Copper Sun Themes

Set in 1738, Copper Sun follows Amari, a 15-year-old young woman from the West African Ewe tribe, as she’s captured, transported across the Atlantic to the Carolinas, and sold into slavery. The journey is horrifying: Amari goes from being a loved and respected member of her community to being treated like an animal. Her captors starve her, rape her, and dehumanize her in countless other ways along her journey. Although Amari wishes at many…

Amari’s capture, journey across the Atlantic on a slave ship, and subsequent enslavement on Mr. Derby’s plantation is nothing short of horrific. She details all the horrible things that she witnesses and experiences firsthand, including being branded as a slave, seeing the male slaves on the ship stacked in the cargo hold, and being raped by sailors and by Mr. Derby’s son, Clay. However, even as she sees and experiences such deep…

Upon boarding the slave ship bound for the North American colonies, it becomes immediately apparent to Amari and her friend Afi that they will never return to Africa. When they realize this, Afi encourages Amari to cling tightly to her memories of home—soon, they’ll be all she has of Africa. However, Amari’s enslavers are aware that these ties to Africa are what helps the slaves feel human and connected to their happy pasts, and so…

While Copper Sun primarily concerns itself with the horrors and struggles that enslaved Black people (particularly enslaved Black women) faced, the novel nevertheless offers a nuanced picture of who had power in the North American colonies and who doesn’t. Though enslaved Black people certainly suffer the most, they aren’t the only demographic who did. Rather, Copper Sun delves into a power structure that puts wealthy, white, and male slave owners—like Mr. Derby—at the very…