Freedom

Throughout Song for Almeyda and Song for Anninho, the author thematically inspects freedom. Toward the outset of “Song for Almeyda”, Afranio tells Anninho, “one rebel to another, don’t / tell me the / superiority / of one freedom to another” (14). While the community continues to support a hegemonic system, defining the legitimacy of freedom based on how it was seized, Afranio does not support this ideology. The healer asserts that, “Freedom is honey. All / honey is sweet” (14). The author enacts this moment in the text to suggest that creating a hierarchy to define freedom perpetuates the ideologies of white supremacy. In order to have an equitable society, liberty must be considered inherent to the human experience. Freedom intrinsically belongs to the individual and cannot be endowed or redacted by any other individual.

Later on, Jones utilizes Almeyda’s dream about the feathers to further her thematic inspection of...