Symbol: Mercedes-Benz
The absurdity of Western society is demonstrated in one timely symbol. Sissie comes from a rural village community in Ghana, which means that she is not used to seeing lavish (perhaps vulgar) demonstrations of wealth, but when she arrives for her scholarship program in Germany, she rides in a Mercedes-Benz and suddenly she realizes that life for the wealthy in an established nation is a kind of luxurious heaven. It strikes her with the full weight of existential absurdity.
Symbol: Plums
Sissie falls in love with the Bavarian plums, which are symbols of eroticism, sexuality, femininity, youth, and beauty. Aidoo writes that the plums possess things Sissie possesses for a time: "Youthfulness / Peace of mind / Feeling free: / Knowing you are a rare article, / Being / Loved" (40).
Motif: Eating
Aidoo uses food and eating as a motif in order to explore the differences between Europe and Africa and to limn Sissie's character. Sissie finds Europe's food cold and "tasteless" (90)—and its weather cold and hostile—which she contrasts with Africa. But she is, however, intrigued by its fruit, which Aidoo uses as a way to convey Sissie's sensuality and vibrancy and to contrast her with the sterile women of Germany.
Motif: Cold
Aidoo uses cold as a motif in the text to distinguish Europe from Africa and to ultimately conclude that Europe is a sterile, hostile, and bland place. She says she's been to "a cold strange land where dogs and cats eat better than many children" (99), cannot understand why people in Europe eat cold food, and decides that "it had something to do with white skins, corn-silk hair, and very cold weather" (68). London in particular is freezing, and Africans huddle in a "single cold room by a / Paraffin lamp, / Covering its / Nakedness and / Disappointed hopes" (88).
Symbol: Clothing
Clothing is often a symbol of a person's class, status, culture, and/or personality, and when Sissie gets to London and observes the clothing African men and women are wearing, she realizes that their garb is indicative of their diminished stature. Yet, with the colors and layers the women wear they still maintain an air of beauty and power, and the clothes would make people of any other color look "ridiculously pathetic" (89). Clothing can symbolize much, but not everything.
