Mrs. K.

Maharaj CSEC English B Anansi-Alistair Campbell

DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES AND

STRUCTURE IN ANANSI

DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES

SETTING AND SET DESIGN

-1971- Historical Setting

-The Good Ship Hope- The hold, the cabin, On deck, Kingston Harbour (REALISTIC
PHYSICAL SETTING)
-The Forest of Stories (FANTASTICAL SETTING)

FORM AND CONTEXT

Anansi is characterised as a MODERN form of drama due to its unconventional form and
seemingly separate scenes of “The Good Ship Hope” and “The Forest of Stories”.
However, the settings are interconnected. The Girl’s reality is on the ship while her
imagination escapes to the forest. This facilitates existing in two places at once. Through
this, there is a marriage of drama that embodies storytelling and modern issues of
morality. Additionally, the play borders on political satire that sheds light on the power
struggle of the slavery system. Political satire specialises in gaining entertainment from
politics and topical issues.

PROPS

The boy’s diary, Anansi’s web, the bamboo tree used to measure Snake, the trap,
the calabash, Tiger’s fat and coat and various other props bring the story to life.

SYMBOLS

- The playwright largely incorporates the symbols of the spider and Tiger to draw
reference to their STRENGTH. Words like “strong” and “bold” which symbolise
power and control can be compared to the white slave masters.
- Anansi is seen as cunning and persistent which symbolises the RESILIENCE of
African slaves and their unwavering spirit.

SIMILES AND METAPHORS

- Highlights the playwright’s perspective on the characters and emphasises the key
issues of the play for the audience to better visualise the images conveyed.
- Woman tells Girl “Weave your little web like a dream in the dark and wait…” The
simile of the web represents hope for Girl despite all odds.
- In The Forest of Stories, specifically the story involving Anansi and Ratbat, Anansi
in his ploy to manipulate Ratbat (who thinks he is smarter than Anansi) says “He
is trying to get somebody as cool as an ice cube”. By saying Ratbat is as cool as
an ice cube, he is boosting his self-esteem to manipulate him to do his bidding.
Mrs. K. Maharaj CSEC English B Anansi-Alistair Campbell

- At other times, the playwright uses similes and metaphors to emphasise character
traits in order to set them up for a fall.
- For example, the story involving Mancrow and Soliday when Mancrow says,
“trying to kill me… it’s like tying up the night with a noose of string.”
- Another example is “We were tied together like goats waiting for the knife”.

PERSONIFICATION

- When Girl describes the journey from her homeland of Africa she says, “the river
carrying me further and further away from my mother on its great brown back.”
Personifies the river and shows the connection to the people and their land.
- The playwright shows us the force of nature by giving the river human qualities
but also shows how Girl is hopelessly torn away from her home.
- The deplorable conditions of the journey are also personified in order to highlight
the distress of the slaves. For example, “the clean fresh wind singing from the
ropes” and “putrid smells of the moaning grates.”

JUXTAPOSED SCENES

(Juxtaposition is when you place two concepts or objects next to or near each
other, thereby highlighting their innate differences and similarities.)
-The Ship versus the Forest
- Scenes with the Boy and Captain versus Scenes with the Girl and Woman.

FOILS

(A literary foil is a character whose purpose is to accentuate or draw attention to

the qualities of another character, most often the protagonist)
-Boy and Captain
- Woman and Girl
- Boy and Girl
-Captain and Woman
-Her (Lillibet) and Woman

HUMOUR

Identify humourous instances, especially in the Anansi stories. Also, explain the function
of the humour created. How is it affecting the themes and character development as well
as the dramatic significance of how it gives the audience a “break” from the atrocities of
the slave ship?

IRONY

- Irony reinforces the meaning of the play and has a direct impact on the lessons of
MORALITY.
- Campbell uses the technique as a way to show/demonstrate the transfer of power
from one group to the next for the purpose of AUDIENCE APPEAL.
- Boy and Captain have similar backgrounds but their attitude and thoughts about
the treatment of the slaves are polar opposites.
Mrs. K. Maharaj CSEC English B Anansi-Alistair Campbell

- Boy is presented as betraying his father when he writes about the harsh
treatment of the slaves in his diary.
- The sailor also hints that he will have to carry on the work of his father eventually.
Ironically, this may never happen because of the compassion that the boy shows.
- At the beginning of the play, Girl constantly comments on how small and weak
Anansi is but Woman tells her he “was once a King”. This makes Girl realise that
despite her small stature, she too has the power to go on and that is precisely
what she does at the end of the play.
- Ironically, despite the treatment, Woman teaches Girl that “people are just as
good as animals”. It is ironic because slaves were looked at as beasts and not
treated as human beings, but the slave Woman is still of the belief that not all
humans are bad.
- Therefore, in reality (On Board) Anansi is valued and purposeful to Woman and
Girl but in The Forest of Stories, he is seen as somewhat of a nuisance to the
forest animals.
-

DRAMATIC IRONY

- How does dramatic irony affect the audience/reader’s response?

- The audience knows something that the other characters in the scene don’t
know or realise.
- Campbell uses dramatic irony to reinforce the reversal of roles of characters
such as Anansi and Girl.
- At the beginning of the play, both Anansi and Girl are introduced as helpless
and weak, but by the end of the play Girl has demonstrated resilience and
Anansi the spider becomes a legend of hope and resilience.
- However, Captain, Boy and Sailor are not aware of the growing strength of the
Girl, but the audience is very much aware of it.
- Also, the characters in The Forest of Stories take Anansi for granted and are
ultimately deceived by his cunning ways as he attempts to confront the
powerful.

IMAGERY

- Images of darkness, death and light pervade the entire play to evoke the emotive
senses of the audience.
- The imagery on the slave ship is linked to the dehumanising experience of being
parked and crammed together in their own filth.
- When Girl begins to cultivate hope she comments that she “sees a light through
the dark tree”
- Imagery is used to highlight the prejudices of the slave masters when they refer
to the slaves as beasts and animals.

LIGHTING

- light versus darkness and the connotations involved.

- Light represents and symbolises hope, resilience and a bright future. (The
Forest of Stories).
- Darkness represents hopelessness, defeat and despair. (The Slave Ship)
Mrs. K. Maharaj CSEC English B Anansi-Alistair Campbell

STAGE DIRECTIONS

Stage directions are italicised and reveal certain actions and thoughts of
characters. In the play, it functions as a narrator as well who reveals information
about characters and plot not revealed in dialogue.

CHARACTER STEREOTYPES

No one on the slave ship is given a name. Their names are generic and solely
based on their gender or occupation. Despite this, they all have an identity. The
PURPOSE is to capture the various stereotypes on board the slave ship and in the
forest.

ANANSI AS ARCHETYPE

Famous Caribbean literary scholar Professor Gordon Rohlehr in his text

Pathfinder-Black Awakening in The Arrivants by Edward Brathwaite describes the
character Anansi as an ARCHETYPE of the imagination of the black slaves to
survive the hardships of slavery in The New World. A LITERARY ARCHETYPE is a
primordial image, character, pattern or circumstance that recurs throughout
literature and is thought, consistently enough to be considered a universal
concept or situation. In the play, it is ironic how the role of the powerful master is
reversed as Anansi, the spider. That is, a minor character is able to outsmart the
‘masters’ of the forest, such as Tiger and Snake.

HISTORICAL REALISM

There is sometimes the thought that literature that is based on historical

information or facts needs to stay true to the conventions of verisimilitude or
sometimes reality. But Campbell effectively intertwines both fantasy and reality
seamlessly. The narrative shifts between the two worlds of The Good Ship Hope
and The Forest of Stories to accommodate the idea of escapism, which is a
technique that fantasy literature uses. Therefore, the thing for the character of
Girl to escape from is the historical trauma endured during slavery.