Trusting someone else can be complicated; however, truly trusting yourself is even harder. These concepts are demonstrated in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, August Wilson’s Fences, José Olivarez’ Citizen Illegal, and Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing. To become your own best ally, you must separate yourself from society’s standards, communicate effectively, and break generational curses.

One way to be your best ally is by separating yourself from society’s standards. In the book Homegoing, the character H follows a complicated trajectory. He’s mother was kidnapped right before his birth, and he was ripped from his dead mother’s womb and born into slavery. His life starts out with him experiencing the injustices in society. Later in his life, H is in a worker’s …show more content…
In the book Homegoing, multiple characters benefit from working well and communicating with other people. The character James is a good example of this. Right after meeting Akosua, he knows that he wants to marry her. He doesn’t wait for the opportunity to pass him up and tells her immediately that he “want[s] to marry [her]” after only knowing her for a few days (Gyasi 100). He doesn't try to evade his feelings for Aksoua, and he lets her know that he wants to marry her. When James is leaving Aksoua’s town, he makes sure that she knows that he “will come back for [her]” (Gyasi 100). This statement is a verbal contract that he made with her. A year later, James fakes his own death and lives a happy life with Akosua, ultimately fulfilling his verbal contract. Communication is not only done through words. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the Thane of Fife, Macduff, and the English army communicate effectively through the sound of a trumpet. In most wars, trumpets are used to announce an attack. This also applies to the English Army; they “make all [of their] trumpets speak” to announce the attack (Shakespeare 5.7.9–10). Blaring a trumpet note is the most effective way to communicate to the entire army that they are ready to attack. This communication created synchronization that brought the death of Macbeth and the survival of the English army, Malcolm, and Macduff. You can be your own …show more content…
In the play Fences by August Wilson, the character Cory is significantly impacted by his grandfather through his father, Troy. Troy and his father had a very complicated relationship during Troy’s upbringing. Troy said, “he was just as evil as could be” when referring to his late father (Wilson, 51). They never had a good relationship because of all the despicable things Troy’s dad did. This father-son relationship impacted the relationship between Troy and Cory. Troy wouldn’t let Cory live for himself, while Cory hated Troy for his decisions regarding Cory and his mother. When Troy died, Cory decided he was not going to go to Troy’s funeral. However, after the persuasiveness of his mother, Cory said, “we can go to Papa’s funeral” (Wilson 100). Cory attending his father’s funeral breaks an intergenerational curse of a son hating his father and hopefully changes future generational father-son relationships. Generational curses are also present in the book Homegoing. Esi’s generational line contains a generational curse containing water. When Esi is first enslaved, she wishes, “if they all cried in unison.they would be washed away in the Atlantic” (Gyasi 29), emphasizing the sadness surrounding the Atlantic Ocean and Esi’s enslavement. This sadness passed on to Marcus, Esi’s extended relative. Throughout his life, “Marcus didn’t care about water...it terrified him” (Gyasi 284). He missed out on many