checking out me history

Question 1

“dem tell me”

Answer 1

• repetition to show that this is a protest poem
• this type of repetition is an anaphora
• agard is building a rythym to appeal to children and educate them of the prejudice within british education
• “dem”, alienates himself from Eurocentric education

Question 2

“bandage up me eye with me own history”

Answer 2

• “bandage”, his view of history has intentionally been hindered by his educators
• suggests his identity has been bandaged
• “me own history”, the positive side of his history has been hidden away as british education would usually only teach about slavery

Question 3

“toussaint, a slave, with vision, lick back, napoleon”

Answer 3

• form of the poem changes to free verse
• emphasising personal freedom linked to cultural freedom
• agard makes a contrast between the level of freedom when he explores his history, and the level of restriction when he is educated in britain

Question 4

“dem tell me bout Columbus in 1492, but what happened to de Caribs and the Arawaks too”

Answer 4

• the caribs and the arawaks were victims of genocide as a result of Columbus
• the europeans created myths about the caribs being cannibals as justification for killing them, hence the origin of the word, “cannibal”
• agard is demonstrating how we too have been bandage or history, since most people would not know about this

Question 5

“healing star”

Answer 5

• talking about mary seacole
• metaphor, mythologizing Mary Seacole which makes her appear more aspiring