Homegoing: Part 1: James Summary & Analysis

James hears word that the Asantes have Governor Charles MacCarthy’s head. The children outside start to sing in celebration, but James warns them that if the Asantes defeat the British, they will come for the Fantes next. He tells them that this village is safe, however, because his family is royal.

James’s father, Quey, returns from the Castle with a white man. He motions to James to join them. The white man explains that Quey’s wife’s (Nana Yaa’s) father, the Asante king, has died, and that the Asantes are blaming the British. When James asks if they did in fact kill him, the white man looks away. James grows angry, knowing that the British had been inciting wars for years in order to buy the captives as slaves from the Fantes and sell them back in Europe.

Quey explains that Nana Yaa wants to go to the funeral, but the white man says that it is too dangerous for them to go because the Fantes have been allied to the British for so many years. James and Quey resolve to go anyway.

James holds a gun as he, Quey, and Nana Yaa ride through the forest in a carriage. Nana Yaa and Quey argue about the trip, while James stays silent in the back. He knows that his parents have never loved each other—it was a political marriage.

After days of travel, they spend the night in Dunkwa with David, a friend of Quey’s from his time in England. When they arrive, Nana Yaa goes immediately to bed, but James, Quey, and David sit and talk. Quey complains about Nana Yaa, and David states that political marriages are often loveless ones. David starts to quote the Bible, but Quey stops him and tells him that he has no use for Christianity. He has chosen the Fantes and their customs. David implies that this life was chosen for him. James thinks about similar criticisms Nana Yaa had made, saying that Quey was weak.

David asks if James is going to marry soon, and Quey explains that he has chosen a wife for James to marry. Her name is Amma Atta, the daughter of Abeeku Badu’s successor. This marriage would fulfill the promise that Cobbe had made to Effia; that her blood would be joined with the blood of Fante royals.

James had known Amma all his life, and the older they got, the more she started to annoy him. By the time he was fifteen, he knew he could never love her, but that didn’t matter.

David asks Quey if it’s true that the British are going to abolish slavery. Quey shrugs and says that the year James was born, they told everyone in the Castle that the slave trade was abolished, but it continued anyway, and the British stayed. Quey explains that what is happening on the Gold Coast goes beyond slavery: it is a question of who will own the land, the people, and the power.

The next morning, James, Nana Yaa, and Quey set out once again. They pass little towns and villages, where Quey’s light skin attracts more and more attention. They reach Kumasi and are greeted by Nana Yaa’s eldest brother, Kofi.

The next day, the funeral proceedings begin. Nana Yaa joins the women in the village, mournfully wailing to announce the celebration. There is drumming, dancing, and chanting, and the king’s family is greeted by a long line of mourners.

One girl (later revealed as Akosua) offers James her condolences, but does not shake his hand, saying that she will not shake the hand of a slaver. James is too stunned to respond, and she leaves. James is baffled: both the Asantes and the Fantes take part in the slave trade—the Asantes capture slaves, and the Fantes trade them. He thinks that if the girl could not shake his hand, she could not touch her own, either.

The family lays Osei Bonsu to rest. James is supposed to leave in the next few days, but he is intent on finding Akosua. He goes to his cousin and describes her, and his cousin tells James where to find her.   When James finds her, she is carrying water on her head back to her hut. He offers to help her, but she refuses, saying that he shouldn’t be doing that kind of work. He walks with her anyway, and the two introduce themselves.

James again asks Akosua why she would not shake his hand. She explains that when she was a girl, there was a war between her village and another village, and three of her brothers were taken. She knows that her village does the same thing, but she refuses to be a part of it or accept that it is the only way for the world to function.

As James listens to Akosua speak, he finds himself incredibly attracted to her. He asks if she is promised to anyone, and she replies that she is not. He thinks about his own wife-to-be and knows that he would never love her; he also knows that his parents would never approve of Akosua, as she “had nothing, and she came from nowhere.”

Thinking this, James remembers the phrase “nothing from nowhere,” and how Effia used to say it on nights that she was saddest. When he was a small boy, he’d spent a weekend with her at the Castle. He’d heard her crying, and when he asked her why, she had told him the story of Baaba.

James grabs Akosua’s hand and says that he wants to marry her. She asks how she could marry him. He tells her to hide her blood when it comes, and then he’ll come back for her and start a new life in a small village. He asks if she trusts him. She says no, but that he would earn her trust if he came back for her. James thinks to himself that he will find a way.

Three months after James’s wedding to Amma, they have still not consummated their marriage. James always makes up some excuse like illness, or embarrassment. He knows that she will be blamed for their failure to conceive and feels bad for her, but he wants to remain faithful to Akosua.

It has been nearly a year since he promised Akosua he would come back for her, and he still does not know how to fulfill that promise. He wants to leave Fanteland, but cannot figure out how to get away.

Amma tells James he should go to Mampanyin, the apothecary. He agrees to go the next day. His father, Quey, and many others had always called the apothecary a witch doctor. When he goes to her, she criticizes him for not believing in her powers, and for selling slaves. He tells her that that was his father’s work, not his. He says that he no longer wants to do that work.

Mampanyin looks James over, saying that he cannot have a child because he does not want a child. He is startled to see how she has understood him so quickly. He tells her truthfully that he wants to leave Asanteland, marry Akosua, and work as a farmer.  Mampanyin says that James already knows how to do this. James, in fact, has already come up with a plan: join the army and pretend to be killed. Mampanyin tells him that the Asantes will be attacking Efutu soon.

Back at home, Amma is waiting for James. He tells her that Mampanyin said she must be patient. For a week, James starts to wonder whether his life is really so bad as to want to escape it. He has all but resolved to continue Quey’s work when Effia visits.

One night at dinner, Effia asks James what’s wrong. He tells her quietly that he wants to leave the village. She smiles at him, assuring him that he will find a way to do so. James begins to cry. The next day, James tells his family that he is going back to the Castle with Effia, but he instead goes to Efutu.

James helps a Scottish doctor treat soldiers in Efutu. One night, James hears the call of the Asantes coming to attack the town. He panics and runs, wondering why he had trusted a witch to help him make his life choices. He also wonders, in his fear, why he had thought that he could find a happier marriage than his parents.

James wakes up in the bush of an unknown forest. His body aches. An Asante warrior stands beside him. The warrior is shocked that he is not dead, then quickly recognizes him as Osei Bonsu’s (the Asante king’s) grandson. James makes the warrior promise not to tell anyone that he is alive. For the rest of the month, James travels to Asanteland. He sleeps in caves and hides in trees. When he finally gets to Akosua, she is waiting for him.