Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Akata Witch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Belonging
The Individual vs. the Collective
Friendship and Teamwork
Education, Power, and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
The funky train lets Orlu, Sasha, Chichi, Sunny, and Anatov out in front of Orlu’s house. Anatov announces that he expects everyone at his hut in two weeks for a lesson, and then he takes Chichi with him to Leopard Knocks. Orlu tells Sunny he expects she’ll be caned. Sasha spits that he hates this—nobody is willing to try new things. Orlu argues that the levels and the suggested ages for the levels are set for a reason; being able to do something advanced doesn’t make a person mature. He likens it to a young girl developing breasts early, which makes Sunny groan. She hugs the boys goodbye, and Orlu gives her an unexpected kiss on the cheek.
As far as Orlu is concerned, Chichi broke the rules and so she’s going to suffer the consequences—which should be a surprise to no one. Sasha, though, thinks this kind of punitive system punishes people for trying to learn as much as possible, something Leopard society ostensibly values. In Sunny’s opinion, Orlu delegitimizes his position by using this clunky and sexist metaphor about a young girl growing breasts. After as much sexism as Sunny experienced at the festival, she’s not about to put up with casual sexism from someone she considers a friend.
Themes
Sunny’s father is drinking palm wine with a friend when Sunny gets home. She stops dead when she greets him: there’s a ghost hopper on his head. After telling him there’s a leaf on his head, Sunny follows her mother’s voice to the kitchen. Her mother is on the phone with Sunny’s Auntie Chinwe, who lives in Atlanta with her husband. Sunny accepts the phone from her mother and tells her aunt she had a great time with friends. Since her mother has left the kitchen, Sunny asks her aunt to tell her something about her grandmother. Auntie Chinwe says she can’t say much, but her mother kept secrets. She suggests Sunny check her mother’s side of the bedroom for a box just as Sunny’s mother takes the phone back.
Sunny waded much deeper into Leopard society at the Zuma Festival, but this seems like it’s going to make things more difficult at home. The ghost hopper on her father’s head adds humor, but it also reminds Sunny that her Leopard identity is going to color every interaction she has with her family. Then, Sunny takes her friends’ advice to heart by asking her aunt for information about her grandmother. Sunny gets some information, but not enough to do much with. For now, she can only accept that there may be a box of information somewhere, but it’s inaccessible for now.
Themes
Sunny grabs a packet of cookies and heads for her bedroom. She gently lifts a ghost hopper off of her bed and then lies down to study her juju knife. But when her pocket wiggles, Sunny yelps—and remembers the bean Junk Man gave her. The bean giggles and Sunny puts it under her bed. Then, Sunny unrolls her newspaper and reads that Black Hat Otokoto stole a secret book from the Obi Library. Just as she tosses the paper across the room, she hears a crack from under her bed. A blue wasp emerges from the bean and flies to Sunny’s dresser, where it eats the bean casings. Sunny falls asleep moments later and wakes around midnight. She shines a flashlight on her dresser, where the wasp has sculpted a castle out of cookie crumbs. Sunny praises the wasp and does homework for a few hours.
Not everything in the Leopard world is nefarious or dangerous: the wasp seems harmless enough and extremely entertaining. This helps Sunny develop more warm feelings about the Leopard world, which helps counteract the fear that learning about Black Hat’s theft makes Sunny feel. That Black Hat stole a book suggests that whatever he’s doing, he’s still following the Leopard way of prioritizing education. However, it’s implied that his goals are nefarious and evil, so he’s shut out of public spaces like the library and must resort to theft.
Themes
