died by holding her breath until she suffocated. The soldiers then come in, forcing the women to the ground and piling more new women into the dungeon on top of them. Esi can feel the women on top of her peeing.

Esi had been born in a small village to Big Man (who at that time was known as Kwame Asare) and Maame. Esi’s father was not a chief, but he was the best warrior in the village. By the time he was twenty-five, he had five wives and ten children. Esi grows up with doting parents. Her father walks with her through the forest, describing how impenetrable it is to their enemies.

When Esi is seven, her father wins the battle that earns him the title of Big Man. The village chief tells them that the northerners had stolen guns from the British. One man, Kwaku Agyei says that they should not try to confront the northerners, because a hasty confrontation might end poorly for them. Esi’s father tells Kwaku Agyei that it does not make sense to wait for the northerners to show up at their village because the village would appear weak.

Esi hears the men’s rallying cries and spills a bit of hot oil on her mother, Maame. Maame chastises her, telling her to be careful around fire. But she doesn’t stay mad for long, kissing the top of Esi’s head.

The men’s plan is to overtake the northern village and steal what had been stolen from the British. When they come upon the warriors of the village, they fight bravely, but are ultimately captured. Luckily, Kwaku Agyei and a few others had waited in the forest instead of fighting. They find the guns that the northerners were hiding and free the captured men.

Kwame Asare apologizes to Kwaku Agyei, saying that he would never rush into a fight again. Kwaku Agyei says that it takes a “big man” to admit his folly, and thus Esi’s father gains his new name: Big Man. By the time Esi turns twelve, the village has won more than fifty-five wars under his leadership.

Esi is particularly fascinated by the prisoners captured in the wars, some of whom are then taken by villagers as slaves and servants. Esi asks Maame what happens to the extra prisoners; her mother tells her that that’s “boys’ talk.”

Maame, for her part, had refused for many years to choose a house girl. But with the overflow of prisoners, Big Man insists that she have one to help her with the cooking and cleaning. Maame agrees to choose a girl the next day. Esi knows that her mother would do anything for her father, because he had saved her in some way—though Esi isn’t sure exactly how.

The next day, Esi and Maame choose a girl and name her Abronoma: “Little Dove.” However, they quickly discover that she is horrible at the chores. When Maame complains to Big Man, he tells Esi to get his switch. Maame stops Esi from giving it to him, and says that she will do the beating. Big Man relents, but says that the next day he will make Abronoma carry water on her head across the yard, and if a single drop falls from the bucket, he will take care of it.

Maame returns to her hut and pulls out her own switch, which she has never used. Maame asks Esi to leave and then she beats Abronoma as both women cry.

The next day, Big Man gathers everyone to see Abronoma carry the water. Esi can see Abronoma shaking as she lifts the bucket onto her head. She steadies herself and walks, sweat dripping from her nose and her eyes brimming with tears. She makes it back to the front of the yard, but just as she takes the bucket from her head, two drops slosh out. Big Man reaches for his switch. This time, Abronoma does not cry.

Maame is very upset after the beating, and she watches Abronoma sleep. Esi tries to comfort her by saying that if Big Man had not beaten Abronoma, everyone would have thought he was weak. Maame says that treating someone as though they belong to you is weakness.

Abronoma wakes up. Esi fetches her water, and Abronoma asks her to leave. Esi starts to say that her father, Big Man, is a good person, but Abronoma protests. She says her father was a big man, too, and now look what has become of her. She hints that Maame had also been a house girl. Esi is surprised by this news.

Abronoma explains that Maame had been a slave for a Fante family. She goes on to say that Maame had been raped and had left a daughter in her former village. Before the house girl can explain any more, Maame returns to the hut.

Esi thinks about Maame and starts to acknowledge some of the remnants of her former life: how her shoulders droop and her eyes shift. Esi is filled with shame at how she had treated the slaves in the town square’s cage, spitting on them as she had seen an elder do. Now she can only picture her mother behind the bars of the cage, with a sister Esi would never know.

In the following months, Esi tries to befriend Abronoma and find out more. Abronoma says she doesn’t know anything, and Esi asks what she can do to make amends. Abronoma tells Esi to send a message to Abronoma’s father, explaining where she is. Esi agrees despite knowing that Big Man would be very upset with her for doing so.

The next morning, Esi sends a messenger man very early to Abronoma’s father. When she tells Abronoma she has done this, Abronoma hugs her and says that all is forgiven. Esi imagines that she is hugging her sister.

Months go by, and Abronoma grows excited, constantly muttering that her father is coming. But other than that, everyone goes along as usual. Fighting continues away from home, as Esi’s village had never been challenged in her lifetime.

One night, it is Big Man’s night in the hut, and so Esi sleeps in the corner, facing away from her parents. Once she had watched them in the darkness. She couldn’t see much, but she was intrigued by the sounds that they had made, lying together. She “wanted and was afraid to want.”

But this night, a call goes out, signaling that the enemy is upon their village. Big Man jumps up and grabs his machete. He screams at Maame to take Esi into the woods. Esi grabs a small knife and places it in her skirt. She grabs her mother, but Maame protests. She starts to whisper, “No more woods. No more fire.”

Abronoma bursts in, laughing and dancing at her father’s arrival. Outside, people are screaming and running. Maame gives Esi a black stone that she had been keeping for Esi’s wedding day, saying that she left one for her sister as well. Esi tucks it into her headwrap.

Esi wants to ask more questions, but the noise outside grows louder, and Maame tells her to go. Esi sees that her mother cannot will herself to come with her, and so Esi gives her knife to Maame before running out into the woods. She finds a palm tree and climbs up as far as she can go.

Time passes, and Esi’s arms start to burn as she hugs the tree. Soon a warrior appears at the bottom of her tree. He throws rocks at her until her arms come undone. The warriors tie Esi to many other people, but she doesn’t see any of her family. She walks for miles. On the tenth day, the calluses on her feet split open, and blood seeps out with every step.

The woman behind Esi—Tansi—worries that the white men will eat them. Esi shudders, then introduces herself. In an instant, the two become friends. They walk another half a week, day and night, until they reach the edge of a Fante village. They are packed into a dark cellar where they eat porridge and sleep.

In the morning, men enter the room, including Abeeku and Fiifi. Fiifi argues that they should not have taken the slaves, as their Asante allies will be furious to know that the Fantes have worked with their enemies. Abeeku says that their enemies are paying more for slaves.

James Collins and other British soldiers enter the compound. They are the first white men that Esi has seen. Abeeku shows off Esi and the others, explaining that the Asante are very strong. The men then start to undress everyone. When Fiifi reaches for her headwrap, Esi spits at him. He then smacks her so hard that her stone falls onto the floor, and she covers it with her body. When the men leave her there, Esi takes the stone and swallows it.

Back in the dungeon of the Castle, the waste is up to Esi’s ankles. She can hardly breathe. That day, she had found her mother’s stone in the river of feces. She buries it, marking the spot so she can find it again when the time comes to leave.

Soldiers enter the dungeon. One of them grabs a woman and pushes her up against the wall. He gropes her, moving from her breasts down the length of her body until she screams. The other women tell her to be quiet or else the soldiers will beat them all.

Another soldier walks around. When he sees Esi, he smiles. She is baffled because it had been so long since she had seen someone smile, and she thinks it is an act of kindness. The soldier grabs her and drags her out of the room, taking her back to his quarters. He gestures at a glass of water. She stands still until he gestures at a whip, and she drinks.

The soldier places Esi on a folded tarp and begins to rape her. She screams, but he places his hand over her mouth. She finds that biting his fingers only pleases him, so she stops. She closes her eyes, trying to imagine that she is still the little girl in her parents’ room, looking at the mud walls instead of at them. When the soldier finishes, he looks disgusted with her, “as though he were the one who had been violated.” The soldier takes her back to the dungeon, not looking at her.

Days go on. Esi has not stopped bleeding since the soldier raped her. She doesn’t talk to Tansi and doesn’t want to hear stories. She thinks to herself that there is no pleasure in sex, only pain.

The dungeon door opens and reveals James Collins. He points to twenty women, including Esi. Another soldier grabs them by the wrists and drags them into a line. James checks over all of them, running his hands between Esi’s legs. When he sees blood on his hands, he gives her a pitying look. He signals to another soldier, who starts herding them out of the dungeon.

Esi tries to dig for her stone, but she is lifted up by a soldier before she can reach it. Outside, Esi smells the ocean as the women are led to the beach. Before she leaves, James Collins looks at her and gives her a smile. For the rest of her life, she would see white men smile and know that it meant “more evil was coming with the next wave.”