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Chapter 4
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
Fast Facts for Free Agents describes a clear green substance that’s sturdier than diamond. It occasionally appears as a juju knife blade—and anyone who is chosen by a knife like that should wonder what they did in a past life to warrant that. The substance is so rare that it doesn’t have a name, and nobody knows where it comes from.
The Leopard world may have more tools (like magic) with which to look at the world, but this doesn’t mean they know everything. The origins of this substance, for instance, are as mysterious as where chittim comes from—but the book’s nonchalant tone suggests this isn’t a problem. It’s just another thing to maybe, someday, learn.
Themes
When Sunny showers, the water tickles. She’s generally uncomfortable and alert, and she feels even worse when she discovers a newspaper on her bed. The headline reads that Black Hat Otokoto killed a five-year-old. Sunny wants to explain to her mother what’s going on, but she knows she can’t. The trust knot means Sunny can’t say anything anyway, but Sunny’s mother is Catholic and would forbid Sunny from seeing Chichi or Orlu again—and who knows what Sunny’s father would do.
Chichi already warned Sunny it was going to be a rough night after going through her initiation. But part of Sunny’s discomfort comes not just from learning she’s a Leopard Person—it’s also because suddenly, a huge wedge has come between her and her parents. This is a normal part of growing up and figuring out one’s identity as a teen, but Sunny still feels unmoored since she can’t ask her mother for help or guidance.
Themes
Sunny struggles to sleep, as she’s itchy and sweaty. She can taste dirt, too, and by three in the morning she’s sobbing. An hour later, her face starts shifting back and forth between her face and her spirit face. Sunny studies her spirit face in the mirror once: it’s gold and looks like the sun, with pointy rays. It’s smiling. It’s frightening, but it’s also exciting. Sunny eventually opens her window to enjoy the cool breeze and falls asleep right next to it. She dreams that she’s happily swimming in a river—until she catches sight of the river beast below her.
Shifting back and forth between her spirit face and her real face points to how difficult of a change this is for Sunny. She’s literally having to make space in her body for what’s essentially a second person, though her face is part of her. Sunny’s dream about the river beast foreshadows that entering the Leopard world means she now has new enemies, some monstrous like the beast, and others that she knows nothing about yet.
Themes
Sunny wakes up hours later, the sun shining directly on her. She’s certain she’s burnt, but to her surprise, her face is cool and unburnt. Sunny laughs: she realizes the sun can be her friend now, not her enemy. She can play soccer. This is exciting, but still, Sunny knows it’s the end of her old life.
It's thrilling to be able to go in the sun like everyone else. But this doesn’t mean Sunny is totally happy with the change. It’s bittersweet—Sunny gets the sun now, but she’s also giving up a close and trusting relationship with her mother.
Themes
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