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Aunt Sarah
Granny is one of Barack’s grandmothers and one of Onyango’s three wives. She’s a large woman with eyes that constantly sparkle, and she’s very affectionate with her grandchildren. Granny speaks very little English, so almost all of Barack’s conversations with her are conducted with the help of Auma or another family member as a translator. As a young and newly married woman, she raised the Old Man and Sarah after their biological mother, Akumu, ran away, but while the Old Man accepted Granny as his real mother, Sarah never did. Granny is beloved by her children and grandchildren; Auma talks about how much fun she had with Granny at Alego when she was a child. Granny is the one who tells Barack the story of Onyango and of the Old Man.
Granny Quotes in Dreams from My Father
The Dreams from My Father quotes below are all either spoken by Granny or refer to Granny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 19
Quotes
I knew that, as I had been listening to the story of our grandfather’s youth, I, too, had felt betrayed. My image of Onyango, faint as it was, had always been of an autocratic man—a cruel man, perhaps. But I had also imagined him an independent man, a man of his people, opposed to white rule. [...] What Granny had told us scrambled that image completely, causing ugly words to flash across my mind. Uncle Tom. Collaborator. House nigger.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dreams from My Father LitChart as a printable PDF.
Granny Quotes in Dreams from My Father
The Dreams from My Father quotes below are all either spoken by Granny or refer to Granny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 19
Quotes
I knew that, as I had been listening to the story of our grandfather’s youth, I, too, had felt betrayed. My image of Onyango, faint as it was, had always been of an autocratic man—a cruel man, perhaps. But I had also imagined him an independent man, a man of his people, opposed to white rule. [...] What Granny had told us scrambled that image completely, causing ugly words to flash across my mind. Uncle Tom. Collaborator. House nigger.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
