Julie Tagg| March 24, 2024

•Learning Objectives:

In this section you will:

• discover the major themes of the play

• recognise how the major themes reflect the slave trade experience

• explore the connections between themes

• explore how the themes and conflict add to the dramatic function of the play

CONFLICT, THEMES, AND ISSUES
Power, prejudice, alienation, greed, and violence

Aboard ‘The Good Ship Hope’, there is the tyrannical and violent Captain who dismisses any concerns from his empathetic son. The captain makes it clear that the “masters in London” will not tolerate excessive loss of cargo. The Captain becomes angry and threatens the Boy with harsh discipline to ensure he learns his place on the ship because he catches him writing in his diary about a man being thrown overboard. The Captain emphasizes that the only significant aspect of the slaves is their monetary value, stating, “money makes the world go around.” As the ship nears Jamaica, the slaves who are sick are callously thrown overboard. The cold-heartedly Captain notes, “My conscience is clear. I’m merely safeguarding the most valuable assets, like a diligent farmer protecting prized livestock.” Additionally, the reader sees the dehumanizing lifestyle of the slaves in the ‘Hole’, with a Sailor remarking, “it stinks like Death’s own backyard.” Further isolation occurs when the Boy mentions seeing a Girl in the ‘Hole’, prompting the Sailor to caution against dangerous thoughts. Later, when the Boy tries to console the crying Girl and learns of her stories, he experiences greater alienation as she recounts, “Yesterday this time, me am yum Tiger fat…”

Freedom, dreams, aspirations and fantasy versus reality, growth, and manipulation

In the play, there is a delicate boundary between fantasy and reality. The journey throughout the Middle Passage is tangible for the characters and audience. The playwright moves through a seamless transition from the harsh reality of the ‘slave ship experience’ to the refuge of the ‘forest of stories’. Despite being enslaved, the Girl is prompted to metaphorically perceive ‘the light’ and the ‘crack in the ceiling’ of the ship. She finds comfort in these ‘images in her mind’ as they narrate the exploits of the courageous Anansi and the way he outwits even the most formidable and ruthless characters in the forest. The girl finds courage to spin the web of her imagination because of the stories she hears about Anansi. The Woman further empowers the Girl by advising her “to live well and die well”. The Girl liberates herself at the auction when she says “Once upon a time there was a clever, tricky spider called Anansi … If he was hungry, he got what he wanted and so will I.”

Role of women

The female characters in the play are strong black women who face their moments of hardships boldly. The woman on the ship helps the girl to overcome her fears and endure the harsh conditions on the ship. She tells Girl stories about Anansi and his strength. In addition, she tells the Girl, “don’t tie yourself up with words like impossible” Gran is also a strong and bold black woman. She appears in ‘The Forest of Stories’, to empower Soliday to defeat the invincible Mancrow.

Childhood experiences

Both the Boy and Girl face new and challenging experiences. They lose their innocence as they are forced to face the harsh realities of life on the ship. The Boy questions his father, (the Captain) about the bad treatment of the slaves, and the Girl questions the Woman about the hopelessness of their enslavement. The Boy’s caring pleas go unanswered, but the Girl finds hope through the old Woman’s wisdom.

There are changes on the ship and the Girl observes that the Boy ‘He sees what we imagine.’ The woman becomes sick as well and the sailor unties the Woman. The Woman is dragged away, and the Boy tells the Girl, ‘You mustn’t cry.’ These changes in the children’s experience leads to the Boy learning to empathize with her and understand the cruelty in her world. The Girl finds strength by the end of the play. In the Kingston Harbour scene, when the Girl is being auctioned she says, ‘I want to die but I won’t.’ Her reality is altered as she is in the Forest of Stories, finding solace and hope with her imagined hero, Anansi.

For more on Alistair Campbell’s Anansi