Wild Seed

I needed (and still need) time to fully process this book. It is a simple tale, yet has so many layers and potential meanings. At its core, the story follows 300-something-year-old Anyanwu (meaning Sun). Anyanwu is everything feminine. Teacher, caretaker, birthing mother, healer. She has the ability to change and control every cell in her body. She is found by Doro, who is thousands of years older than Anyanwu, and cannot die. He is everything masculine. Leader, creator, warrior, killer, controller, dominant.
The story revolves around these two as their endless romance takes them from pre-colonial Africa to the Antebellum south. Doro loves and then drives Anyanwu away. Anyanwu loves Doro then despises him and runs. This endless dance resembles that of Yin and Yang, always separate, but the two need one another.

I can see how one could see how this book is just a tale of a toxic relationship–why, oh why, does Anyanwu continuously fall for Doro with him being so toxic–however, this book highlights so many topics.

Slavery and the slave trade: Highlights a tiny bit of what it would have been like on the slade ships and being taken from your kin. Being shouted at, hit, spit on, raped, tortured, etc. all by people you have never seen and don't understand their language. Your culture and your way of life completed disrespected and thrown away. Your community completely eviscerated in a moment's notice.

Masculinity and Feminity: What does it even mean to be masculine and to be feminine? In that sense, what does it even mean to be a man or to be a woman? Anyanwu and Doro can change their bodies and become men, women, those of different races, etc. Anyanwu can change her form at a moment's notice, even becoming different animals. Does Anyanwu having a male form make her any less of a woman? Is Doro's undeviating masculinity and Anyanwu's unwavering femininity healthy and always the best response?

Love Conquers All: Anyanwu loves deeply. Doro can't allow himself to love, as all will die and as has happened in the past, he may be the direct cause of that death. Anyanwu heals and loves Doro until he, himself, starts to love again. Although this is not a How-To guide to stay with those in our lives that are toxic, it does speak to the power of love and the ability to change the world through love.

Power and Differences of “Abilities”: The book also speaks to that of the differences between humans. Some in this book are strong people, however, they do not have powers like Anyanwu or Doro. Others have abilities, including the power to control wind, hear others' thoughts, and many others. The book focuses on the fact that most of those with power and abilities go bad and use their power incorrectly. Does power corrupt, and if so, does absolute power (like that of Doro) corrupt absolutely? What must one do to be like Isaac, Anyanwu's best husband and Doro's favorite son, who has power, looks, and is kind and incorruptible?

Along with Feminism (Anyanwu being a strong, complete woman who undermines Doro's patriarchal oppression), Racism, limitations of humanity, and ethics, this book is rich.

Honestly, it was hard for me to read at times. The text is filled with detail and is wonderful writing. However, there were many moments were this book forced me to look inward at my own relationships–or more aptly, the lack thereof. I empathized with Doro and Anyanwu, as they both were incredibly lonely. They needed and wanted people around them (and rather, each other), however because they were the only ones that would not die, they couldn't get what they wanted. As someone who has lived life wanting a relationship with a man and not being able to get that, I understood that and at times, this book pulled large, frustrating, painful emotions from me.