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The loyalty that Sonny's mother Willie has to him never wavers no matter what Sonny does. She bails him out of jail even though she doesn't agree with what he is doing. She gives him money when he doesn't have a steady income. She gives money to the mothers of his children when he won't, and even when he is so deep into the pit of addiction that she won't support him financially, she prays. She says, "Lord, release my son from this torment...I know he done gone down to Hell to take a look, but please send him back." Religion is very important to her and praying is something she believes will help. Willie illustrates how loyalty is believing in and supporting someone no matter what.

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Sonny is trapped because of his addiction. It prevents him from seeing his children or being financially stable. Even though he doesn't spend time in jail trapped behind literal bars, (which he used to do when he was a civil right activist) he is trapped all the same. He has no choices in life because he can't get a job and spends all the money he has on drugs.

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Sonny is heavily impacted by generational trauma. When his parents moved to New York City, his father could pass for white and his mother couldn't. This eventually caused them to split up. Sonny is angry at his mother that he doesn't have a father present in his life. He continues the harmful behavior by refusing to be present in his childrens' lives. This causes his mother to be angry at him.
Being Black in New York City doesn't leave Sonny with many options. As a child, his home was not a safe or stable place to live. They were often evicted and had to move. Because of this, he can't settle down and raise a child, or work at a steady job. This leaves him vulnerable to addiction. Once he gets addicted to heroin, he can't get out of the vicious cycle of poverty and drugs.
In the end, he is able to move back with his mother and raise his son Marcus, but his children surely inherited some of his trauma, too.

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Generational trauma is described in Yaw's chapter because of scars. Scars are a common theme in each chapter, such as Ness's scars from whippings. In Yaw's case, his scars are on his face from his mother. She tried to burn him in her sleep, and Yaw has to live with it for the rest of his life. Even though his mother scarred him for life, Yaw finds her to learn more about the scarring, and they make up. It reveals how we can sometimes forgive the people who gave us some of our scars, especially if the scars turned us into better human beings.

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Sonny connects to the question "Do all cages have bars"  because of the cage of addiction. Sonny is addicted to shooting heroin, and it affects his personal life. Sonny's mother and sister don't get to see their son/brother because Sonny cannot abuse dope and keep their relationships intact. The bars that Sonny has are internal, and he just had to fight through them. He sobers up and escapes the cage of drugs, while proving that cages can have bars, but we can break through them with mental fortitude.

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This question relates to Yaw's chapter because Yaw struggles but also feels like he belongs. He struggles with his scarring, but feels like he belongs when he is with Edward. When Yaw throws the students the ball, they ask him about his scar and he walks away. He obviously does not feel like he belongs around some people, and it bothers him. With Edward, he can trust him and have conversations about his life.

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In the Sonny chapter, we see how generational trauma affects him, his mother, and his sister. Due to Sonny not really having a dad in his life, he is not present in his own children's life. He and Josephine are heavily impacted by their father not being present in their lives, Sonny has turned to drugs to cope with the abandonment his father has made him feel.

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I believe it's Sonny's mother who represents loyalty, not Sonny. She has always been there for him no matter what, and has this unconditional love towards him. Even though she doesn't like his lifestyle and the fact that he is a junkie, it doesn't stop her from always trying to get him on the right path, be with his children, give him money when he needs it, and just guidance even when he gets angry at her. She never gave up on trying to get him on the right path, which pays up because in the end he decides to be the opposite of what his father was, be present with his children, and stop doing drugs.
- Nati

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"Do All Cages Have Bars?" applies to this chapter because of how Esther and Yaw are both trapped by the social cages within their lives. Esther originally believes that because Yaw is a teacher she must speak English in front of him and treat him with the utmost respect. This bar represents how general slaves are bound by social norms to act and present a certain way, for if they don't, they fear being physically or emotionally hurt. In terms of Yaw, his scar is a physical cage that causes other people to assume who he is based off of the sole fact that he is the "crazy lady's" son. It doesn't matter what accomplishments he has in life or who he truly is, the scar on his face is the only thing that people generally associate with him. His scar also creates a sense of otherness, where he is forced to feel outside of or foreign to his community, regardless of how much he tries to involve himself.

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Sonny is caged in his own addiction, although the cage is not physically there, he is trapped and cannot get out. His addiction makes his life worse and worse.

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Sonny is in a cage without bars because of his addiction and he is also in a cage because he inherited problems from his family.

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In the Sonny chapter, we see his mother Willie's loyalty to him, regardless of what he does. Especially in the excerpt, we see that Willie welcomes him to her home, feeds him, and offers money to him. Willie loves Sonny unconditionally and is willing to do anything for him. For example, when Sonny tells her that she never fights for anything, she replies and says she fought for him. Josephine may love her brother, but she is rude to him and angry at him for his sickness (addiction). Willie on the other hand sees past his troubles, she wants to help him and understands that he needs support rather than hostility.

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Throughout Yaw's story, we see the author play around with the idea of culture. From the beginning, we know that Yaw is of African American descent, however, he does not feel connected to his mother. Unlike most African Americans, Yaw loves books and is well educated, unlike his black peers. She questions if culture is defined by tradition, even if you are not connected to it.

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Sonny goes through generational trauma, his parents split up due to racism. He grew up without a father and because of this he himself didn't try to be the father he should have, he hardly sees his daughters and does not even take care of himself.

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This essential question I feel can be seen throughout all the chapter including Yaw. While Yaw is a free man he is trapped behind his scare for most is life. He no longer beilves in love due to his scare. He is trapped moraly.

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Sonny demonstrates generational trauma because due to the fact that his parents are black and he is as well, there isn't much the world can offer to him. This causes him to go daily marches, which end up with him being in jail, being an absent father just like his father, being a junkie, etc. He has all these chains that tie up to the fact that his family was abused multiple times and in different ways because of their color, which lead to generational trauma. I believe he feels the need to act on segregation and actually do something to help because his parents weren't able to do so.
- Nati

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In this chapter, Yaw has trouble figuring out whether or not he wants to go visit his mother. I think he feels trapped in this decision but then Esther helps him to go and visit her. I think that by this he is stepping out of his cage to go see her after all these years and get some of his questions anwsered

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"What is Loyalty?" applies to this chapter because of the loyalty that Yaw has towards his mother. Originally, Yaw ceases from replying to his mother's letters where he feels torn on how he personally thinks of his mother as a person. For years, these letters were sent to him with no reply, and even though she stopped sending them to him, he never once forgot about who his mother was. She still loved him as a son, and Yaw did not think of her as the "crazy" lady that the rest of her village had come to know her as. Yaw and his mother remain loyal to each other by still having a desire to see each other, regardless of having been absent for the majority of each other's lives. Yaw did not abandon his mother, and Akua did not abandon her son.

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At the beginning of Yaw's story, we see an invisible cage around him. This is due to the fact that he was unmarried and had no close friends other than Edward. It was only until Yaw hired Esther to help around his house to realize this.

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He left to go to school when he was 6 so he hadn't really been with his family alot and because of his sister being killed so when he was at school he would go to the Edwards house and they took him in like he was there own. He wasn't sure where he belonged because he was at a school by himself and hadn't had alot of friends. They took him in and treated him good and made him feel belonged.

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Sonny experiences generational trauma because of the racism his parents faced. Ultimately racism drove Robert and Willie apart, which caused Sonny to grow up without a father. Because Sonny never really knew his dad, he struggles as a father to his daughters and is very absent, which will affect them in the future. - Jackie

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This question applies to the chapter because Sonny is loyal to his mother he doesn't take the money. Sonny is loyal to his community because he marches.

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Loyalty in this chapter I belive is pretty signigicant because even after everything Akou did to Yaw and his family he still went back to her to vist and meet her. This express an extreme amount of loyalty. Also Ester stays loyal to Yaw the whole way through his adventure by traveling with him and supporting him with all his descions. She also deamnds respect for out of the children that were afraid of his scare. Ester stuck with Yaw when no one would.

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This question relates to Yaw's chapter because all of his life he felt like he didn't belong. He felt he didn't belong in the town he was living in because all the people in the town rejected him because of his scar and the only one who did accept him was Edwards family but after a while they were getting tired of him and they wanted him to get a wife so he could leave. He also doesn't feel like he belongs in Edweso the village where he was born because his mom set their hut on fire killing 2 of his sisters and giving him a scar and he thinks everyone there will not see him as Yaw but the crazy lady's son.

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At the end of this chapter when Yaw goes to see his mother, they have a conversation about how she has gone crazy. She explains that their family has evil in their line, and apologizes that he has it in him too, yaw has trauma from his mother because all people know him for is beacuse of his mom and what she has done

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The Sonny chapter goes along with the essential question "Do all cages have bars?" because we see how his addiction affects him and his family. Throughout the chapter and especially the small excerpt, Sonny's addiction is mentioned many times and holds him back, like a cage. Due to his addiction, there is a barrier between his sister Josephine and him. He is taken over by his addiction to drugs, as soon as he gets to his family's house he goes to the bathroom and takes out his "dope", and at the end of the excerpt he thinks about taking money his mother gave him to go and buy more. Addiction is something that consumes someone's life and creates walls between families, Sonny is caged by his own obsession.

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Loyalty is shown by Sonnys mother in this chapter. Willie admits to knowing her son is a junkie and does not put enough time in to see his children although she still cares for him, helps him out with money, helps his children out, she has fought for him, and always has tried to help him.

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"What Does It Mean to Belong?" applies to the chapter through who he has been accepted by and who he himself accepts as his family. With his scar being one of the only things that the outside public sees him as, belonging does not come easily to Yaw. People on the street view him as the son of the "crazy lady," and see his scar as something that represents him fully. Without Edward in his life, Yaw would not have been able to belong to anyone, as Edward and his wife were the only people who even bothered to try and give him a sense of community. Yaw even goes to the lengths of comparing himself to a stray dog, where he is simply happy to finally be accepted and wanted by a group of people, despite his ugly, physical features.

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We can see how generational trauma is a real issue in Sonny's life. His fathers leaving the biggest of all. He resents his father for being able to choose and then choosing different from his family. He shows how much he is affected by this by passing it down to his own children. He himself abandons his kids and only stays connected to them through his mothers help. He like his father chooses a different life than what was originally planned for him. His father abandoned his family for another and he abandons his family for drugs and what he thinks of as liberation.-El

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Sonny doesn't need physical bars to feel trapped inside a cage that he created. He became a drug addict and when he was in need of more "dope" and deprived of it, he would get aggressive, angry, and scary. He's trapped in this drug world where he goes crazy if he doesn't have any drugs on him. Dope has kept him trapped in this mental cage, and it caused him a lot like: being distant with his family, running to his mom only when he needs money, being delusional, and overall being in a different world.
- Nati

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Sonny is a great example of cages without bars. From a young age Sonny was trapped in Harlem, not allowed to be in Manhattan because of defacto segregation. Later in his life Sonny traps himself in a cage through his use of narcotics. Sonny's addiction will not allow him to be anything more than an addict, caging him into his lifestyle. - Jackie

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In the passage, it is described that Yaw does not feel connected to his mother. Due to this separation, Yaw grew attached to Edward's family. The author writes "Yaw loved them as though he belonged to them" (Gyasi). This is a commentary on the essential question, what does it mean to belong. Even though Yaw is not related to Edward by blood, he feels he belongs with them due to them treating him as "one of their own".

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Sonny is affected by generational trauma in the chapter. Sonny didn't get to know his father and he has three kids he hardly knows. Willie also had to march just like him because they are both affected by segregation.

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He has generational trauma because of the scar he has on his face. He got the scar because his mom burnt down his hut when he was young, and it killed his 2 sisters. they tried to banish his mom but she was able to stay to feed yaw but she is a outcast and he left her to go to school. He has trauma because the scar reminds him of his mom he left and his sisters that died, and he thinks it makes him ugly and girls dont like him.

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This question applies to Yaw's chapter because he was born with a scar that made the people around his disgusted. This scar acted as a cage to his relationships because when he tried to make friends or get a girlfriend their only reason they said no was because he had the scar. The scar also kept him trapped to his mother because she was the one to give him the scar so no matter how much he wanted to forget her, he was reminded of her by the scar.

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Yaw has a scar on his face from when his mother set fire to his hut. It is the first thing people notice about him and it is the first thing he asks his classes about on each first day. He asks them how he got this scar and they come up with stories they think are true or what they have heard. Yaw also has no true family, his siblings are dead, no father, and his mom is claimed to be crazy. He doesnt seem to belong anywhere besides with his best friend Edward, but Edward slowly starts to un welcome Yaw. Yaw goes to see his mother and see the place where he came from, and yet he still doesnt feel like he belongs.

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In this chapter we see loyalty being defined as staying by a loved one's side through anything. Sonny's mother displays this as even after she admits her son is a junkie, deadbeat father, and sometimes dangerous she will always stand by him. She always helped with the children, always gave him money, and a place to eat if necessary. While his sister is rude and standoffish to him his mother welcomes him with open loving arms as she always had. -El

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Generational Trauma pertains to this chapter a lot because Yaw's entire life has been affected due to his mother's doing; when she burned her family's hut while the children were still in it. Due to this action Yaw survives however has to carry a large burden of having a big scare on the side of his face. This makes Yaw's life more challenging because he can't find a wife and everyone looks at him differently.

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Sonny displays loyalty by not taking the money his mother gave him and buying drugs. Loyalty is being there when one is needed which is exactly what Sonny did in the excerpt. Sonny broke the cycle of disloyalty that his father had instilled in him by staying with his family.
-Jackie