Werenro, a fictional creation of Diamant’s, has a tremendous impact
on Dinah. Werenro is the first woman she has met who is not a wife
or mother, but instead she is a servant to her grandmother and a
symbol of the power of the matriarch of her family. Werenro’s exotic
red hair and position as messenger seem entirely foreign to Dinah,
and she cannot help but want to know more about this woman who wears
the pierced earring of a slave. Dinah imagines her as a wild, carefree
woman. Werenro says little to the family but beckons Dinah to sit
by her and smiles when she sees that Dinah enjoys her song. Dinah
makes a connection with Werenro through her song, empathizing with
the messenger’s loneliness at being far away from home. She also
begins to feel a stirring within her to see more of the world herself,
to see the things that Werenro has seen. Her connection to Werenro
is rekindled later in the novel when they meet again.
