Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Copper Sun, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Slavery, Dehumanization, and Resistance
Horror vs. Beauty
Friendship
Memory and Storytelling
Gender, Race, and Power
Summary
Analysis
Amari jokingly teases her eight-year-old brother, Kwasi, who is high in a coconut tree. Kwasi shouts that he wants to speak to giraffes, dutifully tosses down a coconut, and teases that Besa is heading Amari’s way. When Amari asks him to, he runs with the coconut back to their village, Ziavi, making kissing noises as he goes. Amari splashes water from a stream on her face and strolls along behind Kwasi, waiting for Besa. She thinks of her love for her village as she watches a friend, Tirza, chase a goat and sees the chief elder’s wives pounding cassava fufu for supper. Soon, Amari and Mother will do the same thing for Amari’s father. Other women giggle at Tirza.
It’s clear from the way that Amari engages with Kwasi and looks around her village that she makes a point to look for the good and the beautiful in life. To her, everything is beautiful—and even Kwasi’s teasing or ill-advised climbing is something to celebrate, not punish him for. When the other women laugh at Tirza’s predicament too, it suggests that this outlook is something unique to Amari’s village, and possibly her culture on the whole.
Themes
Amari and Besa have been formally engaged for a year now, but they don’t get to spend much time together. Amari pretends to not notice Besa until he touches her shoulder. She smiles at him, taking in his dimple, and he says worriedly that he has to run—he saw strangers who were the color of milk in the forest, and he needs to tell the council of elders. Amari watches him go, feeling nervous herself. When she gets to her home, Mother and Esi are spinning yarn for Father, a master weaver of her tribe’s special kente cloth. Mother gently scolds Amari for not helping them spin, but Amari wishes she could weave instead. Weaving is forbidden to girls, and Mother is aghast. Amari agrees to help dye the yarn tomorrow. Kwasi quips that Amari is more interested in Besa than spinning and darts away.
Besa’s reaction to seeing what are presumably white men suggests that their village hasn’t had much—or any—contact with white people before this. Yet Besa isn’t angry or seemingly interested in sending out people to kill these white men—he just wants to make sure everyone has the information they need. This may also reflect the culture of their village, which seems to be peaceful rather than confrontational. Meanwhile, Mother makes it clear that there are distinct gender roles for men and women. Amari’s desire to transcend these roles speaks to her independent nature.
Themes
Amari shares with Mother that Besa saw odd strangers heading their way, but Mother sternly says it would be uncivilized to judge people by how they look. They must prepare a celebration. Esi heads home to prepare and Amari throws herself into her own preparations with Mother. Mother assures Amari that the strangers’ arrival will certainly be enough reason for a celebration and Father’s storytelling. Excited, Amari takes in the smells and sounds of her village. It smells like “hope and possibility.”
Here, Mother makes their village’s ethos plain: they’re friendly and curious, not looking to judge others. And furthermore, it’s telling that she uses “uncivilized” to describe people who would judge others by their looks, as this will prove to be significant when the white men arrive. The fact that Mother has to remind Amari to be hopeful and excited shows that Amari is still learning to follow her tribe’s culture of openness and curiosity.
Themes
