These relationships show that family is more about love and protection than biological relationships. A variation on this motif is children turning to people they are not related to by blood as parental figures, such as Sonny turning to Eli, the joyful yet flaky father of Sonny's sister, and Kojo turning to Ma Aku, who saved him from slavery. The importance of the bond between parent and child is shown when children reunite with their parents, which happens with Yaw and his mother Akua as well as with Sonny and his mother Willie. Relationships between parents and children are especially important in the lives of many of the characters. For example, Quey and his son are given privileges because they are related to a white colonist on the Gold Coast, but Ness and Kojo, who live in the same time period in the United States and are also descended from a woman from the Gold Coast and a white colonist, are treated as slaves and criminals. The fact that all of the characters in the book are related to one another, particularly the characters living in the same time period in Africa and the United States, also serves to show the effects of culture on one's opportunities and expectations. Through this structure, the importance of family and upbringing can be seen in the personalities and decisions of the characters. The importance of family is clear from the very structure of Homegoing, in which each chapter follows a different descendent of a mutual ancestor, Maame.
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