Checking Out Me History

Question 1

“Dem t m
D t m
W d w t t m”

Answer 1

“Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me”

• written “them” phonetically (Dem) so that it mimics his Carribean dialect - narrator’s voice links to his identity - proud of his heritage/culture
• refusing to conform to British rules and society’s expectations
• repetition of “dem tell me” - suggests the speaker’s anger and to ensure he is heard
• ^ also emphasised the monotony and boredom he feels being taught the same history repeatedly
• “tell” - verb - being forced to learn
• juxtaposition between “Dem” and “me” (through enjambment) - suggests a seperation between black and white people - doesnt feel like he is a part of them
• plural (Dem) in contrast singular (me) - suggests he is outnumbered, and perhaps a victim of the British’s restricted rule

Question 2

“B u m e w m o h
B m t m o i”

Answer 2

“Bandage up me own eye with me own history
Blind me to my own identity”

• “Bandage” - verb - physically hurt by the way his people are being treated - perhaps showing that his identity is forced to be covered up (just as a bandage covers a wound)
• “Blind” - the British rules are physicslly oppressing him and not allowing him to see the truth (accusatory tone)

Question 3

“D t m b 1066 a a d”

Answer 3

“Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat”

• “1066” - very important to Britain: Battle of Hastings
• “all dat” - sense of “et cetera” - shows he does not care for british history - dismissive tone

Question 4

Form/structural points

Answer 4

Mixture of stanza forms
- breaks the confining language rules he’s been taught.
- the Caribbean history stanzas have shorter lines, are in italics, and have a more broken syntax than the British history stanzas - this emphasises them and increases their importance - mskes them seem more serious (one’s identity is importsnt to them as a person)
- the British history stanzas appear to have a regular rhyme scheme and simplistic rhymes - making them appear childish and the poet satirises the british colonial rule through this

• the poems alternated between historial figured from Caribbean and British culture, emphasising the differnces between them. The british figures are skipped over quickly, with little respect or detsil, where as the carribean figures are covered more in detail.

Question 5

“D t m b […] d c w j o d m /
D t m b d d r a w d s
b d n t m b N d m”

Answer 5

“Dem tell me bout […] de cow who jump over de moon /
Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon”

• allusions to nursery rhymes that kids watch
• simplistic rhyme - used to satirise the British colonial rule
• major contrast in importance between kids fictional stories and the leader of the Maroons (runaway slaves), who led a Jamaican resistance against the British Lord Nelson.
• baffles the reader

Question 6

“D t m w d w t t m
B n I c o m o h
I c o m i”

Answer 6

“Dem tell me what dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity”

• cyclical structure - symbolised an ongoing pattern - speaker feels trapped in this oppression
• change in tone from ‘But’ - creating a change for himself
• ‘carving’ - verb - difficult - willing to put in the hard effort to start this journey of self-discovery - reshaping his own narrative - carving is permanent

Question 7

Context + Poet’s message/s

Answer 7

• born to parents of mixed nationality
• in skl he was told that Guyanese history began in 1492 when Columbus discovered Guyana - this changed to British Guiana
  ^ questioned this later down and realised this wasnt the case
  ^ society blinded him to his heritage and true history