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Sunny’s albinism represents her identity—and, more broadly, her growing understanding that a person’s supposed “bad qualities” can actually be the source of their greatest strengths. Sunny begins the novel ashamed of being albino, as the condition causes her to not fit in at school or at home. Her father never wanted a daughter in the first place, and her albinism makes her an even less desirable daughter in his eyes. And at school, kids taunt Sunny for being a ghost, for not actually being Black, and for being ugly. Sunny realizes at this point that albinism makes her different from her classmates, but she doesn’t yet understand its full significance.
When Sunny is inducted into Leopard (magical) society, she discovers that her albinism still makes her a target of jokes about being a ghost—but it also is what makes her naturally very powerful. Anatov explains to Sunny that because she’s albino, there’s some truth to the teasing that she’s half-ghost: Sunny can step into the wilderness (the spirit world) naturally and easily, which means she can become invisible in the physical world. He also notes that she is able to manipulate time and is more likely than other people to receive premonitions from beings in the wilderness. These are all things, he explains, that advanced Leopard People can do with a lot of training, practice, and aids like juju powders. But because Sunny is albino, she should be able to do these things without aids and with only a little practice. Indeed, though Sunny struggles to feel at home in Leopard society and is far behind her classmates in terms of her education, she begins to feel far more secure as she discovers how easy it is to use the abilities connected to her albinism. In this sense, her albinism represents the idea that people’s differences don’t have to be weaknesses.
Sunny’s Albinism Quotes in Akata Witch
The Akata Witch quotes below all refer to the symbol of Sunny’s Albinism. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
“But I can tell there’s more to you. I just know it.”
“What do you mean, more?”
Chichi smiled mysteriously. “People say stuff about people like you. That you’re all ghost, or a half and half, one foot in this world and one foot in another.” She paused. “That you can…see things.”
Sunny rolled her eyes. Not this again, she thought. So cliché. Everyone thinks the old lady, the hunchback, the crazy man, and the albino have magical evil powers. “Whatever,” she grumbled. She didn’t want to think about the candle.
Chichi laughed. “You’re right, those are silly stereotypes about albinos. But in your case, I think there’s something to it.”
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Chapter 5
Quotes
She closed her eyes and soaked in the warm light. She didn’t need to stand in there for an hour to know—she knew deep in her skin. The sunshine felt like a warm friend, not an angry enemy. She didn’t need her umbrella anymore.
“Oh my goodness,” she whispered. “I can play soccer!”
Realizing what she was was the beginning of something, all right…but it was also the end of something else.
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Chapter 6
Quotes
“So because I’m a Leopard albino, I can—”
“Yes. Certain attributes tend to yield certain talents. […] Abilities are things people are able to do without the use of a juju knife, powders, or other ingredients like the head of an ebett. They just come naturally.”
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Chapter 14
Quotes
One of the other boys in white laughed and said something in a language she didn’t understand. Two other boys in white laughed hard, too. There was a rise in the chatter from the audience. She was used to ridicule, but this hurt more than usual. This wasn’t just about her being albino, this was about her being a girl—an ugly girl. Stupid boys. Stupid, blockhead, idiot boys, she thought.
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Chapter 21
Quotes
“Grandma,” she whispered. As the old blind woman at the council meeting had said, Sunny looked nothing like her. But what did that matter? She smiled to herself and carefully put the picture back in the box.
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Get the entire Akata Witch LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sunny’s Albinism Symbol Timeline in Akata Witch
The timeline below shows where the symbol Sunny’s Albinism appears in Akata Witch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...now Nigerian because of where she lives. Additionally, though Sunny has West African features, she’s albino. She gets sunburnt so badly that she can’t play soccer, even though she’s really good...
(full context)
Chapter 1
...likes seeing a white woman beat kids, since Sunny is white. Sunny snarls that she’s albino, not white, but a boy named Periwinkle says she’s ugly either way. Sunny snatches her...
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Chapter 2
Chichi says she’s sure there’s more to Sunny than meets the eye. People say that albinos are part ghost, or that they can see things. Sunny rolls her eyes; people always...
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Chapter 3
...nose—and then he watches her intently and declares that she’s “yellow.” Sunny snaps that she’s albino, but Anatov tells her to sit down or things will get even worse for her....
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Chapter 4
...but Sasha says it adds up: he’s an outsider, Sunny is “outside in” because she’s albino, and there are two girls and two boys. Sunny grumbles as Sasha explains that an...
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Chapter 6
...ebett, a “sleeping antelope sheep.” Suddenly afraid that she’s going to look like a scary albino witch asking for such a thing, she says the regular sheep head will be fine.
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...and father at work this week and can tell they’re strict. Sunny jokes that she’s albino and is basically a ghost, and Chichi says Sunny worked an Etuk Nwan. When Sunny...
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Sunny, because she’s albino, has one foot in the real world and one in the wilderness (the spirit world)....
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Chapter 7
...for Kehinde, and he appears and greets “the princess, the American, the dyslexic, and the albino.” He tells Chichi, Sasha, Sunny, and Orlu to sit, and they all sit right where...
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