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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in Homegoing
Part 1: Esi
Explanation and Analysis—Before the Castle:
After a hellish opening scene—in which piles of captured enslaved women languish amid their own feces and urine—Esi’s flashback takes the reader to a place that may offer the closest approximation to a refuge. Trying to escape her present misery in the Castle, she occupies herself with thoughts of the past:
Esi learned to split her life into Before the Castle and Now. Before the Castle, she was the daughter of Big Man and his third wife, Maame. Now she was dust. Before the Castle, she was the prettiest girl in the village. Now she was thin air.
Esi was born in a small village in the heart of the Asante nation. Big Man had thrown an outdooring feast that lasted four nights.
Related Themes:
