Checking Out Me History

Question 1

Caribbean vernacular 
(rejection of formal English)
phonetic spelling
(anger rebellious tone)
the separation created by the repetition of dem and me

the oral tradition of his history to pass down knowledge = important

Answer 1

dem tell me

what dem want to tell me

Question 2

metaphor:
ironic use of bandage
(to heal but blinds)
blind
(prevented from seeing the past)

half rhyme:
connecting history with identity
how one is defined is dictated by what they know about their past

Answer 2

Bandage me eye with me history

Blind me to me own identity

Question 3

contrast with the history he is forced to learn

semantic field/theme of light:
enlightenment = true history

Answer 3

vision

beacon

healing star
(once you learn the truth you begin to recover)

see far woman
(Nanny the maroon’s extraordinary foresight and passion)

Question 4

short blunt confirmative
emphatic

concludes with his vernacular

and ends with the most important word identity
(pride and anger)

Answer 4

I carving out me identity

Question 5

main themes

Answer 5

pride
identity
celebration

Question 6

form

Answer 6

no regularity = breaking confines of the language and the rules he is taught

simplistic childish rhyme
“…1066 all dat
dick Whittington and he cat””

this contrasts with

broken syntax gives each black-figure importance: “Toussant/ a slave / with vision…”
give each word importance
+ rebellion