The Ankle Bracelet: Symbol of Bondage and Failed Love in Cursed Daughters

What Is the Ankle Bracelet?

In Oyinkan Braithwaite’s poetry collection Cursed Daughters, the ankle bracelet is a physical object—a dainty gold chain with no pendant or locket—that Golden Boy gives to Monife as a token of affection. The bracelet first appears in chapter 42 (chapter IV of the narrative proper), where Monife describes it as “dainty” and “sparkl[ing]” when she twists her foot. Golden Boy fastens it around her ankle himself, a gesture that Monife experiences as deeply romantic: she feels “volts up and down her body” and later remembers the moment as one she will “dwell on for years to come.”

Yet the bracelet’s beauty and the tenderness of its giving are undercut by what it comes to represent. By the time Monife drowns herself in the Prologue, the chain has become a token of betrayal. The man who placed it there caused her “suffering,” and she hopes his heart will break. This stark reversal—from love gift to emblem of pain—establishes the ankle bracelet as a central symbol in the collection.

The Bracelet as a Token of Emotional Bondage

The ankle bracelet is not merely decoration; it visually echoes a shackle. Where a necklace or ring might gesture toward equality or partnership, an anklet—especially one placed on a woman by a man—implies possession. Golden Boy chooses an ankle bracelet, a piece worn close to the ground, suggesting he wants to keep Monife tethered. The chain’s placement on her ankle, a part of the body associated with movement and freedom, poignantly foreshadows her inability to escape her relationship.

Monife’s own language when she receives the gift betrays a loss of agency. She says, “I love it, thank you,” and describes the world stopping when Golden Boy says “I love you.” The moment is framed as a dreamlike surrender rather than a mutual exchange. Later evidence confirms that Golden Boy’s love proved destructive: Monife’s suicide note avoids thinking about him, but the wave that pulls her under is described as cold and joyless, a mirror of her emotional state. The bracelet, then, becomes a physical embodiment of the invisible chain Golden Boy wrapped around her heart.

Connection to the Falodun Family Curse

The ankle bracelet’s meaning deepens when read alongside the Falodun family curse. The curse, declared by the first wife in chapter 8, condemns the women of the line to “love in vain” and “pursue men” who will be “like water in their palms.” Monife is one of many Falodun women who endures romantic suffering. The bracelet is a concentrated symbol of that suffering: a beautiful gift that, like the love it represents, turns out to be hollow.

In chapter 39, a descendant named Yemisi recalls how her fiancé called off their wedding after a spiritual adviser warned he would die if he married her. She had missed the signs of his retreat, much as Monife later misses the signs that Golden Boy’s love is conditional. The ankle bracelet, given in a moment of apparent devotion, becomes another “sign” that the curse is at work—transforming a woman’s hope into a trap. By wearing it, Monife literally carries the curse’s weight on her body.

Recurrence and Shifting Meaning Across the Collection

The ankle bracelet itself appears only once in the narrative as a physical object, but its symbolic resonance recurs throughout the collection. The theme of objects that bind women to destructive relationships appears in other forms: in chapter 83, Eniiyi asks Zubby for something to “hold on to” and receives his leather bracelet, which she later buries at the base of an iroko tree. This action mimics the ankle bracelet’s function as a token of love that becomes a burden.

More critically, the ankle bracelet haunts the story indirectly. In the Epilogue, Eniiyi engages in an underwater battle with the curse, which she finally defeats, affirming that she alone “is the owner of her body.” That final victory can be read as a rejection of all symbolic chains, including the ankle bracelet. The curse required women to be bound—to men, to their love, to their past—and Eniiyi breaks that pattern. The ankle bracelet, though never dug up or returned, stands for everything she must shed.

Character Connections

Monife Falodun

Monife is the original wearer of the bracelet. Her tragedy—a suicide driven by heartbreak—casts the bracelet in light of despair. She receives it with joy but dies with the hope that Golden Boy’s heart will break. The bracelet thus traces the arc of her relationship from idealization to destruction.

Ebun Falodun

Ebun, Monife’s cousin, witnesses the aftermath. At Monife’s funeral in chapter 1, Ebun thinks love is what killed her cousin. She later becomes fiercely protective of her own daughter, Eniiyi, fearing the curse will repeat. Ebun never wears the bracelet, but she carries its meaning in her refusal to let Eniiyi repeat Monife’s mistakes—a refusal that itself creates conflict.

Eniiyi Falodun

Eniiyi, often mistaken for a reincarnation of Monife, struggles with her identity. In chapter 101, she cuts off her hair and buries Zubby’s bracelet, a deliberate echo of the ankle bracelet’s power. When she later defeats the curse in the Epilogue, she reclaims her body as her own, symbolically breaking the chain that the ankle bracelet represented.

Golden Boy

The unnamed man known only as “Golden Boy” is the giver of the bracelet. His name suggests idealization, but his actions reveal him to be a source of pain. He gives the bracelet as a claim of love, yet Monife dies believing he caused her suffering. He represents the men in the curse’s cycle who offer affection only to withdraw it.

Theme Intersections

The ankle bracelet weaves through several key themes:

• Generational Trauma: The bracelet is a physical link to the curse passed down through daughters. Every Falodun woman who suffers in love carries her own version of this chain.
• Reincarnation and Identity: Because Eniiyi is seen as Monife’s reincarnation, the bracelet’s symbolism threatens to define her. Eniiyi must confront whether she is compelled to repeat Monife’s fate.
• Mother-Daughter Conflict: Ebun’s secrecy about the curse and about Golden Boy pushes Eniiyi toward dangerous choices. The bracelet represents the hidden knowledge that mothers try to protect daughters from, but which daughters must uncover to be free.
• Autonomy Versus Superstition: The bracelet is a gift of love, but it becomes a tool of superstition—a visible mark of the curse. Eniiyi’s final victory is a triumph of autonomy over the belief that she is fated to suffer.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Golden Boy choose an ankle bracelet rather than a necklace or ring?

Golden Boy chooses an anklet because it is intimate and unusual. It suggests a desire to mark Monife in a way that is both private (hidden under clothing) and physically confining (on her ankle). Unlike a ring, which traditionally symbolizes mutual commitment, an anklet can imply ownership. The choice aligns with the curse’s pattern: men offer beautiful objects that ultimately bind the women who receive them. Golden Boy’s line, “I thought it would be your jam,” reveals he believes he knows what she wants, but the bracelet becomes a symbol of his control over her emotions.

2. How does the ankle bracelet connect Monife’s drowning to the Falodun curse?

The drowning is the culmination of Monife’s despair, and the bracelet is the last gift she receives from the man who caused that despair. In the Prologue, Monife hopes Golden Boy’s heart will break—a wish that mirrors the curse’s declaration that Falodun women will “love in vain.” The bracelet, as a token of a love that failed, becomes a physical manifestation of the curse’s grip. It keeps her anchored to a relationship that destroyed her, much as the curse keeps the Falodun women trapped in cycles of betrayal.

3. What role does the ankle bracelet play in the theme of reincarnation?

The ankle bracelet does not physically return in Eniiyi’s story, but its symbolic weight does. Eniiyi’s relationship with Zubby mirrors Monife’s: she asks him for a token (his leather bracelet) and later buries it when she doubts their future. The buried bracelet is a deliberate echo of the ankle bracelet’s function as a charm that binds. Eniiyi’s eventual rejection of the curse—affirming she owns her own body—can be read as her refusal to wear the ankle bracelet, even symbolically. She breaks the cycle that Monife could not.

4. How does the bracelet’s meaning change from the moment of its gift to the end of the collection?

When Golden Boy places the bracelet on Monife’s ankle, it means love, devotion, and a future. Monife treasures it as proof of his feelings. After her suicide, the bracelet comes to represent betrayal, emotional bondage, and the destructive power of the curse. By the Epilogue, when Eniiyi defeats the curse, the bracelet is implicitly replaced by Eniiyi’s own autonomy: she no longer needs any token because she is the owner of her body. The object’s meaning thus shifts from romantic idealization to tragic evidence to a symbol overcome.

Conclusion

The ankle bracelet in Cursed Daughters is far more than a piece of jewelry. It is a concentrated image of the curse’s mechanism: a beautiful, intimate gift that eventually tightens around the wearer’s freedom. Through Monife’s joy and despair, through Ebun’s fear, and through Eniiyi’s liberation, the bracelet traces the arc of the Falodun women’s struggle against a destiny that binds them. The final Epilogue, in which Eniiyi declares her body her own, signals that the chain of the curse—and the bracelet that represents it—can be broken. For readers, the ankle bracelet remains a haunting reminder that love, when poisoned by the curse, becomes a shackle.

To explore further, consider the Falodun family tree, the theme of reincarnation and identity, or the character studies of Monife Falodun, Eniiyi Falodun, and Ebun Falodun.