Being introduced to Leopard (magical) society introduces 12-year-old Sunny to a totally new way of thinking about the value of her own life versus the value of society as a whole. Sunny has grown up in the Lamb (nonmagical) world, so she’s been taught that her life is inherently valuable and expects authority figures to keep her safe. So it’s a shock for Sunny to be inducted into Leopard society and discover that Leopard People value hard-earned education and the collective’s well-being over any one person’s safety. It feels wrong to Sunny when Anatov sends Sunny and her friends into the dangerous Night Runner Forest, where they could easily die. At first, Sunny sees the possibility that adults could be perfectly okay with her potential death as fatalistic and disturbing. But as the stakes increase over the course of the novel, and as Sunny and her friends learn that they’ll be the ones to take on the ritual killer Black Hat Otokoto (who, in addition to brutally murdering children, plans to bring a dangerous masquerade named Ekwensu from the spirit world to bring about the end of the physical world), they come to see the wisdom of their elders’ belief in valuing the collective more than individual lives. As Anatov explains, the world keeps spinning in part because the individual lives of humans, plants, and animals don’t actually matter much on the grand scale of the universe—one being’s death won’t bring about the world’s end. And therefore, Sunny and her adult mentors reason, a child’s life is worth sacrificing if that child is able to thwart a person, like Black Hat Otokoto, whose selfish actions will end the world for everyone.
Ultimately, as Sunny and her friends defeat Black Hat Otokoto and send Ekwensu back to the spirit world, Sunny finds comfort in the idea that the common good is more valuable than her life. It gives her the confidence she needs to put herself in danger to send Ekwensu away, and it helps Sunny decide that her new Leopard community is actually very supportive. Just as Sunny and her friends were willing to risk their lives to banish Black Hat Otokoto and Ekwensu to save the world, Sunny realizes that there are others willing to do the exact same thing and ensure that the world will keep turning—for everyone.
Related Themes from Other Texts
The Individual vs. the Collective ThemeTracker
The Individual vs. the Collective Quotes in Akata Witch
“If not for Sunny, we wouldn’t have come today.”
“Things have a way of working themselves out,” Anatov said. “It’s as I taught you: the world is bigger and more important than you.”
“If you’d have all perished, we’d have found you and your bodies would have been returned to your parents with…explanation,” Kehinde said.
Sunny’s mouth fell open. What kind of barbaric coldhearted man was this?
“Come now,” Kehinde said, pulling out a newspaper. He shook it at them. “Have you seen the news lately? If you haven’t noticed, a person’s life, especially a young person’s, isn’t worth much these days. The world is bigger than all of you. Chances have to be taken. But thankfully, here you are.”
“You expect us to capture this Black Hat, who is like you, one of these people who has passed the highest of the highest level of juju ability? That’s—I mean no disrespect—” She paused, the irritation that had been brewing in her for weeks suddenly flaring bright. She felt used. “That’s insane! And—and I’m beginning to know how you people think! You’ll just find some other kids to do it if we’re all murdered! And why am I included in this?! I don’t know anything!”
“This is bigger than you,” Taiwo said, turning very serious. “But you’re part of it, too. It would be unfair for me to expect you to understand this just yet, but you will.”
“You’re neck-deep in Leopard society right now. The good thing is that it doesn’t get any deeper than this. Sometimes it’s best to just jump in. Then, after that first shock, you can handle anything.”
“Yeah,” she said, wiping her eyes again. “I—I got my juju knife today, too.”
“That’s wonderful,” he said. He looked down at her. “Use it well and true. There are more valuable things in life than safety and comfort. Learn. You owe it to yourself. All this”—he motioned around them—“you’ll get used to in time.”
“Why didn’t they stop it?”
“Because life doesn’t work that way,” Anatov said. “When things get bad, they don’t stop until you stop the badness—or die.” He paused. “That’s an important lesson for all of you. This is why I brought you here. This is why you’re staying in that hotel. Look around, listen, and learn. This is not a holiday. In a month, you will all be facing something as ugly as what these two men faced this afternoon.”
One of the other boys in white laughed and said something in a language she didn’t understand. Two other boys in white laughed hard, too. There was a rise in the chatter from the audience. She was used to ridicule, but this hurt more than usual. This wasn’t just about her being albino, this was about her being a girl—an ugly girl. Stupid boys. Stupid, blockhead, idiot boys, she thought.
“That was amazing, o!” Godwin exclaimed.
“Did you see her?” Kouty exclaimed.
“Like Pele!” Sasha shouted.
The French speakers were shouting in French.
And chittim rained on us all.
The white team looked half as happy, and less than half as much chittim fell around them. They gathered and calmly slapped hands, turning to look at the green team celebrating its loss.
Sunny frowned. “You mean you’ve sent other groups like ours? And—”
“We have and will continue to until Black Hat is taken down,” Yaboko said. “More is at stake than your lives.”
“Black Hat is a shrewd sorcerer,” Abok said. “He has protection, but we have watched for loopholes. The children that returned maimed but alive were all rescued by Oha covens.”
“Did the rescuers escape, too?” she asked.
None of the scholars replied. That was answer enough.
“You come any closer and you’ll ruin what’s already in motion. Then I’ll have to slaughter you two instead of just these children. Get outside,” Black Hat said. Then he seemed to be speaking to someone else. “You all may leave, too. These kids are harmless. Go watch for real threats,” he said. All the commotion and squawking behind Sunny instantly stopped as the bush souls obeyed.
On instinct, Sunny let her spirit face move forward. In that moment, her fear of everything left her—her fear of Ekwensu’s evil, of being flayed alive by the monster’s fronds, of her family learning of her death, of the world’s end. It all evaporated. Sunny smiled. She knew how the world would end. She knew that someday she would die. She knew her family would live on if she died right now. And she realized that she knew Ekwensu.
And Sunny hated her.
