Stereotypes In Homegoing Essay

Homegoing is a highly touted novel but has faced some small criticism due to its use of black stereotypes. For example, the character Sonny has a heroin addiction. African Americans are unfairly stereotyped as being drug-dealers or frequent drug-users, so the portrayal of Sonny caused some backlash. This may seem offense but as Yaa Gyasi said herself, “[the purpose is] to honor the lives of the people that were really living during those time periods”, and I totally agree. Although I do not agree that these stereotypes are true, they once used to be, for the most part, correct. Due to the horrid racism and oppression African Americans would face, they were given no outlets in order to express themselves. The pent up sadness and anger would cause depression and many other mental and physical issues. In order to cope with these problems, African Americans would sometimes have to resort to using drugs. Sonny would use drugs as a coping mechanism because of the extremely hard life he was born

into due to his race. Also because of the discrimination African Americans would face, they had no opportunity to get a job and make money. In order to support themselves, they would need to sell drugs. Does this make African Americans the criminals they were stereotyped to be? No, absolutely not. African Americans were forced into this oppressive system and were only products of it. This system would keep the whites on top and the blacks on the bottom.
By stereotyping African Americans as drug-dealers, whites could use that as a way to jail blacks. This label is portrayed in the novel as Sonny is jailed. Marcus makes note of the fact that drugs were used as a way to oppress blacks. He recalls how all the white students at his school would smoke weed all the time and never get caught but when a black student gets caught, they are almost immediately jailed. I completely agree with Marcus as I am aware of the War On Drugs and how its main goal was to oppress blacks by jailing them for the most miniscule drug offenses. The War On Drugs was one of the main sources of African Americans being stereotyped for being criminals. Yaa Gyasi used Sonny and Marcus to make note of the oppression blacks would face and is only trying to stay historically accurate.
Yaa Gyasi also includes the stereotype of African Americans having non-conforming families.

H had to grow up without his mother, Anna, and without a close bond with his dad, Kojo. Again, this stereotype is true for that time period, but it is not because African Americans chose it to be this way. Anna was rumored to be captured by a slave-catcher and that is when she then killed herself. Kojo was torn apart by this news and became detached as a father. The family situation that was given is not at the fault of Kojo or Anna, but rather the racist society they were implanted in years ago when their ancestors were brought over on slave ships and enslaved for the rest of their lives. Yaw is another character who had an abnormal family structure. Yaw never had a relationship with her mother, Akua. Although Yaw’s irregular family was not a product of racism, Yaa Gyasi used Yaw as a character to show how impactful the loss of a paternal or a maternal figure is to a child growing

up.
To try to expand my knowledge of African stereotypes, I watched an early version of the cartoon, Tom And Jerry. At the very start of the show, there was a small introduction that was newly added into the cartoon by Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi makes note that the stereotypes that were originally kept in the cartoon are still present as by removing them, you would be denying that they ever existed. I agree and I feel as this same logic applies to Yaa Gyasi’s reasoning also. The stereotypes Yaa Gyasi included were only to educate the reader and represent her people accurately.