Anansi by Alistair Campbell || CRASH COURSE Part 2 of 5 || CSEC English B

Summary

In this video, part of a five-part series on Alistair Campbell's play 'Anansi,' we dive into the structure and format of this intriguing piece. Unlike traditional plays with acts and scenes, 'Anansi' switches between two main settings: a slave ship and the magical Forest of Stories. Within this rollercoaster of narratives, we explore the contrasting lives on the ship and in the forest through the eyes of characters like the inquisitive Boy, the terrified Girl, and the wise Anansi. Themes of power, identity, and survival intertwine, with Anansi's stories offering hope and lessons to those trying to navigate their dire realities. This installment goes through the first acts, highlighting relationships, hardships, and the transformative power of storytelling, setting the stage for further exploration of characters and themes in upcoming episodes.

Highlights

• The play uses a non-traditional format, lacking usual acts and scenes; instead, it jumps between a slave ship setting and the Forest of Stories. 🚢🏞️
• Key characters include Boy, who is curious and morally conflicted, and Girl, who evolves through Anansi's wisdom. 🍃
• Anansi, the clever spider, symbolizes wisdom and resilience, offering lessons and hope to those in despair. 🕷️
• Themes of power dynamics, survival, and the human spirit are woven through storytelling, with Anansi's tales providing guidance. 🌟
• The narrative contrasts the harsh reality of slavery with the empowering legends of the Forest Stories. 🌌

Key Takeaways

• Anansi's stories offer hope and wisdom amidst adversity, teaching characters to navigate their realities with cleverness and resilience. 🕸️
• The play's format uniquely blends two settings, the slave ship and the Forest of Stories, creating an intriguing narrative structure. 🌍
• Characters embody themes of power, identity, and survival, with intricate relationships shaping their destinies. 🧩
• The stories emphasize the indomitable spirit of the characters, especially in the face of oppression and fear. 🕊️

Overview

In this second part of the series on Alistair Campbell's 'Anansi,' we explore the exciting and complex structure of the play. Instead of following the conventional format of acts and scenes, the play alternates between the grim environment of a slave ship and the imaginative Forest of Stories. Here, characters find solace and strength through the tales of Anansi, a symbol of cunning and resilience in the African oral tradition.

Characters on the slave ship, such as the innocent Boy and the enslaved Girl, confront their harsh realities through Anansi's myths. Boy's journey from a curious child to someone questioning the morality of his world highlights themes of identity and power. Meanwhile, Girl learns strength and hope through Anansi’s lessons, which offer a mental escape and a guide to enduring hardships.

The tales from the Forest of Stories serve as more than just a distraction; they provide critical life lessons for survival and empowerment. By weaving together the harshness of their real world with the wisdom of the folktales, the play invites viewers to reflect on the enduring power of stories in shaping identities and fortifying spirits against oppression.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Course Overview Part 1 of the course provided background information on a tricky spider. The current video will dive into 'the play' itself. The content is aimed at individuals interested in learning detailed aspects about Nancy. The course creator also promotes upcoming English B videos and live sessions, encouraging viewers to subscribe and engage.
• 00:30 - 05:00: Play Structure and Setting The play deviates from the conventional structure of dividing into acts and scenes. Instead, it transitions between two distinct settings. The first of these is a slave ship, where the main character, a young girl, is held captive. This unique presentation distinguishes it from typical plays.
• 05:00 - 10:00: First Onboard Act: The Good Ship Hope In this chapter titled 'First Onboard Act: The Good Ship Hope', we explore the unique setting onboard a ship. Throughout the chapter, an old woman shares Anansi stories with a little girl. These stories take place in an imaginative world known as 'The Forest of Stories', or simply 'The Forest'. The chapter alternates between scenes onboard the ship and within 'The Forest', with scene changes indicated by crossing dotted lines on the page. Each scene serves to enrich the narrative with cultural tales and imaginative adventures.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Introduction of Key Characters: Girl, Woman, and Boy The chapter introduces three key characters: a Girl, a Woman, and a Boy. It describes how the setting alternates between being onboard a ship and in a forest. The transitions between these settings are likened to the acts of a play, with changes in setting marked by small headings and dotted lines. The narrative attempts to weave together two different stories or settings simultaneously.
• 15:00 - 25:00: Forest of Stories: Naming the Stories and Tricking Snake The chapter highlights two parallel narratives: a ship's story and Anansi stories in a forest.
• 25:00 - 40:00: Thematic Exploration: Hope, Identity, and Resistance This chapter focuses on a scene-by-scene exploration of a play, particularly targeting thematic elements such as hope, identity, and resistance. Initially, the emphasis is placed on the plot, with a promise to delve into characters, themes, and literary devices in subsequent discussions. The chapter begins with Act 1, set on a ship and titled 'The Good Ship Hope West.'
• 40:00 - 51:40: Light-Hearted Forest Story: Down by the Pool The chapter is set on the African Coast in the year 1791, accompanied by music, and introduces an initial scene in a cabin. It presents two main characters: a ship's Captain, simply referred to as 'captain,' and his son, referred to as 'boy.' These characters are not given specific names to represent them as symbolic or stereotypical roles rather than unique individuals. The narrative suggests that the figure of the captain is archetypal, representing any generic ship's captain rather than a specific person. The chapter sets the stage for their roles through this theatrical setting and character introduction.
• 51:40 - 60:00: Auction in Kingston Harbor In the chapter titled 'Auction in Kingston Harbor', the scene is set aboard a ship where the captain is engaged in his responsibilities, examining ledgers and maps. His son, expected to learn the ropes, is reluctant and expresses his preference for being on the deck rather than studying. The captain, with his initial dialogue, demonstrates a calm and turned demeanor, even when interacting with his son. The boy's character is portrayed as naive and innocent, evident when he doesn't grasp the grim situation of the Africans on shore, who are to be sold into slavery.
• 60:00 - 65:00: Forest Story: Quenching Her Thirst and Girl's Realization The chapter 'Forest Story: Quenching Her Thirst and Girl's Realization' opens with a striking scene where a boy questions his father, the Captain, about the cargo tied up, revealing he has never seen such a sight before. The Captain dismisses and even slaps the boy for his 'stupid questions,' which highlights their strained relationship. The Captain is depicted as ruthless and stern, contrasting with the boy's innocence and compassion. This interaction sets the tone for the characters' dynamic and their differing worldviews.
• 65:00 - 71:00: Conclusion and Girl's Final Narration The chapter 'Conclusion and Girl's Final Narration' revolves around the boy's apparent disinterest in emulating his father's role as a ruthless Captain, which marks the beginning of a conflict between him and the Captain. The chapter introduces the theme of Desire versus Destiny, hinting at further exploration of this motif in subsequent scenes. The transcript also highlights the irony in the title and the ship's name, suggesting a grim reality for the Africans being forcefully boarded, contrary to any notion of goodwill or hope.

Anansi by Alistair Campbell || CRASH COURSE Part 2 of 5 || CSEC English B Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 in part 1 of this announced course we looked at some background information on this tricky little spider in this video we're getting into the play itself if you're watching this it means you are invested in understanding as much as you can about Nancy I also imagine that my upcoming English B videos and live sessions will be of value to you if so subscribe and hit that Bell icon so you don't miss out [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 while this is a short play it is not exactly straightforward in its presentation usually plays are divided into acts which are then further divided into scenes however there are no acts in this play well not in the usual sense anyway instead of Acts and scenes the play drums back and forth between two distinct settings the first setting is aboard a slave ship with a protagonist a little girl is held captive we can call
• 01:00 - 01:30 this the on-board setting on board we see what happens on the ship from time to time however an old woman will share unnancy stories with this little girl these stories will happen in an imaginative World in a setting called The Forest of stories or just the forest for short each time we jump on board or into the forest we get a couple of scenes we know the scene changes when we cross the dotted lines on the page also when we cross these lines we will see a small
• 01:30 - 02:00 heading this heading indicates what part of the ship we're on when we're on board but when we are in the forest this small heading will be the title of an Anansi store so we can consider the setting changes between onboard and the forest to be the acts of the play the division of the acts and the subdivisions indicated by the dotted lines and small titles to be the scenes of the play so we're kind of following two narratives or two settings at the same time we have
• 02:00 - 02:30 the story happening on the ship and the collection of Anansi stores in the forest as we read the play we should be finding connections between the two narratives the Anansi stores are told to the girl on the ship to help her deal with the dark reality of being captured and also to help her to make sense of what is happening under of course to make her strong enough to overcome her circumstance and somehow become Victorious now that we have covered the format of the play Let's get into this story
• 02:30 - 03:00 we'll go scene by scene and discuss what happens also taking note of the characters looking at themes explored and pointing out some literal devices employed but for now we are really focusing on the plot after we go through the whole play we'll spend more time focusing on the Characters themes and devices in the coming videos we start with our first onboard act which means we're on the ship this act is titled The Good Ship hope West
• 03:00 - 03:30 African Coast 1791. [Music] the first scene happens in the cabin this scene introduces two important characters the ship's Captain called captain and his son called boy the characters aren't given names because they're not representing individuals as much as they are presenting rules stereotypes this isn't a specific Captain rather it could be any Captain the typical captive Captain is looking
• 03:30 - 04:00 at ledgers and Maps doing his duties as a captain while his son is doing his duty as the captain's son which is to learn but boy complains about having to study he would rather be hanging out on the deck with everyone else Captain with his first line of dialogue shows how his turn and cool he is even towards his own son boy begins to show that he is somewhat naive innocent he doesn't understand how the people on the shore the Africans to be enslaved could
• 04:00 - 04:30 possibly be cargo he questions why they are tied up and looks so framed clearly he has never seen this kind of thing before but the father can't be bothered with the boy's stupid questions and tells boy off even slapping him when his mouth gets too smart the first scene tells us a lot about the relationship between captain and boy and about how each of them sees the world Captain is ruthless and Stern while boy is innocent and compassionate also we see that boy
• 04:30 - 05:00 doesn't seem to have any interest in following in his Father's Footsteps as a ruthless Captain this is the beginning of the conflict between boy and Captain also this scene introduces a theme into the play one of Desire versus Destiny but we'll get into that a little later before we move on to the next scene also note the irony in the ACT title in the name of the ship of course there's nothing good or hopeful about this ship at least not for the Africans that are dragged aboard the ship is good and
• 05:00 - 05:30 hopeful for captain and his crew and in general for those who can benefit from the exploitation of the Africans but the ship represents displacement Terror and suffering for the Africans the next scene takes us on Deck where we have two more characters girl and sailor girl is one of the Africans who have been dragged onto the ship to be transported to the plantations to work for the rest of her miserable life she's terrified and confused she tries to speak with a crew on the ship but they can't understand her even if they did what
• 05:30 - 06:00 difference would it make girl spends a whole paragraph panicking in confusion she asks many questions none of which will be answered at least not yet looking at the language we see some interesting repetition in blue and water representing the in infiniteness of this year-round girl as well as the impossibility of escape and return to safety we know that this nothingness this infinite see around girl is symbolic of the confusion and hopelessness that she's suddenly plunged
• 06:00 - 06:30 into girl also asks for her mother which will be important later on when you meet another character named woman sailor also speaks in this scene he refers to the girl as Goods that he cannot afford to damage reinforcing the idea of the slaves being less than human they're like cattle to the white man even the stairs direction is just as cruel as he is said to bundle her down the hatch as if she were a bale of cotton by the way the Sailor while being caustic and sarcastic to girl foreshadows her fit
• 06:30 - 07:00 with the mention of cotton which the girl will likely be expected to pick as a slave the Sailor calls the girl's language some Heathen tone indicating a complete disregard for what the Africans believe in and suggesting that any belief system that is not Christian is Heathen or evil Heathen not only means non-Christian but also uncivilized uncultured this is how girl and her people are perceived by the white men next we jump back to the cabin for a scene with just boy here we get a lot more insight into his character he's
• 07:00 - 07:30 reading a dare injury his Dairy gives us a direct view into his thoughts his wonders his fears his conscience but also his loneliness he must confide in a dare because no one is willing to answer his questions or share his perspectives no one really listens to him you see that he was initially looking forward to coming on this trip he thought it was just about picking up coffee and Rome he had no idea that they would be picking up binding and beating people he talks about how confused he is about this
• 07:30 - 08:00 whole ordeal and how he isn't getting the answers he seeks there are two interesting details in boy's Dairy injury that we should note the first is the boy's observation of a specific African woman even though she like the rest was being treated like an animal was being given no respect at all she stood stiff and proud this shows that this woman in particular but perhaps be Africans on a still managed to retain some dignity some sense of self-respect and self-knowledge even in
• 08:00 - 08:30 the circumstance of being captured and treated like animals the other interesting thing is that this woman reminded the little boy of his own grandmother with his childhood innocence the boy sees all people as equal he doesn't see the Africans as less than or different from white people next we move on to the hold which is a space for carrying cargo we see from the stage narration that hundreds of people are tied up in the hold they are the Africans to be shipped among these Africans are two of the most important
• 08:30 - 09:00 characters of the play girl and woman who are tied together on a bee girl that means about the dire situation they are in she seems particularly depressed about the darkness of the ship the darkness here into symbolism represents this dark time that the Africans have been dragged into while girl expresses the spear this unseen woman somehow exudes a sense of hope woman who will increasingly play the role of mother or Guardian to girl since that girl should face reality she also tells girls that
• 09:00 - 09:30 the darkness talking about the metaphorical Darkness cannot change who they are in fact the white men cannot strip them of their identities girls should therefore find the strength to live and fight in her african-ness back at the cabin we have another scene with boy and Captain Captain conducts a dictation session where boys should write down what he says Captain gives a report about how the slaves are doing he's happy that only three slaves of the last batch have died ironically he thanks God for that just like animals
• 09:30 - 10:00 the slaves are branded and insured also interestingly Captain says the slaves are to be exercised here it is not the slaves themselves who are exercising instead they are being exercised in the same way plants are watered or chickens are fed to be kept healthy he also notes that one cup of maize porridge per slave per day is enough food for them this is of course just enough to keep them alive but down in the hold woman and girl have a quiet conversation again girl is disappearing complaining
• 10:00 - 10:30 while a woman offers encouragement unexpectedly woman offers a riddle what part of you stays free when your arms and legs are tied girl is unable to find the answer and becomes increasingly frustrated with woman and her nonsense but though girl doesn't Solve the Riddle just yet she makes a step in the right direction when she notices a spider by means of a bit of light that leaks through a crack in the roof there is much symbolism here in the darkness which we already know is symbolic girl
• 10:30 - 11:00 glimpses the light which leads her to the spider The Spider and Nancy that will Enlighten her we'll get back to the spider soon but for now we head back over to the cabin again where we have boy and Captain Captain speaks of a sickness that is running rampant on the ship this sickness seems to be an equalizing factor for the black and white people as crew and slaves alike are showing signs of infection my questions Captain about what will be done with his slaves once they reach
• 11:00 - 11:30 Jamaica we learned that they will be sold before the scene ends Captain says something very interesting he says that there is no woman alive who does not have a master could this mean that he thinks that all men are in some way slaves slave to someone or something perhaps Captain is a slave to money or to his Lords in London perhaps a boy is a slave to the destiny that awaits him the destiny of one day becoming captain or perhaps this idea of everyone having a master is used by Captain to justify
• 11:30 - 12:00 his hand in Africa and slavery we now head back to the hold for one final scene in this act the narration hints that the spider's web somehow connects the Africans the web of the spider here represents that Spirit of Storytelling of keeping the flame of all African Heritage alive woman reveals the girl that the name of the spider is a Nancy girls coughs at the little spider for not being able to easily craft his web but woman reminds a girl that while they
• 12:00 - 12:30 are bound up it is the spider that is free eventually an empty does successfully craft his web watch the girls Amusement woman then tells girl that Anansi was once a king the story behind this will be told in the next act as we move into the forest of stories [Music] we are now in the second act which takes place in the forest of Stories the setting changes from the ship to the
• 12:30 - 13:00 forest as we will now find out how Anansi Stories came to be called an ancestors this scene is titled naming the stories and anti opens with a monologue of self-introduction he claims that he is the cleverest of all the forest dwellers and he does so in Poetic style his use of rhyme and Rhythm already separates him from the other characters and show us announces unique Charisma charm and Mastery of language tiger enters the scene being bad and
• 13:00 - 13:30 feared his entry is marked with the Roar of Thunder Anansi isn't really phased however he even insults Tyga with his witty sarcasm but tiger isn't sharp enough to understand anyhow Tiger has been thinking about what to name the stories that will be told of these forest dwellers of course he wants himself the Great Tiger to be lauded in the title anyway an answered trick stagger into agreeing to name the stories after him a Nancy instead well
• 13:30 - 14:00 not quite yet first Anansi must do an impossible task for Tiger but as we all know Anansi is good at doing impossible tasks if Anansi can bring tiger Mr Snake tied to a pool he will be able to name the stories as he pleases Now we move on to the next scene which is a story titled tricking snake the story will be familiar to you as we covered some version of it earlier when we talked about the origins of a Nancy Anansi first pretends to try to trick snake
• 14:00 - 14:30 with some obvious traps snake sees through the fake traps which gives him a boost in confidence against the Nancy but due to this Mr Snake also lets his guard down thinking he has a Nancy all figured out but then the real trick restarts when Anansi mentions the snake that his reputation for being the longest creature is on the line to prove himself snake decides to measure himself against a bamboo tree the depth of the deception is that snake thinks that this
• 14:30 - 15:00 is his own idea but of course it is a Nancy who manipulates him and plants this idea into his head and then she quickly ties Nick to the tree at the end snake angrily curses at a Nancy who teases the embarrassed squirming creature in return before we move on from this scene Anansi says something quite curious as he teases snake he mentions that scissors aren't invented yet how does anansin know about something that isn't yet invented did it seems the little spider's knowledge
• 15:00 - 15:30 isn't limited to his own time and place that reinforces the idea that time and space are constructs that do not exist in the forest stories in that the stories can be weaved in any way by the Storyteller after all Anansi is as wise and Powerful as the Storyteller imagines him to be [Music] the next ACT begins and we are returned to the hold where girl and woman are
• 15:30 - 16:00 conversing girl realizes the Paradox of a Nancy noting that he is both the weakest and the strongest at the same time I would go as far as to say that he is the strongest because he's the weakest to compensate for his lack of size and physical strength he finds ingenious ways to defeat and trick anyone and to accomplish tasks that seem impossible woman enforces the idea of a Nancy Stories being a generational link a tradition passed down from the old to the young kept alive through time even
• 16:00 - 16:30 without ever being written down just as her mother told her the stories she will tell this little girl the stories who will in turn continue to pass these stories down the line woman says another important thing here she tells a girl Africa is your mother allegiance to the motherland makes us Africans strong and keeps us United as girl and woman continue to talk we shift to another scene back in the cabin with boy and Captain the stage Direction here points to an irony the two Shear a
• 16:30 - 17:00 close physical space but are ideologically very distant what makes this irony legitimate is the fact that the physical space they share may represent their familial relationship as Father and Son in this scene captains calls boy for keeping a diary even saying that such a thing is for girls this does bring up themes around gender roles and expectations apparently self-reflection isn't a very manly vocation boy note Stone in his diary that he heard the Africans singing a
• 17:00 - 17:30 song that was warm and deep he could somehow sense a Spirit of Hope and togetherness in the African song another interesting thing to note here is that boy continues to show a smart mouth as he talks to his father reminding us of anansi's witty Defiance perhaps boy under Nancy share some similarities they are both in a sense small and insignificant and answer is a little spider while boy is bossed around by his father unable to make his own decisions yet both Anansi and boy use words as a
• 17:30 - 18:00 way to cultivate their own power and anti uses words to manifest populate others while boy through his diary use his words to reflect on reality and attempt to grasp a deeper understanding of himself others and the world around him now we jump back to the hold where we find girl and woman interestingly girl no Carl's woman mother accepting woman as her guardian her Elder her family this shows a tightening of the relationship between the two woman again
• 18:00 - 18:30 encourages girl to look past her present confinement and find strength in the forest stores but how could girl look past the sailor who was dragging her body out of the hold girl compares the white men to animals but women corrects her saying that animals aren't cruel and when girl says that these men deserve to die woman asks who can say who deserves to live or die showing that her heart is not boiling with bitterness and judgment but with a kind of calm and Clarity that
• 18:30 - 19:00 girl might one day Attain woman takes this further saying that she pities the white man boy and sailor enter the hole to check on the slaves for sickness but boy himself seems sick as they leave woman starts up another riddle and this time girl quickly Embraces it by the way we're about halfway through the longest chapter of the course if you are finding value in the lesson so far do give the video a like so it can reach more students more easily thank you [Music]
• 19:00 - 19:30 we are back in the forest of stories for the next ACT where we open with a story titled the world blotted out this story features not just animals but also humans hinting that the events in this story we're about to see are especially connected to the human world in fact we will see many more appearances of humans in the forest stories as we continue highlighting the link between the two worlds in the beginning of this story we
• 19:30 - 20:00 see animals chanting merrily until Thunder Rolls across the sky but this time The Thunder Rolls in someone much more fearsome than Tyga in comes man Crow a creature that is as huge and horrible as one imagines there is screaming and panic as man crew threatens to kill and devour even the babies the next story is called the proclamation here we have servant and King two minor characters we have some
• 20:00 - 20:30 comedic relief with the servant who talks a little bit too much for the king's liking but this is balanced out with the seriousness of King's Proclamation King declares that great rewards await whoever defeats the mighty and Dreadful man crew then we move to the initiation where we have grand and solid solidar will prove an important and interesting character we have some humorous banter between the two but things get serious when Saturday tells grant that he is going to challenge man
• 20:30 - 21:00 Crow Grand seems confident in solidine but insists that he needs special arrows to take on this Dreadful monster Grant gives him six arrows one for Hope one for weeks one for fear one for anger one for his name and the last arrow is a secret remember that we are reading the forest stories parallel to the narrative that happens on the ship so we can imagine that this big bad mantro must represent the highest and deepest powers of Oppression
• 21:00 - 21:30 of subjugation of evil just as man Crow strikes fear into the forest dwellers so do the slave masters so do the proponents of slavery at the highest level the Lords of London even drive fear into the hearts of the captured blacks but can this immense power be defeated well solid air intends to find out he must represent the rebellious spirits of the Africans the Iron Will to fight back to counter attack to usurp
• 21:30 - 22:00 and overthrow the white man and what are the tools needed to challenge these powers in the fight for emancipation what are the weapons we must rely on more specifically what virtues must a girl rely on in order to access her true strength and the strength of her ancestors they are the very arrows that grand gives to solidine girl needs hope without hope there is no will to fight she also needs wits
• 22:00 - 22:30 cleverness like Anansi she must be able to outsmart even those who are stronger and more privileged than her she also needs fear without fear we cannot feel courage without fear we act recklessly and senselessly we need anger rage that burns against not so much the white man as against the system of slavery and oppression the ideology that any any human should be owned by another girl Affair and Power in her
• 22:30 - 23:00 in her ancestry and the last arrow is a secret it is a power unique to each person that holds it we each need a special secret weapon whether it be a certain belief a certain virtue a certain dream a certain memory a certain purpose there's a power that must come from within girl from within each slave who wishes to stand and fight who wishes to again taste freedom next we go to the battle the epic battle rages as solid air fires arrows one by
• 23:00 - 23:30 one but Minecraft tanks each hit like a beast seemingly taking no damage at all but that is until solidifier's the final Arrow this is the secret it catches macro off guard and kills him in the end it is not of power inherited or obtained but an innate fundamental power one that we must on Earth from within us that is our greatest strength holiday takes one of mancro's feathers to present to King
• 23:30 - 24:00 as proof of slaying the beast but Anansi who has been watching all along snags won as well and beats solid into the punch reaching King and claiming to have killed mankro himself we are now in the last scene of this act a story titled the reward King rejoices and Praises a Nancy saliday finally enters the scene and Nancy knows what is about to happen so he disappears with some of the food from the celebratory banquet realizing An ancestry the servants chase him around but as usual
• 24:00 - 24:30 he escapes anyhow saliday ended up getting his rightful reward and Nancy even after all this insists upon the lie that he was the one that killed mankro this act features not a Nancy but solid a human as the true hero this might indicate that in the end the Fantastical strength of a Nancy is only truly valuable if it is internalized and then manifested by humans specifically by the Africans before we leave this act note the
• 24:30 - 25:00 similarity in Gran and woman both women play an important guiding and supporting role to an upcoming hero woman encourages and teaches a girl helping her to understand herself and access her Inner Strength while Grant gives solidity advice and tools he needs to defeat makro perhaps women are naturally Adept at guiding nurturing and inspiring [Music]
• 25:00 - 25:30 we now jump on board to begin another act girl is asking why Nancy is always looking for trouble the witch woman replies if you have wits like a Nancy you have to use them but her answer becomes ambiguous as she adds that such cleverness can be used in wrong or right ways we see that ananti uses his wits for both heroism and villainy although calling an ance's tricks villainy might be a little harsh the girl then questions her fate even though she already knows the answer woman confirms
• 25:30 - 26:00 to her that the slaves that aren't thrown away are eventually sword back on Deck sailor gets a bit more CH time as he chats with boy boy is crying in a corner sailor tells him that Big Boys Don't Cry enforcing some gender expectations boy expresses that he feels alone and confused he eventually asks a staggering question what color is God boy rationalizes that if humans are made in God's image than the black people being thrown overboard must also have
• 26:00 - 26:30 been made in God's image Godzilla enforces the idea that slaves are not people but are more comparable to beasts to this boy insists that they are not beasts but are just as human as white people mentioning girl who he had earliest seen Selah ends the argument by simply refusing to think saying that in the end he has a job to do basically he doesn't care what is wrong or right what is absurd or logical he has a role to play and he must play it and so does boy apparently we head back
• 26:30 - 27:00 into the cabin for another scene with boy and Captain boiler means to his father about the slave he saw get thrown into the sea captain angry at boy for caring about the slaves says that boy has betrayed him and tells him to toss his Dairy overboard Captain also disciplines the boy with shorts and slaps then storms up back down in the hold woman is clearly quite sick yet as we would expect she tells girl not to worry about her sailor and boy come to check in on girl and woman but boy
• 27:00 - 27:30 quickly exclaims that he's ill sailor quickly takes him away to see the doctor here an interesting idea is reinforced one we might consider a theme throughout the text and that is the fundamental sameness of all people the white people may think that they're different from better than the Africans but Universal factors like sickness and death affect every and anyone without regard revealing the true equality of humans woman goes on to tell a girl another riddle but not before she makes a
• 27:30 - 28:00 curious statement when girl asks why the white people hate the Africans woman says when they see us they see the thing they fear the most what could this mean pause the video right now and help me figure out what this means let me know your thoughts in the comments woman also says that they treat each other no better indicating that these white people in some sense abuse and exploit one another as well next we get to the woman's riddle she asks about something
• 28:00 - 28:30 that is exceedingly light beautiful and strong girl guesses the woman acknowledges this answer but says that the deeper answer is the soul even if the white men can beat and break our bodies as long as we retain strength of Soul we will never truly be defeated another development happens in this scene as a girl outrightly acknowledges woman as her new mother woman replies by a promising girl that she will never leave her what she means is she will be with her through
• 28:30 - 29:00 the many stories and riddles she intends to pass on and with that we move on to the next ACT heading over to the forest of stories back in the forest of stories this story is titled down by the pool ratbat a new character is singing when he hears a Nancy and the tiger coming the Summer sun is Raging which gives Anansi the perfect opportunity to pull a fast one on tiger she takes tiger to a pool or he
• 29:00 - 29:30 can swim and relax and Nancy advises tiger that he should take off his fur coat before entering the pool so that it doesn't shrivel up this sounds logical to tiger and so he complies though somewhat reluctantly but this is only step one next a Nancy convinces tiger to take off his fat some monsters in the pool won't try to eat it unwillingly and somewhat embarrassed tiger complies while tiger takes a nice cool swim a
• 29:30 - 30:00 Nancy stands guard by Tiger's fur and fat what a good friend but of course a Nancy has ulterior motives it isn't long before Anansi is making a yummy stew out of Tiger's fat but the nosy Rat Bat who has been following tiger under Nancy shows himself he wants some of whatever Anansi is cooking up and answer tells ratbot about a singing contest happening in song City ratbat a proud singer is excited to hear about this of course as we know the contest doesn't actually exist but is rather a part of anansi's
• 30:00 - 30:30 skin to frame ratbat a Nancy tells ratbat that to enter the contest he must sing a song about tiger fat how convenient so ratbot goes off singing his new original song about tiger fat well fancy we can assume enjoys his tag of attitude tiger gets out of the pool and becomes enraged when he sees that his fat and caught are missing tiger threatens to kill a Nancy but there is no need for all that because an answer
• 30:30 - 31:00 knows who the culprit is a Nancy leads tiger to song City where he hears right back singing about delicious tiger fat implicating himself in a crime he did not commit but before tiger rips right back to threads he realizes that Anansi must have had something to do with this whole Fiasco but it's too late a Nancy has already made a full and spectacle out of tiger who looks shriveled and pathetic without his fat he also ends up making a fool out of ratbat who has stupidly auditioned for a non-existent
• 31:00 - 31:30 song contest with a stupid sounding song and most importantly an answer gets to fill his belly with some delicious tiger fat this is one of the more light-hearted of the forest stories and one used to provide comic relief while reinforcing the wit and wisdom but also the playful villainy of a Nancy if girls should survive her dire circumstance she will need to be able to wrap people around her finger like a Nancy can she will need to find cunning ways to get
• 31:30 - 32:00 her tiger fat to get what she needs without getting herself killed in the process of course for a girl the tiger fat she seeks might be freedom who knows perhaps her tiger fat could also include Revenge [Music] the next ACT takes us back to the hold where girl is dying of laughter after hearing this ridiculous story about tiger fight woman gives girl another
• 32:00 - 32:30 riddle that she doesn't get the term to answer pause here and read the reader let me know in the comments what you think the answer is what is this home that we're all going to girl claims to know the answer but before she sees it they quiet themselves as a sailor and boy come down woman accepts her fit being old and sick she will be thrown overboard but she takes solace in the fact that she has already taught girl all she needs to know as sailor drags woman away boy shows what could be seen as sympathy as
• 32:30 - 33:00 he tells girl that she mustn't cry he might just be parroting what his father had said to him earlier when he was crying girl turns her head away and sings to herself yesterday alluding to the previous Forest Story this can be taken in two ways for one it can be seen as a girl threatening boy and sailor just as Tyga's fat was stewed and eaten she will somehow skin and eat them not literally hopefully it could
• 33:00 - 33:30 also be that she's just lamenting about unfair treatment unjust punishment just as ratbat who sang the song was framed was blamed for something he didn't do girl and woman are being treated terribly by no fault of their own in the next scene we have captain and boy we see even more tension between them as the relationship grows increasingly stiff cold and formal Captain does dictation while boy takes notes captain in Cruel irony thanks God for losing
• 33:30 - 34:00 only 150 slaves and 12 crew members on the seven week passage he also plans to toss overboard slaves that aren't healthy to ensure that they don't devalue the others as usual the language he uses to talk about the slaves is language that is usually used to talk about cattle or Machinery he even says that his content is clear as he's doing his best to protect the best beasts in the herd the ends the dictation readying to prepare the Legends for tomorrow's
• 34:00 - 34:30 auction interestingly he coughs violently indicating that he also is diseased we see that disease doesn't care how powerful You Think You Are [Music] the next ACT takes us to a new place Kingston Harbor where the slaves will be auctioned off we see some interesting character development in boy now he walks up right and Stern he has an ear of confidence like he has matured since
• 34:30 - 35:00 we last saw him but what exactly has he matured into the Sailor asks boy sarcastically if he has yet found out what color God is referring to their previous conversation about God boy replies with one Resolute and confident word yes his confusion and curiosity seem to have been replaced by a kind of certainty sailor warns boy about blasphemy saying it is bad for the soul to which the boy replies is it suggesting an ear of
• 35:00 - 35:30 defiance even audacity toward the sailor's idea of God we then see that boy is playing the role of Captain as Captain is sick now it is boy who does the letters it seems that curious innocent boy has become much more like his father over the time it took the ship to reach Jamaica does this suggest the inevitability of Destiny sailor acknowledges how much boy has matured saying he has become a man we are still not sure just how much like Captain boy has become we see that he is now Stern
• 35:30 - 36:00 and confident but also unlike sail and Captain he seems to retain his boyish ability to think for himself we see this in his brief conversation about God sealer drinks to a safe Voyage back home from this uncivilized place next the auctioneer speaks the slaves are being sold including girl who doesn't understand the auctioneer's language however through the guidance of women she has become Keen enough to realize what is happening even without understanding the language as soon as
• 36:00 - 36:30 girl is sold the scene freezes as she stars to tell a story no she's playing the role of Storyteller the role not of girl but of woman she vows that like Anansi she will find a way to help herself she goes on to introduce the story that the next ACT will tell speaking of an evil woman with a heart full of hit who adopted child slaves for herself foreign
• 36:30 - 37:00 [Music] now we are transported back to the forest of stories where we have the story entitled quenching her thirst four characters are introduced first we have the wicked old woman her and then we have the laboring children dog cat and crab the woman works the children half to death then feeds on their tears but they are so overworked that they have no tears left and in order to catch a break they suggest that her finds a new slave
• 37:00 - 37:30 some fresh meat so to speak dog cat and crab put out an ad to attract a new slave for her with the caveat that if they can guess her's name they can have half of everything she owns her with some convincing decides that this is fine as no one will be able to guess her real name anyway dog cat and crab supposedly know her's real name but they wouldn't dare tell anyone right and so the new worker comes in which is a Nancy dressed up as a girl of course we change
• 37:30 - 38:00 scene to the next story at the river and then to soon get scrapped to tell him her's real name giving crab a kiss in return and of course Anansi gets to take half of everything her owns upon finding out that crab betrayed her her angrily throws the Calabash at him it sticks the crabs back glued to him by the tears of the woman's past slaves girl then relates the story back to herself saying that her own story will resemble this
• 38:00 - 38:30 one being one of a hard Buck many tears and a name nobody knows here she acknowledges and accepts the immense hardship that is her future the hardback refers to the inhumane hardship of being a slave the tears are the sorrow and pain that come with being a slave the namelessness refers to the fact that she may never be remembered by history by anyone least of all by name and she sold off to a plantation she may never again be treated as human or remembered as
• 38:30 - 39:00 such in fact even in a literal sense her name will likely be changed by her slave master she also says that her story is for a new world accepting the fact that her old world her time of freedom in Africa has ended she may also be realizing that the world on a larger scale is changing perhaps becoming more evil but is she frightened of this she's not the ananta stories have helped her
• 39:00 - 39:30 to develop a kind of Courage that rages even in the face of life's toughest circumstances it is interesting that here at the end the real world seems to merge with the forest world before neither woman nor girl themselves actually appeared within the acts of the forest stories and besides brief intros to the stories the forest stories were not told within onboard Acts but this time girl gives us two whole paragraphs of the final fourth story within the
• 39:30 - 40:00 real world Act and at the end of the forest act girl's character appears usually she doesn't appear until the attends what does this convergence of the Two Worlds mean it might mean that girl has no fully internalized the forest stories just like Anansi she can with her willpower and Imagination free herself from the constraints of time and space from the constraints of circumstance with the spirit of an answer within her she is free even
• 40:00 - 40:30 whilst being a Slave and we end at Kingston Harbor for the final and shortest act in which girl is finally sold here girl starts to tell a story but not a finance this time the story is about herself she urges us to remember her we're now finished with the main section of this course having dealt with the plot of the play now we will briefly look at certain elements of the play in a bit more detail we look at the
• 40:30 - 41:00 characters there are some themes then add some literary and narrative devices used the upcoming videos will be shorter but just as important as this one see you soon