The History

The wajinrui History is symbolic of a people's ancestral past. Throughout the novel, Yetu particularly wrestles with the burden of carrying her people's History. The History is so painful and so fraught with suffering, that she fears it will kill her. Indeed, the wajinru foremothers decided that only one individual should carry the History, fearing it would destroy the collective. By the end of the novel, however, both Yetu and the wajinru discover that the only way to survive is for them to communally and collectively share the burden of the History. The author therefore uses the wajinru History in order to emphasize the importance of retaining and protecting one's ancestral past so as to preserve one's cultural identity.

Wajinru

The wajinru people are symbolic of redemption and survival. Born of the bodies of enslaved women thrown overboard slavers' ships, the wajinru creatures are inherently...