Akata Witch

“Their eyes met, and Sunny quickly looked away. When she turned back, Orlu was still watching her. She forced herself to keep her eyes on him, to really see him. He had slanted, almost catlike eyes and high cheekbones. He was kind of pretty, even if he didn’t talk much.”

Sunny focuses her attention on Orlu after he intervenes in Jibaku’s bullying. Sunny knows Orlu already, but in these lines she tries to see him anew, picking up on specific details about his appearance and noting a pattern in his behavior as well. Okorafor establishes a connection here between Sunny and Orlu that will first become friendship and later will develop into something more romantic.

“Nothing was changing—but everything was. The room was as it was, the books, Orlu and Chichi, her schoolbag beside her. Outside she could hear a car passing by. But everything was… different. It was like reality was blossoming, opening and then opening some more. More of everything, but all was the same.”

This passage describes Sunny’s reaction to Orlu and Chichi performing a trust knot juju on her. Curious to determine if she is a Leopard Person, they are watching to see if she will be able to perceive the juju, but Sunny herself does not yet know what is happening and finds it strange and disorienting. Okorafor describes Sunny’s perception of the world here as somehow improving upon and deepening her sense of reality, which is also what her new identity as a Leopard Person will do for her.

“Imagine that you are a computer that came with programs and applications already installed. In order to use them, they have to be activated; you have to, in a sense, wake them up. That’s what initiation is.”

Anatov explains to Sunny what initiation means to a Leopard Person. Anatov uses a technological metaphor in order to explain it: Sunny has always had the capacity to use her abilities, but she needed to be “activated.” Okorafor intentionally reminds the reader that although these characters are discussing magic, they live in a contemporary world.

“The wind blew harder and Leopard Knocks opened up before her like the New York skyline. It was nowhere near as big, but it was grand. Huts stacked upon huts like huts at a hat shop. Not a European-style building in sight. All this was African.”

This passage represents Sunny’s first impression of Leopard Knocks. Because Sunny was born in the United States, she compares the city to New York City. However, she emphasizes that Leopard Knocks is uniquely African, and that it is “grand” in a way that includes no Western influences. Okorafor emphasizes here the distinctively West African roots of this world.

The night following her initiation, Sunny has trouble sleeping because of the physical reactions to what has happened, including her spirit face coming and going. She gets up to see her spirit face in the mirror, and although she finds the transformation of her spirit face strange and overwhelming, she also likes how it looks—and likes that it belongs to her alone. This passage shows that Sunny’s individual identity remains important to her even as she finds a place in Leopard communities.

The night following her initiation, Sunny has trouble sleeping because of the physical reactions to what has happened, including her spirit face coming and going. She gets up to see her spirit face in the mirror, and although she finds the transformation of her spirit face strange and overwhelming, she also likes how it looks—and likes that it belongs to her alone. This passage shows that Sunny’s individual identity remains important to her even as she finds a place in Leopard communities.

“It’s doubtful that you have the intelligence to figure out something so important. But here is something to think about: one’s ability lies with those things that mark him or her […] Often they are things that Lambs make fun of, imperfections.”

This passage comes from an excerpt from Fast Facts for Free Agents, specifically a passage titled “How To Discover Your Ability.” Sunny is angry at the book’s condescending tone toward free agents, demonstrated here by the author’s low confidence in her reader’s intelligence. However, Sunny also finds she can look past the tone in order to learn important information. From this passage, she begins to grasp that what are considered disadvantages in the Lamb world (like her albinism) can be sources of power for her natural ability in the Leopard world.

“There was no roof, but when the vehicle moved, the smell of sweat, perfume, cologne, stock fish, and cooking oil hung in the air, thick and oppressive. The open top also didn’t dilute the loud hip-hop that played from huge speakers in the back, or the raucous laughter and conversation of the passengers, most of whom were their parents’ age.”

This passage reflects Sunny’s first impressions of the funky train, a colorful, bus-like vehicle taken by Leopard People. Okorafor uses sensory descriptive details—the strange mix of smells, the cacophonous sounds—to create a vivid scene, asking the reader to imagine an eclectic, chaotic environment.

“Most people would dismiss Chichi and Sasha as disrespectful, uncouth children who can’t even get through a year of school. They’d insist they were destined to be criminals and streetwalkers. Doctors would prescribe Ritalin for their ADD and then throw their hands up, perplexed, when it didn’t work. But as Leopard children, they’re destined for great, great things.”

Anatov explains to Sunny how what might be perceived to be disadvantages to Chichi and Sasha in the Lamb world—their energy, sassiness, and restlessness—are considered advantages to them in the Leopard world. This passage illustrates one facet of Okorafor’s theme of the importance of the individual: that the Leopard world places value on the unique behaviors of individuals.

“‘We met with a bush soul! What if it had done us in? My parents don’t even know I’m gone!’

‘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 cold-hearted man was this?””

Sunny protests that they could have been killed by the bush soul they encountered, and Kehinde responds in a way she finds cold. For Kehinde, the priority is the safety and survival of the Leopard People overall. This passage illustrates some of the tensions in the novel around the value of the individual, with Kehinde representing the perspective that individuals are less important than the group, and Sunny speaking up for her own safety and wellbeing as an individual.

“Everything around her seemed so normal—and strange. The other students, the walls, the floors, the smell of the hallways. Feeling out of place was nothing new to her, but now she felt even more removed.”

Sunny adjusts to being back at school after spending most of the night out in Night Runner Forest. She is physically exhausted, but she also describes feeling emotionally distant from her everyday life. Her double life as a Leopard Person and a Lamb is separating her even more from her classmates. For Sunny, this isn’t new, but only an exaggeration of the typical feeling she has of feeling disconnected to the communities she lives in.

“The brightest part of Leopard Knocks was at its center. She could see the enormous four-story hut long before they got to it. The Obi Library […] was wider than four mansions, and its floors were stacked crookedly on top of each other [… Through] its many windows, each of which was placed almost at random, she could see people standing around, sitting, walking by or up some stairs.”

Sunny describes the outward appearance of the Obi Library, which is the center of knowledge for the Leopard People of West Africa. The Library is an actual library as well as a university. Because knowledge is so valued in Leopard society, it also plays a governmental role, making and enforcing laws. Sunny observes its enormous size and that it stands in the center of Leopard Knocks, which reflects its importance to the city and the society.

“The Miri Bird stepped right up to Orlu and clicked its beak in his face. Sunny gasped. The thing could have taken off Orlu’s nose, even his head, with one chomp if it wanted. Orlu quickly got up. ‘Ah, is that what you want?’ he said. ‘You want what everyone wants: to be treated like a human being.’”

The four students have traveled to Taiwo’s hut only to find it is hundreds of feet up in a tree. A giant Miri Bird flies down to them, but Sasha and Chichi, who find it dirty and off-putting, say rude things about it. Here Orlu treats the bird respectfully and as an equal, acknowledging that what it wants is to be treated with dignity and respect. This passage illustrates Orlu’s kindness and gentle nature. It also shows his humility, a trait that Taiwo will remark upon herself.

“Sunny remembered saying good-bye and feeling even more like a criminal. She’d walked down the stairs and felt like a criminal. And she got into the council car, feeling like a criminal. She felt unworthy, childish, stupid, and worthless. On top of all this, she was the granddaughter of the scholar who taught a murderous psychopath.”

Sunny reacts to being summoned to the Obi Library to be reprimanded for showing her spirit face to a Lamb, and the troubling news that Sugar Cream is not sure about being her mentor, and that her grandmother was once Black Hat Otokoto’s mentor before he murdered her. For Sunny, who is motivated by wanting a place in a community, this is a moment when she feels rejected and isolated. She feels the stigma of being a criminal, and she feels unworthy of having a mentor as her friends do. Even the discovery of a family connection to Leopard society, her grandmother, is tainted by its connection to a killer.

“‘Is that the one that chose you?’ Chichi asked, coming over.

‘Oh, that’s—uh, that’s different,” Sasha said.

Its handle was an unremarkable smooth silver, but the blade was paper-thin, made of a clear green material, like glass.’”

Here Sunny chooses her juju knife from the Junk Man in Abuja. This process of matching a juju knife with a Leopard Person is significant, as the knife picks someone itself. In this passage, the reaction of her friends suggests that Sunny’s green glass knife is unusual. An earlier excerpt from Fast Facts for Free Agents foreshadowed Sunny’s juju knife by discussing this “clear glass substance,” remarking that it is unusual, that it is difficult to break, and that those who have it in their juju knives must have done something in their past lives “to require such durability” (90), indicating revelations about Sunny to come in future novels in the series.

“‘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.’”

Miknikstic comforts Sunny when she is overwhelmed at the festival in Abuja. She has just told him about her new juju knife, and his response is encouraging. His advice here—that safety and comfort are not the most important values—foreshadows his violent death in the wrestling match. After offering this advice that reflects on the relative importance of the individual, Miknikstic also emphasizes the worth and power of knowledge, another theme of the novel.

“She was playing soccer in the sun with other players and she was good. She knew the minute that ball had dropped. She wasn’t just good at kicking a ball around, she was good at playing with a team.”

Sunny plays in the football (soccer) game for the Zuma Cup, despite being discouraged to do so because she was a girl, and enjoys how good she feels being able to play. She is especially happy to be good at playing as part of a team—at belonging to a community, one of the novel’s themes. For Sunny, who has been isolated from playing soccer because of her sensitive skin and the perception that girls shouldn’t play, this feeling of belonging is exciting.

“Only friendship kept Sunny from running—especially after the wailing started. It was a high-pitched wavery sort of ghostly noise, like the ululations of women from the Middle East. Then the trademark tock tock started, the sound of tiny drums. A playful flute wove in and out of the wailing and drumming. Then there came the tooth-vibrating DOOOM of a deep-barreled talking drum.”

Chichi, trying to impress other students, has called up a masquerade during a dance. A termite mound has already risen from the ground, and here Okorafor details the eerie beginnings to the masquerade’s emergence, focusing especially on the sound of the scene. To do this, she uses onomatopoeia (“tock” and “DOOOM”). She also chooses words and phrases meant to evoke the feeling of dread the otherworldly music builds in Sunny (“wavery sort of ghostly noise,” “wailing,” “tooth-vibrating”). This portrayal prepares the reader for the even more dangerous masquerade at the novel’s climax.

“‘Good afternoon,’ she said, trying to shake the dislocated feeling she was experiencing. It was like two realities fighting for dominance. ‘Hi, Dad.’ She froze. The ghost hopper was sitting on his head. [...]

‘Dad, there’s a—a leaf on your head.’”

After having spent a weekend in Leopard society, Sunny feels especially aware of her double life as she re-enters her Lamb family home. Okorafor emphasizes how divided Sunny’s sense of reality is by having the ghost hopper, a large magical insect that only a Leopard Person can perceive, actually sit on her unwitting father’s head. Although he doesn’t know the creature is even there, seeing it sit there bothers Sunny enough to make up a reason for him to brush it off. Sunny must negotiate between one world and another.

“I’d smash the thing […] My sister had one when she was small, and when she forgot to give it praise once, it got pissed and stung her. Its sting paralyzes you for ten minutes so you can do nothing but watch it build its ‘final masterpiece’ and then keep watching as it dramatically dies. The damn things are psychotic.”

Sasha expresses his dislike for wasp artists after Sunny comes into possession of one from the Junk Man. In creating the wasp artist—one example of the insect motif in the novel—Okorafor combines characteristics of a real wasp with anthropomorphic qualities, such as artistic vision and needing praise for one’s work. In addition to voicing his complaint about the wasp artists, Sasha also provides the reader with information about possible consequences if Sunny should forget to praise hers.

“To Sunny’s surprise, there were buckets and towels all over the floors and on the stairs, catching drips. She’d have thought that the library, of all places, would be protected from something as simple as heavy rain. She hoped the books were okay.”

Sunny expects that the library would be sealed from the constant rain, but even there, rainwater finds a way into the building. This scene illustrates the symbolism of the unnatural rain—the encroaching evil of Ekwensu. Here Okorafor shows that even the library, a place of power and safety, cannot stop evil from seeping in.

“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.”

This passage describes Sunny’s final confrontation with Ekwensu. Sunny accepts that her own individual life is going to be lost, a sacrifice she is willing to make so that her family can live on. She has lost her own sense of fear, feeling part of something larger, yet she also wears her own spirit face, a symbol of her distinctive Leopard Person identity. This passage expresses some of the tension surrounding the question of the importance of the individual versus community, one of the novel’s themes.

“‘Your father never wanted a daughter,’ her mother said. [...] ‘You see your brothers, they are just like your father,’ she said. ‘When they are sons, to him they’re safe.’ She smiled sadly. ‘He doesn't understand that with them he was just lucky. It could have been them, too. You all come from me, as well as him. And it comes from her, my mother.’”

Sunny’s mother explains to Sunny why her father treats her in the uncaring way that he does, something that has troubled Sunny throughout the story. As Sunny has suspected, he prefers his sons, as he sees them as less dangerous. He associates a daughter with Ozoemena, Sunny’s eccentric grandmother, someone who will run wild and get in trouble. Even though Sunny’s mother does not know entirely about the Leopard world, she knows enough to understand that her sons could have turned out like her mother, too—that this strangeness is not linked to gender. Sunny’s father always perceives Sunny through the lens of her gender.

“I was a rebellious child. I did not like being told what to do. So I went out and found a Lamb man and gave him children. I did not realize that to do this would lead me to a double life. A Leopard is not to tell a Lamb what she is, for Lambs fear Leopards by nature. I did not realize my actions would lead 343you to a double life, too. And for that I am sorry.”

This passage is an excerpt from the letter Ozoemena wrote to her future grandchild, which Sunny finds inside a wooden box, and it provides Sunny with insight into her grandmother’s past. Ozoemena explains that she chose to have children with a Lamb man because she hated being told what to do. However, she acknowledges that this choice to have a “double life” had consequences she didn’t foresee. Sunny’s own struggle throughout the novel to find a balance between her Lamb and Leopard life, to figure out how to be a free agent, is one result of Ozoemena’s decision. Learning this history helps Sunny put her own experiences in the context of a larger story.