Julie Tagg, March 8, 2024

Historical Context

The stories of Anansi and his trickery are integral to the oral literature of the West Indies and the traditions of storytelling. The enslaved West Africans brought these stories of Anansi to the Caribbean. Anansi is the trickster hero who enjoys his power over all the other animals in the forest. His power comes from his superior wit, intelligence and cunning. He is among the smallest of the animals but exhibits extraordinary brain power to outwit everyone he encounters, including humans and other animals. Anansi escapes the dangers around him and defeats his powerful counterparts because of his wits. Many tales of Anansi speak to the ferocious Brother Tiger and kings who Anansi outwits. Hence, he becomes the champion for the people and the unprivileged as he is thought to have been the champion for the enslaved people who have preserved his stories, laughed at and admired his adventures and triumphs.

About the play

The main plot in the story is about the young girl aboard a slave ship that is bound to Jamaica. She is imprisoned and bound in the hold of a slave ship that sails from West Africa in 1791 heading for Jamaica. Throughout the journey the young girl is tied to an old woman. The audience and the girl do not see the old woman as she is tied behind the girl. But her voice is heard as she constantly talks to the girl and tells her Anansi stories. The woman is like a mother to the girl. She helps her through the rough and challenging journey with stories of Anansi. These stories become integral to the girl’s survival as she finds amusement and strength in the wit and cunning tales she hears about Anansi. Throughout the voyage, the girl sees a small spider building his web. The woman’s back is turned to the area in the hold where the spider perseveres in the darkness, but it appears as though she can see the spider that the girl sees, and she tells the girl all about him. The spider is Anansi, and the play talks about his journey to the Caribbean and how he became the main source of strength and inspiration to the enslaved people. The mysterious woman represents the spiritual strength that these slaves needed in the arduous journey. Campbell alludes to the strength of the old woman as one that extends beyond the sea voyage. It is this strength that guides the girl until the ship arrives in Kingston Harbour.

The captain, his son, and a sailor are also on board the ship. The son befriends the sailor because he needs support because his father is an authoritarian who evokes mixed emotions in the child. The captain runs an English slave ship with the typical attitude of a trader in commodities. He sees slaves as cargo being transported for sale and who are insured against loss and damage. Therefore, he has no sympathy or compassion for the enslaved. The slaves on the ship become sick with an unidentified illness which is manifested by coughing. Those who show the symptoms are cruelly thrown overboard to prevent them infecting others. The captain is an efficient businessman and therefore he has no remorse for throwing the sick overboard. The son is more compassionate, and he is uncomfortable with this practice. He sees the Africans from a different perspective. He sees them as humans who should not have to endure his father’s lack of compassion. These characters help to guide the audience through some of the horrors of the slave trade that Campbell dramatises in the play.

Irony in the play

It is ironic that the captain falls ill by the end of the voyage and his son takes over his duties. He fits into his role as the captain and begins to think like a slave trader. The boy who was once compassionate towards the slaves no longer holds these thoughts. He now sees them as commodities. Additionally, it is ironic that the name of the slaving vessel is “The Good Ship Hope.” But this conflicts with the purpose and trade of the ship. Campbells shows that the Captain is a “Christian” who praises God thus: “Thanks to the grace of God we have lost only 150 slaves and 12 crew on our seven-week passage”. But he is more concerned about the threat of “maimed, defective or diseased slaves lowering the average price” than he is for the loss of life, and for the fact that he cast sick but living slaves overboard. Nonetheless, his greed shows that he is satisfied that insurance will be paid.

Settings in the play

The play has two settings. One is on board the ship and one in “the forest of stories”. The former is the main plot, and it covers the events aboard the ship during the Atlantic voyage. The woman tells the tales of Anansi to the girl. But each story shifts the scene to the forest, so the play alternates between the ship and the forest. The scenes on board the ship is somber, tragic, and filled with sadness because it is the inhumane treatment of the slaves as they journey through the Middle Passage.  In contrast, the stories about Anansi and his wit are light, full of energy and comic, since they present a life in which characters have survived and they represent storytelling traditions which are lively and dramatic.

The playwright uses parodies which are highly influenced by European fairy tales. He uses sharp comedy to highlight the difference between the horrifying experiences of the trans-Atlantic passage and heart-wrenching departure from West Africa and the life in the Caribbean and the cultural traditions.