Checking Out Me History

Question 1

Key quotes (4)

Answer 1

• “dem tell me dem tell wha dem want to tell me”
• “Blind me to me own identity”
• “I’m carving out me own identity”
• “Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492 but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too”

Question 2

Analyse “dem tell me dem tell wha dem want to tell me”

Answer 2

• Repetition

* suggests constant barrage of learning by rote without insight

Question 3

Analyse “Blind me to me own identity”

Answer 3

• “blind” restrictive verb

* Creates an idea that the version of events given to them is harmful

Question 4

Analyse “I’m carving out me own identity” (also tone)

Answer 4

• Violent metaphor

* Expresses the resistance and need to create something which cannot be removed/ fade

Question 5

Structure

Answer 5

Written in irregular rhyme with short mixed enjambment shows the angry tone that Agard has

Question 6

Analyse “Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492 but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too”

Answer 6

• Contrasts famous white ethnic figures with ethnic minority contemporaries
• Emphasise the one sided nature of our education, draws in conflict

Question 7

Summary of the poem

Answer 7

Shows the conflict between cultures and the need to forge his own identity by embracing his Caribbean heritage, even if it is not encouraged by authority