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
Fast Facts for Free Agents warns female Leopard readers that if they plan to marry a Leopard man, they’ll need to learn to cook magical meals, like Tainted Pepper Soup. The book includes the recipe and gives warnings about what will happen if the cook doesn’t use the correct ingredients or otherwise does something wrong—in most cases, the soup will explode or the person eating it will die.
Though this passage also warns readers about deadly consequences for making mistakes, it’s far more humorous and almost deadpan. This suggests that possible death is just a fact of life in the Leopard world; it’s something that people get used to until it no longer bothers them as it still bothers Sunny.
Themes
At school, Sunny can barely stay awake—and Jibaku bullies Sunny worse than usual all morning. By lunchtime, Sunny’s head hurts and Jibaku shoves her on the playground. Just as Sunny starts to step toward Jibaku, her phone rings—it’s Orlu, and he warns her to not use juju on Lambs. If she does, she’ll have to go to the Library Council for punishment. As he walks up to her and picks up their conversation in person, he assures her she’ll get used to being so tired. She should do her homework as early as possible and sleep when she can.
Sunny is in a difficult position, since Jibaku is still the biggest bully on the playground at school—but Jibaku doesn’t know that Sunny now has the power to do something terrible to her, if she so chose. Orlu presents the idea that Leopard People are faced with the choice to use their powers for good, rather than to harm others. And if they don’t, they’ll be punished severely.
Themes
Sunny takes Orlu’s advice that evening as she does her homework and then goes downstairs for food. She finds her mother cooking a red stew and sits in the kitchen with her. Then, Sunny asks her mother to tell her about her grandmother. Her mother refuses, so Sunny goes to bed, curious about why her mother is so cagey about this.
Sunny can tell there’s something odd in her grandmother’s past, so she’s becoming even more interested in learning about her. Sunny believes that if she learns about her grandmother, she’ll gain important information about herself—so right now, her mother is obstructing this goal.
Themes
