69 pages • 2 hours read
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
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Symbols & Motifs
Rebellion
Content Warning: This section contains graphic depictions of enslavement, including violence, sexual assault, and death associated with slavery. The source material contains frequent use of racial slurs and racist language, which are reproduced in this guide only through quoted material.
Rebellion is a constant topic in Roots, forming a motif representing the intolerable nature of oppression. In Juffure, the Mandinka speak frequently of Sundiata, a formerly enslaved African man who became a general, overthrowing an oppressive king. The narrative of Sundiata is repeated in different forms across the novel, as the American colonists, led by George Washington, overthrow British rule, and Toussaint, in Haiti, overthrows French colonialism. In each case, the narrative is one of an unlikely success, with George Washington facing an army much larger than his own, Toussaint rallying the Black people of Haiti against their rulers, and Sundiata unifying the region against a tyrant. However, this motif of rebellion includes the multiple failed rebels, like Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner, whose efforts, though unsuccessful, carry the same message of resistance to oppression and hope in dire circumstances.
Discussions of overthrowing, rebelling, and liberating convey a running idea of freedom at any cost. Critically, the leaders of many of the Black revolts in America are free Black men, who put their lives at risk to help their enslaved community. For the Kinte family, these words inspire hope that slavery will end, even if characters like Ashford doubt the efficacy of such attempts. The premise of this motif is more that such stories of liberation are inspiring, and they maintain hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, rather than that every rebellion is a success.
Sasso Borro or “High Yaller”
The light skin tones Kunta calls sasso borro, and which Black Americans call “high yaller,” refers to the “mixing” of races that is presumed to occur only when white men sexually assault Black women. Given the dynamics in power of the time, there is no situation in which a white man and Black woman could be on the kind of even distribution of power to mutually consent to sexual activity, which makes sasso borro children a direct representation of sexual exploitation and violence. In Juffure, before Kunta is kidnapped, a woman requests the advice of the elders on how to handle her sasso borro child, as it is commonly acknowledged that the child is the result of interracial sexual violence, and Kunta is unsure of how to feel about the woman. In America, Kunta encounters more sasso borro people, like Fiddler, and comes to understand them as people, rather than as symbols of violence.
Nonetheless, Kunta is elated that Kizzy is entirely Black, and George is later forced to reconcile his own skin color, as he is the product of the sexual violence perpetrated by Lea. George struggles to accept Lea as a father, and he is ultimately betrayed as Lea avoids freeing George, likely because he wants to retain what little family he has left. Later in the novel, Tom rejects Elizabeth’s suitor because of his light skin, showing how discrimination among the Black community against those with multiracial backgrounds persists even after slavery ends. While Tom rejects Elizabeth’s suitor, he marries Irene, who is also multiracial, but Irene is both Black and Native American, reflecting how the balance of power between races plays into the perception of violence.
Ko and Kamby Bolongo
The various Mandinka words that Kunta relates to Kizzy on their wagon rides take on a life of their own as the novel progresses. In Africa, Kunta regularly uses Mandinka words, referencing people like griots, marabouts, and arafangs, which become seemingly irrelevant once he arrives in America. Nonetheless, he sees the connections between people like Fiddler, who is reminiscent of a griot, and the preachers, who are almost literally marabouts, or holy men. These terms, then, carry a weight past their African origins and into the ongoing journey of the Kinte family. While the generations after Kunta forget most of the words, and many, like “Kamby Bolongo” have mistaken meanings, they are still relevant in their ability to connect back to the family’s African heritage. Even the term toubob, which is only communicated to Kizzy in a moment of anger as Kunta reflects on his past, is more than just a Mandinka word for white people. Toubob, as a word, encompasses the entire violent endeavor of imperialism, illustrating the invasive presence of white people in West Africa, as well as the oppressive hierarchy of race and class maintained in America.
At the end of the novel, Haley meets with men who find his pronunciation of the terms ko and “Kamby Bolongo” interesting, as they have changed slightly with each generational separation from the initial language. The accuracy of the terms is not as important, in this case, as their meaning for the family history. The terms ko and “Kamby Bolongo,” then, encompass more so the intent of the oral history, as a means to keep a spirit of family tradition and heritage alive with each new generation.
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