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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Akata Witch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Belonging
The Individual vs. the Collective
Friendship and Teamwork
Education, Power, and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
Sunny gets back to her house around sunset, after having been gone for more than 24 hours. Chukwu and Ugonna are kicking a soccer ball around, so Sunny joins them. Chukwu notices Sunny’s muddy hair and sandals (she’s changed her clothes) and says that their father will flog her. Sunny kicks the ball across the street to annoy Chukwu and goes inside. Sunny’s mother is making pepper soup; she smiles and starts to cry when she sees Sunny. But when Sunny’s father walks in, he asks in a scream where Sunny has been. Sunny leaps away as her father tries to hit her face, and Sunny’s mother shields Sunny. Sunny’s father bellows that it’s his wife’s fault that Sunny is “run[ning] wild”; it’s in her genes and she’s going to end up just like Sunny’s grandmother. He gives Sunny a disgusted look and storms off.
At first, things seem back to normal at home: Sunny and her brothers bicker like normal, and Sunny’s mother is simply thrilled to have her daughter home safe. But when Sunny’s father enters the picture, Sunny realizes just how much of an impact her Leopard identity will have on her home life. Her father implies that he believes Sunny and her grandmother are running around with men—something he sees as improper and disgraceful. He, of course, can’t know the truth, so Sunny is in a difficult position. She no longer has the support at home that she once did—and her father actively distrusts her.
Themes
Sunny sits down, crying, and then asks her mother who she is. Her mother doesn’t answer; she just dishes them both steaming bowls of pepper soup and hands Sunny a handful of tissues. As they eat, Sunny’s mother explains that Sunny’s father didn’t want a daughter. He thinks sons are safe, but he doesn’t understand that they could’ve ended up like Sunny just as easily. It all comes back to Ozoemena. She asks Sunny if she really wants to know what’s going on, and Sunny begs to know.
Now, Sunny understands more than ever that unlocking her own identity means figuring out who her grandmother was—and her mother, per Anatov, is the only person who can help her understand. Though Sunny’s mother might not understand how Leopard abilities work, she knows enough to realize that people of all genders can get magical powers—it’s not something unique to women.
Themes
Sunny’s mother picks at her soup as she explains that she doesn’t know how her parents met. Her father loved Ozoemena and they had three children, but they never married—Sunny’s mother doesn’t know why, and she just tells Sunny’s father her parents were married because he wouldn’t accept her otherwise. Looking ashamed, Sunny’s mother says her mother was strange, but she loved her daughters. It always seemed like she was looking for something in them and never found it—but she’s sure Ozoemena would’ve found it in Sunny. Taking a deep breath, Sunny’s mother says she noticed the metal things outside Sunny’s door a few months ago; she recognized the objects.
Sunny begins to empathize more with her mother as she notices her mother’s shame. Ozoemena’s identity as a Leopard Person hurt Sunny’s mother and makes Sunny’s mother feel like she has to hide things to move comfortably through the Lamb world. But as she levels with Sunny and tells her the truth (truths she presumably expects Sunny to keep from her father), the two deepen their relationship. This shows Sunny that she doesn’t have to hide quite so much around her mother.
Themes
Sunny gasps, but her mother says it’s fine. Sunny’s mother continues that people thought Ozoemena was seeing men when she went out at night, but that wasn’t true. She doesn’t know what her mother was doing, but her sister once saw her disappear into thin air. Sunny says she can’t explain what her grandmother was doing, and her mother nods. Sunny’s mother says that she trusts Sunny, which makes Sunny cry again.
Accidents happen, as evidenced by Ozoemena accidentally disappearing in front of one of her Lamb daughters—and even the most powerful and educated people make them. Still, Sunny’s mother highlights that her mother was subject to sexist ideas about how a proper woman should behave, something that Sunny is still fighting years later.
Themes
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Smiling sadly, Sunny’s mother says that Sunny’s father will probably never understand. He, like so many other men, blames the maternal line when he doesn’t like his child—though she insists that Sunny’s father doesn’t hate Sunny. He agreed, after all, to return to Nigeria to keep Sunny safe. Sunny hugs her mother, who then says that today is the anniversary of Ozoemena’s death. It was raining that day, just like it was today. Sunny remembers the scholars saying it was all a matter of timing.
Sunny may now understand better who she is and where she comes from. But it’s ironic that the one person who would benefit from learning what’s going on—her father—can’t know. So Sunny is essentially trapped in a poor relationship with her father due to the fact that he cannot learn to accept her. Learning that it was raining like this when Ozoemena died is another reminder for Sunny that the world is bigger than she is.
Themes
When Sunny enters her bedroom, there’s a box on her bed. As she touches it, the lid flips open to reveal a handwritten letter and a page with Nsibidi written on it. In the letter, Ozoemena introduces herself to her grandchild. She explains that any grandchild able to open the box carries her spirit line, and she praises Sunny’s mother: the fact that Sunny’s mother passed on the juju-charmed box means that she believes and respects Ozoemena.
Ozoemena’s letter puts Sunny’s mother in an interesting and important spot. She’s essentially the person who carries all the information—information she herself can’t know. Passing the information on, Ozoemena suggests, is a selfless choice. Sunny’s mother is, in this sense, following Leopard philosophy despite being a Lamb.
Themes
Ozoemena introduces herself as Ozoemena Nimm, a Nimm warrior. She explains that she was rebellious, so she found a Lamb man and had children with him. She didn’t realize this would lead to living a double life—and condemn any Leopard grandchildren to a similar double life. Ozoemena says she was born with the darkest black skin, and she could make herself invisible and go back and forth between the physical world and the wilderness.
Sure enough, Sunny’s abilities mimic her grandmother’s: she too can become invisible and can also move into the wilderness, though Sunny hasn’t done this yet. But Sunny and her grandmother are also opposites in terms of their skin color. Their differences in appearance highlight that their connection is mostly spiritual—their looks don’t matter as much.
Themes
If her grandchild’s ability is similar, Ozoemena tells the reader that “there is more history in you than you yet know.” She warns that something is coming, and tells the reader not to fear. She says she loves her grandchild, and warns the reader to make friends and forgive her Lamb family members.
It's impossible to tell whether Ozoemena saw the events that just happened—Black Hat and Ekwensu’s downfall—or if she’s alluding to something more when she sees something coming. But she also suggests that if Sunny relies on her friends and her connections to the spirit world, she’ll get through whatever life throws at her.
Themes
Sunny feels like she’s seen her own soul. It makes sense, if her grandmother was Nimm, that she wasn’t married; somehow, her grandmother was like Chichi’s mother, though Chichi and her mother are royalty. Does this mean Sunny can’t marry? What else does it mean? Sunny pushes these questions aside and studies the sheet of Nsibidi, but it’s too advanced for her. The final thing in the box is a photograph of Ozoemena with her juju knife. Sunny looks nothing like her, but that doesn’t matter.
Ozoemena’s letter answers some questions, though it raises more—these Sunny will consider in later installments of the series. Sunny’s feeling of seeing her own soul, and of peace when she studies her grandmother’s photograph, suggests that she finally knows who she is. She’s Ozoemena’s granddaughter—and she knows now how she fits into the Leopard world.
Themes
