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English Literature Study Guide
English Literature Study Guide
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Acknowledgements
The publisher and authors would like to t hank the follov.ing f'or
pennJ1i$iOn to use photographs and other copyright 01aterfal:
• On Your Marks activit,es prov·de sample All the texts used fo, analysis or as examples of specific
exa11 nat' en-style snort-answer and essay-type points are drawn from the :1st p•escrlbed for the two
qJestions, with example candidate a1swers and syllaousescoverirg the eodre pe·iod from 2018 to 2027.
feedback fro11 an exal"11ner to show wrere a1swers Please note that one of the poetry questions and one
could be improved. These activities w I build of the st-ort swry questions on Paper 2 will Invite you
your urdersrandlng, s'<ill evel ond confidence in to write aoout two texts of your cho:ce. Be careful
answering examinatiol' questions. to crcose only texts that are on the syllabus you are
• Printable glossary of a the key terms II' the book studying. To guide you, we have listed tr.e texts for
each syllabus at tre back of tnis Study Guide.
This Jnique combinatior, of focused sy' abus cor,ient
and irteractlve examil'ation p•act:ce •Nill prov·de you
with l1valuable sJppcrt io neP you reach your full
pote1rla1In CSEc· Englls'i s. Access your support website
at www.oxfordsecondary.
As you wo•k through the d'fferent sect ons, you w· com/9780198413950
acquire the s~ills you need Ir o•de• to appreciate
Where did drama
come from?
. e a roup of hunters arriving S cena rio 2. There has been no rain, a nd it's
Scenario 1. Imagm . gtl •mal rhev have
borne, prou di) c
' arr)•mg ,e am •
t •II the women and
: e for p lantmg, so the chief calls on the tribe's
,..ll Thev want to e aman to discuss the p roblem, That . h
manage d to "-1 • • : • stalked and attacked , th' mo · nig t,as
e on rises, the whole tribe gathers a nd tll'
children how brave\~ tlf, ey ht b•ck So what do s h aman leads th · e
mebeast ou g • · . em u1 a re-enacunent of their
how fierce l)' .
do)Thev act ,t out. • 1 :\.od as t1,ey sit around
,. ACTIVITY I
Imagine you are putrlrg on a play at sc'1ool.
• Make a list of all the peop,e you will have to thank ar the end of the performance: the playwright, the lighting
crew ... Complete this Iist.
• \-Vhat wil you need for the production?Think aoout costumes, o•ops ard scenery. Vo/ill yo·J need dressmakers?
Painters? Carpenters?
• vV~o will you lnfo•m about the pla)', and how?
• vVi I you need a treasJrer, tickets and programmes?
Create lists of all the tnlngs you will 1eed to o·ganise a performance.
We can think o' a play as a rite of passage for trecharacters 01 stage -and
for the audience too. Just ll~e the dance of the shaman, a p.ay depictswhat
life was like before ard after a lle-changirg exoerience. Before tne rains,
tre tribe was sad and hungry, but after che rains arid tre crops sprang up, ·1
was joyful and tnankful. In 1i-Jean and His Brothers by Dere< vValcott. we are
presented with av./ dow ard rer three sons, who have to confront the crue,ty
and injustice of the plantafon society. The woman's sens are destir.ed to be ACTIVITY
·eaten'by the Planter (tne Devil). The awakening O' life-ct,ang:ng experience
occurs when 11-Jean outw.ts the Planter-Oev·1, asserting his own humanity Tnink about the r tuals performed
and ris rig1t to a future. Twelfrh Nlghr by Shakespeare presents four people in your community: when a
for whom haopiness seem unreachable. There is the love-sick Orsino, the baby is born, when a couple get
mournful OF via and the shipwrecked ~Nins Viola and Sebastian. Tne twins are married, when someone joins a
separated by the Storm ard believe each other perished.Viola disguises he·se f church. when someone graduates
as a boy, bJt then falls n love with her master (Orsino) and cannot express it. from college or when someone
Tre play moves through various situations of mistaken identity unrl they have dies.
a doubleweddingl Their rite of passage took them from pretence to sincerity, • \A/hlch cf these ntua shave you
from loneli~ess to joyful relatjor,ship. In The Tempesr. Prospero uses magic to experienced?
bring characters to the ·sland ard facilitates tre processo'juStlce which brings
• O'd the ceremony create a
the perpetrators to mercy.This experierce a lovvs Prospero to transcend his
sense of performance?
circumstance and eventually he is l'berated and ga·ns his rite of passage to
Mi.an, w'th the removal of magic. In Anonsiby AliSta r Ca,npbell, a female s'ave • O'd the ceremo~y reflect
1s bo-nbarded by ve·y dehumanis:ng c·rcumStances on tne slave ship. Her tre emotions of the
hope for survival is ignited by anot'ner slave woman wro te:ls empowe·ing partic,pants?
tales of Anansi and by the re-awakening of rer cu tural identity. Desp ,e the • o:d the ceremo~y provide a
squalor and death, she is able ro rise above the ordeal with a nev~ perspective spectacle?
trar gives her the rite of passage to tne 1,ew ~Vo rid, even as a slave g·r1.
How to study drama
The Important thi rg to remember when you are studyirg d·a 11a Is that a
LEARNING OUTCOMES
play is designed to be performed, not only to be read. Your job, then, when
In this section you wi : reading ire script is to recognise that you have a twin role: you are the
director ard also a member of the audience. You need to ccnsta1tly use
• u1derstand that study' ng a play your imagination to develop a mental image of vvl°'at is happenirg on tt>e
lrvo ves using your Imag, 1at,on stage - and It is you who will decide how and where the actors move, and
to v sua se it in performance how they speak. You will also discover that you respord emotionally to
• d scover that you are the the action, just as yoJ do wnen yoJ are watching a movie. So put or your
audience director's cap, sit down in your director's chair and let's roll!
• Imagine you are t1e p ay's
drecto'. What are stage directions fo r?
To help yoJ stage the play. the p aywr' ght supplies stoge direcrions. These
are usually printed in italics. Tney Indicate how the stage should be set
up (scenery) and how ,he characters should be d·essed (costvmes). They
describe tre stage furniture needed (orops) and where the characters are
to come on (enter) and go off (exit/exeunt). Finally, they Indicate
what kind of sovnd effects and lighting effects the play requires -
bright o· dim, a spotlight on one particular individual or group,
and so 01.
You will notice that n addit on to instruct'ons at the oeginning
of the play, there are stage directions throJghout the play.Their
purpose is to tell ihe actors when and how to move, and how
to say their lines; they also guide the stage crew, the lighting
crew and tne soJnd crew to know when they must move the
scenery or stage furniture. when tney must change the lighting
effects en ire srage, and when they must create particular
sound effects. It takes a whole team of people to produce a
play - and ,he result is a co'l'lmunity experience. not a private
co...rus1on ensues wltho... t proper dlfectlon one like reading a novel.
Modern plays usually have very detailed stage directions, but
Shakespeare's piays have few. Read carefully, trough, and you wil discover
that Shakespeare often Indicated a new actior (someone draw·ng his
sword, the comi 19 of morning, ,he abating of a SlO'm) by naving the
characte·s describe those events - but these references se,ve the same
purpose as stage directions.
Scenery
ACTIVITY
Pay attention to the scenery that Is used in a p!ay and any changes in the
From a play you are study;ng, find setting. Ask yourself: are any contrasting experiences suggested? If so,
examples of stage direct ons that how has that bee1 achieved? As an example. think about the poverty•
guide: st•ic,{en hut belonging to the Mother and her sons In TI-Jeon and /'/Is
Brothers. Realistically presented, Ir can suggest the pathos of their situation.
• the director
In contrast, the foreSl, home io talking creatures 'n b•ight costumes but
• the actors also to Paoa Bo's, svggests to us a space of danger and also of magical
• the stage crew. posslbil'ty. In Anons/, the harsh scenes of the slave ship are tempered with
the scenes of ,he fairy tale forest, where the character Anansi is allowed
to playvlny tricks on other characters. while asserting himself amorg
powerful creatures. \l•/ith this dramatic strategy, Campbell gives tne •• • •
audience a rel'effrcm the serioJs issues explored on board the slave snip. Did you krow that scerery
INhat effect de those changes i1 scene have on the audience? a'1d co»Jmes can be 'ealistlc
or sy'Tibol'c? In Ti-Jean and His
Costumes and props 8r9thers, which costumes are
Costumes and props both have a great visual impact on the audience, so be rea ,stlc, and wrlcn are symbo' c?
aware of them a1 all times. Imagine that you are responsible for the props \.Yh,ch of the charaaers In The
and costumes in a performance. and 'llake a I st of wnat is needed for each Tempest could wear real stlc
scene. For example, in 71-Jeon and His Brothers we'll need two crosses fo· the costumes, and wh·ch would
brothers'graves, an axe fo· G'OS·Jean 10 carry, a f shing net and a bock for require symoollc ores? 1Nhat effect
Ml-Jean, suitable costumes fo· the Frog, the Cricket ard tne Bird, as well as rnlght ths m·x·1g o' rea sm and
fo· the Bo'om and the devils. For Twelfth N;ghr ye!!ow stockings and cross· symoollsm have or the audience?
garters will be needed for Malvol'o, ard a pcned tree for the pranksters to
hide be"lind. Fo' The Tempest we'll have io get a cloak. books and staff for
Prospero to highlight his use of magic; and swords for Sebast al", Stepharo,
r<irg A cnso and Ferdinand. For Anansi, the scenes on board the slave ship
will reed a fiag. ship bell. ship mask and various shackles for the slaves. For ACTIVITY
the fo·est sce1es. tall plants, Images of animals beh'nd painted shrubs and
logs. As you study your play, th.nkabout how the props a1d the cosiumes • Think of two contrasting scenes
co11mu1icate a wodd of Information and emotion to the audience. n a play you are studying.
Sketch the stage settings you
Action and dialogue maglne you w,I need to give to
the cast and crew for direction.
There's also the action ard the dialogue to co1sider. You ~now what
action is from action-filled moves. Some scenes in a p'ay wil rave a great • Think of a prodJct on you have
deal of action and others wil l be less energetic. Notce when rhe dialogue watcned or participated in.
s full of rapid lr tercranges betweer characters. and when it slows dowr How did ire costumes, sce1ery
and the characcers seem to be more reflective. Moments ·Nl-,en the devi Is and props evoke rhe sett ng
appear in Tr-Jean and His Broihers are very dramatic, accompanied by of the play, ard how was that
lightnl l"g fiasnes, drum rolls al"d smoke. Also, the Bo om moves aroJnd altered between scenes to
,n a lively manner. somersaulting around the b'others and their Mother. create a certa r mood O' sense
Co1versely, some moments in t'1e play have less movement and are of tension?
reserved for quiet conversation.
, Select one scere from rhe play
you are study,ng, and list or
lighting and sound
sketch ,re props and costumes
Notice al the stage directions that indicate a change in the ligl-ting or needed. What effect do yoJ
the need for a part'cular soul"d effect. A novel will not give you the same want trese to have on the
direct experierce thai theatre can provide. audience?
Characters
There canoe no story witnout characters. These cliaracters w; I have
different perso1alit•es, confi ieting opinions, opposing motives, values and
altitudes. Notice what each character does ard says, and pay attenticn to
what otner charac1ers have to say about ihe--n. Bearing all these points in
m·nd, and as part cf your revisio'1, you should write a srort characte· study
of each of the characters in the play you are studying.
Contrasting characters
Because people are different, there will almost certainly be characters
in your play that stand In contrast to each other. In Twelfrh Nighr,
both Viola and Olivia have'lost'a brotherbvt while Olivia goes into
prolonged mourning, Viola courageously makes the decision to
Jeweders some~mes out a thir disguise herself as a boy and seek employment. Oll11ia resorts to
layero'pol'sred meta' unde, a posturing, while Viola is resourceful and practical. In Ti-Jeon and His
gemstone in order to give it 'nore Bro1ilers, the three brothers are very different: Gros-Jean depends on
br"lllarice. Tre metal Is called a foil. his physical strength and Mi-Jean relies on his learning. In contrast
A contrastlrg character sriows n -Jean humbly draws on the wisdom. folth and splritvallty learnt from
up the charaC<eristlcs of tne his mother to claim victory. In The Tempest. both Ariel and Caliban are
protagonist: he 's a foll for the mythical servants of Prospero bvt they are sharply contrasted. Arlel is
protagon'st. a natural. fairy-like spirit that is obedient and dedicated to his master's
commands. Contr.istingly, Caliban takes the form of a crude monster
that is rude and unwilling to serve Prospero. In Anans,. the Captain
and the boy represent the slave masters, but despite this they have
diffetenl perspectives on slaves. The boy is empathic and sensitive,
while the father is dogmatic and detached. We sympathise with rhe
slaves through the boy's innocent eyes
Different language for different characters
Themes
How do we sense conflict?
The t~emes of a play a·e the main Issues tl-,at are raised - usually the ·ssues
You come l1ome from school
that cause the conflicts w thin and between the cnaracters.
and you sense tha1 something
The t~e-nes of each play are different, but the quic~est way to Identify ,s wrong: Mum 1s annoyed and
them is re focus on the conflicts. VVnat causes fr'ction between characters? your sister is sulking. I low do you
The cause cf the friction will oe one of the themes. know there 1s tension? Sometimes
you know there's a problem from
Conflict the actual words they are using,
but sometimes you sense ,t 1n
In a p1ay (as in rea' life) you car expect to come across conflicts and 1heir body langudge, or i1 , lheir
tensions. Trese conflicts are sometimes between rNo characters, tone of voice Your 'riend seems
sometimes between a character and society, and sometimes within tre particularly quiet and avoids
mnd of tne character. company. so you sense tha1 he
is struggling with something -
some conflicL In his own mi1\d.
ACTIVITY
Expect the characters in a play
Map the conflicts in two plays you riave studied, showing which 10 be expenenclng connicts,
cl->aracters a·e opposed to each ctrer. a1d why. but remember lhal they may
communicate thal conflict co us
• Are the conflicts tne same ' n the two plays? by using a subtle tone of voice or
• Are the tnemes the same? by body language, as well as by
The points of confi'ct wll, tell you the Issues or themes that tne o-ay open quarrelling or even fighting.
raises. As in real life, look for signs In 1he
performance style and language
used by the charaaers.
Irony
Often we p!an fo; ore thing or anticipate a part'cula• outcome, and the
opposite happens. That is irony. Somet'mes we (the aud'ence) know
something that a character on the stage is unaware of, so we are able to KEY POINTS
smile (or maybe wircei at his lack cf krow edge: this is an example of
irony. Irony is often used in drama: make a note oftne main examples cf Tbe issues t1at cause conflict
among tre charac;ers wlll ead
dram atic irony In your play.
you to the tiemes o' the play
Suspense
The playwright uses many devices to create tension In order to make ACTIVITY
the audience wonder how a s tuation will ever be resolved.This is called
building susper,se. and It's a technique employed to create a sense of Ident fy two po:ms of conflict in
excitement ard anticipation in the play. Ooserve and note how tbe ar.ctber play you have studied. Say
p1aywright crea,es suspense by withholding info·mation or by allowing what themes and issues are raised
things re descend into chaos and presenting us and the characters with a tnrough these conflicts.
solution 01ly at the very last moment.
Ti-Jean and His Brothers -
introduction
The plot
•• • •
Oeuvre Is a French wo·d mea>1lng
As soon as the curtain goes up on tre play Tl·Jeonand his Brorhers, we
'body of work·, t Is used to realise ,!-,at we are in the realm of magical realism: animals talk and the
describe the oJtput of a writer, Devil himself appears on stage with his servants. The pier follows tne
composer or artist. patter'l of folk tale - in a familiar storyline, three brotre·s are given a rask
to perform, ar.d the youngest a>1d weakest succeeds where his brothers
fail. Y./alcott uses this folk-tale panern, ,hough, to reflect on the Caribbea1
experience of exploitation under colonial rule.
A poverty•stric<en widow lives with rer 1hree sons, Gros-Jean, Mi-Jean and
Ti-Jean, in a hut in the fo,est. The supernarural invades tbe:r life when the
Bolorn (an abo11ed foetus, now rhe servanr of the Devil) comes to their
nui with a chalierge. The Belem says ,bat if 01e of the boys can cause
the Devil to feel human emotions, then the family will be showered with
gold and never want again, but should he fall ard lose co1rro of his own
emotions, he will beco.me supper for rre Devil.
One oy one the boys accept rre challenge. Each In turn is required to
deal wit,~ a feisty goat. to collecrfirefl'es, and to count a!I the leaves In the
sugar cane fields. Gros-Jean depends on his physical strength to march the
Devil (now in ,he form of a Planter). but eventually is frustrated and loses
h s temper. The Devil eats him fo• supper. Mi-Jean, a half-baked academic,
decides that he will vln the contest by remainlrg silent, but when he,
,rACTIVITY
too, is frustrated by ire impossibil'ty o' the tas~s, re car remain silent no
longer, loses co.1trol of h;s emotions and in turn becomes supper for tne Find Derek vValcon·s Nebel
Devit Lecture 01 the web and listen
1Nnen Tl-Jean's turn comes, he re, es neither on h:s physical strength nor to 't .
on his Intellectual gifts, but draws on his mother's wisdom and prayers,
and humb'y turns to the creatures cf the forest to assist him. V,/here the
arrogance cf his brothers led t1em to failure, Ti-Jean's humili ty and respect
for otners leads him to triumph. He castrates tre goat and makes himself a
curry, and he urges the workers in the cane fields ,c bJrn down the canes
so that there is ro need to court t~e:r leaves. Of coJrse, the Devil (Planter)
Is furious and loses the contest. revealing his deeply racist attitudes In the
p·ocess:"yoJ ll tte nowhere nigger! ... YoJ're dirt, and that's where yoJ'I
be when I'm finished wit'l you."
However, the Devil Is re' uctant to honour his agreement. It ta~es the
intervention of the Bolom to ensure t"lat Ti-Jean 1s given the shower of
gold. Of course. the Devil never plays fair: he does indeed allow the Bo'om
to live and Ti-Jean rece·ves the gold but at a price, as In the hut his beloved
mctner lies dead.
The co1frontaticn depicted in this play between the brothers and the
Devil ls a parable about s avery and colonisatio,, revolution and resistance
In the Caribbean.
A oe,lormaoce of ))Jeon one His Sro,.ieis staged by W,or.ke, ~•.oumaln In 20; Sat the Little Carib Thear,e.
The Chorus and conflict
ACTIVITY
Props
In order to create a solemn effect. there need to be two crosses to mark
The graves of Mi-Jean and Gros-Jean. A cloven foot and Tail will be needed
for Papa Bois - and these tell us that he is evil while also providirg humour
asTi-Jean tries to unmask ,re o'd devil. The Devil/P1anter's mask is an
important prop, suggesting how evi1the plantation system was.
Lighting
Depending on the resources cf tne company staging the play, there is
sccpe for creative use of ligrting effects. Fer instarce. the stage directions
require ab Je light to mark out the Bo'om as he rol s around the hi.It,
while a white light p·cks ou, the Mother as she prays fervertly fer Ti-Jean.
Lightning flashes accompany actions oftre devils, and the lurid fiames of
Hell are suggested by red lighting behind the two brothers enduring their
eternal punishment.
/ ACTIVITY I
Identify ether props that w i be required fo• a performance of this
o' ay. V,jhat is the effect that each will have en the audience?
Sound, language
and humour
Language
Vvalcott explores a broad language spectrum in ,r·s play. Much of the play
Is written in rnythmic, unrrymed poetic form that soJnds Iike chanting
when performed. Here is an examp e of that lyrical unr'lymed poetry:
Due to the fuct that Mi-Jean has studied a lot but learnt only a little, he • Find examp•es In the play
s given language that is full of clever words that he so.11etimes uses of suoerstitious be efs a11d
incorrectly: ' INnen you an•madvertemly imbue mere animals with an practices that are prevalent In
animus or sovl .. .'.However.when Ml-Jean ·s caught off-guard, he reverts the Caribbean. For example,
to h's everyday language: 'Oh, shut up, yow can't hear two peop1e talk'ng?' when the So om comes to
the hut, Gros-Jean suggests
Similarly. the Devil is capab1e of speaKing like a learned academic, but he
that triey'L re the step with
can also desce'ld to vulgarity:
fi11e sand to keep the evil out':
'I've been watching yo:.i, you little nowhere nigger! You little squirt ... and he ard Mi-Jean hold their
You're dirtl" ~11gers to make the s·gn of
the cross to keep the evil sp rit
away. Make a list of examples.
Humour
• The l\obe' Prize committee
Deso'te Its serious tremes, rhe play Is fu1of humour. Here are so-ne pra,sed Walcott's work for its
examples: "multicultural comm'tment".
• Puns: Mi-Jean is: Flr,d examp.es of tnis in tne
play. For example, you can lls;
'Always forgetting the ba t, examples of Afr'can-Amer:can
So between de bait and debate" songs, Caribbean folklore,
aspects of Greek tragedy,
• A mock-heroic tone when the drums and quatro str' ke up a military air Biblical references, universal
to accompany MI-Jea1's'march' across the stage. folk ta es, allusion to European
• s·ruatioral humour Ir TI-Jea,s producing the ·goat seed' and announces I terature, tne historical context
that he has enjoyed the goat curry. of sugar p'antat'ons In the West
• M·-Jean's shift from pompous legal lar,guage to an angr\' outburst when r.d,es, paio.s ard Standard
he Is finally frust·ared by the goat's blea,irg. He shifts from "Exaggerated Englisli. etc.
hypothesis! Unsubstantiated!'to 'On, snut yoJ damn moJth, both o'all you'.'
• Farce: Gros-Jean and rhen Mi-Jean chasing the goat.
• Bathos. Tre Devil recall s his glory days In Heaven:
'Oh, to hell with 11',at! You lose a job. you lose a job.'
Themes and symbols
• Countess Olivia deceives herself, posing like a nun and cling,ng to rer
love for her dead brother. She changes very quickly when Sebastia1
responds to her advances.
• Malvoro deceives himself into thinking tnat a Countess woJld actually
a' low herself to fal I in love with a servant (or ever that he Is a lovable
type of fellow!).
• Sir Ard·ew loses a lot of money and ga;ns some head injuries when he
deceives himself Into thinkirg 0. via would loo.< twice at a fe low like
him. Also, he Is self-deceived when he thinks re is clever, and when he
t'links he can win a duel.
• Some critics even feel that Viola is deceived when she assumes t1'at
the way out of her problems migrt be to disguise 'lerself: certa'niy that
dec·sion leads to her experiencirg a great many problems.
• Some critics have suggested t1'at the •elationship between Sebast'an
a1d Antonio m'ght be homosexual In r,ature. If yoJ accept this
interpretation, then it seems that Sha~espeare considers this type of love
delusional, and offers heterosexual marriage as the enlightened way.
These characters are all fooFsh because they are victims of self-deception.
Others, tnough, are not self-deceived.
. .... ..
A popu ar theme in St>akespea•e·s
• Sebastian k,ows very well who he Is. Nevertheless, re Is willing to play
ccmed·es and sonnets is
along with Olivia's olans: mar'iage to a Countess is not a bad opt'on for
m1;1ability- the rot'or that
a man who has lost everything in a snipwreck!
everything ;5 suoject to cha1ge;
• Except for the possible mistake of taking the disguise.Vio•a is not youth gets o d, oeaury will fade, life
self-deceived. She does not lr.dulge In self-pity, bJt v/th skill ard gives way to deatn. As ,ne c cc~
resourcefulness she makes a life for herself after the shipwreck. is always ticKirg, we are advised
• s:rToby and Maria are not deceived.They ove fu'l, and are determined to 'seize ,re day' ard enjoy every
to have as -nuch of It (a cng with 'ca~es and ale') as ,hey can. They are moment before It is too late. Tre
certainly irresponsible, thoJgh. Latin phrase for ·seize the day· Is
• A'itonlo is deceived byCesario's disguise and believes he is speakng to carpe diem, and you will come
Sebastian, but ne is never se,f-deceived. He is generous and valiant - much across it in discussiors o' poetry
more a knight In shlnirg armour than Sr Ardrew car ever dream of be'ng. from Sf,akespeil"e's time.
Alore among the characters, the Clown shows wisdom although h:s
official job Is to play the foo!. His pithy comments and the content of his
sorgs show him to be fu!I of sound common sense. , ACTIVITY I
Key themes Consider how unhappy both
o r·v1a and Orsino are as the p ay
Different types of love beg ns. How do lfiola (as Cesario)
Love is the main focus in a I Si"akespeare's comedies. and in r,Neln:h Nighr, and Feste he,o in bringing
as elsewhere, he coks at different rypes of love. them tc their senses - ard to
rappiness?
• Love berween a man and a wo-nan is seen in tne relationships betvveen
Sebastian and Olivia, and between Orsino and Viola. (,'llotice that ti"ey
are roi able to achieve happ:ness 1.mt,I all posturing is set aside.)
• Tne love between Antonio and Sebast:an is the love o'frier,ds (althoJgh
some critics see ·r as more than t~is). On Ar,ton o's part, ,ove s>iows
itself in his generosity a'ld In his willingness to put himself in danger to
protect his friend - true friendship Indeed.
• The love that we see between Sir Tooy and Maria is yet another kind of
love - re particular romancing the·e, o·Jt we get a sense that they will
enjoy each otner and have a life filled with fun.
• Poor Malvollo Is 'sick of self-love; according to Olivia. He thinks he ·s in
love with the Countess, buc in truth he Is only In 'ove w,th himself and
the thoJght of promotion.
Self-knowledge
The cer,tral theme in the play is cne foolishness of self-deception and t,e
Importance cf self-knowledge. Supporting thac theme ·s t'1e corpediem
mot1f: the idea that ife. youth ard beauty are fleeting, so those who are
wise will 'seize the day' and e'ljoy what life offers.
Comedies ard tragedies bo1h start with a society that has imperfectlo1s.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Both types of play move to a crisis because of those Imperfections. The
In this section you wi I: big difference is that 1n comedy, a moment of awareness or recognition
comes in rime for the necessary changes to be made, whereas in tragedy
• consider rhe narure of cor-.edy rhat moment of awareress comes too late, so that tre play moves towards
• recognise dramatic irory ard ,rs d·saster.
comic ;;/feet
• recognise the connectior, Comedy Tragedy
~ {l
between sat re a1d cocnedy.
t2 ~
wro lived from 384BC to 322BC,
provided terms tnat we stl use
;o describe tre stages in comedy
or tragedy. Tre tragic fault in an
The characte,s Involved come
to a Moment of awa,eness
,~e protagonist comes
co a moment of a•Na<eness
Individual re called hamorria. and
tre c1 ucial mo-nent of recognition
or awareness he called anagnorisis.
A third term that Arisrot e gave They are wl'llng to chaoge. The a•Nareoess comes too late for
us Is per\oetaeia. wr:ch means so tragedy Is averted ar,d tragedy to be averted. and everrs
'reve·sa '. T'11s describes the way there Is a haopy erdlr,g. spiral towards ¢isaster
tre protagon,st's pla1s go wrong
ard produce tre oppos re resu t to That moment of awareness or'recognitlon'in Twelfth Night comes
wrat was Intended: fo, example, when Sebastian and Cesario (Viola) are seen tcget~er ard the
wren Macbeth mJrders DJnca'1 m·sunderstandlngs are all cleared up.
and seizes his thro1e, ,ttle does ne
• Comedy 1s about gaining self-knowledge and charg:ng CO'Jrse. Orsino,
krow tnat his action wll' 'ead to 'lis Oliv:a and Malvolio are all posturing, preter.ding, putting on ar act to
own terror-filled demise.
impress others. Orsino and Olivia will come to self-knowledge and be
cured cf their folly, but not Malvolio. ·" happy ending is only possible if
the fiawed peop,e are ab e and willing to change.
• An important aspec1of comedy in this play 1s the satire: laugh,er
intended to mock a fault in an indiv,dual or society. \.Vren we laugh
at Orsiro's love-sick behaviour, and when we rear Cesario's sarcastic
delivery of h's master's contrived speeches, we are laughing a, the
entire tradition of courtly love. V,/hen we laugh at Sir Andrew beirg so
cowardly, we are aware that the tradit:on of chivalry is being mocked.
The jo~es at Malvclio's expense are satir cal jibes at Puritans and the, r
hostile attitude to t~e theatre (Sha~espeare's life's work).
• Jokes, puns and malapropisms (words used incorrectly) make for much
of the laughter in Twelfth Night. This type of humour appea s to the more
intellectual In tre audience.
• Slapst ick co'nedy is seen In 1he duel, the dancing ard other antics of
ACTIVITY
Sir Andrew, as well as the·exorcism' performed by S"rTopas.This is a more
physical type of comedy, intended for the not-so-intellectual members • Discuss the fo' lowing: Are Maria
of the audience. and company tryirg to deceive
• Some characters are humo·ous in themselves. A foolish character like Malvolio when Maria forges the
s:r Andrew Is humorous in appearance, speech and behaviour. A merry etter? Or a•e tney using tnis
character like s· r Toby with his love of bawdy songs, ·cake and ale' is a subterfuge (this fiction) to lead
source of humour. Witty characte·s li'<e Maria. Viola and Feste are able him from folly to wisdom? Give
to delight us with their jokes. 1/l'e laugh at Sir Andrew and Sir Tooy; we reaso~s fer your answer.
laugh wirh Mar'a. Vio.a and Feste. • As a result cf mistaken Identity
• Music and songs make fo· a cheerful mood, as does t"le scenery of dve to Viola's disguise, tnere
stately homes and gardens. are many examples of dra,nat' c
• Marriages at ,he erd of the play are a standard ingredient of comedy: rony in the play. How many can
' ...ard they Iived happily ever after.' you firid?
Dramatic irony
One of the key sources of humour in th's play is dramatic irony. Oue to the
fact tnatViola is wearing a d:sgu:se, there are many instances in the play
••••
when the audience knows something of which a cnaracter on stage is ~Vnen a playwnght uses humour,
1gnora11. Wbe1 Orsino talks about Cesa•io's lips being "s'nooth and rubious' irony D' exaggeration In order
and admires the pageboy's high-pitched vo1ce, we know something tl'-at to rid cule stupidity or vices In
Orsino doesn't know - and we laugh.Ti'at is dramatic irony: he has said indiv duals or soclet'.es, that Is
so'llething funny. bUt is total y unaware of why It Is funny. ca ed satire.
There are numerous s·tua1io1s that make for dramatic irony. One example
s when Antonio is offerded because 'Sebastian'(actually Cesar'o) does
not return the purse. Another occurs when the Clown teases Cesario by
p•ayirg that Jove wou'd send tne pageboy a beard. Cesario rep;'es, "I am EXAM TIP
almost sick fo, one, 1~ough I would not have It grow on my chin'. ard the
audience understands ful y tl'-at she Is saying how much she wants a man
,n her life, though the C own would not understand.
Satire
Traditions ti'at t-ad been harded down from medieval times we•e
beginning to look rather silly in the more enl'ghtened age that
Shakesoeare l'ved in. These traditions are the targets of St-akespeare's
satire:
• the sentimental courtly love tradition In wh'ch the over was required to
go on lovirg and serving his lady even wnen she rejecced 'lim
• the idealistic chivalric tradition In wnich the knight serves nis lady by
fighting dragons, getting into duels and generally campaigning against
injustice
• the unrealistic romarce ta es aboJt snipwrecks, m·staken identity,
astonishing recognition scenes and the resto'ation of i1dividuals to the·r
rightful nobility.
Shakespeare also satir'ses Puritanism, which was a form of religioJs
ext·em·sm popu ar in h's own time.
• In the person of Malvolio, Shakespeare satir'ses what he regards as
hypocritical self-r:gn1eo1.1sness.
Clowns, fools
and disguises
•• • •
Shakesoeare's The Tempest asks
mariy lnterestng questions.These
include:
, V1ho Is tile rightful owner of ire
lslard?
• Is Prospero good or bad?
, Is Caliban human or monster?
• Is trere fai•ness and Justice In
the play 7
• Dees Shakesoeare "lave a
pol'tical vlewpo nt In t1e pay?
! 0 >
Rising action
This section of the p1ay establisres it-e love re at,onsn,p between
Ferdinand and Miranda, and the co'lspiracies that ead to the conflict.
• Ferdinand (Alonso's son) meets Miranda with the direction of Ariel and
instantly falls ·n love in Act 1 Scene 2.
• A onso and t,'le other shipmates fal asleep urder Ariel's spell, while
Sebastian (Alonso's brother) e1c0Jraged by Antonio, anempts a p'.ot to
se;ze power from A1onso by murdering him. Ariel Intervenes in the plot.
• Caliban forms a union with Trinculo (the jester) and Stephano (the
butler) to take Prospero's life to benefit his se fish desires.
The climax
• Ferdinand and Miranda declare their love for each other, but Prospero
forb;ds Mirarda io speak to him In order to frustrate ,re relationship.
• Tne plot to murder Prospero continues while Arie' is p·esent.
• Alonso has lest all hope offird1ng his son, Ferdinand, hav'ng searched
the entire island.
• Antonio, Sebast ian and Alonso are presented with an imaginary banquet
by Prospero. This eventually d'sa.opears and Ariel warns the men about
their wrongdo'ngs a1d the punishment tnat will ensue.
Falling action
• Prospero co.1sents to tie marriage cf Ferdir,and and Miranda
(Act 4 Scene I) ard Arie' is asxed to assist to celebrate their
engagement.
• Prospero puts on his robe and hat as tre Duke of Mlla1 and confronts
Caliban. Stephano and Trinculo about the conspiracy to murder him.
They are subily punished by being al enated from the others,
The resolution
• Alonso discovers 1rai his son, Ferdinard Is still alive
(Act 5 Scene I).
• Mfranda and Ferdirand are ur'ted.
• Prospero overcomes the attempts of ueachery
by his enemies.
• Prospero forg·ves Antonio and Alonso for their corspiraq•,
bur does not reveal Antonio's role in the consoiracy.
• Prospero resumes his position as ,re Duke of Milan. as
Antonio relinquishes his power.
• Prospero leaves behind his mag;c and bocks on the island.
• Caliban repents for his wrcngdo'ngs. Together w,th
Stephano and Trinculo. they are seni to decorate
Prospero's cell.
• Ariel gai rs freedom.
• Prospero returns home with his newly exterded family.
ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY
c,1bao oo stage
Themes and issues
In The Tempesr, yoJ will discover that Sha~espeare uses several tremes
LEARNING OUTCOMES
to analyse human nature. These tnemes are often interconnected and
In this section you wi : two-fold, and trey affect tne Ives of all cf the characters in the play. The
themes include:
• explore tre lmpo·.ant themes
that lnfo,m tne major Issues of • revenge. repentance and fo·giveness
the play • loyalty and oetrayal
• u1derstand that a play can have • divine power
lrterconnected tremes. • greed and ambitio1
• love and ma•riage
• class co1fiict
■• l it fl ■ •' It ~ • t'1e supernatural and magic
/'. theme Is the malr, unifyirg Idea • freedom and confinement
In a topic, d scussion or artistic • fate versus free wil
compositio'l. • justice and injustice.
Class conflict
In The Tempesr there are instances of social and political structures. In
the opening scene, Afltonic and Seoasrian are ird;fferent towards the
Boatswain wre'l he orders them to go below deck so that he can do his
Job.V•/hlle the Boatswain is not concerned about the h;erarchy on the ship,
Gonzalo keeps it alive by mentioning 10 '1im that the King is still on board.
Social class Is also presented throJgh Caliban. .•.lthougn he 1s indigenoJs
to the island, Prospero ueats nim as an outcast and ccnstan!ly refers to
nim as a monster. In contrast, Sha~espeare also shows us a Ilghter side to
hierarchical structures in the play, when Stephano ass•Jmes the role of a
god in his drunken state a'ld engages In a plot to kill Prospero.
Colonization
The Tempest alludes to tne relationship between the European 15th-17th
century co'onlzers and the natives on the islands. Prospero •epresents the
European colonizer and oppressor, w>1lle Ca, ban and Ariel represent ,he
Indigenous, servant inhao;tants. There are two reactions to the oppression.
Cal'oan struggles agaif"st the leadership of Prospero, This results in hatred,
betrayal ard conflict. Ar'e,, on the other hand. is submissive ard faithful
to Prospero. \Nhile both ct,aracters ga1n their freedom at the end of the
p,ay, Ca'iban is forced to give in re Prospero and it is not made clear what
becomes of him orce everyore has left the Island. Arie is rewarded by
be·ng released from servitude.
The characters
~ ~
i!l!f"'°",.•11f't'd 1¢';!'•11
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.)~IQe'(II
,::ti~ ,,;:ra<, <l•...;it-:tr.
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e....:t-1v,
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'lrc-..-.r :, ,.it'lfu
ICfo'h;
fOSOO'O
/ ACTIVITY
~ e
CO~lci:)" te
l(r,- /t,i:;,r,o
it-Ji;icd'u
b,,;! it :¢ coi, I
', ::w,,r-h.."; ")' cp;•nr1t t ~ J l
~ ~a1o;I..• 4 br.t.-:;,1, <!e•J:Yiecl:
Prospero
There are 1wo sides to Prospero's persona!ity. At the
beginning, we see a powe•ful man who takes revenge on his
brother and others for us•Jrpir.g him from his title, as Duke of
Milan. vVe also see a bitter Prospero who is angry with Caliban
for attempting to rape nis daughter, Miranda. Likewise. we see
a mar who keeps servants, such as Ariel and Ferd,1and, to do
his bidding. Despite this, by the end of the play, Prospero rules
out his justice and forgives all. Antonio and Sebastian are not
labelled as traitors, Alonso is embraced, Ar:e is set free and
Caliban can have autonomy over his indigenous island again,
as Prospero retu·ns 10 Milan.
prose
r pet Ion
Symbols
Symbols can take the form of an object, action, event o· word.Tney are
used by playwrights 10 enrance or give a deeper mean119 10 the play. In
The Tempest the dominan1 Images i r.clude the sea, books, chess ard nature.
The sea: The title of the play, The Tempest, refers to a stcr-ny sea ard
Prospero s•Jmmors ire m'g'HY tempest to take revenge on the characters
who wronged him. Thus, the sea represer,ts Prosperc's battleground
and vergeance for his opponents. It also represen:s tre suffering he
endures w'len he Is put en a boar and sent to sea. It car be said that the
sea that displaces Prospero, also displaces the noblemen. Tne tempest
also represents social disorder. In the tempestuous stor-n, the Boatswain
contests King Alonso and the noblemen.This er Jpts 1n confi' ct and
arguments about hierarchical rule ii' the open sea. It Is useful to rote t'iat
while the tempest captures the power and fo·ce of Prospero's magic, ·c
also captures h:s mercy. By the end cf t"le p'ay, the calm sea takes them
home and all is forgiven with new beginnings.
The books: These are placed In Prospero's boat by Gonzalo when his
position is usurped. They represent Prospero's magic and power. Caliban
knows tl-,at he has to tell Stepnano and Trinculo to destroy the bocks
before they car destroy Prospero in Act 2 Scene 2. In tre rest of the play,
the books are used to restore order ar.d bring justice to the play. V•lhen
Prospero's p•ans are accomplished. he throws the boo~s Into the sea
(Act 5 Sce1e 1) suggesting that order is restored a'1d magic ·s no longer
necessary. It can be said tnat Shakespeare represents himself t1rough
the c>1aracter Prospero. Just as Prospero gets rid of his books, so too
ShaKespeare o•irgs closure to his career as a dramatist, thus completing
his journey as a writer and fulfill:ng the reeds cf a diverse and timeless
audler.ce. vVe are pleased as the curtain Is drawn.
The chess game: Ferdinand and Miranda are revealed p'ay;ng chess at
the end of the play. It can be said that due ro the game of power strvggles,
Ferdinand and Miranda fourd each other on the· slard. Furthermore,
Prospero orchestrated the game of love between them and evemually
allowed them to discover each other. In another instance, the game of
chess represents the conquering cf rulers. In the pla\', Antonio and Alonso
pot carefully to conquer Prospero. On rhe island, rhere is a so a quest
for Calibaf' to conquer Prospero througn Stept,ano and Trincu o, and for
Prospero to expose King Alonso. In the rest of the p1ay, Prospero uses the EXAM TIP
characters as pawns (Ariel, Caliban, Ferdlrand) to brirg love, justice and
order in the play.
Wke"" /j~"- tlre respo""cli"'-g
to "("-tsho""s t11ti t eisk
Imagery !:JOL< t_o icie""ti-fjj ei""cl
The main images in The Tempesr include tl-,e shipv,reck, the supernatural exa ""''"'I: tk e L<se of a
and the clasping of hands. clrco"."atie teck"'-iqc.<.e,
co=,der tlie fottowi"'-g
The shipwreck: It Is a sign of things 10 come in the p!ay. The image is steps:
associated witn Prcspero's magic, intelligence, power and his qJest for
revenge ard justice. The ship brr.gs all of the ct->aracters tcget1er on the 1 brcii=tol'"I¾ eitt of tke
Island and serves as a vessel that transports them 10 rheir fate. teek""'"(L<es tkeit !:JOc.<. tire
The supernatural: This Is seen througncut The Tempest. Prospero uses his fti""'-U-ieir witn
magic to create the storm trat traps the characters on the islard. Similarly, ;,, select ti.,,e ovces ti1ctt rel.Cite
Ariel, the nymphs, fairies and goddesses are used as part of Prospero's plan to ti-le tkel¾t or t.SSL<e
to trick the characters. A false barq Jet is Jsed to demonstrate Prcspero's bei"'-g expLorecl
power ard mar~s the begir.ning of justice for 1he men. The goddesses are
used to celebrate 1t,e marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda, while strange 3 Skow 11ow ti1e ciml¾Qtie
noises, mus·c and song are used ro both calm and b·ing messages to teei1""iqw.e e""i1etvcees
characters en the slard. tke pl.et /j, so tl1eit it I-leis
The clasping of hands:\Ne first see tne image of hands when Alonso is Cl greater i1%pAct 0 "" tlie
p•aying on the boat for the crew's survival. It shows us tnat even a king has t!L<di.evcee.
to surrerider to greater powers. Mi•anda is offered Ferdlrand's hard as an
act of love and Prospero requests the applause of the audierce to bring
closure to the play, when all is recorciled.
Dramatic techniques 2
Comic element
Embedded In rre play is Its comic appeal. In Act 3 Scene 2 we are
entef'lained by Caliban 1n his drunken state. vVe are further amused when
the sp:rit Ariel plays rricks on Stephano, TrincJlo and Caliban by accJsirg
Cal'ban of lying, while blaming Trinculo. Dramatic irory is used asyou are
aware that the spirit Ariel ·s the 01e who is imitating Trinculo.
ACTIVITY
I
• Find tre meanings of tre rames of four cnaracters in the play. Make
links betvveen the meanings ard the behaviour and attitude of tre
characters.
The setting, title, epilogue
and play
The title
You will know by now that the rtle is both l:teral ard metaproric. Literally,
the tempest is a vio,ert storm wr·ch takes place at the start of the play. It
sends the ship under water and brings together several men 0'1 the island.
Metaphorically. the tempest is a disturbance that has emot,cnally and
physically disp:aced many characters in tre play. These include:
• Prospero
• tne rulers and noblemen on the boat
• Ferdinand
• Caliban.
The tempest in the play represe1ts greed. power and revenge. The
tempest began when Anto1io seized power from Prospero and usurped
him from his position as Du~e of Milan. Tre tempest s furtrer aggravated
when Alonso becomes part ofme p'an to derhrore Prospero. \-Vhat resJlts
is a snipwrecK to seek reverge 01 those marooned.
As a result of this, some characters face 'psychological tempests'. Prospero's
quest for revenge is raging like a tempestuous storm. He wants to punish
his brother for nav,ng wronged h,m.This thirst consumes him and
establisres tre main plot of the play. Alonso a so faces nis ovvn turmoil on
the isiand. He Is faced with the dilemma that nis son could be dead and
his search could be in vain.
Togethe· w'th Caliban. there is now an Imbalance of power on the ·slard.
Caliban harbours his own tempest since he is a native of the is1and
throug>i nls mother, Syco·ax. He too fees threatened and diso.aced. In
order to satisfy their thirst for power, we find alliances to overthrow the
established sources of aut,1ority. Cal' ban instigates a pct to assassinate
Prospero, with the lustful S1epr,ano and the jester, Trinculo. Tne tempe~
Stephano creates will put him In power and g've him the freedom he
yearns for. Similarly, Antonio convinces Sebastian to satisfy the thirst for
power by instigat: ng a ploi to murder nis brother, Alonso.
A tempest of social hierarchy can also be found on the ship dJrir.g the
storm as the Boatswain asks the K'ng and nohemen to allow him to do
his job (by surrendering 1he,rs). Th's leads to much contention among
Antonio, Alonso and Sebast'an. By the end of t,'le p:ay, tre tempest g·ves
way to calm seas for a journey of reconciliation, united families and order.
The epilogue
In rwe'lty rhythmic lines Prospero remains on stage alone to deliver his
farewell speech. His confessions are personal and target tre audience.
He says that ne has grown weary, ''And wr,at strength I have's mine own,
which is most faint". He also says tnat he nas relieved h,mselffrom his
magic "now my charms are all overtnrown,'' and can go back to Milan if he •• •
wishes. He confesses that h,s greatest desire is to be serfree fro'll his role Shakespeare is said to be ta' <ing
as orchestrator and judge of men, but needs the audience forgiveness and t11rough P'ospero in t~e epilogue,
approval in the form of a prayer and applause to do so. asking to be free of his roe as a
playwright. The Tempesr ·s one of
his last plays to be wricren and
ACTIVITY perfo•med berweer · 610-' 3.
V•lhat similarities can you see
• Read Prosperds epilogue and ana yse ·1s significance to the p'ay.
between tne character of Prospero
• Re-write Prospero's epilogue in English-Creole. a1d the roe of a playwrght?
Anansi - the background
and cultural tradition
Tne o•ay explores moral ssues Ir, the forrn of sto•ies that 'Nest Af-<lcans To ~s,s ist l::JO"' witn l::JOur
would rave passed down to tnelr children. .-evt.s.,ov. of tl-lis pl.i!:I
~r&1w " t&1 bLe witn two
coLu»cv.s.. I"' O"'-t List &1LL
/ ACTIVITY I of ti-le scev.a.-ios tn.it col'IA.I!
out of tJ.1e scev.es. fro"-< tne
List all cf the serous and tren comic scenes In the play. sJ,iip, &1v.ci '"'- ti,ie otl-ler ti-le
scev.arios fro»c tl1e sce.,,es.
of 'The Forest ' Also
iciev..tin:, ti-le ~i»cil&1,rities
betwee"" t11e stories 0 .,,
bo&1n;( ti-le ship"""~ i..., tne
fo,·es.t .
.Sl1ip Forest
scev.arios scev.arios
Contrasting characters
•••••
- --
' ACTIVITY
/ ACTIVITY I
In the p.ay, several cnaracters In 'The Good Ship Hope' and The Forest
o' Stories' have abused their power. These Inc ude the Captain, Sailor.
Tlge•, Snake, Mancrow and Her. Explarn how they have abused their
positions of authority.
Role of women
The female cha,acters in Anansi are strong and bold. On board 'The Good
Ship Hope; we find a slave woman wnose role is to assist the young girl ,c
overcome her fears and insp:re her 10 transcerd the ho·r•b'e expe( erce
of s,avery. She tells Girl, 'don't tie yourself up with words I ~e impossible"
and inspires her with the uplifting stories of An~nsi. Also, in 'The Fo·est of
Stories'. you will see tnat Gran empowers Soliday to defeat the lnvincib e
Mancrow.
Childhood experiences
Both Boy and Girl are confronted w,th new and challenging exper'ences
1n their innocence. They are also forced to co11e to terms with tre harsh
realities cf ,he ship.\oVhile Boy questions his father, (the Capta ·n) abol.lt the
bad treatment of the slaves, Girl questions \l>io.11an aboJl her hopeless
circumstances as a slave. On the other hand, while Boy's compassionate
pleas go u'1answered, Girl finds hope through the old vVoman's wisdom.
Both Boy and Girl experience changes on board the ship. By the end of
the scenes on tre ship Girl observes Boy, 'He sees what we Imagine'; as
the sailor unties tne \oVoman after he dlscove·s that she Is s,ck, 'the Boy
crumples ind'stract:ng agony.' Furthermore, when the \-Vo-nan is dragged
away, Boy tells Gfrl, 'You mvstn't cry.' He has come 10 empathize wit'l her
and understand the crvelty in her world. Similarly, Girl finds strength by
the end of the play. In the Kingston Harbour scene, when the Girl is being
aucriored she says, 'I want to die but I won't.' Her realliy is altered as she
s in the Forest of Sto·ies, finding solace and rope witn her imagined hero,
Anans'.
Literary devices
,, ACTIVITY I Imagery
In the play, images cf darkness, death and light pervade tne entire p1ay
• Examine the individual words· n to evoke the emotive senses of rhe audience. In order to show t'le
the name of the save ship. denJmanising exper'ences ofrhe slave on beard the ship, Girl says that
• Discuss tne ·ony of ire ship's they 'were crushed togerher In the dark ... in filth, sick'less and fear,"
r,ame given its cargo. V1hen she begins to cultivate nope, she says, ' I see a light through the
dark tree." S•mi arly, in the forest. when tne animals see the oppress ve
• Make a list of all of the situations Man crow, they cry, 'Mancrow coming, despair and dearh.' Imagery is also
of dramatic Irony from the two used to highlight the prejudice of the slave masters when they refer to the
sertlngs in the play. slaves as 'beasts' and 'animals'.
The pla)'N1lgh1 uses lmage,y to help cs understand the awf,1 condlt,ons or boa•d the slave ship
Symbols
1n the play, the playwright largely incorporates the symbols of the Spider EXAM TIP
and Tiger to draw reference to ire·r strength. In tne·Forest Stories'.Tiger
Is described as 'strong' ard 'bold: He can be compared to the wnite slave LiteYAYrJ liievices Also help
masters. Anansi (the spider) is seen as cunning. persistent and resnier,t by to Ytivcforce t'1e t'1el¾e of
'spinnirg a web'. ~le represents the spirit of the Africans. A ~tA,rJ, poe""' OY StOYrJ ·
It LS t11,1,portA1'1.t to ""-A~e
Similes and metaphors covcvcectio"'-S betweevc tne
t l1e11,1,es il vci;i t'1e liievices to
1n the play, the similes and metaphors tfghlight the playwright's
tvcna vcce 1'.JD<.<Y t'espov.ses
perspective on the characters, emphas·se the key ss•Jes of the play and
w'1evc _AV\,&llrJsi"-0 1'.JO<.<Y
help the aud·ence to better visualise tre images to be corveyed.
questtol'I.S.
In o·der to highlight the struggle and devise a method of svrv,val fo• Gir ,
Vvoman tells her, 'weave your little web like a dream in the dark and wait ...•.
The web represems tne hope for Girl, desp,te all odds. Similarly. in the 'Forest
cf Stories', A,ans'. In his ploy to manipulate ,atbat, (who thinks he is smarter
than Anansi) says re is. 'try;'ng to get somebody as cool as an ice-cube to
enter tre Best Song Competition.' By saying Ratoat is cool as an ice-cube, he
s boosting his se,f-esteem to manipulate hi11 to do his blddi1g.
At other limes. the playwright uses the similes and metapnors to emphasise
tre traits of the characters, In order to set them up for a fall. In the 'Fo•est
Stories'when Marcrow real'ses Sol'day's intentions for him, he says, 'Try'ng to
kill me ... It's like tying up the night w'th a noose of String.' Smilarly. in order
to show the cruelty of the Lady In the 'Forest Stories', we find her saying, 'My
bottomless calabash awaits yoJr bitter tears.' A so. tre play,,,rlght uses similes
Involving a,imals to descrioe me harsh treatment of the slaves. For examp e,
Girl comments. ·'we were tied together like goats waiting fo, the knife."
Personification
In the play, Girl describes the journey fro'll her romeland of Africa. She
says. 'the river. carrying me further and further away from my mother on
its great brown back.' The playwright not only shows us the force of nature
by giving the river human qualities, but also srows us hew Girl s helplessly
torn away from her place of birth. The deplorable conditons of the journey
are also personified in O'der 10 highlight the distress of the slaves. In tne
setting from the deck of the ship, the narrator compares, 'tne clean fresh
wind singing from the ropes" to the 'putrid smel s of the moaning grates.'
Use of language and
features of writing
His wit a so provides us with humour. In order to get Crab's sympathy ard
" ACTIVITY g·ve him the rame of Her at the 'River Scene'in the'Forest Stories: he says:
Compile a list of all of tne "Boo Hoo vVoo is me. How will I ever surv,ve until the end of the week?"
scenarios from the play that
highlight the playwright's use of
language. Look at the sa•casm, Alistair Campbell also uses Anans, to highl ignt tne sho·teoming of 01rer
puns. rhymes, bias. use of dialect characters rhroJgh his sarcastic remarks. In the 'Forest of stories· A1ansl
and v·olent language. tells Tiger, 'Th11king? vVell, trat's a big change for you ...~
.,,
Drama as history .........
111the play Anansi, we are taken back to the year • 791 and 1he Atlan:ic Do you ~now that ar archetyoe Is
slave trade. At ,rai time, enslaved persons from A'rica we•e brought to a character or symocl that appea·s
the Vl'est Indies a1d auctiored to plantation owners. Girl and vVoman are in a story to reinforce a ireme?
victims of the slave trade and the play tells the story of their strugg es 011 A1ans· can be vlev,1ed as an
route to Jamaica.The confiict between the Captain, Sailor and tne female a·cherype that was inspired by 17"'
slaves captures the atmosp>iere of tension 011 the save ships O"l the century \A/est Afrcan culture, and
At antic voyage. Despite this, the 1Nest African slaves b•ought with them has transcended tiMe and found
many cu rural traditions, ,he folk tales of Anansl be'rg one of the'll (refer his place ooth In evo.virg West
to pages 48-49). The stories of Anansi's coJrage and cunnlrg advance the Indian and America~ sto•ies.
plot and p•ovide a paral e to rre rarsh realities of the slave ship.
The setting
EXAM TIP
At the start of the play we see Boy and the Captain In a scene with books
and ledgers. This sets them apart as educated Eu•opeans whose conce·n Wne": Cl "'-Swevi.""9
Is tne profits of the s1ave ship. As the audience, we are esuarged from qi.test•o"'-S o"" the
them and even more so when two sailors are seen 'untying a body and dvCl1M-Atic. sigi-ufi.ciivcce
dragging it out of sight". 0'.Jr sympathy is evoked with tre images of the of c;i ptc;il::J, Loo~ c;it tne
'Hold' wrere the slaves are kept and transported to tre Vo/est Indies. The el¾otioVCC1 t vespo"'-Se
hatch is described as dark and filthy and ,re ·'slaves are nuddled together evo~ed fvo""" tne
like cattle'. Vve hear that, 'Some of them are crying a1d falling down .,. followi"'-9:
Some are whipped and beaten.'The audience is Inspired when Girl 1s
encoJraged ro imagine a happier setting.'A forest full of stones ... am x of /;I the setti""0S l,a,\, the J>LAl::J
fairy ,ales you heard as a child to high rech cartoor fantasy.·
b tne deveto-piMei,u; of tne
The tales of Anonsi are also set against the endless expanse of the forest tneiMe
setting. He•e you see Anansr playing out his tricks near rivers. trees, bJs'ies
and in the deep forest. The playwright uses this settirg to liberate Girl, as C co"'-flic.t /;li,\,d tetA.Siov.
she finds comfort in fam11·ar tales. d ni.tlM.O« ,- c;i v,,i;(
el'\.l:e rtci '""""e""t
Disguise
e At""ospneve c;ii,,4 ""'-OOd
The feature of disguise can be trans aied Imo the thin line between fantasy
and reality in tre play. Gir' uses her imagination to keep her spirit al·ve and f
Sl::JIM-bols A""d IM.Oti.fs
resist tre cruelty of the powerful slave owners. In 'The Forest of Stories' she 0 di.sg«i.se
stied up In the sh'p. The setting •eads, 'though tne trees we can dimly
make out beams and ropes ... or are they brarches and creepers.· Both h l..i""9i.tAge, SOi.tV\-Ols,
the wend of the ship and forest are distorted to transport G'rl's mind to her ml::J tn ""'- c;i i,,4 ""1<.S i.e.
p1ace of salvat'on. Similar y, tre image of the'web' serves as a too' of power '
• stc;ige co""vel'\.l:i.o= a""d
li~e the 01e Anans1 uses to catch his prey. Woman tells Girl to 'weave dirlctiotA.S
her little web like a dream In the dark and wait .. .'. n this way there is a
reversal of role between tne slaves and the European masters. Tne slaves j the ctilM.I¼.
are free In their minds with the co'llpe'ling stories of Anansi.
I
~ Unit~1-
I - --
1 Cor,sider the words ofT-Jean's song: 1 'Nlt r the excepfon of Feste, a the inhab tarts
of I yra strike us as being very foolish. Vvrte an
'Wno with tlie Devil tries to play fair essay .n which you discuss tne nature of tlie folly
\'leaves tne web of his ow11 despa r." thar grips Ollv a, O·slno and Ma,volio and srow
the means by whicn Feste tries 10 show each
Write an essay In wh ch you discuss the 1opic of of th,se indiv"dvals the fo y of tneir behaviour.
revolution as p•esented n 11-Jeo" and His Brorhers. You should expla n 'iow Feste ccnt•ibutes to the
You shou d trace how both Gros-Jean and orevalllng comic tone of the play.
Ml-Jean try to 'play fair'. a11d the consequences
(35 marks in ,orolj
o' their actions, and iren trace the 'rank
disobedience' trat Ti-Jea'1 resorts to In his deal ng 2 Much of the comedy In Twelfth Night depends
wlir the Dev· . Show how tre play suggests on disguise, mistaken ldent ty and false
that unity. self-sacrifice. and moral integrity are posturing. \.\/rite an essay ·n which you exp.ain
essertial If a revolut on is to succeed. why Viola puts en a disguise, and 'dertifyTV>/0
(3S marks in rota/) orob'emat'c (and rumorous) sltua,io,is the
d·sgu'se creates for her. You snould show how
2 \>Vhi e Ti-Jeon ond His Brothers deals w th some Vlo a's disguise serves to reveal tne trutn about
serloJs matters, ' t also contains a g•eat dea o' each of 1rese characters 10 the audience, If not
hJmour, Write an essay in willch you explalr r,ow to themse ves: Sir Andrew, 0 via, Orsino.
the play suggests tnat determined resistance
(35 marks in totol)
(-iot cornpllarce) Is the way to deal w'th colonla,
oppress on. YoJ should ident fy T\-VO po nts ,n the
play that show how uag:c co onial oppression
is, then Ident fy TvVO po·n1s in tre play where
hJmour Is prese1t and suggest why ,re mocd
shift Is effective.
(35 morks in toroi)
EXAM TIP
1 'The Tempest ·s more tt>an just a falryra e; It is also 1 1Nrite an essay descr:b'ng TV•/0 lnc'de1ts 1 which
se•ious and tragic: conftici Is presented with the nero or heroine
in the play. r. this essay, you must also d scuss
vVrlte ari essay iri which you descr oe TvVO
how the hero or heroine is af"ected ·1 one of t,ie
incidents from tne p ·ay that are serious and
lrcidents and ·de1tlfy ONE dramatic tecl'lntque
tragic. In this essay yoJ must discuss O\JE theme
that Campbell uses ,o r·g~llght the ,heme of
tnat comes out of one of the Issues that you
power and manipulation In tne o'ay.
described. Also. examine ONE dramatic technique
tnat Shakespeare uses to present tragedy In (JS marks in total)
tnep'ay. 2 1Nrite an essay In wh'ch you describe the
(35 marks in rora!) relationship between TVl/0 females In tne play.
In this essay. you must also d scuss how the
2 'The Tempest conta ns ma11y lrteresting subplots: relationship o fT'NO male characters comoares
vVrite an essay Ir, which you describe ONE subplot to theirs. In ore of rhe relationships described.
ir tre play. 1 this essay you must also exolore the exam ;ne ONE dramat'c techriqJe that Campbell
reasons for the charaeters'behav ou'S and actions uses to prese1t the riature of tre relationship in
that relp to move tne ploi forward and exam•ne the play.
the dramatfc sig1ifica1ce ofthe subplot to the play. (3S marks in rota/)
(35 rr.orks in total)
EXAM TIP
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Words - the prose writer's tools
In t~e section on drama. yoJ lea•nt aocut the special techniques
lri this section you wl · and devices available to the dramatist. The dramatist can re-c·eate
• realise that wo•ds are a the setting with sce"lery and props; can use costumes to make the
novelist's tools characters more rea 'stic; can d1rect how the characters move, how they
• ldent fy the b~lldlng bloc~s of speak, what gestures they make; and can create different moods using
prose writing ighting and music. Bu1 none of t1ese too s are ava'lab!e to the novelist!
The novelist nas only words to help the reader imagine t~e setting, get
• apprec' ate tne differences
to krow the characte•s. ard imagine how rhe characters look, move
betwee1 narra1io1, descriptlo1, and speak. It 's through words that the novelist 'nvites you. tre reader,
dlalogJe and reAecton as
to co,labo•ate in making tne story and characters come alive. Cleary,
narrat ve strategies how those wo•ds are used is all- mpor:a1t.
• learri some features tnat
co"lstitute tne style of a novel But often that lim·tation of oniy having words is to the novelist's
advartage. Have you ever said. as many people do, 'The novel is far
better than the movie'? 'Nhen a person prefers the novel it is usually
because the experience of using your own ·magi nation as you read is
EXAM TIP more enjoyable than havirg tne movie d rector do a I the imaginirig
for you.
RefYesn tJOt.<Y ~l¾OYtJ So tre prose writer - novelist or short story wriier - ras 01ly words
fro.,,,,_ the &/ya ""'-ti sectio.,,_ as tools. But what is created with those vvords? If we car answer tl",at
of t nis 01.<i&le. question, we will have discovered the features tl",at make prose fiction
Wnat &lo we ~ i i .,,_ btJ unique.
tnese teY""'-s? n any shon story or novel you w· II find three P'incipal types of
• T>Lot writing: narrar;on, description and dialogue. The narrative passages
· co.,,flict move the story along; they tell you what happened. The descn ptive
.setti"'-0 • The~ passages invite you to form a mental image of a person or place.
· Ci,iayacter · .SttJLe And in the passages cf dialogue the characters are given lines to
speak - much as in the scr"pt of a p,ay. Of course, these tnree modes
of writing will be lnterming ed. and In a piece of diaiogue you will
often find description and narraron woven In. At times, too, the
writer discusses tre significance of things related in tre course
1ou1u e1• of ,he narrative: we call ,his reflective writing.
Plot Themes
Every novel tells a story - and of course so Evety good writer wants to share some Idea,
does every short si:ory. The story is merely opinion or concern with the world. The novel
the chronological series of happenings (this or short story may just be the ·coat-hanger' on
happened and then tha t happened •..). The word which those ideas or opinions are hung. I've call
'plof' describes the way che writer tells the scary - those ideas or opinions that the wr,ter ls dealing
the way information is given and with held, the with the themes. The story may be abouLa
way two or three dlffe1ent stories are woven friendship be1ween two boys. but ihe theme 1s
together, the way contrasts are set up among racism; or the novel may appear to be a love
che characcers and places where che action story, but the theme is society's preoccupation
takes place. with money.
Setting
Any action takes pl.lee
Characters Conflict
somewhere - ,n il classroom,
We refer to the people in the 011 dn anlrner, m the rainforest Wherever t ~ere dre people
story as characters. The word In a play 1he setting is created ther(' ar~ conOicts. F-very wo,k
·characters'is convenient by scenery and props, bul of p1os., flctron presePts a
becduse sometimes the story in pro.se fiction it is supplied confir,1 I he connrct may
,snot about people a1 ali! by description There may be be between two cha·acters
In Orwell's Animnl Farm, for mO!e than one setting ,n a bf>twePn one 1ndiv1dual and
example, rhe characters are novel. and each selling will society, or ever\ wltlun rhe
mostly ra,m an,mals. tell us something about the ind1v1dual.
choracrers and obout what is
going on In 1he1r l,ves.
Style
Each story 01 novel has its own style. To study the style, ask yourself these
quescions:
• Whal kind of diction is used? Religious words?Words used only in a particular
commun1ty7 Wordsassoc1ated with play or work?
• What sayings and idiomf can you identify? Proverbs? Biblical quotations?
Vulgar language?
• What kind of imagery is used? Imagery of music1 Of the sea?Of the cl1anging
seasons? Of sickness?
• Is tl1e scyleo( speaki11g1hat of a child or an adultl An educated person or not?
A Caribbean person or not?
• Is the language fairly plain and straightforward like a newspaper report? Or Is
it full of consciously chosen words full of emotion and beau,y, like a poem?
Plot
/ ACTIVITY
DIOYOUKNOW?i ' - 1
Both foreshadowings and flasr.backs require Foreshadowing
a time shift. In a fores>1adow'ng, the writer
takes JS Ol>t of the present moment in the ~
story and lets us peep Into the future; In a ~
flasrback, tre w•lte< takes us away from the Flashbacks
presert moment In the story to give us a
glimpse of an aaiof" in the past.
A fiashback is ,he oppos·te of a forest,adowing: a fias'lbacK takes us
back to an event earlier in the story tnat lir.Ks significantly witn what is •• • •
happening now. Time snifts are used often Ir
movies, ard incr-eas:ngly nove sts
a·e worKlr.g with them too.
A fo,est-adow·ng car greatly
ACTIVITY increase the suspe1se In a 1ovel.
• Can you think of a time wnen yov have pred·aed a course of wnilea 0 ashback can heoire
events? reader put together the p· eces o'
tne puzzle and understand events
• Think abour an occas on wren you nave experienced a sense of ab t better.
fiashbac~. Vo/hat prompted you to remember?
The author may make use of contrast, presenting us with, say, two
KEY POINTS
characte·s who are opposite 1r1 values and personal'ty. Contrasting
characters are an ·mportant part of the storyte'ler's craft. In 'The Boy By mears of the ch;ilce of narrator.
VVho Loved Ice Cream; the wife loves pretty clotnes. new experiences tne wr ter manlpu ates our
and being In company, while tre husband is qule!ly content with his response to ,re U'lfoldlrg events.
very poor, humdrum. solitary life as a hil I farmer. It is almost inevitable
that problems will arise wit'1 such different Individuals, for how can
such a man satisfy a woman with those inclinations? And since he
cannot provide the life s>ie dreams of is it not inevitable that he will
suspea her of trying to find satisfaction elsewhe·e? The contrast
between their characters is lrextricably lin'<ed to the plot.
The plot, the1, ccns:sts of many different devices. By using contrasts of
character and setting. teas,ng us with foresradowing and flashbacks,
EXAM TIP
witnholding information ard g·ving false leads. and planting symbols. the
writer leads us through the tale. sometimes even Interweaving different
• TYtJ CYt<c"-0 c:fi&1gY&11¾$
stories together. and then bringirg them all togethe· at the conclusio1.
ti,i&1t IM.Cip out ti,ie eve.....ts
The plot is the art with which the writer structures the story.
of ~J,i~ "-OVtL tJOU &IYt
YtV•S•"-0·
• -:"' 0 Y&lj>l,i-Lc~t c:ft&1gr-&11M.
/ ACTIVITY I •s t;il.so l,(StfuL to tY&rct
• \.Vhen you are examining tre plot of tne nove you are studylrg. ti,ie IM-Cllv. tc~Ll"-t &llo'\.c:(
notice the following techn· qJes and ask yourself what effect tney &I "'ti flt1si,i b&rcks foy
have on you. tne reader: GX&ll¾pLe.
You have learnt that the storyline Is not the same as the plot.The plot refers
LEARNING OUTCOMES
to the clever l'arratlve techniques used by the novelist to make the story
In this section you wi : more interesting and more meaningful. One such narrative techniq~e is
the choice cf narrator- also ~nown as the narrative point of view.
• ldent fy dlffererttyoes of
narrator
First person narratives
• co'llpare the beglnn 19 and the
end of trie narrative to arrive at VVno narrates the story? The story can be to'd by a perso1 who refers to
:re main message himself as 'I'. V./e call that the 'I-narrator' or the first person narrator. You
• practise collect rg evidence. have prooably discovered in real life rt-at when someone tell syou his
or her s:de of a story, rrere is always another side - so we need always
to rememberthat the point of view of the 'I' narrator will be limited, and
possibly eve1 twisted. Your emotional response to the events in the story
/ ACTIVITY I will tend to be infiuenced by the po.nt of view of the narrator.
Some of the stories and novels
on the CSEC syllabus are narrated Third person omniscient narrat or
from the point of view of a chi'd. Anorher narrative techniq.ie Is to use the third person omniscient narrator.
Find examples of this, and discuss Vo/e use the word omniscient (all-knowing) because this kind of narrator
what emotio1al effect It has on seems to be able to get Inside the minds of all the characters, and ~nows
you to hear tre events from a everything that is going on. Tre techrique ·s valuable iri, for example,
child's viewpoint. Animol Form, wrere tne narrator's omnisc,ence provides us w'th a bird's eye
view on events, so that we feel an Inevitability aboJt the outcome.
The plot
The storyline of Breath, Eyes, ,llfemory moves betvveen Haiti and New Yo·k.
Despite tre desperate poverty, life in the small vii age of Croix-des-Resets.
in Haiti, is happy foriwelve-year-old Sophie Caco. Tne bond she has with
her aunt, Atie. is strong and loving, so Sophie is angry and frightened
when tne shocking news co-nes that she is to be sent to live witn ner
mother. Martine, in New York.
Affecrio~ate farewells are sa,d. The taxi that takes her to the airport is held
up by political distvrbances in tbe streets. Mention of the feared Tonton
Macoutes alerts tne reader to the fact that leaving Haiti is a most fortunate
'Tlove for the girl. Nevertheless, Sophie dreads parting from rer beloved
Tante Atie and the only life she knows.
In New York, she Is dismayed by the dilapidated slum buildings, the dirtiness
and the evidence of poverty. She hadn't expected such poverty and reglect
,n a city so highly regarded. Also, she cannot re'ate to her motner, and feels
as if s'le Is be:ng pushed out by the oversized doll tha, lier mot'1er still plays
with. Her mother evidently wants her to be like ,re doll - a submissive
plaything. It seems that Marr:ne canrot relate to the real Soph'e.
Sophie's sense that so'Tlethlng Is wrong wiih ber mother is confirmed
when she discovers ihat Martine suffers from terrifying nlghtma,es.
Little by little, she learns the terrible secrets that !',aunt her mc1ber - the
'testing: the rape. Sophie discovers that she herself is the product of that
bruta, rape, a perpetual reminder to her mother of an utterly nightmarish
experience.
Time passes. Sophie learns Eng!ish and becomes friendiy with Josep\
an African-American music•an living nearoy. vVnen Ma•tine finds out, she
subjecrs Sophie to week y 'testing' to check that she is still a virgin. Sophie
,s so traumatised by this invasion of her person ii--a, she takes a pestle and
forces it into herse,f, deliberately rupt•Jri rg her bymen. Wren Sophie fails
the 'test; Martine drives her out of the house. and she goes to live with
Joseph. Tcgetber tney have a child, Brigitte.
However, like her moii--er, Sophie is now haunted: the 'testings' have
caused Sop'lie to be sexually frigid. Although Joseph is incredibly gentle
and patient, she can only cope wit'l nis caresses by 'doubling' and
removing herself. Desperate fo· help, sbe files home to Haiti and to the
circ.e of women who have always been rer support.There. among the
'mctbers·cf her people, Soph·e finds a measure of bealing. Martine joins
her at Grandmother Ife's hoJse, and together they face t,~e hurts of the
past in an attempi at reconciliation and forgiveness. Sophie and little
Brigitte return to New York, along with Martine.
)espite the optimism engendered by the Haiti visit, ihelr challenges
are not yet over. Martine finds that she is pregnant by he· boyfriend,
Marc, but there Is no Joy for her in the p·egnancy. She has a history
of breast cancer, and fears a recurrence. Eve~ worse are he, mental
terrors: she Imagines hearing the child inside her speak,ng in the voice
of the rapist.
It is all too much for Martine, and sbe commits suic'de. Marc finds her 01
the bathroo'll floor in a pool of blood: she has stabbed herself in the belly
seventeen times.
Marc accompanies Sophie as she takes Martine's body bac~ to Haiti for
bJrial. At tne graveside, Grardmother lfe offers tbese words of wisdom to
Sophie:'the daug>ner is never fully a woman unt, t-er mother nas passed
on before her~ 5'1e is say:ng that Sophie is now free: 'libere'. Bui is that true?
Sophie resolves that her daughter will never suffer as she herself did, and
will understand that her body is her own.
Structure, narrative
devices and conflict
I'ACTIVITY I
• Suggest reasons for the sectionalising of1re novel,
• Suggest reasons for the movement to New York, back to Hait'. ard
then back to New York agalr.
Narrative devices
First person narrative: Sophie, now an adult, tells her own story. This is
·mportant because 11 tells us that she has taken charge; she will al low no
one e se 10 speak for her. name her o• evaluate her. She ooks back on a
past that she now understands. She Is reconciled to what happened to he·.
but determired it m JSt never happer to her daugnter. Using Oanticat's
symbolism, we could say that Sophie's past was overshadowed by the
ideal of the Vrg:n ,v1ary, but her future belof'gs to Erzulie - goddess of love,
healing and joyoJs celebration of life.
Setting: There are two main settings: New York and rural Haiti, Poverty is
evident in both places. To Sophie's eyes, New York s a dirty. dilap,dated
place vlrh rubbish and graffit', where ho-neless people sleep en the
sidewalk and idle boys throw bottles at the car's windshield. The ergine of
ner mother's car grates loudly, and a loose spring digs Into Sophie's thigh.
The apartment building Is dark and has a musty smell; water stains spread
down the wall from the ceaIng. Martine works so hard to make ends meet
that Soph e ccncl Jdes, 'It was as though she had never stopped wo,king
·" the cane fields after all".
V'/ne1 describing Ha'ti, Oanticat does not focus solely on the prevalence of
poverty, ror does she attempt to romanticise rural life there. The landscape
n Ha ti is one of dusty cart tracks. over-lade1 mules. roadside markets.
tolling bells and cemeter es.Tinywcoden shacks and charcoal p·ts are
scanered over tne hil sides. It's a place of fear and danger with rhe Tonton
Macoutes toting the;r machine gu~s. Yet it's a place of warm g'eetings
too. of shared simple meals and gracious 'losp;tality. Poverty ard pol;tical
chaos are evident everywhere, yet we also see a lar,dscape of beauty and
grace, with flowering boJgairwillea, butterflies, bamboo fences and neat y
swept yards.
Both locations, then, show evidence of poverty - 'ong WO'.king hours and
depressing living condifons. However, in rural Haiti the saving feature is
tr,e cu,tural strength of the people: the hosp·tality, the siories. the pride in
keeping the surround·ngs clean, the sense of con1munlt)' and a shared faith.
Stories: Storytel ·ng is an importar,t aspect of Haitian culture. and the
'1arrative frequently sl ps into storyte:ling. The stories of a community are
the way each generation passes on its wisdom and experience to the
next. Stories are a peop!e's way of asserting their place in the world and its
hisiory. In telling her own Slory, Sophie takes contro of all that threatened
to destroy ner and is e'llpowered by that act. Through their s10ries, people
who have, for gererations, suffered in silence are given a vo:ce. No story in
the novel is redunda'1t; each has some bearing on the novel's themes.
/ ACTIVITY I
Find so'lle o' the stories that characters in the novel recount. What
point is made by each story? Can you relate these stories to the main
,remes of the novel?
Conflict
Conflict ir a literary wor~ may occur between individuals, between the
individual and society. or even within the individual herself.The characters
In this revel have passed through experiences that now cause conflict
where there shoJld be a happy relationship. Sophie desperately wants
to respond to Joseph ir their love-making, but because of the distressirg
'Tlemories of Martlne's 'testing; she can only 'doub1e' and absent herself
from the encounter. She feels love and compassion fo• Martine. whose
suffering is so evident, yet she knows. too, that Martine is responsible for her
,nabil ty to respond to Joseph. As for Martine, sre dearly !eves her daughter.
but is aopalled to see the rapist's face in her child's features. Suki (Sopr·e·s
friend at tne counselling sess·ons) has bee11 vio ated by her grardmother,
hates what her grandmother did to her. but loves her nevertheless,
understanding that the old woma'1 only did what tradition had taught
her.These women are emotionally torn apart by tne trauma they have
experierced, and are ro longer able to enjoy normal relatio1ships.
Haitians exper'erce co11flicfng emot,ons when It comes to their
homeland too. Much as they love the'r homeland and their families.
people are desperate to migrate and escape the vio,e'1ce. The rape of their
counny and their bodies by tre Tonton Macoutes i-,as made normal life
.mpossible for ,rem.
Making love to her husband shou'd be a def ght fer Sop'1ie, but the experience
cneS!ing· causes sJch negative feelings to surge up i1 her that fear ard shame
drive out all pleasure. Discovering ihar she ·s pregnant by the man she loves
ought to be a source of ~ope a'1d Joy for Ma'tir.e, bUt he' memories of 1he
rape are like the career that had affl'cted her: trey rob her of that rope and
joy.The conflicting emotions eventually drive Martine tc suicide.
Themes 1
Language
One aspect of Sophie's alienation in l\ew York is that sre does not
speak the language, nor does New vorx understand her. Sc she needs
to learn English, bur that does not mean she rejects her own language;
·ndeed, the novel is r'ch with the use of patois: bovrer, ret•gr1dop,
oeroporr, man man, konbit. oubyen. Importantly, Joseph, an African·
American rai sed in Louisiana, also speaks patois. He and Sophie, then,
'speak the same language' - they readily connect with each other. By
1nsisting on the use of patois, Dantlcat asserts that the larguage (the
worldview) of tne Haitian people's unique, ar,d Is just as valid as that
of the rest of the world.
Female sexuality and 'testing'
Daniicat draws the reader's atten:io1 to lnequalit'es between the sexes. In
the society that Danticat describes, a woman's Inferior role is prescrioed for
her from ofrth. She is trained to p:epare for marriage. and to that end she
Is required to guard her virginity. She Is 11erely a commodity- marketable
only if she is ·pure'.
Grandmother lfe points out to Sophie a 1·ght gloving across the valley
and exp a:ns to her that at birth, boys are welcomed ·nto the world,
but not girls. If a boy is born, the lantern w·11 remain lit all night in
celebration, but if it's a girl, 'There w1II be no lamps, 10 candles, no more
light'.
V•/omen must have ten fingers, says Tame Atle: "Mothe·ing, Boiling, Loving,
Ba~ing, Nursing, Fryi'lg, Healing. 'Nashing. Ironing, Scrubblng'(page 151).
t\o fingers left for herse:fl In other words, the woman exists oniy to serve,
not to find sef-fulfillment or 10 attain self-actualisation.
Since a girl's virginity must be carefully guarded, mothers and grandmothers
become aousers. Haitian g rls, after puoerty, are subjected to'testing' - a
wee.~I)' ordeal in which the mother or grandmother tries to insert her r ttle
finger irto the girl's vagira to check wrether the 1ymen is still lntaet. On the
wedding night, the husband must be able to hang the blood-staired s"leet
out of the wlrdow to let the world krow that his w'fe was 'pure'. His triumph
s ar the expense of her humll'ation!
The practice of'test'ng'has dire psycl-ological effects: Atie hated and
dreaded the invasive exam·rations, ard Sophie is urable 10 enjoy a sexual
relationship v/th her husband because of how she was trau11atised as a
teenager. Martine, Sophie's mother, suffered sexual abuse not only from
her mother's 'tesiing'bJt also when, as a teenager. sne was brutally raped
by one of the Tonton Macoutes. She suffered a mental breakdown from
which sre never fully recovered.
r ACTIVITY I
Carry out lnte·net research to fird out about the experiences of
women in other cultures. Discover If death is st'II tne punishment
for adu tery by a woman. Find out about horour killings and public
sha'Tlings.
Themes2
,,.ACTIVITY I
• Leck up the meaning of'syncret' sm'. Ha ti has a mixed trad·tion
of African religions and Roman Catnoliclsm. Can you find all the
re'erences to Erzul e In the novel and a I the references to Gu·nea?
• Similarly, can you fird references to tne Virgin Mary and heaven?
• V•/hat conclusion can you dra·.-v from comparing tnese references?
The characters and
symbols
/ ACTIVITY
A map of the USA. The t1ad .t,ona,1y ~•o·slavery stares of the American Sou,h are
sho•;1., n "<;reen.
The techniques used in relating the plot
To K;/1 a Mockingbird is told througn the eyes of a six-year-old narrator,
Scou1 Finch, and ·s related in the first person narrative, us•ng the technique
of fiashback. The older and more expe•ienced Scout Fincn retells the
story of her childhood memories involving ,he eve1ts surrounding Tom
Robinson's uial. She recounts in Chapter 1,'when enough years had
gone by to enab!e us to look bac,{ 01 them, we sometimes discussed tne
events leadirg to the accident''. Scout's perspectve as the cni'd narrator
Is innocent and often amusirg; but as the novel progresses, we see an
experienced girl whc •s accepting of others. At the end of the novel, Scout
acknowledges he· father's advice about Boo Radley wher, she says, "you
never krow a man until you stand in his shoes ar,d walk around in them'.
In the story, we a so see group confiicts. A middle-class white man, Atticus
Finch, is defendng a co'oured man, Tom Rob nson. in a'wh,te' dom·nated
town. To:n Robinson is accused of raping a white woman cal ed Mayella
Ewell. vVhiie Mr Flncn 's admired by the members of the 'coloured'
KEY POINTS
community, he· s referred to as a·'nigger lover' by Mr Bob Ewell who
represents tre voice of the wor~ing-class whites. T1e terary ,echniq~e o'
The symbol of the mockingbird dominates the novel ard both Tom fiashoack is used In To Kiil a
Robinson and Boo Radley are compared to mockingbirds.These characters A~ockingbird to delve Into t'ie
are innocen,, falsely accused and alienated by others in society. Boo Radley past. lntens fy t1e storyline and
snot fully understood by ,he commun·ty and Tom Robinson 1s isolated dramat,se tre eve1:s.
because of racial prejudice.
ACTIVITY
• lmag•ne that you are writing a script for tre prodJc(on of To Kill a l.Aockingbird. Research the socia, context of
life In the American South during the 1930s and descr'be the setting of a scene fo, your productior.
• Study the plot of To Kill o Mockingbird and examlr.e how tne following ,echniques enhance your
understanding of the novel:
• the narrative perspective
• the contrasting groups of characters
• the symbo of the mockrrgblrd
• the literary technique of flashback.
Characterisation
/ ACTIVITY I
Dra'N up a tab'e of all of 1he characters chat are stereotyped In the
KEY POINTS roveL Identify which stereotypical group they belong to a1d write
a sho·t description of tre effects of laoelllng 01 the lives of the
There are several groups of oeoo e
cha•ac.ers.
In che novel trat are d scrlmlna,ed
aga nst. These groups are Known
as stereotypes: c'le Ewells are
'wnite trasr'; Tom Roo·1so'l and Jean Louise Finch
,re Negros are 'black outcasts'; the At tre beginning of the novel, we see Jean Louise Flrch (Scout) as a
CJnnlrg1ams are 'pcor whites'; naive and feisty girl wno often gets Imo trouble because she is intelligent,
tbe Radleys are 'lndependerr a<'d expressive ard aggressive. Scout does not ur.derstand the racial prejud·ces
myste·lous': and Miss (~ro rie, of the community until she experiences the Tom Rob:nson trial. Her
Mrs Dubose and the adles at aggressive nature is demor,strated when Cecil Jacobs and Cousin Francis
tre tea party represeT 'wr lte make negative remarks about her facher for deferding Tom Robinso1. The
aristocrat women'. Also Ir the braw,s prov;de a quick so ution to her dilemmas. Additionally, her expressive
novel. cnere are cha·acters that side Is highlighted wnen she attempts 1c expla·n 10 her teache· (Mrs Flsrer).
defy the stereotypes and remain about \>/alter Cunningham's social background, which gets her inm trouble.
Independent thlr <ers: the)' are Despite this. ScoJt s viewed as a hero when sre preve1ts the lynch mob
Att1cus Finch, Link )eas, )olphus from killing Tom Robinson, by innocent,y appealing to Mr Cunningram's
Raymo1d, Mr Hee< Tate, Mr humanity. She eventually learns to accept peop'e for who they are In several
Underwood. Miss Maude a,,d lessof'ls involving \/Valier Cunn'ngham, Tern Rob'nscn, Atticus and Boo
Calpur'lia. Radley.
Atticus Finch
.".tticus Fincn .s a resoectab'e lawyer in Maycomb, who is admired for his
justice af'ld fairness, courage, forgivirg rature. compassio1 and moraLty.
As a sing'e parem, he is a good teacher and role model for his children,
Jem and Scout.
I'ACTIVITY
Examire the quotes that give reference to Atticus's character and say
what it reveals about him. Also. build this list by find'ng mere suitable
quotes from the text.
Quote Traits possessed by Atticus
Je,n: 'Atfcus Is a gentlemar, just like
me." (Chapter 10)
Miss Maudie: 'Atticus Is the same In
tre house as he isIn public streets:·
(Chapter 5)
Atticus: 'I wanted you to see ·,,vhat
real courage .s ... It s wren you know
you are 1:cked before you begin, bJt
you begin aryway and see it through.'
(Chapter 11)
Atticus: 'shoo, ail tne biue-Jays you
want, out remember ·r Is a sin to kill a
mockingbird7 (Chapter 10)
Atticus: 'Tne one place a man oug'ir
to get a fair deal is In the courtroom,
be re any coloJr of the rainbow."
(Chapter 23)
Tom Robinson
Harper Lee presents Tom Robinson as a strong family man whose
lnnoce'1ce and compassionate nature gets him into t·ouble. He is taken
advantage of by MayeIla Ewell and falsely accused for a crime of rape
that he did not co'llmit.To'll's fate Is sealed by the racial conflict between
whites a'1d blacks In the American South. ~Vithout a fair tr'al, re Is doomed
to a guilty verdict and inevitable death.
Boo Radley
The author preserts Boo Radley as a subtle hero due to his k'ndness
and protective Instincts. V\lhile he is stigmatised as a recluse and 'man cf
mystery'in the Maycomb community, Tom makes h s presence felt In the
lives of Jem and Scout. He interacts with them by p.acing presents in a
nole in a uee ard eventually saving the children's Iives.
Bob Ewell
Bob Ewell is the antagonist of the story. Unlike the other fathers we see, he
neglects his chi dren, abJses his daughter, Mayella, and spends his welfare
creque on alcoho1• He rep•esents the"white human trash"ofMaycomb.
Mr Ewell is sc vengeful that he does rot sto;:> at Incriminating Tom Robinson;
he also takes revenge on the Finch family for suppo"ting To,n Robinson in
tr,e trial. His vile ways lead to his doom and death.
Point of view and
learning experiences
the children learn that Boo Radley s ki1d. gentle, private ard brave. Also, •s A Lso wise to col¾w..e""t
Scout learris that ner fa1her is not ·feeble' wnen he takes the prefect shot o"" 1-iow it ciffects tne
at the rab· d dog to save the town from darger. to""e Cl""c/ l¾oocl of tl-ie
• Scout learns to avoid physical ban'es and to fight with her good sense StOYtJ,
and rationale. In reference to Scout's behavio:.ir concerriing the Tom
Robinson's trial, Alticus says, 'You might hear some ugly talk aboJt it at
school you Just hold your head up 'ligh and keep your fists down ... cry
fighting w'th your head fer a change.'
' ACTIVITY I
Look close y at rhe narrative voice of the novel and examine how both
the child and adult perspectives give us a better understand ng cf the
story.
Identify Scout's experiences vlth tile various cl',aracters In tile story
and exp aln w>iat life lessens she learns,
Themes and issues
Harpe• Lee tells the story of a co,nmunity that Is torn apart by social and racial
LEARNING OUTCOMES
p•ejudice. Tom Rooinson and Boo Radley are recipients of such preJud ce.
In this section you wi : V\lhi eTo,n is wrongfully accused of rap.ng a whltewo11an. Bco Rad ey is
fo•ced to be a recluse and a supernatural figure. A courageous lawyer. Atticus
• exam'ne rhe tnemes used In Finch attempts to defend Torn ir a courtroom with aj..iry rhat cannot separate
rhe novel justice from personal prejudices. In tne midst of the con ff ct and violence.
• conrect tne themes to the plot. Atticus provides the chl'dren with a stab1e fami y life and s responsible for
Scout's moral and psychological growtn from a state of innocerce.
Violence
'.lacial conflict creates hostility In the small town as Atticus and his family
are abused and lynch moos try to take the law Imo their own hands.
co1lowing this, Bob Ewell attempts to take the lives of Scout and Jem.
caught in the middle cf a racial war. Amidst this, To11 Robinson is srot
sever,teen times for trying 10 escape from prison.
Justice
.".tticus Fincn sc,vggles for just ce for Tern Robinson in the small igno•ant
town. Despite present'ng sufficient reasoris fer the Jury in p-oving Tom's
•r.nocence, Tom was 'licked before It even began': This is because the
people allow their prejudices co lntwfere with jusrice. Ironically, Bob Ewell
d d receive Justice at the end: he dies by tre knife he Intended to use 01
ethers. Also, Boo Radley was a victim cf injustice as he was ocked up for
many years by h s father for a minor crime. Lucki1 y he is spared for k' I irg
Bob Ewell and saved by chose who we-e ao!e'co walk In h's shces''.
Loss of innocence
The child's perspective is used to h' ghllght mary sensitive issues. ~Ve see
Jem, Scout and Dill playfully harassing the Radleys, and Scout insulting
'Nalte· Cunr,ingham because he lacks social graces. Also. Scout is unaware of
the true Intentions of the lynch mob as she engages ·n a casual co1versat' on
with them. However. lnnocerce is soon turned into experierce with the Tom
Robinson trial. Scout gets ·nto fights with the cnildren at schoo because she
does not unde·stard the concept of prejudice. In addition. Jem's optimism
1s shatte·ed as Reve·end Sykes tells him, "I ain't ever seen ary jury decide In
favour of a coloured man over a white man." At tre end of the trial, Atticus
helps the children to accept the circumstances of their lives when he
says, 'They've done it before and tney did it ton'ght and they'll do it again
and when they do it - It seems that only children weep~
Family life
Harper Lee uses tre Finch fa11lly to represel'\t the model family. Atticus
Finch Is a single parent whose se1sitive, inte' igentand fair-minded natu'e
makes h m the pe·fect father. His parenting skills are disp1ayed when he says
to Uncle Jack, "When a child asks you somerhirg, answe· him .. . but don't
make a prod~cticn of it. Ch'ldren are cnildren, but rhey can spot an evas·o,1
qu1cKerthan adults''. Atticus raises tre ch'ld·en wifn the he,p of Calpurn;a, a
morrer figu,e. Tom Robinson also has a stable family as they a·e horest and
respectable peoole. despite the p•ejudices that confront them. The other
fami"es, such as the Cunninghams, the Ewel's. the Radleys and Dil 's parents,
are presented as dysfunaio1al. Mr Ewell leaves nis e dest daJgh1er to manage
the family, tne Cunninghams do not socialise and t'ie Radleys live isolated rives.
Moral development
Some aspects of Jem and ScoJr's growth are shown In the
table below. Can you add more to It?
Jem Scout
He learns Boo is kind by She realises the need to practise
placing gifts in the tree. restraint in a nosrile situation.
He learns about the geed She learns to be tolerant of ln,tlali>·· Boo Racley Is pr~ented as a slrlster,
frightening character OJI that changes as the
and evil In society from the otners. As her fatrer says, "You roverp,ogresses
Tom Rcbinso1 trial. never understand a person unt'I
you c imb in his skin ard walk
around in it~ / ACTIVITY I
• dentify the characters that
Supernatural are victims of prejud ce and
There are many superst rions surrounding Boo Radley. which makes him d'scrlmlnatio,1. Explain how
interesting and gives the revel a surp,ise tvvis,. lr:tially Boo s presented they are affected ard how they
as a lonely, ugly ard dangerous person who eats cats and squirrels. It was cope w rh tneir circumstances.
rumoured that re only came out at night to peep into peop1e's windows.
• _1st all of the children's fears and
Also, legend has it that he stabbed h:s father with scissors. superstit' ous beliefs. Compare
The children are afraid to eat the pecans from the Rad1eys' tree as they the ores that are real to trose
believe Boo poisoned t. Moreover, anythirg peculiar that happened was In their magirations and the
blamed on him. However, by the end of the rovel the 'man of myste•y' flaws of nature.
becomes the hero, as he saves the lives of the ch' dren who once feared him.
Style, atmosphere
and language
Use of language
In the novel. you wil notice that ,re dialect used is characteristic of rhe
American Sout,'1. Calpurnia uses the term, ·wear you out' to refer ro a
spar~ing. Jem uses ire term ·recko'1'to shew what he 1s t"l,nking and
Anicus uses the phrase.'yoJ all'to referio seve,a peop1e. Language also
defnes social class and ethics in the novel. The'nch'speak more elegantly
than the 'white trash'. For example, Bob Ewell's language sways into
informality and racia intolerance for Tom Rooinso1 In his testimony when
ne says, 'that black ... your,der runin on my Mayella.''
You will also discover that the African-Americans hold on to their distinct
d'alect in their own er,vironme1t. \oVhen Scout asks Calpurnia why she
does nor use p•oper language around her church members, she replies.
'You're not gonna cha'1ge any of them by talkir'right, rhey've got ro want
to learn the.-nselves, and wnen they don't wan, to learn there's rcthing
you can do bJt keep yo Jr moJth shut or talk their language'.
Despite the rovel's exoloratlon of serious Issues, hu'llour Is used to appeal
to the reader. Scout says of her Cousin Francis, "Talking to Francis gave me
rhe sensation of senllng down sicwly to the botto-n of rhe ocean~
~arguage is also used as a persuas·ve tool. Atticus te,l s tre jury in the rr'al,
'There 1s not a person In this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has
never done an Immoral thing, ard rhere Is no man living who has never
looked upon a woman without desire."
Use of literary devices
Harper Lee uses several figurative devices to ernance the meaning of the
novel and capture the spirit of the characters, so let us explore a few.
Irony: A good example of this is when Miss Caro,ine. the teacher, tells
Scoc11 to stop reading at ho11e. Also, when Miss Gates soeaks out aboc11
Hit er negatively for his actions as a dictator n Germanyyer s'ie feels
nostilit)' towards African-Americans ·n her own society.
Similes and metaphors: The fascination of the Radleys' place Is captured
1n a revelation by Dill. 'It drew him as the moon draws water.' Also, Scout
shows her passion for the summer ho'idays by saying, 'summer was our
best season: ·1was sleeping on tre back screened porcn n cots, or trying
to sleep in the tree-house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a
thoJsand colors in a parched landscape.'
Allusion: There is refe·ence to the North and South and Civil 1/'/ar in the
text, which is a part of American history.
Imagery: The imagery is menacing and haunting. For example, fire, the
lynch mob, Boo Rad'ey's description, tne mad dog and the use of guns
and knives. This builds up to the To-n Robinsor trial and the children's
experience with near death.
Foreshadowing: At the Start of the novel we are iold that 'the Ewells
started It all~The rest of tne story shows us how tnis came to pass. Also,
the way Atticus and his family were chastised fo.r tne support of Tom
Rooinson is fo'lrcoming of the negative verdict against him.
Hyperbole: Scout describes the town of Maycomb to empras·se its
lifelessness. She says, "People moved slow,y tren ... A day was twerty-four
hours 1019 but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for the·e was nowhere
to go. nothing to bu)' and re money to buy it with, rcihng to see outside
the boundaries of Maycomb County.'
/ ACTIVITY
Symbols are a major part of the novel. Many of them are used to
represent the fears and prej Jdices of tne oecple of Maycomb. Explore
rhe mearing of the following S)'mbols from the text:
The mockingbird; Mrs Dubose's camellias; Maye!la's geraniums; the
cemented hole in tre tree; the fire and snowman at Miss Mavdie's
house; the gun; and Attlcus· pocKet-watch.
Conflict
Internal conflict
Atticus and Scout experience interral confl'ct in the nove. Att·cus Is a
white lawyer defending an African-American man In a p:ejudiced towr.
1Nnen Atticus ta~es on the case. he is aware
Gender differences
In the novel gender biases are present.
Atfcus and Aunt Alexandra frown upon
Scout's'Tom-boylsh'ways. ~Vhen Aunt
Alexandra co-nes to help with the children,
she spends her time uyi ng to get Scout
to be a Iady. She does so by Insisting that Gregory Pee~ starred as Att cus Flr,ch In the 1962 iilm adapta1,on of 1he oovel
Scout wears a dress to school, practises
good manners ard attends social gatherings (ll~e the tea party). In the
ACTIVITY
wider society, women are not allowed to sit on a jury. ScoJt Is ta~en
aback when Atticus explains that Miss Maudie cannot sit on a jury even Make a list of all of the situations
though the children rhi1k she would have done a great job. of confl,ct In the nove,. Indicate
whetner tne confl' ct is nternal o·
from an external source, and then
say how rhe characters deal with
the C0'1fiiCt.
For the Life of Laetitia -
the author and plot
The plot
The storyline of this novel takes ,he reader through Laetitia Jorinson's first
year at secondary sC'100I. Lacey (her fond name) has been living with her
grandmother (along with a number of cousins and other family members)
since ner mother, Pats)', migrated to New York. Cephas, Lacey's fatner, takes
Iittle interest in his daughter until he learns that she has won a place at the
government secondary school in La Puerta.
As Ma's home in rural Balatier is so far fro"TI La Puerta, the decision is made
that Lacey will live in town wiih her father. her stepmorre• and their son
during term time.Tre arrargemen1will prove to be most Jnhappy fo·
Laetitia. In frustrat'on. she reoels aga 1st the resrraints her father puts on
he•, a,d begins to misbehave. dellberate,y failing n her scroolwork.
Some of her teachers at scrccl are excellent.
but others have serious faults. Lacey meets
with hostility and prejudice oecause of her rural
backgroJnd, and encounters rac:sm a1d injustice.
However, she Is also inspired by a'l English reacher
who shows he· tnat Caribbean folk ore is Jusr as
val1.1able as Greek myths, and discovers ti'at rer
form reacher, whi e strict. can put a comforting
arm arcurd rer.
Lacey's frie1d, Anjanee, has mvch graver
problems. Her father and brothe•s see no reason
--
why she needs to be edvcated, and make little
effort to help her. She has to work so hard at
'lome to relp with chores and earn money for
bus fare that she simply canror keep up 11 class,
--- - -.....
/ ACTIVITY
• \~/hat does this novel say to readers about mig•ation and its effects on Caribbean oarents and children?
• In Social Studies you learn aoout different types of family. V1hat do you learn from this rove I on that suoJecr?
• Think about Anjanee's struggle to get an education and the artitudes of the mer, In her family, Do you come
across sucn attitudes In your community?
• Ma aGd Ma Zei lire a•e both strong women, bJt their lives are very different. Ust tl--e r s,milaritles and
differences. vVn ch ofrhese women do yoJ admire more? Give your reasons.
• M·ss Velma and Anjanee's mother are both subservient women, who have beeri crushed oy dom·neering
males. Examine their situations, and list 1he similarities and differences that you find.
• This novel shows us srro,1g and weak women In society. It a so shows us PNoglrls struggling against the odds
as they seek ar education. Do you tnlnk that edJcatior, 1s the key to cnanging society's oppression ofwcmen?
\-Vhat does this novel say on tnat subject?
The characters
You will find It helpful to look for compariso1s among the characte·s.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Compare Anjanee and Lacey: Two girls at the same school, both of
In this section you wi : them from countr\' oacKg·ounds. Botn are under a great deal of pressure
• ldent fy the 11ain cnaracters In ac scrool, but wrereas Anjanee commits suicide, Lacey re~overs from
:re revel ner breakdown and faces ,he fuiure with hope. V'/hat ·s different in
• make comparisons berNee-i rre the s·tuation of the two girls? We see that Lacey is encouraged. loved,
suppo•ted by Ma and the family, and her educatio1 is cons'dered
ct>aracters to ar-lve a1 meaning.
mportant. but this 1s not ,he case for Anjanee. AlthoJgh Anjanee longs to
be educated and have a l' fe that is more fulfilling than the ore he· mother
has. s'1e has no supporting network to turn to: in her family's thinking, a
woman's place Is in the home - cooking, cleaning and having children.
Compare Lacey and Michael: They are children of the same father.
Lacey is neat and tidy, well-d sc'piined. considerate and helpful; Michael Is
·11-mannered, untidy and dirty in his habits, lncons de·ate and unhelpful.
Michael changes when Lacey comes to I've with trem, kird y but fi rmly
'nsiSting on bercer behaviour. The contrast between the two points to ,he
fact that home training Is what s1apes a cr'ld, vV:1h the kind of training
that Lacey gives to Michael, he perhaps will not g•ow up to oppress
women in the way that his father does.
• 'vi/hat k nd of rel at on ship dces Lacey have with Unc e Leroy? Characters Ir, a 1ove or sto-y
Compare that relationship with the cne she has with r e· own can bee ther rounded or flat.
father. Wnat key d•ffere'1ces do you detect? Flat characters do rot gro\lv,
develoo o, charge. 'Ne recog~:se
• Identify the similarities between home life for Anjanee and her t'1em from a few xey oolnters,
mother on the o'le hand, and borne life for Miss Velma on the otner. Rounded characters are the
• Suggest reasons for Hodge's inclusion of Micnael in the r evel. ores ,ra; grow, crange and earr,
af'd they 1ave severa sides to
• Suggest reasons for Hodge's inclvslon of Ma Zelllne in the novel. t1e.' perso1ality, T~ose growth
• Identify one roJnded character and explain the ways in which points ii' the rounded characters
that cha,acte· grows, learns and changes. Does that character ever are related to the main tnemes
surp·ise you? Is h's/her behav·our d'fferent at different times? of the story or ncve .. Us~ally the
protagor,·sr (main c~aracter)
• Identify one fla, character. Do you not,ce an absence of change w II be rre most •o,mded of the
or growth? Is tnat cha•acter likely to behave in the same way e<lch
c:1aracters.
time you meet him/her?
• Think about this: Should all tne characters be eqJally rounded, or
does tre narrative r eed some of the characters to be ftat?
Setting and conflict
ACTIVITY
'/•/e meet a ru•. moer of teachers in tl'e story Wnar makes a good teacher?
Style, narrative devices
and language
Dreams
A writer sometimes inserts a dream into tre f'arrative to suggest troughts
rhat are not actual y expressed. Vvhen Lacey dreams that she has thrown
her Geograpny textbook into ire dustbin. her subconscious is tel ling rer
rhat she is throwing away her chance to get an educat on. The image•y of
rhe dream is mere powerful tran a s·mple statement of the facts.
Imagery
magery in the novel ·s vibrant, suggestive and often funny. Mrs Lopez's
appearance is described as ''like a damn circus horse'. and poor Miss Velma
is'li~e a dog waiting fo, its owner'. Lacey feels so comforrab'e listening to
rhe grown-ups at her grandmorher's home. she describes herself as be;ng
'cradled in their conversation'.
Symbols
An object er event in the novel sometimes seems to hint at a deeper
meaning. If rhe object or event po:n:s to a deeper mean·ng, it ·s called
a symbol. Here are some examples:
• Tre Home Economics teacrer tries to pin up her p'eture of the Happy
Fami y, but it keeps falling down. That happens literally. but there Is also
a symbolic aspect to it: the'happy famlly'she is trying to show 10 the
cnildren is one entirely outside of Lacey's own experience, yet Lacey
knows that she is supremely happy In her unorthodox family back in
Balatier. The foreign definition and ;mage simply wo11 stay in place!
• Cephas·s home Is filled with ornaments, we read. That Is literally so,
but there Is a1so a symbol c side to it, because Lacey feels like an
ornament - not loved for herself, but there to be show'1 off to his
frierds.
• l'<o1lce that the strong wo'Tlen in ,he novel - Lacey, Ma Zelllne,
Ma - have gardens. Selling the produce makes them independent.
Again. the gardens are litera ly gardens, bvr they also S)'mbolise (and
Indeed provide!) econo'Tlic independence, whicn ·s something that
Anjanee's mother and Miss Velma lack.
• Mrs Lopez's jewellery and make-vp are Iiterally jewellery and
make-up, bvr they also symbol"se the fact that Mrs ~opez is not
p!eased v✓- th her natura1self. but fee s she has to cover up and try
to look Iike someone else.
• Food is also g·ven symbolic meaning in the novel. Uncle Leroy
explains that high-class peoo e ear sp·nach. and only low-class people
eat b'iagil Anja nee is ast-amed of her home-cooked food, but whe1
Lacey smells it. she wants to throw away her own luncheon meat
sandwich!
ACTIVITY I
• Find examples of metaphors ard similes Ir the novel. For each
example, identify tre two items being compared. Wt-at similarities
are brought out by the comparison? 1Nhat effect dces the imagery
have on you?
• Look at the description of Christmas Eve In Balatier and at the
description of Marlon Peters' dressirg up to mimic Mrs Lopez.
\.\/hat tips can you ge, from these rwo descript'ons to helpycu w·rh
your own descriptive writing?
Language
The language of the novel ranges between Standard English and Creole.
Creole being most,y found in the dialogue. In additio1, the variety of our
social origins is celebrated by the use of words and phrases in patois (mo-
commere, saloud, ri-momzelle, maco]eule, complor,Jamer) ard words taken
from local folklore (soucouyonr, Anansi. Ladjoblesse, Douenn. obeah), along
witn rhe Spanish cuatro, rhe French f§re and doo-doo, and the Hindi bhaji,
beigan chokha, rori and totkorie.
Due to the fact that race Is such a1 important feature of Caribbean society.
It is nor surpris,ng that (for better or wo·se) we resort to a lexico1 of racial
terms: doogfo. coolie, nigger.
The King James version of the B•ole has Impacted the speech patterns of
Carlbbea1 folk. Pappy's solemn words regarding Cephas are an example
cf th:s:"There co'Tleth a time in every man's li fe ... when he repenteth of
the evil he hath do1e."This grandiloqJent way of speakirg is so'Tletimes
cal led an ·o-ato'ical style'.
ACTIVITY
r ACTIVITY
Lacey relates how atte1tive even the troublesome boys in tne class
were when Mr Joseph read to them from A Yeor :n San Fernando. 'It
was a story about us'. sre explains.
Imagine you are preparing for a debate.
KEY POINTS
a Li~ t~e arguments showing that it's better for Caribbean children
'•Nhat is a symbo ' f the object to read lltera,ure about their own society and environment.
or eve1t poirts to a deeper b Jst the arguments showing that it's good for Caribbean children to
meaning, Ir Is called a symbol. read literature about ot1er soc'eties and environments.
•• • •
CommJnism was based on tre
Ideas of Karl Marx, who was a
Germar ohilosopher. "le was of
tre View that the wo'kers at the
bouom of cne ladder wou d be
dissaclsfed w'tr tre rewards for
,relr labour and would rise ·JP to
light for equality.
EXAM TIP
Point of view
An/mo/ Form is narrated with the use of the third person narrative voice.
'Nith this perspective. the narrator remains detached and al ows us to
form our own opinions, by describing the thoughts and actio1s of the
characters. You wil l observe that the common animals only respond ir a
naive way to what is seen or heard without ar,alysing it For examp.e, In
Chapter SBoxer says, 'ther we have wo, back what we had before.' as a
response to the decaration of victory by Squealer. when the windmill was
destrcyed. On the ot'1er rand, Napcleon's devious character Is revealed
when the narrator says."Napo eon places himse1f In front of the buckets'
and the'milk disappeared.'Vo/e a!so feel sympathy for tne anima s w:th
the au,ror's use of dramatic iron ies. vVe see that the pigs are engaging
In human activities for their selfish reasons, bJt the animals are not fully
aware of th's, as they only hear Snowball or Napo eon's biased ve•sion of
an incident. Orwel 's brilliant craftsmanshio is further displayed when he
allows us to fill tne gaps in the story. For examp e, when Squealer is drunk
and found at the bottom of a ladder at night, Orwell writes, "a strange
lncidel't wtfch ha•dly anyo1e was able to understard~
ACTIVITY
The plot of Animol .Corm unfolds in c ear stages. It traces the developmert
LEARNING OUTCOMES
of a dream for freedom for the animals on Manor Farm, to a short-'lved
In this section you wi : real·sation o' the dream, follovved by the re 1nquishing of that dream.The
conclusion Is cynical ard unanticipated - as the an•mals are worse off
• get an overview of the plot than they started, with the pigs aligning w,th t'ie humans. l\ow look at the
• discover the main paris of tne various parts of the sto,y.
story.
Exposition
, The animals are ill-treated by Farmer Jones.
• Old Major presents tne dream of freedom and equal'ty for all animals.
• A rebellion Is incited.
• Farmer Jones is chased off the farm.
George Orwell is tne pen >1ame • The pigs assemble to provide new eadershlp, with a vision of equality
for Er'c Blair. He was born in 1903 for a I animals.
in Ind a and lived In Englard. He
wro'l€ political books ard died at Rising action
,re age of 47
• Old Major dies.
• The pigs establish committees ard take over the management of
tne farm.
• Rebellion occurs with tre 'Battle of the Cowshed'.
• Ongoirg feud belWeen Snowball ard Napoleon for
power.
Climax
• Snowball is exiled from ire farm.
• False accusatio"ls are made agains1 the animals.
• Fear is instilled among a1imals and executions occur.
• \/apoleon assumes abso1ute power over tre farm.
Falling action
• The animals grow tired and help ess. tney become
d1sencha1ted with overwor~ and no hooe for a
oetter quality of life.
• The animals realise that tney were better off with
Mr Jones.
Conclusion
• The animals are taken aback by the pigs' relations
with the humans.
• life has come full circle with the pigs behaving just
l'ke humans.
Rebel Ion aga ns1 1he he mans
EXAM TIP
Fi.g:,,.Yl'.lti.ve DY stt,li.sti.e,
clevices Assi.st tne Ytl'.lcl e,,
to better i.""te,1wet,
ap~Yeciate a,,,,cl A"'-Alt,se
a piec-e of li.teya'1:1 wo,,~.
ThtYe Are seveY&il be""e'fits
fo,, tne Yeacle,, - i.t ci,,o=es
•""teYest, evo~es tni""~i.""0,
~Ye'ltes tl¾pnasi.s,
Ll<\.clt,tces tl<¾Dti.o.,,,, l¾&!~es
associatiol<\.S, fa cili.tates
~Yi.tic.isl¾, cyeates l¾tVl-\:al
Ll¾&!ges &! 1<1,cl f>YOVicles
Q l¾t,tStl¾t1<1,t,
Sy the end of the novella, the p gs have aligned toemselves with the humans
Conflict
Ir Animal Farm confi ict is explored on two levels. Exterr,al co,fiict
occurs among tne animals for freedom and power; and interral confi'ct
··• ..
ia~es p1ace in the confiictlrg thoughts of the common animals as they Animal Form was wr'tten st-only
experience the changes around them. afte, the Second V./cr d 1/va,, wren
tne USA a'ld Russia were two very
External confiict takes place in tre following ways with: s gn fcant pol rlca ocwers.
• the animals and Farmer Jares
• Snowball and Napoleon
• the common animals and the pigs ACTIVITY
• the huma,s, pigs and common ann1als.
Examine tne groups of craracters
On the other hand, t,e common animals (such as the horses, mules, engaged in conflict with each
goats and hens) experience conflict within t'lemselves. The conflict is otner.
predominar.tly expressed In ,heir minds since trey are naive and Illiterate
and canno1 fully comp·ehend the circumstances of oppression around a Describe the s•tuatlon of
them. The p'gs amerded the commardments continuously because of conflict.
this. In some circJmstances. the anima s' loyalty prevents them from b Expla n how one character O'
seeing t,e hypocrisy of t,e p.gs. For example, after attacK by Napoleon's group Is abused oy the otrer.
dcgs. Boxer pledges to ·wcrk harder:
Structure and language
r ACTIVITY I
Re-order the plot cf Animal Farm from the sequence give1 below:
/ ACTIVITY I
Explain how the rhetcr:c In Chapte·s 3, 5. 6 and 7 of Animol Form is
used to persuade the animals to:
a crange the'r feellrgs or bei'efs
b take a parrcular course of acc,on.
Style of writing
You will know by now that Orwell's characters in Animal Form are sy'llbolic
LEARNING OUTCOMES
of the people in the Russian Revolution. Orwe' used each group and
In this section you wi : eacr character to represent and highlight the issues of greed and social
·nJustice tnat came out of Russ;an society after the First Vvorld vVar. There
• ldent fy the d f!erent types cf Is no doubrthat while the characters have d stinct ro'es in the sto·y and
characters In A11/m'.II Farm are quite unique, their roles are interrelated to effecrvely present Orwell's
• exp ore the ;raits given to the po,,tical satire. You will also notice that the story has a dstinct antagonist,
major cnaracters Napoleon, and a few pro,agonis,s. whicn include Boxer and Old Major.
• co'llpare the ma,or characters Here are tre major groups of characters in the story:
In tre story. • the ruling-class animals: Oid Major. Napoleon. Snowball and Squealer
• the working-class animals: Boxer. Benjamin, Clover and Mollie
• mankind: Mr Jones, Mr Pi' kington, Mr Fredrick ard MrV./hymper, who
represent the OJtsiders with different perspect·ves 01 running a farm.
/ ACTIVITY
Oppression
The first oppressor Is the human, Mr Jones. He engages in excessive
drinking whi e the animals are abvsed. The first pig to encoJrage tre other
animals to rise up against oppress1on Is Old Major. He shows the pigs that
they d•d r.01 benefit from the resources that they worked hard for and so
they are ercouraged 10 revolt.
After the revolutio1, the pigs place themselves in pos;t'ons of power and Old
Major's vfs'on of equality and freedom is replaced by materialism, corruption
and ireq1,1ity. Orwel,wr'tes. 'the pigs were the cleverest on the farm' ard 'with
their superior knowledge, It was natural that they snoJld assume leadership:·
They teach themselves to read and wr te from children's books and then
destroy them, thus maintaining superiority ove' tre otner an'mals. They a,so
crganlse a syste'TI of management chat frees them from man val work ard
gives them leadership, irclud'ng bookkeeping, trade and supervising. Tne
other animals are further oppressed due to treir i literacy and igncrance, thus
the seven com,nandmenrsare reduced to'al animals are equal but some
animals are more equal than others'.
The p·gs superv'se the work on the farm with whips In their trotters, as
symbols of oppress:on.Vv'ith the false propaganda and man:pulation of
Squealer, the animals are brainwashed to believe that Napoleon's harsri
leadership sty'e is necessary to prevent the retJrn of the humans. Also.
Squealer's cnant of'Napoleo>1 ·s always right' resonates with the animals
and Justifies his acts of cruelty. Orwell shows us thar the animals are
doomed, as the cycle of opp·essio1 co1tinues with tre education of the
next generation of pigs.
Class stratification
You will observe tre following group relationships:
• Animals versus Humans
• Pigs versus Common animals
• Pigs and Humans versus Common animals.
The anima s come 1cgether to revolt agarnst the humans.Tren ine p gs pace
themse'ves in positions of power with educatio1 and management posts. Tris
sepa'ates the pigs from tre otners and they afford themselves the privileges
of humans. By the end, the ·ronic twist occurs with the reorganisat'on of the
groups.The pigs have deve!oped amicable relationsh:ps with tre humans ard
have adopted their management pract'ces. Orwell writes. "Mr Pil~ington once
agai1 cong'atuiared the pigs on tne low ravens. the long working hoJrs, and
tre general absence of pampering wh ch re had observed on Anima Farm7
Exploitation
Old Major tels the animals that they are exploited by man. He explains in h's
revolutionary speech to the animals,'Ou· llves are miserable, laborious and
sho'r'. Old Major, Napoleon and Snowba'I offer a"dream of freedom" from the
tyrannical rule of hJmar.s. Despite this. the eye e of explo·tation conti1ues l'lith
tre p:gs. vou will obser,e that the an·malsare forced to do more and get less.
In Chapter 3, the animals are surprised that the p·gs have been cor,sum·ng the
milk and app es. Srovvbal' justifies this action as a recessiry to keep the pigs
memally acute. so that they can avert any threats of Mr Jones returnirg. Tne
characier that experierces ine greatest exploirat'on is Boxer. He Is overworked.
contl1ues to remain loyal and iseventually slaughtered for profits.The
renam·ng of'Manor Farm'to '.An'mal Farm' represents the fa'led efforts cf tre
animals to forge an identity and create a better I fe for themselves.
In this section on the short stories, you wil' find for each story a list cf
LEARNING OUTCOMES
questions that w;il guide you as you study. Answer each question in as
In this section you wi : much detail as you can and you wil !--ave gained a good understard·ng of
each of the stories.
• 'ecogc1·se ard exam·rie
thema,lc ·1 <s between stories n most of the stories, the first perso1 narrator is a ch, d. Observe bow your
on t~e sy abus emotions and opinions are affected by this choice of r,arrator. (It helps if
you imagine how ar,other person in the Story might have told the story
• ear,, to ldertlfy d"l'fere1,
1arratve techniques. differently.i
LEARNING OUTCOMES 'The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream' by Olive Senior
Like Dory in 'Emma: Benjy in this story suffers as nis porer.ts go thro~gh
In this section you wi I: marital difficulties he cannot fully ur.de•stand. Like Elijah and Puddln'. he
• discove, t1at the narrative point Iives in poverty, but he has 10 Mom Luoy co ove him and care for him.
ct view actua'ly shapes the Benjy lives In rural Jamaica. The day of the Harvest Festival Sale arrives.
·eader's response. and at long last he gets the opportunity to experience this warder tnat
h,s sister has told him about - ice cream! Sad y the long-awaited treat is
totally spoilt: Benjy's father, suspecting that his wife is hav·ng an affair with
cne of the good- ook·rg men from town, g•abs Benjy's r-and a~d drags
EXAM TIP him off to confront tre pair, causing the little boy to drop the ice cream
her-as longed for for weeks and has not yet been able even to taste! One
M&rke suye 1::1ou kvcow senses tnat the Ice cream symbolises the lcve and security that poor Benjy
tl1e titLes &1""cl &1utl1oys cf lo"lgs for but never enj oys.
l::fOUY te,<ts - &1"'-c;l ti1&1t l::fDU
Consider the follow'ng:
C&IV\, s~ell ti-lei¾ CDYYectL1::1 ,
you w,LL vceecl to ~""tio"" • At what point in time does the siOry begin?
tl1e &I uthor t:1 i'\.Ci title • Find everts that occur before this.
?f e&1cl1 storl::I i.,,, l::JDUY • Find evidence cf the family's poveny.
•Yltrocl<.< ctio"". • At what points do you feel sorry for Benjy?
• Describe the father's oerscnality and say whether he Is a good father to
Benjy.
• Describe Elsa's personality, ard say whether s~e Is a good sister to Benj y.
ACTIVITY • ~Vhat effect has tne arrival of tbe rew baby had on Benjy?
, Lfst the reasons the father has for thinkirg his w fe ,s ur faithful.
Read the last sentence of this story
aloud. only pausing for breath • \~/hat things make the father suspicioJs?
when you come to punctuation. • Find evidence that Benjy's metre• is a fine wife and mot~er, and unlikely
Does that help you co imagine to be unfa thful to her husband.
how Benjy was feeling? • Dees tnelr social env,ronment and finarclal situation have any bearing
on the man's suspic ens?
• Explain the conflict in the father's mind that o·events him from enjoying
the fair.
KEY POINTS • Check the length of the la5l sentence in tre story. Does rhe breathless
pace of tne prose sJggest anytning aboc1t Benjy's experience here?
A symool n ·1eratJre ooints ,o
, Like Dory In 'Emma: 8enjy only half understands what is going or with his
scmeth ng beyond tse:i. =o,
parents. VVhar effect does Benjy's lack of understand:ng r-ave on the reader?
example, the Ice cream chat
Be1Jy longs for but never enjoys
is iterally a1 ce cream core, 'The Man of the House' by Frank O'Connor
but r also symbolises the ove, c1urry Sullivan, like Benjy, Iives In poverty, ar.d, like Benjy, Flurry has a lovirg
hap::>'ness and security trat re metre•. V1hile Benjy looks on in bewilderment as suspicion threatens to
lorgs for in his family, OJI W'llch wreck his parents'marriage, poor Flurry str1.1ggles manfully to cope witn
seem to be unattalnab·e. a different problem: his mother's Illness. On ,re o"le hand, Flurry behaves
Iike an adult, taking over and doing grown-up things. On the other hand
he is jusr a child, and the temptatio1 to buy sweets instead of a candle,
and to sl"-are both sweets and medicine witr r s new friend, is jusi too
........
much for him. He tries so ha•d to be 'the man of the house'. but fails. Frar{ O'Connor is tre av-il"-or cf
'Tre Man of me House'. He was
Co1s·der the following:
bo•r In Ireland a>1d the story rs
• List the things that Flurry brave'y attempts to do to take care of his pan: aurobiograpry and so set ir
mother. Ireland.
- How successful ·s each attempt?
- How does his motner respond to nis unsuccessful attempts to
mar age?
- V-/hy does Minnie R)•an's ment on of
pneumo>1ia frighten Flurry?
• Now describe t,1e other adults whom
Flurry !--as to deal w th in the story,
showing wh'ch of them are friendly
and wh,ch are hosti e.
• Do you see any similarity between the
procedures Flurry has to follow to get
siate help for his mothe', and those
that Mom Luby had to follow to get
nrancial assisra,ce for the childrer,?
• Tne author draws a contrast betweer\
on rhe one hand, the landscape
where Flurry would p1ay games In
h's !magi nar on and the excir ng
landscape he journeys through to get
to ,he dispensary, and on the other
hand the'sordid !'tile hallway'of
the dispensary. What point does this
contrast make regarding what a child
ought to be doing in life, and what this
child ocillolly Is doing?
• vVl"-a, diffe·ences 1n character do you
see between Flurry and rre little girt?
Does this contrast affect your response
to Flurry?
• How does the end of the story Indicate that Mrs Sullivan and Flurry have KEY POINTS
both reassumed their normal roles as mother and son? How does this
Irony s presertwren words are
resto·ation of normality make us feel?
used ·1 such a way tha; t1ey
communicate the opposite of
/ ACTIVITY I what they say. 1Nrat is ·onic about
t:,e title Tre Mar o' the House?
Examine ,re descriprons of the lardscape In 'The Man of the House'. F urry t•les so hard to play the
How does the landscape reflect the ch,ld sh imagination ar d the part of a nusoand fo• his mot>1er -
childlike fears of Flurry? fetcr ng tre doctor, going fo· rne
Medic ne. f)')a{ing tea for her - bl.ft
he fa ·s In every task. a'ld we see
tnat he Is not a man at all, PJt jus,
a little boy.
•• Short stories - children
and racism
KEY POINTS
KEY POINTS
• List the simi ar ties between the child narrator in 'To Da-duh, in quotes from the text to
Memoriam' and the girl narrator after sne nas been nfluenced by support this.
Grandma Towser. 2 ~ook at 'To Oa-duh, in
Memoriam' and eitner 'The
'Georgia and Them There United States' by Velma Two Grandmothers' or 'Georgia
Pollard and Them There United States'.
The Jamarcan girl In this story is taxen to New York, and observes for How does each author show
herself how phoney and lmltat°ve Caribbean people can become when her app•eclaticn of traditio,nal
they migrate. She is as'iamed for them, and just wants to be back in Caribbean culture and her
Jamaica. Notice row, by usir.g a letter in her story, the author gives us a disapproval of imported
point of view in addition to tne narrator's. America1 val~es?
Consider me fellowing:
• vVl'at is Aunt Leticia's opin'cn of Jamaica?
• How does the narrator react to Leticia's letter?
• 1Nrat are the narrator June's feelings for Jamaica ?
• vVl'at a·e her impressions of the Bronx?
KEY POINTS
• Find eviderce 1rat the narrator is not impressed with Aunt Leticia and
rer col eagues. A1 epist olary narrative descr°bes
• vVhy are w·gs mentioned so often? Are they used symbolically by tre a story that Is told by way cf letters
writer? ~Ve have or y ore letter n 'Georgia
• 1/Vnat does the narrator think of the changes In her co~sin, Georgia? ard T~em Tre•e United States: but
i, Is an importa~t dev· ce. Ir gives us
• Explain the irenic twist in the ast sentence cf Section V of the story. a poir.t ofvew en things Amer:car
• Find more examples of i•ony 11 the story. that Is quite the opposl;e of that of
t:1e l"'arra\or,
Short stories - children
learning important lessons
LEARNING OUTCOMES 'The Day the World Almost Came to an End' by Pearl
Crayton
In this section you wi : Vve have seen in var'ous stories that parerta, conflicts and the Illness or
• see how stories often s1ow death o' parents can rob a child of a sense of security.The little girl In
gro,0,th ,n the -na·n proi.gcn,st- Tne Day the Vi/orld Al most Came to an End' faces fear and Insecurity of a
a movement from 1noce1ce d,fferent kind: a religio1-induced fear of the world e1ding. Like Dory ard
to exper ence, a Journey to Flurry, the narrator cf this story should be busy playing - not worrying
self•kncw edge, a growing In about adult concerns. Ard l'ke ,rem, she is more anxious because she
-nat..ir ry cnly part ally understands. She has been fed religioJs teaching aboJt the
• trace the learnlngigrowing end cf the world. and when she hears a terrific 1hundering noise she fears
experience o' the protagor sts that the hour has come. She runs down the street, warning everyone, but
n selected srcrt stor'es. 1s eventua! y put OJt of her misery when her father expla,ns tnat it was just
an aeroplane flying low. The insight sne gains s that life is for living and
enjoying - not fo; distressing ourselves over how it will el"d.
Co,sider ,he following:
KEY POINTS
EXAM TIP
~eople do not 1,;sually tel you about their bad polrts and ,re r Fa ures.
Similar y, the 1-na'rator only tells you what he or she wants you to '""' l:JOUY co.,,eLuoli"'-9
<now. Squeaky Is nod ffere,11. She cells -is how brave and loyal S'1e s, 'f>&1Y&1gy&1pk, S<-tlM. up tJ.ie
what a dedicated •unner, and so fortr. But s!1e does not te I us 1ra1 e&1se tJOu J.i&1ve ""'-&role i.,,
she is selfisr and self-cerrred: we "lave ro read between t~e ines tc l:JOUY tsS&ll:J , you will J.i&1Ve
d scove, rnat. By :he erd o' the sto,y she has seen tnat fau t In nerself Le~n,,~ so1M.etJ.ii""9 bt:1
and Is deter'll ned 10 work on It. But this Is W'1at you mJst re'llember: bY~""0'""9 tJ.iose two stories
1ever trust the -na'ratorl Always ass,,me that there CO\l'd be anotne- toget'1e,; so tv.,ol l:JOUY
angle on t1e story. ess&1l:J Ill:! stati"'-9 w"1&1t
l::1°"; J.i&1ve le&1Y...,t - 0 ..., t"1e
"'~ ect of t"1e q l.{tstio...,, of
5
COUYSt.
Short stories - relationships
and internal conflicts
The stories, 'Mint Tea: 'Blood Brothers' arid 'W'hat Happened?' explore
LEARNING OUTCOMES
relationships and tne personal conflicts that confront lndividJals who
In this section you wi : nteract with each other.V./hile some cf ihese confi,cts stem from the
·rdividual's personal prejudices as in 'Blood Brothers'. other confi lets arise
• exp oce the stories that reveal from social and cultural differences as in the stories of'Mint Tea' and 'Vvhat
:re lrter1al conflicts a'nong Happe1ed?'.
characters
• obse·ve tne tension
'Mint Tea' by Christine Craig
exoerlenced oy cnaraciers of
different cultJres and social INirh the Jse of the third person narrat,ve, we get an object,ve ins'ght
bac~g•ounds ·nto the I ves cf Florerce Gates, an energetic, passionate, re:ig'ous. retired
• galr, awareness of the dilemma school teacher, and Esm·e Grant, an Illiterate. obedient, homeless teenager,
of individuals ca Jght oerweer ooking for a place to stay after she was put out of a children's rome for
tre past and presert coming of age. Florence takes Esmie to live with her and gives herself
the daurnlrg task of remouldirg Esmle into an assertive, religious person
• exo o•e the ·rematlc I nks in tne with social graces. \~/hile Forence discovers tne beauty of her vo·ce in
stories.
church, she is unable 10 truly deve op Esm·e·s sense of independence
and se1f-ccnfidence, due to a past of subm:ss· en and loss. Nevertheless,
both lnd:viduals cornplemer11 each other. Florence is nurturing and needs
companionship and Esmle is dependent and impress'onable. In the story,
r ACTIVITY I both women have to come to terms wit1 the past. Florence is plagued by
her cnildhood memories of hapoier t' mes, while Esmie is haun:ed by the
• What Is the function of'mlrt tea' tragic death of her parents.
in the story?
• Explain how the social class ' Blood Broth ers' by John Wickham
differences impact on ire Paul ard Benjy are tni rteen•year•o d twin brothers who are presented
relationship of cne PNC women as starkly different individuals. Benjy is daring, talented, competitive,
in the story. fearless ard self-absorbed. while Paul Is insecure, cautious. sens•tive
• Expla' n row each character a1d timid. In the story their re,ationship ·s defined by: love and rate:
reflects on her past In the story. admiration and resentment: envy and emulation: and a longing to be
close but a desire to alienate. Vvith the use of the third person narrative,
?aJl's nner conflict with Benjy 1s made clear to tne reader as he exp'ores
h's negative t'loughts and reflects on his awkward experiences with
h'm. Benjy is unaware of his brother's resentment towards him a1d finds
himself at the receiving end of Paul's frustration and hate (which could
KEY POINTS have erupted in an act of murder). As a resolution to rre story, Paul's
fears are understood and tne <:ircumstances of their re'ationshlp are
Tre story 'M 1; Tea' Jses :re altered from that day onward.
techr que of flashback..•.t the
start of rhe story, we see ~lorence
reflect ng on her chlldrcod 'What Happened?' by Austin C. Clarke
experierces fondly. ll1 s techr ;qJe ·,vrat Happened?' is a short story based on an extended conversation
a lows JS to understand her betNeen two friends, Boysle and Henry, who have known each other
dilemma as she Is happy w th for a long time. In the story, their ·elationship is den red by Henry, the
t~e times of her life that Involved main character, a Barbadian migrant living :n Canada and married to a
experierces o' eve and 'amlly fe. Jewish woma1. In an eXlerded argument. Henry comp ains to Boysie
about several Issues that make him d'sencha1ted. These issues inc,Jde
the loss of:dentity, race, alienation and ire social and cultJral differences
faced by a mig•a,t. The greatest of nis dilemmas is h,s persoral confi,c1
with his wife, Agatha. Henry feels a sense cf inferiority because she is
ed•Jcaied, l:berated, passiorate and socially co,sclous. This resentment is
manifested in insu ts. ridicu!e and even ar act ofviolerce when he slaps
her In the face. The story is 'deally told In 1he third person narrative as it
offers the pe·spect,ve of Boysie, whose views are not tainted by persoral
experiences and prejudices. Thus, we get an oojeaive view of Agatha
as an lnterestirg and adm·rab>e person (although she is rot physically
p•esent In the story). After venting his frustrations. Henry describes ' funny
feelings that he has to let out~ The story ends vfth a surprising ironic twist
as he ded;cates a poem to his wife to show his appreciation for her.
I'ACTIVITY
b Make a note of the stories with similar tremes and draw parallels
betwee, them.
EXAM TIP
• plot
• writev's stljle
• strnch<ve
• elria Yl~eter
• pvesev,,,t{;ft,0 .,.,,
• te~e
• Kse of speeclri
• poi""t of view.
Rel¾el¾ber tlriat tl,e =rv{;ftive te I, ,
l¾e&l""'"'-9 of tl,e Liter/;! k c "'-<que el'\.h{;f""ces tl,e
'""-/;lgil'\.t wlrJ(;ft is t(;t'- ' Ylj woLr {;f""ci lrielps KS to better
•d·"'-g p {;fee.
I
~Unit◄2-
I - --
1 In For the Life of Laetitia, the Socia' Studies teacher 1 'In Animal .Carrr. f\apolecn srruggles for power fer
presents to the class a p,cwre of the 'nappy selfish gains:
family', V./r'te an essay ir which you d scuss tr.e
\oVrite an essay In wh ch you describe Naooleon's
tneme of fami. y as ;:,resented ,n rhe novel. You
strugg e for power in the rovella. In this essay,
must identify rhe cnaracteristics that ma~e for
you must discuss how tr s struggle Impacted or,
haoo;, family life, and show how the technique
the lives oftre animals on tr.e farm, ard exam·ne
of contrast contributes to the effectiveness cf tne
O'JE literary device tne writer uses to nighllght
discvss on.
the Issue of power and greed.
(35 morks in coral)
(35 marks in coral}
2 Tre education of women s an lmpociant theme 2 'The vision fer ,he animals a, the start of the
in the nove For Che Life of Laetitia. \.Yrlte an essay
r.cvella Is a stark contrast m ,he erd ·ng:
explor ng rhis theme. "ou must compare the
experiences of Laetitia and her fr er.d Anjanee. 1/Vrite an essay In wt,ch you describe the dream
arid suggest reaso,is for the lnclusior, In tre of the ani1'1lals on Animal F=arm. In this essay you
narrative, of Mama Patsy and Arjanee's mother. must also d scuss t'le struc.u,es trat a·e p~t
(35 morks in rota/) In place fo• the real'.sation of rhls dream, and
exam ne the technique cf irony as It s used to
hignlight the destrJcticn of this dream oy me
erd of the story,
(35 marks In toral)
• dlscove• tnat the sPeake• In tne You will discover that tnere are many different kinds of poem - long poems
ooem Is not tre poet and short ones. poems that have a regular stanza for'Tl and those that
• Jnderstard that ire poe'TI may do not, poems that sound very yrical (musical) and those that sound like
stir you emotions ordinary conversation. You will learn to apprec·ate why the poet chooses
the structure and anguage that re or she does.
• corsider ,ra, a poem will
::robably COl"'tair. a 'Tlessage. Does a poem have to rhyme?
No. a poem does not have to rhyme. So'Tle poems use rhymes. but not
all. And rhyme achieves different results in differert poems. There are ma1y
otrer special techniques that make it a poem: the imagery, the rhythm,
the sound effects and tne emotion.
EXAM TIP
T,e speaker Is r,ot tr e poet, but a mas, that tr e poet ass, mes,Just as an actor assumes a 1ole
,.,ACTIVITY
EXAM TIP
Explain why the following cho·ces of speaker are effective.
if t'1e SJ>ttl/ur '"'- ti 'f>OtY>\.
• An intelligent young black man at an all-wh,re college ir 'Tneme for K.<;t.<; Creole, be l'rt]'t:irecl
English B'. ~o SCI tJ WhtJ tl1is c.noice
• An O' Hlgue 10 suggest that women refuse to face up to their ~s ilJ>J>;OJ>rit1te. C!l"" t)OK
hidden fear and rage. tV1<.t1g,""e ti"' ot Hi.gKe
• An upper-class ooy to speak about the behaviour of rough k ds in SJ>etl~i"'-g Li~e ti 'B'BC
'My Parents'. ti "'-"'-DK"'-C.tr.; for L"-Sttl "'-Cl?
• An emlgre In 'Sol.Ith' to praise the friendliness and beauty of the WoKlcl J>lOpLe '"" t'1e Crowe(
Car:bbean, tit ti, cric~et V1<.t1tcl1 ,.,., tl-te
C!l r,bbei:i"" spet1 ~ Stt1""cf ti vc(
6 "'-0Lisk? Creole t1clcls
The speaker
tlKti1e~icittJ, vigoKr _ tlt,1,c(
VVnen poets write, they often pretend to be someone else; they put on
SO~h~S nKY>\.OKY to
a mask (persona) Just as an aaordoes on the stage. ,V1ltchell's 'A Stone's
Throw' has a religious leader (a Pharisee) as the speaker. ar.d when he talks tne c.ni:i rt1c.ttrist1tio"" of t'1e
spet1k,er.
we discover that althougn 'le ,s accusing a woman cf advltery, his own
thoughts are by no means godly - in fact they are full of sexual desire. It is
del gh,fully irenic to hear a self-rign1eovs fellow unwittingly reveal his cwn
naugnry thoughts. In Plath's 'Mirror' tne speaKer is a mirror! As the mir,or
speaks, he shows h'mselfto be critical and unsympathetic, priding himself
on his truthfulness wnen, In fact. wnat he tells the woman about herself
hurts her te•ribly. H's insensitivity makes us even more compassionate
towards the woman who so bad'y needs h s approval.
The structure of the
poem
ACTIVITY
Refer to the poetic forms and, using a copy of the table be!ow. list
examples from your poetry collect'on of the major poet'c fo,ms:
sonnet; free verse with no rnymes ard witnout •egular stanzas; free
verse With some rhymes and/o• regular stanzas.
The regular rhythm and the end rnymes (swings/things) In this openi 19
stanza of the poem are aporopriate because the speaker is resting
peaceful yin his hammock out in his garden on a quiet Sunday mo•r\'ng.
In 'South; the predominant rhythm is different: - vv - w - vv (tum-ti-!'.,
tum-ti•t', tum-ti-ti):
'.lead these two lines aloud and see if you can imagine tre gentle rocking
cf a boat on the waves.
In contrast. loo'<at these two lines from 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. Instead of
uslrg a regular rhyihm, the pee, deliberately gives us lines that stumble
along, mimicking terrified. ungainly moveme1ts of the soldiers:
KEY POINTS
Tre poet 11ay est.aollsh a specific Bent doub:e, like old beggars under sacks.
rnythm, bu, trat rhythm w ,1 be Knock-kneed. coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge .. .
lnterrvoted wherever ;ne poet
Similany, in '01' Higue: McvVatt wants to establish a co-iversational tone,
w shes to r,gh ght a key word, or In
so tnere Is no regular rnythm - jusr ,re type of utterances an old woman
order to lnirod~ce a sense of craos
might make as sre thinks aloud:
Into a situatio1 tha, nad previoJsly
beer peacefu ard O'derly. A YoJ thin~ I wouldn't ratrer
steady. repea,ed rhythm lul s the take my blood seasoned in fat
readers to sleep; b•e;;iking that black-pudding, IIke everyone else?
rhychm ,olts tnem awake .galr ard
;ells neri to TAKE NOTICEI Read each examp'e a:oud.1Nalcott alternates stressed and unstressed
syllables, Bratrwaite uses a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed
syllables, and Owen and Mc\ol/att provide no rhychm'c pattern at all, yet each
rechniqJe is appropriate fo• tre subject maner cf tre poem it is used for.
ACTIVITY
• You can find stressed and unstressed syllables In Read both lines again, giving a heavy stress (beat)
any word with more than one syllab•e. to the syl•able marked by a line. As you can see.
Look at these examples: poss-f-BIL·it•y, COM-pet· when Donne wants to emo'laslse keywords in tne
ence. im-POR·tam. line, he disrupts tne sing-song rhythm that he Jses
elsewhere.
The poet arranges words to take advantage of
tnese stress patterns. Mark eacr line of;)onne's poem. showing wh'ch
syllables are stressed, and wh·ch are unstressed.
• Ma~e a 11st of po'ysyllabic words and h gnlight Wh ch key words are stressed by this technique?
the stressed syllable(s) in each. Is the message of tbe poem made clearer by this
• \Jow take a couple of ires from each of your clever arrangement of stressed and unstressed
poems, ard highlight the stressed syllables to syllab,es?
see If a pattern emerges.
• Now mark the stressed and unsuessed syllab es
Note: Even ifthe rhyihmic pattern is fa'rly regular. ·t In each line cfWordswor.h's ·sonnet Composed
will occas1ona ly be disrupted. See If you can say wny Upon V'lestminster Bridge'. To get you started,
the poet chose to break the rhythm at that pol'lt. here are two I nes with a fairly regular rhythm:
• Look at how we have marked the rhythm in tnis v-v- v-v-v-
line from Donne's sonnet, 'Deatr Be Not Proud':
Tre river glideth at his own sweet will:
v-v- v-v-v-
v-v- v-v-v-
From Rest and Sleep, which bvt thy pictures be
And all that mighty heart Is lying s,ill!
As you can see, the rhythm in tne l;ne is regular ti·tum. ti·
tum, bUt now look at this other ine from tre same poem:
Whicn li'les depart from this regular ti-turn
v- v------- rhythm? V•/hat effect is achieved by the
rearrangement of stresses?
And death shall oe no more: Death, trou s1alt diel
Rhym e
Because poetry is intended to be read aloud. you should practise reading
each poem as if you were pe·forming for an audience - bringing out the
beauty of the rhythm and the soJnds of the words. 'Nhat exact y do we
hear when a poem Is read aloud? In addition to the rnyrhrn, we may hear
rhymes. Rhy-mes can occur ar the ends of the lines (end rhymes) o• within
the line itself (internal rhyme). Some rhymes do not sound quite identical
(e.g. 'rears/prayers' in 'The V•/o-nan Speaks to the Man who Has Employed
her Son1, and we call these half rhymes or rear rhymes. Full rhymes give
a sense of order and pattern - a sense tnat everything ·s goirg according
to plan. Half rhymes may suggest that the speaker is lo'lging for order ar,d
harmony in life, bJt somehow trat r,armony eludes him o, her, vVhat effect
does the rhyme have 01' you? Does it g·ve you a sense of calm a1d order?
Is It playful and funny?Or full of threat and menace? Does it highlight
particular words so that they i'Jmp out at you?
Manley Hopkins sometimes rhymeswords that are key to his message:
wren talking aboUt the weary labours of mankind, ne uses tre rrymes toil/
soil: trod/shod. Yet when re talks aboJt the divine renewal of Nature. the
rhyming words are full of rope: springs/wings. 'Dulce et Decorum Est' makes
use of rhymes, but not for a musical effect; rather, tne rhymes highlight
words that are important in tne poem's message: sludge/trudge, boors/hoots,
fl.imblinglsrumbling. Owen undersco·es the rorrors cf war by usirg rhyme to
emphasise the dreadful sourids and sights of trench warfare. He even makes
glory rhyme with mori, to Insist ,t>at t rere is no gory, but only death.
The sound of poetry 2
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Alliteration, assonance and ono matopoeia
Some otne, sound effects in poetry are alliteration, assonance and
In this section you wi : onomatopoeia.
• ldent fy a literatio1, assonance • All Iteration occurs when a consonan, sound ·s repea,ed. Not1ce ,hat ph
and 01omatopoe a sounds tre same as f, and can sound similar to s, so co detect al literatio1
• lear1 10w 10 coriment on you must iisien to the sound and not look at the spell ;ng.The alliteration
tre sourd effects achieved may mimic the sound of whatever the poet is talking about. Quite often,
and their 'elatlor,shlp to tre too, alll,eration works in much ire same way as a nighllghting pen - it
message. draws your anention to specific words.
• Assonance is p'oduced by the repet'tior of the same vowel sound -
and aga·n, you must listen to the sound and nor be distracted by the
spell Ing: caughr, mourn and port have the same vowel sound, yet the
spell lr.g of each ·s quite different.
• Onomatopoeia Is a poetic device that we use regularly n everyday
speech: braps, boddup, kerplunk are ono'11atopoeic words that we find
in Creole, but we a so use words like squelch, pitrer•potrer, splash. In
other words, 01omatopoe·a occurs both In words that we Invent to try
to mimic a part'cular sound, ar.d ,n words that have been invented by
others and have found their way into the d:ctio1ary. Fer a wo:d to be an
example of onomatopoeia, it must try to m'tate ,he sou~d it refers to,
, ACTIVITY I
Read these quctations a oud, stenlng carefully to tne sounds made
oy tne words. Do the sourds match what Is beirg described? Fo•
exa'T1p1e, can you hear the swish of the sc,~he iri the first example?
Can you hear the roise of the storm In tre onomatopoeic whistles,
rl)mble and crack of Ru bad rl's ooem?
• As summer grass sways to the scythe's design
• The v'lind whistles by ... Rumble, tremble and crock ...
• The pilot's bland , .. drawl crackles as we land
• Vl1har kind offather would give his son hor ana exploding I death
• /,tly lovgh in the mirror I shows only my teeth /Ike a snake s's bore fangs
• It wl/1 flame our I/Ke shining from shook foil ... like the ooze ofoil
crushed •. . Generations hove trod, have trod, hove trod
• Knock-kneed, coughing like hogs, we cursed rhrough sludge
• Sharp slanging sleet and the hail ... Bright waves splash up from the
rocks to refresh LIS
• Amomenr's hint of guilt of sorrow for the quick slop struck.
Vve have discussed how a poem sounds; now we will think about poetry
LEARNING OUTCOMES
as a ser'es of pictures in your mind. The word we use for These me1tal
In this section you wi : plaures is imagery. FoJr Important types of imagery (picture-mak·ng) are
simile, metaphor, personification ard allusion. In each case, wratever
• discuss how s·-n, es ard Is bei'lg discussed in the pcem is compared w,th somethi'lg else, and the
metaphors create pictures and reader Is invited to imagine the two Images (pictures) side by side. As yo·J
Images n yoJr m nd compare the two mental p·ctJres, new ideas co-ne to you about what the
• consider how ,o commerT on poet is communicating.
:rose Images c•eaied.
Simile
n the case of a simile, the co-nparison will be signalled by the use of either
EXAM TIP /Ike or as.
~e pl<-<Yi!l of """'-age is l ook at this simile In Gab•iel Okara's·Once Upon aTime':
i,w,agu. (-me i,w,agu evolu
a clYeil""'-L•ke l'.!t""'-ospneYe.) .. . my laugh n the mirro•
Shows only my teeth like a snaxe's bare fangs!
"?1e colle~t•~e V\.OIA."" for
images cs imagery. ('me Two pictJres come Into our mind: we see a man laughing as he looks in
poet =es '""'-"'0fYl:J to cYellte The mirror, showing his lovely white teeth. a1d then the second picture
" clYtlll¾like ilt""'-osphtYe.) ju-nps into view as we see a snake opening its mouth to reveal Its 'bare
fangs'.
Rel¾tw.beY ti-lat l:J DIA.
snoulcl ....,ot ""-1'.!ke imagery Vo/hat Is ire effect of this simile?The s·milarity between the two p·c,ures Is
)'L<-<ral. ('The imagerits that in both we are looking at a mouth w'th teeth, bJt the big d:fference
Is that the man's happy, Innocent laugh has been transformed Into
cYellte a clYta.,,.,like
something dangerous and frightening. Tne speaker is bemoaning the fact
at""'-ospneye' woulcl V\.Ot be that as re has grown older and learnt the ways of society, he has changed-
COYYect,)
he ras lost h,s innocence. So rhe poet reminds us cf the sna~e mat long
ago foJnd its way INo Pa•adise to let us understand how much tre man
nas changed AND to ma~e us feel sorrowful, and even anxious to know
that sJch a corrupted person is the ro!e model for a little child.
n a worderful s:mile from ''Nest Indies, USA; the islands oftre Caribbean
as seen from an aeroplane 'seem like dice tossed on a cas'no's ba1ie'.
Immedia,ely the picture of dice landing rando-nly on the green cloth of
the casino tab'e reminds us of the random arrangement of islands on a
map of t'1e Caribbean.
But In addition to giving a v!sualimage, the gambling refererce reinfo·ces
the speaker's idea that some 1sla1ds are luckier ,ban others, and tnat
Puerto Rico takes the jackpot ard is the 'Dallas of ire V•/est Indies'. Tre
extended simile is perfect,y appropriate for the following contrast
cf wea th and poverty, and of the uneasiness over the tight security
necessary tc protect the rich from the pcor.
Metaphor
EXAM TIP
INith a metapror, rhe word like or as does not appear, but a comparison Is
stil taking place. -me exa miv..ey wa "'ts to
In Virtue·s 'Landscape PaiNer, Jama•ca: the speaker refers to the artist's kv..ow if JjO'< ca.,,,
paintb•ush as a humming-bird:
• ide""tiftJ tne poetic device
A tireless humming-bird, his brush • COV\ol.l¾tv..t O"'- its
D·ps, darts, hovers now here, now there, effective1A,tss i""
\Vhere puddles of pigment co.,.,vetli""9 Hie poeVl<.'s
Bloom in the palette's wild small garden. V\ol.tssa c.e
.,
• 1.<se t:)01.<Y
, ptYSOl'\,i;JL
Think aboc1t a h•Jmming-bird as it moves. ls It ·'tireless'? Does it dip, dart expevt;v..ces to i.,,f0 """'-
and hover? Does it seek out brightly coloured flowers in tne garden? Now Jj0'<v L"-ttvpYetati0.,., of
think about the painter's brush. Does it dip in ard out of rhe "puddles of t'1e text.
p·gment' on the painter's palette?
PYactise ti1i.s cis V\ol.1.<cv. as
'Nhat is t'ne point of the comparison - the metaphor sayirig that the brush is a
JjO'-< ca"" befoYe tke exa""-
hummhg-bird? vVe see how busy the I ttle brush s. ho·N it moves rapid y from
one colour to another, how somet mes it hes•tates, but over and over it d'ps
al'\.O( eve.,, if t)O'< nave '
In. The brush a most has a life of its own, doesri't it? The poem gives us a sense ~t ~ad exactltl t'1e sa l¾t
cf beauty being caotured in art, so this metaphor is very effective il'deed. ex-pevi;""~e, tYJj to t'1i.,,k_
of Cl SLl¾Llay recictiovs JjOK
11ave l1ad ov eve.,, 11ow
i'.1°'-< V\,\.ignt feel iv.. tnat
sitKatio"".
ACTIVITY I
• Find sim:les in otre• poems. For each example, say what t'NO pictures have been put Into your m·nd, and
comment on the slmllarltles.
• Some metaphors are fa' rly short, OJ! others a,e lor1ger, and we call them extended metaphors. The poem
·orchids' Is an extended metaphor comparing poems to a spray of unwanted but strangely al urirg orchids.
• Flrd some metapho•s In otrer poems. \/'/hat two pictures does each one create In your mind? Comment on
the effectiveoess.
Remember tnat yo,Jr own reactio,1 and opinion are val Id so long as you can find eviderce in the poem to
substantiate what you say.
Poetry as pictures 2
The river, like a person, has a will of his own, and t~e houses, l'ke
people, are asleep, while the city wears a garment. What effect does this
personification have? '•Nordsworth turns the city Into a living person,
asleep and being wakened by rhe morning sun. NO longer is rhe c·iy an
·!'animate object. bLlt someone to be loved and admired - someone
narmless and beautiful In sleep.
Allusion
An allusion is made wnen the speaker expresses his or her tnougnts or
chooses anguage in such a way that we are reminded of a similar s·tuation
outside of the poem - usually In other literature. B•b!ical a!Ius ions are ve,y
common 1n European literature.
Look at tne use of allus·on In Wilfred Owen's 'DJlce er Deco-um Est'.The
Latin quotation tnat forms the last two lines of the poem a'1d its tit e is
taken from an cde by the Roman poet Horace. The nofon that it is 'sweet
and fining to die for one's native land'was apparent y strongly held in the
time ,hai Horace was writing, bur Owen does not st'>are Horace's op'nion.
Fo' Owen, there .s nothing sweet or fitting about death in the trenches
,n France; war is just an experience o' -neaningless ho,ror and agonising
degradation.
' ACTIVITY
Fird out all you car about the condifons that soldiers fought under
in tre Flrst\l>/orld vvar.
1\'iervyn Mo·ris uses allusion In his poem 'little Boy Crying'. Look carefully
at the second stanza, and you wi I see thar the speaker is al uding to the
story of'Jack the Gian, Killer'. After describing the "ogre, rhat grim giant' ACTIVITY
who 'towers" ove· the little boy, the speaker moves to the end of tre • s participatio1 in war still
story - tre ' tale's cone,usion' when Jack en cps down the tree and the p:esented ro the pJbllc as
cruel giant Iies dead. be r,g something glorious? For
INhat is the effect of that all usion? First. It takes us inside the mind of example, how is it represented
a Iittle child, whose terms cf reference are fairy tales. It lets us feel the in news reporting, films, music?
Intense hurt and anger of the child as he fantasises about dealirg with • V'/liat part does the media
the monS1er. Later, as we get ins:de tne futrer's mind, we feel sad with the play in shap,ng our attitude to
fatrer to realise that the little ocy so badly misunderstands his father's participation In war?
motives.
Additional poetic
devices 1
' ACTIVITY
Find our how ivory is obtained. Does this information change your
response to tne boy's action in the poem?
/ ACTIVITY I
VVhat effect does repe,ition have In r1ese poems?
Paradox
Poetry, like life, is ful of paradoxes.Tre fact rhat being In love is agony and
ecsrasy; fo• example, ·s a paradox. The freedom of movement rhar the
ath ete demonstrates is made possible on,y by strict discipline - a paradox
ACTIVITY
because freedom and discipline are opposites.
Exp ain ard comment on the A paradox that Is contained in just two words is called an oxymoron.
oxymoron 'season of oppress·on' Excellent examp•es can be fourd n Carter's 'This is the Dari< Time, My Love'.
in Carter's poem. Begin by The military power that has taken ever the speaker's coJntry has brought
th nKing of how we usually use guns, fear and anxiety to a land forme·ly characterised by fruitfulness,
the noun season. joyoJs festivals and carnival celebratio1s. The horrors of invasion have
brought a sudden e1d to al d·eams of a bright future of freedom.Tne
disruption is suggested in tnree oxymorons:
Irony
The examples of paradox irat you !,ave just looked a, are also ironic, aren't
they? In fact, paradox is one type of irony. Irony occurs when tne oppos:re
of what you expected happens. In 'VVest rdies, USA; the speaker refers
to the famoJs Statue of libe·ty, with ·rs boast that the poor are welcome
in the United States. but rhen draws our attention ro the ubiquitous
tight secur'ty and the pilot's urgent co,'Tlmand (apparent1y to •,,vould-be
mmigrants) to "stay o~ the plane, I repeat, stay on the plane'. An additional
·ronic twist is that rhe speaker c1early does not much like San Juan and has
nc wish to remain there, yet the A'Tle·ican au,horities seem ro think rhat
everyone on board would like to e1ter illegally.
We expea that a father will be In a position to adv,se and teach his son, so
/ ACTIVITY
there is some Irony in i re poem 'Once Upon aTime'. when this situation
s reversed, and we find tre father asking his sen tc teach him.Tre father • Both Irony and paradox refer
realises that in dealing with the hypocrisy in sec·ety. he has become a to the co'll ng together of
hypccri,e himself. and he yearns to recapwre the Innocence that he has oppos tes - but they are
lost. but now sees In his son. differe"lt.
The speaker In 'My Parents' tel s us that his parents kept him ' from children • V✓e tend to Jse parodox for
who we•e ro:.igh'. Ironically. though, their p:otectrveress has left him unab'e opposites mat we recognise
to deal with those same children. and he relates hew mvch he feared them as part of life: autumn leaves
and was hurt by them. His suffering has been greater because of their are beautiful. but those leaves
misplaced kindness. are dying; a orilllart gymnast
makes the most difficult
moves look easy.
• \/>le tend to use irony
for opposites that are
urexpected, and the
effect may or may not be
hu'Tlorous.
• To get a sense of the meaning
of paradox, list some sltuar ons
that might fi you with
oppos te emotions o, ,hesome
rime: for ex;imple, apprehens1on
and delight. pain and pleasure,
t ension a-id relaxation.
• To get a sense of the meaning
of Irony, leek at this true
example: An expert on crime
p·event'on wert to a T'lird
'I feared more than t•ger; their mcscles Ike ,,on And their jerking nand; aod 1nel1 knees tlg~l
on my arms' Vvorld counHy as a consJltant
to the police force tre·e. He
was attacked and robbed on
Contrast the day he arr'ved! F'nd more
Contrast is a device frequentry used by poets, playwrights ard novelist s. real-life examp es of irony.
Simply by plac ng two contrast ing figures before us. the writer is ao'e tc • \Jow re-read 'Little Boy Crying'.
lmp'y some kind of judgement. Do you see a con rrast between
You will find many examples of contrast In your poems. Look at the the image that tre little boy has
endirg of Se"lior's 'Bird shooting Season: and obse·ve the contrast of his father a'ld the image thar
between tne girls and tne beys. Check back in the poem and yoJ wil I see the reader has of t1e father?
that tnere is also a contrast between the attitudes and activltres of the Vvliat effect does that contrast
men and those of tne women. \o\/hy do you think Senior set that contrast fiave on you?
before us?
Analysing poems
• create a checklist of wrat to First think about the s·tuation: ask yourself wro ·s speak;rg to w'lom aboJt
look foe In a poe11 what. Tt-a1means you a.so need to ident;fy the speaker, and brlefiy say
• lear1 10w 10 coriment on ,re what is under discussion - the topic.
vario,.1s fearures of poetry,
In
'A Stone·~ Throw'. the speaker is one
EXAM TIP
of the Pharisees who browght 10 Jesus a woman they
had cavght in the ac t of adultery, He relates how Jesus,
To 0"'-•de !:JO"'- thYo .... gnthe instead of agreeing that she should be stoned, seemed
tnel¾eS a,,.,,,;:1 feat....Yes cf i:i to take the woman's side, much to the
poe ""-, c rei:i te i:i ol (i:i cwi:i ,,,,,_ speaker's disgust.
(lilq,e H1e O"'t snow~ l1ere)
to neLp !:JO"'- ""-&Ip 0..._t wne,,.,,
""'°' wnere tne11 i:ippei:ir.
In
'Theme for English s; the
Litle underscores the fact that the speaker Is
a hterature student irying to wnte an assignment
an essay about himself. While rhe poem 1s ,n free verse.
there are clear phases in the development of the argument
The African-American student first tells us that he grew up in
the South, and now lodges in Harlem at che YMCA. He confesses
that although he Is black, he appreciates much the same thing,
white folk do. He understands that he and 1he instructor
are now part of each other for better or for
worse - and that each will learn from
the Othe(,
Now you are ready to look more closely at the devices. See if yo•J can
spot any examples of simile, metaphor o- person ,fica1ion and think
about the effect of those mages. Notice if the poet uses special d·crion,
a cluste' of words that you usually associate with, for example, religion,
techno ogy, sailing or carpentry. You will see discussions of all the
devices In the analyses on the reXl few pages, but rere is an example of
hew to talk about rhe use cf Creole:
One
poetic device lhal Mark
Mc Watt employs 1s the use of Creole. '01
Higui>' LISes words like ·stupidness' and 'gall1van1ing',
and Creole phrases like 'don't even talk 'bout the pain of
salt' and '1t have women giving birth" The effect of this is to
create a realistic character - an authentic Caribbean person.
Only when the reader's interest is aroused by this 01 Higue,
who appears to be telling us abou I her secret Ilfe, does
McWal1 reveal tha1 his real aim in 1his poem is to take
us away frorn supernatural explanations 10
rJtlonal ones.
Does the poem use rhyme o• an nreresting rhythm? .•.re trere any sourd
effects to comment on? If repetition occurs, what is the effect?\.Yhat
mcod(s) do you detect, and what to,e does the speaker adopt?
And finally the message. Ask yourselfwha, the poet wants to
communicate to the world rhroJgh this poem, EXAM TIP
Changeless y changing
Artlessly frustrating
Tre pa'rner's ar1.
'Orchids' by Hazel
Simmons-McDonald
Structure
The free verse used in the poem Is apprcpr'ate because tre speaker is
unable to make up her mind. The unstructured verse sJggests her mental
uncer.a'n,y. She tells us t'lat she is packing, then discovers the orchids a1d
tells us 11'-at she was not much Impressed with them a1d even tried tc kill
them by over-watering and then neglecting theml Nevertheless sr.e is
fascinated by their purp!e hearts. Gradually their similarity to poems strikes
her ('full-blown hKe polished poems'). Sre decides tc keep them. pressing
the blooms in rre pages of her memory just as she m· ght keep a p·etty
petal between the pages of a book - just as poems are found between the
pages too. Sometimes it taKes time for us to appreciate the loveliness of a
poem, precisely as tre loveliness of the orcn ds has only grown slowly on
• the speaker.
The Ancier: GreeK scholar
Compare the loose stanza form of'Orch ds' wirn the far more restricted
Archimedes is •eported 10 have
structure of the three sonnets ,n your selection: 'Sonnet Composed Upon
exc aimed Evreko' ("'ve got h!')
1/Vestminster Bridge; 'Death, Be Not Proud; and 'God's Grandeur'. Look at
wren the solu11cn to a scie1ce the regular length of the lines, the regularity cf the rhyme scheme and
prcblecn he was working 01
the way rhe argument in each sonnet is compactly contained in the
suddenly came re h·m as he 14-11 ne frame. In each of tne sonnets, the speaker has reso'ved any
stepped Into his oath. Perhaos
conflict in his mind. \Nordsworrh·s speaker sees only bea-.iry as he loo.<s
you !-,ave lear1r aboJt Archimedes'
at Lendon clothed In the early-mor1119 sunlight; Donr,e's speaxer
Principle in your matns class.
faces Dea,h confidently. assured ti'at he will be raised to life again even
Evreka s pronoJnced you-REEK-uh. though Death may appear to 'c'enhrow'him; ard Hopk'ns'speaker sees
that Eartn has been ravaged because of 'l'lankir.d's Insatiable greed,
but s assured that God is forever at work, renewing Creation.The quiet
confidence of eacn cf the three speakers is suitably conveyed in the
measured verse and regular rhymes. In contrast, the indecision and
conflict in the speaker in ·orchids" s m'rrored in the hesitat' ens of t:ie
verse. ard tne absence of rhymes suits the Jncertainty that she feels
abcut these strange, yet fascinating flowers.
Free verse, as seen in 'Orcnids'. is often apprcpr'aie for a speaker who
is doubting, questioning. and struggling to reach a p.ace of 1--armcny
and balance.
Poetic devices
Simile: The poe-n develops rhe simi e that tre orchids
are li~e polisned poems. They are beaur:ful yet not fully
understood o· appreciated Initially, but we keep both
orch'ds ard poems betv-1een rre pages of a bock where,
sometime, we will discover their peculiar loveliness. The
simile draws anentiol'I to the compelling attracticn of both
pcem and o•chid, the way both are underappreciated,
•
and the way both linger in the pages of memory.
Compressed metaphor: Compress:on of ideas cccu·s
~
n the line'press them between pages of memo·y'. In tr s
very tight line, ner memory is metaphor:cally compared to
a book, and she implies that she has beautiful fragments of
poems on rhe pages of her memory in rhe same way that
people preser✓e beautiful flower petals between the pages
of books. Both petals and poems can be taken Ollt and
enjoyed years iater.
Mood and to ne
l\otice the disparaging tone here: a spray of orchids
someone gave/ from a bouquet one who/ makes a ritual Their own pe-;ullar ~oe1ry
of flower-giving sent. The speaker is clearly not Impressed witn people
who make a ritual of flower giving. Later, when sre slips from talking aboUI
orch·ds total king aboJt poems, we wonder 'f she feels similarly put off
by people (like English teachers?) who make a ritual of offer=rg you. not
a bouqver of flowers, but an anthology of poems! By deliberately avoiding ACTIVITY
any enthus:astic praise of poetry o• orchids at first. the speaker is able to
take us with ner when sne changes rer anitude ar.d decides to keep the Trace tne way ne speaker's
orchids because they r-ave their own "peculia• poetry'. Her fir,al position - attitude to her subject changes
of admiration fer ooth o·chids and poems - is convincing precise y in the course cf tre poem, along
because of this u1emotional, negative begirni1g. w:th tne tore and mood. Find
suitab.e adject,ves to describe the
changes you detect. Do the same
Message w'th tne following poems:
Certa n things rhat other people appreciate (like orchids and poems) may • 'V'/est Indies, USA'
net appeal much to us now, but we may find rha, there 's a particular
• 'The V✓omar, Speaks to ire Man
something aoout them that fascinates us (like those purple petals), and If
who has Emo eyed Her Son'
we treasure and keep tnem we will discover a rich loveli ness about rhem -
maybe after some years. The poem seems to be ta king about flowers. • 'Test Match, Sabina Park'
bJt it is actually talking about the way a fragment cf poetry can raunt us • 'Dea,h, Be Not Proud'
de, ghtful y for years.
'A Stone's Throw' by Elma
Mitchell
Poetic devices
Choice of speaker: Whereas the Bb e sto•y is to'd by S0'11ecne
witnessi 19 the event, Mitchell does something very irteresting: she takes
one cf the Pharisees as her speaker. The effect is brilliant. By allowing the
Pharisees means'separated 01es: Prar'see to speak, Elma Mitchell manages to expose his lust, sadism ard
They be, eved rrattrey should hypocrisy: nis own words condemn him. He also shows that he has no
not defi e themselves by keeping regard for the positio1 that Jesus takes - one of mercy and forgiveness -
company v-ith ·s nne,s'. and he is In re way repentant aoout his blatant sinfulness. He sco·ns the
wa)' Jesus squats down on the grou11d to be at the woman's level, btissfully
unaware that re Is revealing his own arrcgarce by saying that one "Should
never speak to them'.
Diction: The speaker uses words like "virtJous'and "justice·: vVhat does th;s
tell us about nis sense of himself?
He uses diction that we usua y associate with a sexual encounter:"love
bites: 'hands greedy over her body: "kisses'. 'rape: "tastes so good''. vVrat
does this suggest to us about the Pha·isee?
The dict'on inc udes ma11y words and phrases associated with violence:
"roJghed her up: ·'bruised: "assault and banery': 'kisses of stone". \-\/hat
dces this suggest tc us about the Pharisee? Does he seem sorry that they
have hurt her?
By referring to women like this one as 'them'. the Pharisee reveals his
prejud ce in grouping all attractive women together as prostitutes:
and
Message
11 some cultures, stoning to death is stil1rhe punishment for adu rery. And
even today it is the woman who is punis'ied and not i re man. By sr;t'iirg
our gaze away from the woman caugr.t in adultery and orno one of rhe
Pnarisees, tt>e poem serds the message that self-righteousress makes us
b!ind to our own failings and cruelly intolerant of the ia:lings of others. The
legalistic religious fanaticism of tt>e Pnarisees is contrasted with the mercy
and cocnpasslon of Jesus - mak:ng us thin«about the nature of true relig:cn.
' ACTIVITY
'
The Daily fferald
Structure
The poem is wnat we call a dromoi/c monologue (one person Is speaking.
but we sense that another person is present. listening). o r Hlgue·s
monologue falls Into three stanzas, usrng free verse ard a conversa1ional
tone. Ol'Higue, appropriately. speaks Creole. You w:11 notice a few rnyming
words: rice/nice. hum/come. dread/head/dead.Tnese rhymes effectively
highlight the poem's themes: to Ol'Higue, 'rice'is indeed 'nice'. and she
will "come"witn a 'hum"I More seriously, the 'dread'tnat a woman has in
her "head' is that re, baby might be 'dead" (or indeed that she. herse f, will
one day be dead).
Stania I re'ates the beliefs regarding Ol'Higue- the way she comes out cf
her skin and becomes a ball of fire ar,d drinks baby blood. S>ie refers 10 the
salt and rice tnat peop'e sprinkle to keep her from harming tne oaby.
In stanza 2, she exp1ains the appea of newborn babies - their sweet smell,
the pu·e b1ood In theirve:ns -a'1d we understand that she regrets being so
old and ·s jealous of the'sweet sorg of life'that she hears from the young.
cinally, In stanza 3. orHigue stops defending her own actions and begir,s
accusing wo11en: they blame O''Hlgue, she asserts, because 1hey are
ACTIVITY afraid to admit 10 the murderous thoughts in tneir own heads. It is a case
cf project'ng their guilt on:o rer. Every morne· carries an 'ancient dread'
How does Mc\Natt's poem (perhaps ofnnding her baby dead r the crad e, peri'aps of getting old
suggest rhat women have herself), and has murder ins:de rer head - for much as a mother loves her
negative feellrgs towards tfieir baby, there are moments when slie Is terrified at tre thoughts passing
babies and as a result project throug>i ner mind. So. Ol'H1gue cor,cludes, once tnere are women giving
these feelings on to Ol'Higuel birth to babies (and realising, as they do, that they rliemselves are getting
old - that this new baby has robbed trem of their youth and beauty), trey
will need to project tlieir bad thoughts onto sorneone else - and wno
bener rlian 01' Higue?
Poetic devices
Allusion to Caribbea~ folklore: Mc'l✓att Is discuss:ng a psycnolog'cal
aspect of women's rves. A mother is expected only to s11ow love ard
patience to ~er new baby, but wren she is sleep-deprived and the baby
will not sleep, she can get murderous thoughts. Because she Is unable to
admit even to nerself trai this is so. sne invents a figure who kills babies -
01' Higue. This is a psycnological reality: we all project our negative
characteristics 01to others ii' orde' to appear
virtuous. By usirg the fo'k figure in this way, McV'/att
Is helping us to understand something aboJt
ourselves. but in a p,ayful, entertaining way.
Rhetorical questions: The quest'ons and
cor,versatlo>1al tone tha, 01' HigJe uses help to bring
the reader Into her thoughts, inviting a response.
Use of Creole: In this poem tre use of Creole ,s
totally effective because o :'Hlgue Is a folk figure.The
Creole a so adds to the humour at the beginning
of the poe,n. The Creo'e expressions add realism,
and a' so urderscore serioJs concerns trat the poet
brings to our attention. '/
Tone
The first stanza ·svery playful. the second a little
more serious, and 1he third very ,houghtful and
serious. In stanza I. 01' H'gue can be asking in a
playful, teasing tone, 'You think I wouldn't rather take
my blood seasoned in fat black pudding ... ?' But
by the final stanza ,he diction ncludes wo·ds like
"middle of the nignt': 'ancient dread'. 'blame': "murder' -
creating a far more solemn, even cminoJs tone.
Mood •• • •
The tone adopted by Ol'Higue affects the mood cftre reade'. At first we Sigmund Freud and his followers
are amused by O.'Higue's cheeKy presentat'on cf herself, but as she grows developed a theory called
accusator)', we become thoughtful and se(ous. ask·ng ourselves w1eirer psycrologlcal projectio'l. ~ather
there is a1y truth In the claims she makes. tnan ccnfrcntour fa ·ngs, F·euq
suggested, we dery any wrorg
in ourselves and attribute those
Message
failings to otners 'n a kird of
McVVatt uses Ol'Hlgue to rem'nd us o' the hu11an propensity ro project defence mechanism cal ed
our failings and wicked ircughts onto other people, instead cf admitting pro,ection.
that we all have a dark side to oJr personality.
'This Is the Dark Time,
My Love' by Martin Carter
Structure
The poem co1sists of three regular unrhymed stanzas. The first mentions
rhe invading soldiers (brown beetles) and t11e so·rov.iful response of
nature. The second shows how the joyful festivals and carnival atmosphere
cf Guyanese culture have been taken over by guns, misery and anxiety.
The third asks rhetorically who has come to destroy the land and the
dreams o' the people.
Poetic devices
Contrast: Carter builds a cortras1 between nature ard technology.
The sun's face is "hidden in the sky'. the "red flowers bend their heads in
awful so,row' and ment:on Is made of the 'slender grass". In contrast to
the loveliness of defenceless nature we have desuuctive'booi of steel'.
''dark metal: "guns'. Another con:rast is made be,ween love and war. The
speaker addresses his dear one or his land as "my love·: but the "man of
death'and the 'strange invader'break into treir intimacy, bring:ng terror
and hopelessness: 'VVatching you sleep ard aiming at your dream~
Personification: By personifY:ng nature (the·'sh,ning sun 1s hidden':
"Red flowers oend their heads in awful sorrow"), Carter makes it seem as
if nature herself is grieving over the political si1uatro1 - so dreadful Is the
d'sappointmert of a peoo e who had dreamed of se'f•governance. The
he,p1essness of the peop ea so emerges as they are compared to 'slender
grass'being trodden down by''boot of steel'.
Paradox/oxymoron occurs In the phrases ' festival of guns" and ··carnival
cf misery". 0 esrlvals and carnivals are times cf fun and celebration; t Is
.. terrifying ro rhin~ of guns and misery ho:ding festivals and carnivals 1n
the streets.
Rhetorical questions create a feeling of uncertainty, and ire repet tion
of the words 'This1s the dark time. my .ove" is ominous.
The metap>ior ''All round the land brown beetles craw about'. comparing
Martin cane,
the arrival of the British troops with an rfestation of beetles. is very
effective because It gives the sense of rhe soldiers being everywhere you
look, ar.d of the feeling that you just want to get rid of tnern before irey
'I•• •• a,•1, ........
des trey every living th1ng. In 1953, after the People's
Progressive Parry wen the
Mood and tone elections. rre B•itish Government
suspended tne Brftlsh GJla'1a
The word "crawl" also te' Is us how much the speake• scorns the troops. Constltutlol'. and troops were sent
whlle'my love' suggests the intimacy between the speaker and the perso1 in to quell the resu,tlng unrest.
he addresses. The tone, on tne one hand, is scorn for tnose who would Martin Carter was imo•isoned
trample on loveliness and secretly arrive under cover cf darkness ro control fer trree monms for defying the
helpless. U'1armed people. 01 the other hand. the 101e is a lamentatio1 for regulations ·mposed.
the people and the land whose dreams are being desuoyed.
His poem, 'This s the Dari< lime,
The mood of the reader is much affected by the tore of rhe speaker.Vo/e My Love: was Inspired by that
feel anger towards tne ir.vade·, sorrow at ire suffering and destruction, period cf Guyana's his!ory.
,
compassion for the speaker and the one he loves, indigration at the
Injustice of the ent'•e si1ua1io1.
Message
1Nnile the poem was Ir.spired by specific h storic events in British Guiana.
the impact of the poem is felt by all lovers of freedom who sense that
forces are at work to rake that freedo'Tl away. Tre poem is a lament for rre
loss of freedom and hope.
'Theme for English B'
by Langston Hughes
Poetic devices
Choice of speaker: Because the soeake· is alone, he 1s able to talk aloud
to himself in th's free conversational sty'e, asking questions. hesitating.
making honest ccnfess1cns about his life, struggling to pJt thoughts
together. His struggles are the struggles of all black people in the USA in
the early part of the 20"' century.
Symbol: The lardscape (or iopograpry) of the poem is symbolic: the
white college is "on the hill'' (suggesting its superlorjty), so that he has
to go·'down'to reach Harlem -a run-down pa't of New York most y
tenanted by b'ack and Hispanic people. Even tbe elevator he takes to his
room is symbo1·c, continuing the up-down imagery that tells us re is
trying to e,evate himself In society. Ironically, though, however high he
goes acade-nically, he st'll lives at tre Y-a hostel for poor youths -and in
A segregated drinking area n the ~SA Harlem, an impoverished black community.
Broken syntax: The sentences in lines 16-20 are very broken and
/ ACTIVITY
hesitant. This ,s an effect,ve form, perhaps suggesting tne speaker's
drfficulty in phrasing his rhoughts so that tney can be communicated. Find out about ire Jim Crow
Remember that he wil be ar,xious not to give offence and '!Ct to put laws In the USA. Discuss yoJ
himself at a disadvantage either. findings with your stvdy partner,
Rhetorical questions: "I wonder if it's 1t-at simple? Me -wro? So will or use them to make a short
my page be colored it-at I write?'These rhetor'cal questions actually preser1tation to your class.
contain rhe argument of the poem and h'gnlight the speaker's dilemma.
Communicaticn is not simp e. It is not easy to discover who he is. Even
thoJgh he has demor>strated that he shares a common humanity, he is
left wondering ,f his colour will show in h's writing - and whether that is
gcodorbad.
Repetition: Notice hew frequintly the words I/you/me are repeated.
Remember that the chal enge the speaker has Is to ccmmur,'cate
something aoout himself to arotrer Indiv·d•Jal. The repeated I/you/me
effectively brings the issue of communication to oJr attention. The phrase
"a part of" is also repeaied, highlighting the fact 1t-at as black and white
people imeract in society, each becomes part of the other's consc,oJsness.
Rhymes: Although the poem is ,n free verse. there are a few rhymes: you/
true, me/free, write/white, you/tco/who. Has t'ie ocet highlighted his key
,deas in these rh)•mes, do you think?
Mood and to ne
An iroric tone s injected when the speaker says 10 the insuucto•:
Message
'Nith remarkable restraint, the speaker manages ro convey the message
that it Is very difficult to be black In America. He vses his freedom to
write not by communicating a1ger and resentment. but by asserting
nis intelligence and his rumanity. He asserts both his difference and
uniqueness as a b,ack man, but he ·nsists, too, that he shares a co'llmon
humanity with peop,e like his wnite instructo'.
'Dulce et Decorum Est'
by Wilfred Owen
F ACTIVITY I
, V1hat is a 11anda a?
• Could that starfish In tlie pool be a kind of mandala? If so. what 's
Brathwaite saying about the Island lifestyle?
Poetic devices
Alliteration: The stanzas de not carry rhyme or a regular
rhythm, but 1he freqJen1 use of alliteration gives a lyr"cism
to the lines: 'b•ight beaches·; ·'sound of the sea~ 'stoniest
cities:'sharp slanting sleet:"tep d taste'. and so on.
Rhythm: V•/hlle trere is no regular rhythm, in many
places a daayl'c rnythm (-w) surges up as if we are
hearing the rolllrg of the sea. Read these lines aloud to
feel that rhythm:
Message
The Islands may not boast the progress and developmef'l of the North,
but life there is full of joy, warm relationships and limitless potential In
cortrast to ire lone y, paln~JI lifestyle in tne Nortr. 'South'ls a celebrat'on
of Car'bbean life.
'West Indies, USA'
by Stewart Brown
The poem uses a metapnor comparing the aerial v,ew of tne sland to
"the shattered Innards cf aTV set 11at's fallen off the back of a lorry".
The reader can v·sualise the tiny reefs of bull dings and the roads like
twisted wires. The metaphor is also effective because what you see
inside the TV is very different from wnat you see on ihe screen, and the
real'ty tnat the immigrant finds inside America is very different from the
orrrocrive images he has seen. The concluding line prov'des us v/th an
·mportant message:
It's sharp ard jagged and dangerous, and belonged to so.,,eone else.
\Jr.cle Sam (and therefore Puerto Rico) may have better technology ard
• g•eater wealth and efficiency 1t,an the slards of the Caribbean, but
Since 1886, the famous Statue there is a price to be paid: greater co.11rol, barbed-wire fences, a sense
of Liberty- an Iconic structure cf alienation. Freedo'11 is to be found In the poorer 'slards - not rere In
represer,ilng the Roman goddess America1-owned San Juar.
of freedo,, - has dominated New
York 1--arboJr. Inside the museJm Ru n-o n lines and word-play
at tne Statue's base, visitors can
nteresting use Is made of run-on lines ,n this poem, for example:
find a bronze tablet tt'-a; bears
;he tex. of a poem ca led The
Subtle Urcle Sam, afra'd too many desperate blacks
New Colossus'by Emma Lazarus. might re-enslave this Island of the free.
The words 'give me your poor' are Might jump tl,e barbed
frcm he· poem. electric fence
Do you see how the poem Itself seems to be jumping from
one star>za ;o the nex1, as If in imitation of illegal immigrants
jumping the electr c fence?
As the plane takes off again we get this run-on line:
\Jow look at tre shape of the poem on the page and notice
new each stanza meanders into the next. Does it suggest to
yoJ the island-hopplr>g that the plane has been doing?
It 's no typographical error that the word'ls'and'·n 'Island' of
the free has the ir: ti al I in italics. One can hear echoes of Rasta
talk here: I-land. my land.The assertion is that Puerto R;co is a
Caribbean rerritory - I-land - and not America's psoperty at all.
Similes: The sea ·s compared to the green baize on a casino table, and
the is ands to dice tossed randomly. It is a good comparison, showing the
random arrangement of the islands, ar>d their unequal fortur>es.
The clouds rave ''hall-marked' s' ver linl ngs. The effect here Is to remind
us of the hopes of so many Cariobean people wro dream of a better life ACTIVITY
(a siiver lin'ng) in the USA: here ,re silver lining Is genuine sliver - and like
genuine silver, ,t bears a 1allmark! The suggest' en Is that people get rich in • FindoJtwhatDal'as isfamo•Js
San Juan. for so that you can exp' ain why
the soeake• calls Puerto Rico
'the Da' as of the Vvest Indies".
Message
• Find out why the USA is
Owned by the USA. San Juan appears to be better off than the
sometimes called 'Uncle Sam'.
Independent Caribbean ·slards. But ,re price for sharing America's
wea th has been high as the island now belongs to someone else. The • Exp,ain t~e simile comparing
peem urges us to cherish freedo-n and not be seduced by economic airports to cal ing cards.
dependence.
'Mirror' by Sylvia Plath
Structure
Each of ,he two stanzas in the poe-n has n·ne 1:nes.There are no end
rhymes.The effect of this is to suggest tnat the woman's sad situation is
,mcliang·r,g, and without attracrlveness.
In the first stanza, sre checks her appearance 1n a mirror on the wall. In tre
second, she prefers to look at her reflecrion in a lake.
There ·s some,lii rg sinister aboJt this prog·essio1, isn't there? Has she
perhaps become so depressed by what tre mirror tells her that she is
thinking of suicide? Ce11ainly the word 'drowned" takes our thoughts in
that direction.
Another thought you may have about the progression In the ,wo
stanzas s that in the mirror she sees only her outer appearance,
whereas in the lake she is searching to discove• whot she reolly is. Has
she realised that outer beauty is not all rhat matters? Does the lake tell
her anything about her Inner beauty, or does It mere y remind her that
she ·s getting older?
Poetic devices
Speaker: Perliaps the most striking poetic dev·ce 'n this poem is
tne choice of speaker. The poor womar, does not get to speak; a:I
the talking Is done by ,he mirro•.The mirror prides itself on be'rg
unoiased and truthful, but actuady It succeeds ir distressing the
woman by what ·1shows her. vVren the mirror turns into a lake
in tre second stanza, it shows us hew desperate,y the woman
tries to leek beau,iful. t seems scornful of the fact tnat she prefers
moonl'ghr or candlelight. since they are kinder to her face; rhe
mirro• calls i hem "llars'I
Personification: By personifying the m·rror, Plath wins cur sympathy
fer the wo11an and our ,ntense disl ke for the mirror (who rep·esents
a culture that emphasises physical beauty to tne exclus'on of
'I see he, back. and refle<1 le faithful~/ everything else).
Allusion: The speaking mirro· is an allusion to the story of SnowvVhite.
The queen of the land looked daily into ,t-e mirror, hoping to heas tnat she
/ ACTIVITY I
was 'the fairest' of them all, bur was half-crazed when rhe mirror told her • VVhat kind of personal lty does
that Sr.ow White was the most beautIfJI. the mirror have? LIS! your
Mood and tone adjectives and find sJpporting
evidence from the poem.
Imaglne you are listening to the mirror speaking. vVnat is its tone of voice
,n the first five lines? 1Nhich of these adjectives would beSl describe • VVhat state of mind is the
the mirror: honest, orrogonr, defensive, authorirarion, kind, uncaring, se/f. woman In? List the ways sne
imporronr? responds to her reflection in the
mirror ard the lake.
1Nnat tone of voice does the mirro, use wher It calls the candies and the
mcon ''liars'. and when it says, 'I am important to her'? • V\lhat effect does tne simile 'like
a terrible fish"have ori you?
1Nhat mood does tlie poem put you in when you read the effect the
mirror has on her (say, in lire 14)? Do you feel any symoathy with t~e • Vl'ou:d you like to have
woman when you read 1t-e last two ires of the pcem? someone 'ke th·s mirror as
your best friend? Expla n yoJr
Message answer.
As we sJggested above, this poem can be seen to be about rhe way we
have been cor.dtioned to place too much emphas's on phys ca, beauty. t
makes us aware of tne excruciating pain many people feel when they are
unaole to achieve tne image that soe°ety apo auds. People cannot enjoy KEY POINTS
their lives because trey feel they are too fat, not muscular enough, too
pimply, tco dark-skinned, not curvaceous enough and so on. A helpful way to dlsringu'sh
between tone ard mood Is to
think of tne to~e as the attitude
of rhe speake• (the ,one ofv6ce
used) a,id co think of mood as the
fee ngs that rhe poem evokes In
you, tne reader.
The wdrer Sylvia Plath, shown here on af'I American postage stamp
'The Woman Speaks to the Man
who Has Employed her Son' by
Lorna Goodison
Poetic devices
Contrast: The poem begins with talk of morning sickness and t'1e baby
grcvvlng i!"side the mother - irnimate ard natural - bl.11 then dramat'cal ly
switches to talk of machine guns and'hot and exploding death'. The
contrast is between life and death, between nature and technology.
Diction:Much of the diction conve)'s the rel'gious faitn of the mother:
·'prayers': 'psalms'. 'Knee c·ty'. 'soul'.
Allusion :
/ ACTIVITY
• In lines 25-28. Bib''cal allusior is used. In Maithew 7:9 Jesus asks the
quest,on:·or which ore of yoJ. if his son asks him for bread, will give him • Exo ain tre significance of tre
a stone?' Any good father woJld naturally g've his sor what Is good for reference to 'box-hand' In the
him, but not the ·father' In the poem. final stanza of tne ooem.
• In arotrer s·b: cal allusion, s'1e is compared with other mothers whose • a \'/hat are tne mQlrer's
sons have died violent deaths after they had gone astray - the mother of dreams in this poem, and
Judas Iscariot and of the thief beside Jesus. The allusion reminds us that how are they shattered?
even the worst criminal was once a baby, nursing at his mother's breasi.
b Compare this pcem with the
• You can read the story of King David and his son Absalom In others you have studied and
2 Samuel 18:2a-33. Even though. in his rebellion, Absalom had almost consider how innocence is
destroyed his father, David never stopped loving him. destroyed by a cruel reality.
• The Biblical all us·ens underscore the simple faith of the mother, but they
also speak out against the gang-lords wnose unrighteous dealings are The fo,lowing polrts shoJld
destroying youths in society. help you In your analysis of
each poe'TI:
Mood and tone • How ·s innocence and
goodness depicted in the
In lines • 3-1 7 the speaker Imagines the mother speaking of the absentee
poem?
father with wry numour, but no binerness: at least the fellow was fair,
she jokes, s'nce he ueated a'I his children vith''equal and unb·ased • \•/hat is the ha,sh reality that
Indifference'. threatens that Innocence?
• \.Yhat ,echn·qJe does the
In line 22, again speak'ng on behalf of the mother, the friend turns to the
poet use to draw out an
criminal employer and her sarcasm spills over: 'you value him so much/
emotional response?
you give him one whole submachine gur for him alone'.
In lines 33- 40 we find a m·xture cf sorrow and vengeful anger. Look ar
these lines:
The hint here 1s that while ihe woman Is seeking comfort from God as sfie
prays fo• the son. she ,s bringing a curse down on the employer - read'ng
psalms for h,m and covering him with rer eye-water. Caribbean readers
are familiar with the use cf the Bible 1n obeah - and It looks as if this
motne· is seeking her own kind of revenge.
Sui while hulT'our and sarcasm spill over, the chief tone of the poe'T1 is of
grief and lamenta:ion, and conirolled anger at the injus,ice thar all of the
mother's dreams sho~ld be shattered in this way.The reader experiences
different moods as the poem progresses: tencerness at the me'lt'on of
the mother's ove and hopes fo, the baby, wry humour on learning o' ,he
fathe··s 'fa;r-minded' ,rea,ment of his chi dren, anger and dismay a, the
employer's act'on and the tragedy, co'Tlpassio'I for the mother's grieving
and aomiration fo· her strength.
Message
The poem is a woman's protesr againSt the v'olence pervading many
Carlbbea1 societies with its tragic waste of life and potential.
Dealing with death
Poetic devices
The metaphor 'make marriages with their guns' is effective in show ng the
deep love the men have for this activity.Trey are now bound to their guns
and tre hunting as they normally are bound to their wives. lronicall)'. thoJgh.
whe•eas marriage usually prcdJces new life. th:s·marriage' to their guns will
pre duce death. Another key device Is contrast, s1owirg different activit' es
for the men and wo!'Tlen, and different attitudes for the boys and g:r s.
Message
Human beings are both male and female: we have a side that is aggressive
and destructive, but we a'so have a side that is gentle and nurtur'ng.Tre two
sides cf OJr humanity are d,sp'ayed 1n the situation depicted in the poem.
Poetic devices
The person,ftcation of Death Is crucia because ·r allows the speaker to talk
to Death as to an opponent. an enemy. The taums and beasts all depend
on the personification. The personification of"poison, war and sickness'
Is efieaive because it gives us a serse of Death rvlng w th undesirable
neighbours!
The poem takes the form of an argument - almost Iike a lawyer arguing
point-by-point ir court. The arguments are somewrat far-fetched, but
somehow they are emotior,ally convincing, belittling Death until he seems
easi y beatable.
Message
The poem is an affirmat,cn (playful and or ginal) of the Christian belief in
the Resu·rection.
/ ACTIVITY I
• Look careful y at the contrast ng roles of men and women. and the
d'fferern reaaiors of the boys and the girls In Olive Senior's poem.
Do you think that their differert temperaments and roles are a fair
po'trayal of the male and the female, O' not?
• Donre's speaker says thar some people see Death as belng'm'gnty
and dreadful'. \oVhy woJld people see Death this way?
• \/Vhe'l the speaker addresses Death as "poor Death' and calls Death
a "slave'. wrat att rude is he showing to this "mighty and dreadful'
adversary?
'A Lesson for this Sunday'
by Derek Walcott
Structure
The poem is wriner In free verse, but makes use of a fairly regular rhythm,
regular line length ard frequent rhymes. The argument is developed in
three starzas of different lengths. The first stanza focuses on the quiet
moment of relaxation 1n the hammcc'<on this Sunday. The second deals
with the interruption of t'le quiet by ,re cries of ,re children hunting and
dissecrng the butterfiy, and then objecting to tre maid stopping their
game. The third relates the reflections of the speaker -wondering where
such seemingly innate crue ty had Its orig ns.
Poetic devices
Pun: The title co1ta,ns layers of meaning within the word 'lesson'. The
children are having a sc·ence lesson, bJt the speaker is also learning
something. A.though he is not in church, wrere t'1e word
'lesson' would refer to the Bible reading, he is actually beirg
,.(J presented witn a sermon on Original Sin as he watches two
young c'1 . ildren (whom one would expect to be ·nnocent)
demonstrating that cruelty is innate. This laner mea1119
of the title is reinforced by the fact that the black maid Is
singing 'the plain ro,es of some Protestant rosanna'as
if she. too, Is in church. Her very presence is yet anotner
lessen - rhis time for tne reader, who is reminded of slavery
- of the cruelties of humankind.
The little girl is 'crouched on plump haunches, as a mantis
prays~ Here the pun on prays/preys is effecrve, suggesting
trat scientific research may aooear co be reverencing life,
bJt is often merely p'eying or that life.
Metaphor: The butterfi'es are frail k tes - an effec;lve
metaphor because it suggests not only their fi igfit and
Frail kl1es In t~e SJnsh ne fragility, but also a sense of playfulness.
The poem is in. tially cfiered as the lemor,ade cf s:mpie praise - a cool,
refreshing drink mixing bo1h sweet (sugar) and sour (lemon).
Irony: Th; speaker says that the cries cf tre children break his Sabbath
with the thought of sin. Mesi Sabbatr-keepers co~sider that refleaing
on one's sin Is a necessary aspect of the Sabbath, bJ, not this man, wl-ic
evident1y prefers to sperd Sunday in his garden. It is Ironic that he Is
gett,ng a lessen/sermon even tncugh he rs not ,n church.
Rhymes: Rhymes are used effect'vely re link key corcepts: sw ngs/sings
suggests the peacefulness cf the moment. s' n/pin highlights the fact that
the children's activ·ty is sinful, rot just playful, fear/everywhere and torn/
born suppo•t the spea<er's thesis that fear, pain and suffering are part of
our lot as human beings because cruelty is everywhere too. like summer
grass, the poem concludes. we are doomed to d:e: we sway 'to the
scythe's design'.
Simile: The 'Nords ·as su11mer grass sways to the scythe's design' create
a comparison oetween the way each of us is born into a life of pain,
suffering and death, and highlight trat this process is as Inevitable as the
way each blade of grass s cut down by a scythe. Crucial to the simile is tne
wo•d·'design" - suggesting that the pa:n and cruelty are actually part of
the master plan!
Symbol : Tre little gir wears a emon frock and tre blltlerfly has yellow
wings.Vo/hen the speaker comments "and everywrere the f·ccks of
su1111er tern'. he has given symbolic value to tre yellow frcck: it new
represents all beauty and innocence that risks being brcken and maimed
by t'1e cruelty and destructiveness around.
Diction: In describing ,he two chiloren, the poet shifts to a semi-scientific
language: fepidopterists, surgeon, eviscerore, obdomen, prodigies. Because the
language is ,oo grand to be applied to ch:ldren tearing a buner~y to pieces,
ACTIVITY
we sense mockery in the ;one. But we are also reminded that carefully
chosen words (erhnic cleansing, rec'eoloymenc, etc.) can often mask horro.·s • Co'Tlmen1 on the effect
In the real world. ach eved by V•/alcott's use of
each of rhe words or groups of
Mood and tone words In this 11st:
The speaker's mood (snared by the reader) s initially relaxed and furious; praise, rituals, prorestant
cortented. then mildly annoyed, and finally discr'ented, deeply disturbed hosanna, Sabbath; /epidoprerisrs,
and a;:ioalled. surgeon, eviscerate, oodomen,
prodigies; maimed, teerering;
The tone cf the meditation is serious and philosophical. swings, swoyed.
Poetic devices
The 'rough' children are compared to animals: they sprirg cut 'like dcgs
to bark: and the speaker fears ·',,ore than tigers",reir muscles and their
ability to wrestle him down. Another simile compares their verbal ta•Jnts
with stones thrown at the speaker, suggesting how painful the insults
were, and how they are ,1ot easily forgotten.
not teaching their son how to cope and sta~d on his own two feet.
Message
Simple as the poem seems, it is a serioJs indlamert of c ass distinctions.
The spea~er's parents clearly see themse'ves as being superior to the
"rough' neighbours, and have taught their so, according1y, but in doing so
they nave made him a v,alm of the vengeful response of the 'have-nots' in
socieiy. He has grown up Uf'able to bridge the gap between himself and
the lower class.
Structure
Usirg free verse, the poet presents his poem in four stanzas - the first
three of similar length. and the final stanza consisting of just one lire. In
ere firsT stanza, the father describes rhe reactior of The child To the slao;
In the seco~d, the father imagines what he must look like to the chi d - a
grim giant I ke the one in Jack arid the Beanstalk. As we move into the
third stanza the father addresses the child. claiming that it pains him to
punish the child, but tne 1esson has to be learnt and in the final, one-line
stal"za, he states the lesson:'You must not make a p.aythir,g of the rain'.
V.fe see the situation from both po' nts cf view, and are kept In suspense
until the last line to find out what occasio'1ed the slap.
Poetic devices
The most striking device Is allusion to the fa'ry tale. Tre father imagines
11',at his son sees him as the 'grim g·an(in the stcry~acK the Giant Killer'.
The cnild sees hi'llself as Jack, the hero, 'cropping clean the t·ee he's
scrambling down·: The allus on is effective because it is the k11d of story
tre child would be familiar with, it suggests the immerise size oft:ie
giant/father, ard conveys ,he l',atred the child fee s at that moment. Also.
co~irast is evident: tne child sees the fa11',er as an al -powerful tyrant. bvt
ere father presents himself as one who is hurt. who wavers, who wo:.ild
prefer to play than to admir,i ster pun:shment.
The metapho• 'angling' captures very cleverly the way children have of
demarding attention: ke someone fis1ing, the chi d is 'angling' for some
'h,nt of guilt and sorrow'in tne father's face.
Message
The father's actio1s show that love involves d'scipline. However, th·oJgh
tre way it exp•esses the father and child's emotions. this poem shows that
punishing the one you love is painful for both parties.
, ACTIVITY I
Do you aoprove of the actions tc1ken by ire parents in these poe"Yls?
VVrite a short letter to each cf t~e fothers in these poems. tactfully
offer,ng your react on 10 their way of deal 19 with their children.
Remember that tne parents In botn cases are acting in what tney
understand to be the child's best interest.
Meanings below the
surface
EXAM TIP
Situation as reality
In the aoove example, the sirJation In the poem was a kind of metapho· for
what the poet aciually wanted to say. So'netlmes the situation In the poem
Is not so much a metaphor as an example of rea1·zy. For lrstance, ,n 'The
V•/oman Speaks to the Man who Has Employed her Son: rre sitJaticn of
this particular moire, Is repeated hundreds of times across the Caribbean:
her story is just one case among many. Once again, thoJgh, we can extract
the message: unchecked crimina activity in the Caribbean destroys our
promising young men and brings untold sorrow to mothers wro have
made sacrifices and st•uggled to raise them well. The poem cries out for
government actior to curb drug-dealing and other criminal activities.
Since the poeuy question cal s for a comparison of two poems, you need
LEARNING OUTCOMES
not only to read and appreciate the techniques and message of each
In this section you wi : r.dividual pcem. but also to anticipate possible pairl ngs of poe'lls by
theme.
• discover several themat c links
betwee1 the poems on tne n this section we will consider some poems 1rat share the same theme.
syllabus You should beg·n coking at the poems in pairs, thinking aboJt the
similarities and differerces in the treatment of the same tneme.
• look at the s ml artles and
differences In how tre same
:re'lle is 1ard ed by different Nature
poets
VVe see tne beauty of nature in ma,y of rhe poems. In each poem, though,
• ,r n~ about the way poetic nature has a different role. vVordsworrh shows how even a OJsy. dirty c·iy
devices affect you' reaaior to can be transformed and made beautiful by the morning sunlight. Hopkins
tre poe'TI. sees rature as reveal:ng God's glory; for him, nature is constantiy being
,erewed despite mankind's destructive aaiv'ties.Virtue sees nature as a
challerge to t'1e artist who tries to capture the gra1deur in a painting. n
'Orchids'. the beauty of the flowe·s Is compared to the lnt(guing attraction
/ ACTIVITY I that poems can have for us and so on. Make a list of poems that presert
the level ,ness of nature, and ask yourself what specific effect is achieved In
Each time you encounter a treme
each case.
In one poem, compare how this
poem and other poems present
tr-at same meme. Cruelty and inhumanity
Several of the pcems show us the unkind ways in which we treat each
other, Good:son's poem focuses on gang warfare. wni e Owen's looks at
war close up, and Carter Haces the more suotle cruelty of political control.
Olive Senior takes a loo~ at differences between tre male and the female
with her macho menfolk eagerly getting ready to hunt oirds, while tre
womenfolk pray for the birds to escape! Botn 'Dreaming Black Boy' and
'T'1eme for English B' remind us of the cruel effects of racism.
Mitchell's portrayal of the self-righteous religious eaders calling fo· the
stoning of a woman is a reml nder that even today tre·e are regimes where
women are stripped naked and stoned to death by men who believe trat
they are doing God's will. V•/alcon, in his 'Lesson For This Sunday: focvses
en the crue!ty that even young children are capable of. and so does
Spender as he portrays roJgh, tough children bullying anotrer kid who
seems more privileged than they are. Certainly. cruelty and inhumanity
seem to be uo,qJltoJs.
Hypocrisy
Many of the poems illustrate hypocrisy at wor'<: the speaker in'Once Upo1
a Time' regrets that he has learnt to play the hypocrite, but the Pharisees
n 'A Stone's Throw' are bilssfully unaware that they are guilt)' of being
two-faced! Tt-e crlmina who gave a gun 10 the boy in Goodison's poem
was clearly hypocritical, as he persuaded the boy that he would be a
iatrer to him.
Dreams and aspirations KEY POINTS
Every human being has a dream. The 'dreaming black boy· and the mature
student writing his'theme fo• Ergll sh B'both have dreams. The speaker :--o two peoo e see lfe the same
1n 'It Is the Constant Image of Your Face· has his dreams; so does the way, so any partlcJlar theme
speaker 1n 'This Is the Dark Time. My Love'; and sod d the mother In 'The will be presented d· fterently by
Vvoman Speaks to the Man who Has Employed her Sor'. Ask yourself what d fferent poets.
the nature of each of these dreams is. Thin~ about what happens !O the
dreams. ard why. Ask yoJrself how the poetic devices ·n each poem affect
your response.
EXAM TIP
Technology
s_£.,.,,ce title -poet..-l:J qKestio111,
Technology nas come to stay. and rot all of its effects are good. You w.tL be a com-payative
ca1 find guns and boots of steel. Cadillacs and TV sets in these poems.
Ask yourself wry technology makes its appearance - what the poe, is
O"'-t, J>Ye-pcwe l:JOKYseLf bl:1
st1A.d1::J•"'-0 how tl1e s~ me
communicatirg to the reader by trese references.
theme is tac~Led bl:J
diffe..-ei,,.,t -poets.
Love and death
Love of anotner person er simply love of life can be found In many of these
poems. ard almost always that ove is cha enged and tnreatened. Death s
the ultimate enemy of' eve, and death is a recurring theme t,~at you need
to exam' ne. comparing how different poems treat that subject.
ACTIVITY
Select two poems dealir.g with the same ibeme. How are they similar?
How are they different? How do the poetic devices affect your reaction
to tnepoem?
EXAM TIP
Two views of nature
• Metaphor: The Holy Ghcst Is described metaphorically as a b:rd • _ook at the •hyme scheme In
spreading its wings over its young; it suggests God's .oving care. this sonnet. Does ·1 support the
octave-sestet model?
• Simile: The way God's glory s,iines out of creation is captJred in the
comparison with tre way l.ght flashes from fo!I when you shake lt:·'llke • Line 8 terally means that mar
shining from shock foil". now wears shoes, so cannot feel
• Pun: The word "charged" means g·ven tne responsibility for showing the soil underfoot. Could tnat
forth Gcd's g1ory, but it also means erergised by God's glory. as an re be saying something about
electr'cal c:1arge. Tre reference tc rhe bent world is also a pun, signify,ng man's relationship with God?
the physical shape of the earth and a1so t'ie croo:<ed moral lty.
Message
1'.o matter how much sinful ma, damages the beauty ar.d worde' of
God's creat1on, God is always at work 10 renew and restore.
/ ACTIVITY I
Comoare the ways in w11lch \A/o-dsworth and Rubadan experience
and respond to nature's majesty.
P.r:actice exam questions
1 T>ie speaxers In A Lesson for this Sunday aPd 3 n the poems An African Thunderstorm and Sonnet
8irdshoo11ng Season both witness ar act of cruelcy. Composed upon V✓esrmlnster Bridge tne speaker 's
W•ite an essay In wh ch you describe the i'TIpressed wi,h the maJestY of Na,ure,
exper'e'lce of the spea'<er i-i EACH of t:iese 1Nrite an essay In whicr you describe ire scer1e
poems. Ir, this essay, you must compare the witnessed ,n EACH poem, and EACH speaker's
reactlo1 of ,he speakers to what they have react'on to thar scene. You must also commert
wltressed, and exa'111ne ON: device that Is used on tbe effective use of ONEpoetic device Ir, EACH
to present ire speaker's experience ir EACH poem.
poem. i3SmorKS]
i3S marks]
4 Both Dulce e1 Decorum £sr ar,d The Woman Speaks
2 The poems Milror and Ur.le Boy Crying both ro the Man Who Hos Employed Her Son born
present a painful exper'ePce. Write a'1 essay in consider rhe tragic loss of yoJng lives.
which you compare tne pa r, experienced by Wr te an essay in which you show, from EACH
0 ,\ Eperson selected from EACH poem, and poem, row and wry the lives of young men 100
comment on tne effective use of al JSion In often e1d in tragedy, In your essay you -nust snow
EACrl poem. how rhe person affected responds to tre loss,
(3S marksJ and examine ONEdevice used In EACH poem to
effectively co1vey tbe ·rnenslty of that response.
i3Smarks]
EXAM TIP
EXAM TIP
• ~-KYt i;JOK follow ti-le ,'/rite an essay in wnich you describe TVoiO Incidents 1n which tbe conflict
•.w;tYKcti-0.w; to cl-loose between good and evi is p'esented. In this essay. you must a1so discuss
O"'-t _qKestio.,,_, fro"'- eacl1 how the MAIN characters are affected In ONE of rhe incidents, and
sec.tt.o"'-. exam·ne ONE rechnique that \<Valcott uses ro present the theme of good
versus evil in the play.
• R.lacl t11e qKestio.,,_,
cciyef,,<.Lt!'.f, ""-A k.L""0 SKYe Your essay needs three parts:
1'.fOK K""cleYsta~ w11at is an introduction
YeqKiYec( oody (usually of three or more paragraphs)
• Check that 1'.fOK 11&ive a conclusion.
&1.w;w~recl e&ic.11 p&irt of t"1e
q KtstLOI'\.. Let's start wirh the body:
Body of essay
Follow these steps.
EXAM TIPS First. tun the exam quesr on Into a 'to do' list to remind you to deal w,th
each part of the question:
• "Be gKicled b!'.f ti-le I must describe T\.YO incidents in wh'ch the confl iet between good and
""-&IYk attoc.atio..,, wile.,, evil is presented.
c~""sicleYi""fi now ""-Kc.n I must discuss how rhe MAIN characters are affected In ONE of tne
hl¾e 1'.fOK spe~ 0"" each i r.cidents.
sectio.,,,.
• Rtad over !::jl>Ur respl>l'\.Se I must exa-nine ONE technique tnat \<Valcott uses to prese1t t'1e theme of
geed versus evil.
to correct "'""l:J obvioKS
eYYoYS. As you see, you now rave gu•delines for your three body paragraphs.
• ~ite 0 "'-' &itter"'-'Ate Li"'-'ts
•f !jOu te""cl to "'-&1ke a Introduction
Lot of COYYec.tLo.w;. Tl'iis You may use the exam questio1 to guide you as you craft your introduction.
wa 11 !::10KY WoYk wilt stitt Look again at tre exam question, and you will come up with something
be legible if 1'.fOu liave like this:
OYossed out DY adcled "'""1::1
aclditio""QL ideQs.
'"" ni.s pUltJ Ti::Jea"" avcd his lr.Yothevs, Walcott c;IY&r""-ati.ses EXAM TIPS
the ete""'-'ll co""flict betwee"' good al'l,,;I evil. .seveyal
•~wile....ts &1Yt spaYluGI btJ thi.s co..,flict, avcd aLL of t he ma'"" • Keep a.,,_ ei1e o"" the ti~.
cnaracttYS are swept «J> ""' it. walcott «ses foLle tale, west 1"" a :2 no«r exa ""'- witi,,
'""""""' hi.sto11:1- the super"-"1turaL, setti"-0, CO"'-trast•"-0 t"1 vee essa1::is to write,
cnaracteYS, StJmboLi.slM- (choose ON 6 ) to presei,ct thi.s ~tJ tJ~« I-lave, s&11::i, 35
the""-t. ""<•"'-~tes pev essa , with
15 ""<•"'Mtes le~ over 11
to
t"1,.,,k, &!bout tne &l"'-SWtYS
Conclusion a"'-" to read t"1 Youg i,,
1::101.<Y 'NOYk,.
It is always helpful. when yoJ write a1 essay, to pause when you get to
Do "'-Ot spe""d ""<OYe tna "'-
the end of the body section and ask yourself, "So what? vVrat rave I really
learnt?\~lhere was a I that leading up to?' 35 ""<~"'-<-<-tes o"' a""t1
q «esho"". Move 0 "" to t "1e
If you ask these questions, you will come up witn a co1clusior that goes "'-ext q1<est£o..,,, leav,""0
something like this: space so tnat tJ01< ca...,
l,(St.""0 t"1e ttcn....i.q«-e of (choose ON6 tech....i.q1.<e), Walcott co"":t back, ""'cl fi,""isn
off •f 1::10« have t,.,,,.,e.
t;tpLoves now aLLof ni.s cha vacttvs avt ct:11.<g"1t up '"" the
struggle betwee"' good al'l,,;I evi.L. Despite t"1ei.r Losses, n:Jea""
al'l,,;I the "&olo"'- are vi.ctortoL<S, but the t>ev,L will do«bttess
vttut""- """°t"1er dati, ~.... a ....othev situatio"", CIM t i-le st ruggle
wi-Ll go o"'-
EXAM TIPS
Avoid storytelling
• 1>«..-i"'-9 tne ""<Ovct"1s
The questions in t'1e exam are always phrased in a way that reqJires you
to analyse the wo,k. Retelling 1he s!Ory (this happened and then this. ard leacli~ IA.'f' to tne e;ca.,,,.,,
then this ...) will earn you some marks, bJt not enougn to gain you a pass pra chse writi..,,0 l:X&l l¾-
grade. tj:Jpt e~l:l1:JS witi,, ,..,, the
to"""e lol¾it give..,,.
If you fird that you are si' di'1g Into storytelling (if you are using the wo•ds
• n-1::1 "'-Ot to 9et clistrii ctecl
when, then, before. afrer frequently) tis a gocd idea to stop writing and
check the question aga:n. Are you sure yoJ are answering che question
b1::11::1°«r c.l&1SSl¾C1tes.
that was asked, or have you got carried away? • '"" the l:X&II¾ roo""<, clo
""ot waste ti""<e tr1::1i""g to
Present your evidence eriise "'-t&1tt1::1: j !<St C.Yoss
O<A.t the wro"'-9 worcl/
The body of tt,e essay is the place to bring in all t'le supportirg details.
Indeed, writ•ng about literature Is like beirg a lawyer and bringing your J>&l;~ewapn ill'\.cl eov.ti""«e
Wr<to "'-9.
evidence to prove yoJr case. 1Nhenever you make a statement about
the wor~ or about a character. ensure that you present a couple of bits
cf evidence in suppo•t of rhat statement. Get into tne nabit, in class
discussior,s, of snaping your comments like this:
'Nnat two b'ts of evidence would you insert here, for ir,stance?
Utt •t•Q is Cl ~.....,,;(, heLpf«L
Check the length girt. we ~""°w this becl:l«se ...
11"'-d beca«se ...
Vo/e suggest yoJ aim to write no fewer ihan 450 words for eacn essay. If
you are not managing to wrte that m1.1ch, check:
• that yoJ have answered all par1s of the question
• that yoJ have supp led ev,dence in support cf your points.
Structuring a
comparative essay
• prac.lse two 'Ylethods of wr ting Before comparing poems or stories, iet us look at comparisons in general.
a comoara-ive essay Here are two examples:
• acqc ·•e sorie link words ard
sente,1ce paue•ns for making
-:om pa •I sons.
rJ
Dogs w.,Q~ woMerfKL pets, bKt "'ot cQts.
□Dogs l¾a~ wo.,,derf1-<.t pets, b....t Mt cats. whereQs
A dog wi.LL eow.e foY a walk wtth t,o"' " dog wuL cow.e for" wQlk with l:::lou aM illetp l:jOU
"""d heLp wltill l:jO"'-Y extYC•se pYogyQ w.l'l<t. with !jO"-Y txtYCLSt }>YOgYQl¾"'-e, " cQt ts w.«cl-1 too
SVeY " f"•thf«.L fyteM, Ille wi.LL 01A.YL "'-P •"""epeMe"'t to ~ )101-<. C0 .....1'"""!::I· SVtY Q fQithf«.l
l¼'(t to t,O"'- QS t,O"'- t..-Jo11 t,OKY fQVOKYtte fn.eM, l:jO"-t' clog wttl c-Kn. "'-1' ~ to !jOI-<. as !jOI-<.
TV sillow. cats, o"' the other hitM, itre too eajo!j l:jOl-<.Y fQV01-<.nte TV show, b1-<.t •fa c-at C-0""-tS
t.,,aepeMevst to w.all:e gooa eo""-pa"'-•o"'-S. Qrou"'d l:jOI-<., he LS Mt be•"'-9 fn.e"""tl:l - IM.treL!j
if a cat co!M.tS arouM !jOUY legs, he LS Mt "'"rkL"'-9 lilts temto'1::l· -Sath•"'-9 avcd bY1-<.Sh<"'-9
bt•"'-9 frf.e.,,c(tl:l - IM.tret!::I 1M.t:1rk<"'-9 lilts !jOur dog ts a spLeVl.d.a w"l:I to spe""" ".SQtun:lal:I
temto'1::l· ~ wasilles a""' ttdtes hlmself - l¾OY"'-L"'-9, but tillat l"'4epe"""e""t cat washes """"
tlcltes htw.setf- tilla~ ljOu ve'1::l .....uch! Wh•Le
till""'k !jO"- ve'1::l w.ueilll whe"" 11ou WQl'\ot
" f,-Levcd, he wtLL prob" btl:j be off ehQSL"'-9 RDVer- ts h"J>J>l:IJust to be Qrouvcd l:JO«, Tibbles
mi.u or ttzQn,ls . .so whereQs a dog wuL wtlt be off ehQSL"'fl .,,._.ce or L(zQ..-ols. A dog ts
11:eep !j01-<. OO""-P""'lt do""'t expect tillQt ""'a""'s best fyte..,,c( t"'4eed; but clo""'t t:Kpeet
frow. a eat. fyte"'4sh•1> fro""- a cat.
KEY POINTS
Toe poel¾S 'M!:l 'Ptll"e"-ts' b!:l Stephe"' .spe~eY a...:I "'Sto"-t's--.... Names of both poems and both poets
Throw' b!:l SL""'" Mi.tc11eU both foc<A.S o"' t he cV<A.eLt!:l tl1at
n""""""'"" bei."'<3s 4'1Ye cap4'1bl.e of .spe...:ler·s l'oe= Loo~ at - -...
crneL b<A.U!:li.""0 b!:l oni.LdYe"-, a...:t MltcneLCs co=i.ders the Mention shared theme and major
diffe rence in how it is handled
crneLt!::I of reli.g~i.<s e.><tre...u.ts. -me spe'11urs' poi....t of view
i.s •"'-port'l"-t ;,.,.,, both poems, a""d eacl-l poe= te4'1ches. <A.S
With reference to the question, indicate
sol¾tthi.""0 aboi.<t the 11\,Qti.<Ye of b1<.U!1•"'0·
what else your essay will touch on
Situation
Remind your readers of t~e sitJation in the poem, but try to be conc'se.
Use your summary ro focus on rhe rheme.
A sample essay
comparing two poems 2
Conclusion
This can be brief s'nce we have already done a co'11pariso1 In the previous
paragraph.
Similarly. in revising '\~/est Indies, USA'. you might list these quotes along
with their puroose:
Quotation awkwardly pla~c~•d~ -------~ '1t>le >'l<.D"-"'-tlliYCS pose foy him/'"' a feu-,cill::J gyoup'
at beginning of sentence persol'\.l.-fi.eati.ovs _ ~Lls ,...5 how sti.U Cl~ c:(i.g.,,.;.-(i.ed the
mouV\.ttli.V\& seem. (J>OOril::J ""}>YeSStd}
Quotation placed after -me spea~eY i.mpYesses us wi.th t he st.LLV\.tsS ci"'d dtg"",tl::I
writer's comment - - -----..__ of the l'l<.01<.i-\tat= bl::) peYso""lful""2J the...,, 'The mouvstai.vss
pose foY hi.l'l<.I '"' Cl f" .....Ll::I '2JYOL<.p'. (V\.t.<lell::I ""}>Ytssed)
• You may find tnat you need two sentences to deal fully with a quotation:
Add a second sentence to ------ - -..... The Sptll~Y '"" o Llve Stl'\.t.OY'S pot= Yel'ltes how '"" bi.m-
deal fully with a quotation shoot<""2J seaso"'-, the w..e"" ¼A~ ....amciges wi.th t11eiY '2JL<""5'.
-me sta...tLl""2J w..etapi1oY s'-<ggests a"" l...tll¾ate YelC!tto""511i.p
betweevs ....a"' 11~ guvs, di.stuYbi.""0 to t.<S becat.<Se lt i.s so
ClbV\.OYl'l<.llL avcd " bet¥ai:,al of ht.<Y>t.AII\. YelCltt.eV\.Sht.ps.
►
t!,!:::I t.<Si.""2J t J,,e OX!:::IIM.OYOl'I.S festtvaL of '2Jt.<""5, CIIYMV&IL of
""-•StYl::)', M &1...ti"" CCll"ttY s hows us tJ,,e jol::J of CR...tbbea"" llfe
(i.ts fest tv11Ls 11""c:( ellYiA,1,V&lls) bei.""2J ,,.,,v11ded b!:::I vi.oLeV\.Ce
EXAM TIP """d t...&1gedl::I (g1.<.= &1,.,,c:( mi.seYl::J). Toe l""v11stve """tu,e of
tJ,,e l'l<.t.Li.t&1Yl::) pYtst"'-Ct i.s effeetlveLl::I CO""'-""'-'-<Mellted.
:ftYe ·~ a hll 11\.d!'.!
YL<lt foy
'V\.Strt:,"'-g quotatiol'I.S: •
stcitelll,(.e""t + Quotcrti.o"" Annotations and keeping a journal
+ Full stop
lf you are permitted to underlire important sections in your texts, these
(as iv. ti-le sec.o""d underliPed passages will help you as you revise. Otherwise you may
GXCI "'-J>/.!) . prefer co keep a joJrral as yoJ study, notirg down summaries and useful
quotations for reference.
Eacn cf ,he genres requires its own approach. Here we remind you of wha,
to focus on in each genre as you revise.
Drama specifics
To prepare for ,he exam, you should be familiar w,th tne pioi, the conflicts
among rhe characters a1d the themes t'lat the playvvright s dealing wirh.
EXAM TIP
You shoJld oe aware of rhe ironies in the play. the way language Is used,
and the way contrasts serve to make a point clear. Make sure you can talk
you wiLL v..ot recei.ve l¾&1rks
about ,he suspe'lse, too.
for WYi.ti.vcg &1bout A poe...,
Be prepared ,o wr'te aboJl tne dramatic dev,ces. These irclude tne OY Stor1::J tnAt i.s "'-Ot OV\.
scenery, props, l'g'iting, sound, spectacle and act'on (everything tnat is to tne st,Ll.&lbus, so be ve'1:J
be fourd In the stage directions). In Ti-Jeon and His Brorhers, for instance, C&IYeful AS 1::JOt.( YeVi.se tl1&1t
add it'ona devices are the use cf masks, ,alking a1imals. the quarto band,
tJ 0u kv..ow ex&1ctl1::J wni.cn
and the breaking down of the fourth wal so t"lat actors can talk directly
texts 1jOu ""'-&11::J use.
to the audier,ce. In Anons/, too, the magical animal kingdom comes alive,
side-by-side w th tne ·ealistic world, ar.d again the fourth wall is bro~en as
actors speak 10 the audience directly.
Remember that you shou:d nor orly be able to identify these devices and
give examples: you w I also need to comment on the impact they have on
the audience.
Poetry specifics
Only a fraction of the marks wil I be awarded fer your summary of the
sitJation in tne poem. Make sure mat for each poem you can d.scJss in
deta'' ro ess than tvvo pcetic devices. In particular, you need to show EXAM TIPS
how rhese devices are co1nected to the theme and wl'>at effeet they
produce in the reader. Remember. too, thar the choice of speaker is often
• Work tnrou9l1 questio""s
so Important that It forms part of the question.
fro I¾ )'&Ist GI<&! I¾ 'f'&l)'eYS.
Prose specifics • Le&11% VtYtJ sflort but
effecti.ve quot&iti.o""s to
Stories and novels are about people and the confi icts 1n their l'ves. Be use i.v.. tne ex&1""'-.
su·e you can write about ire personality of the main character(s). thei •
struggles, tre oostacles rhey encoJnter and the outcome of those
struggles. Be sure you can identify tl'>e themes and ,hat you can show,
from the rappenings in the novels. what rhe vvriter is saying about
those themes. Again, be prepared to co'Timent on the cnolce of r,arrator -
especially to say why a child narrato' can be very effective.
DRAMA DRAMA
The Tempest 'Nilliam Shakespeare Twelfth Night \,\Jilliam Shakespeare
Ti-Jean and His Brothers Derek \.Valcott Anansi All staire Campbell
POETRY POETRY
'An African Thunderstorm' David Rubadiri 'An African Thunderstorm' David Rubadiri
·once Upon aTime' Gabriel Okara 'Once Upon a Time' Gabriel Okara
'Birdsricoting Season' Olive Senior 'Little Boy Crying' Mervyn Morris
'\.Vest Indies, U.S.A: Ste'lvart Brown 'Vilest Indies. U.S.A: Stewart a,own
'Sonnet Composed Upon V•/estmlnster Bridge' 'Sonnet Composed Upon \,Vestminster Bridge' \"lllliam
V,iilliam 'Nordsworth vl/ordsworth
·o·chids' Hazel Simmons-McDonald 'Birdshooting Season' Olive Senior
'The 1Noman Speaks to the Man who has Employed Her 'The 'Noman Speaks to the Man who has Employed Her
Son· Lorna Goodison Son' Lorna Goodison
'It is the Constant Image of your Face' Dennis Brutus 'It is the Constant Image of your Face' Dennis Brutus
'God's Grandeur' Gerard Manley Hopkins 'A Lesson for this Sunday' Derek vValcott
'A Stone's Throw' Elma Mitchell 'A Stone's Throw' Elma Mitchell
'Test Match Sabina Park' Stewart Brown 'Test Match Sabina Park' Stewart Brown
'Theme ior Engli sh B'Langston Hughes 'My Parents' Stephen Spender
'Dreaming Black Boy' James Berry 'Landscape Painter, Jamaica' Vivian Virtue
'My Parents' Stephen Spender 'Dulce et Decorum Est' V•/ilfred Owen
'Dulce et Decorum Est' V,iilfred Owen 'This is the Dark Time, My Love' Martin Carter
'This is the Dark Time, My Love' Martin Carter 'Ol'Hlgue' Mark Mc\,Vatt
'Ol'H igue· Mark McV,iatt 'Mirro•' Sylvia Plath
'Mirror' Sylvia Plath 'South' Kamau Brathwaite
·south' Kamau Bra1hwa'te 'Death Be Not P'oud' John Donne
'Little Boy Crying' Mervyn Morris 'Dreaming Black Boy' James Berry