Checking Out Me History – John Agard

“Bandage up me eye with me own history”

• Metaphor → “bandage up me eye” → blindness → inability to see truth

• Irony → “me own history” → what should empower instead restricts

• Violent imagery → “bandage” → forced limitation → not natural ignorance

• Pronoun “me” → personal → emphasizes individual impact

• Symbolism → education system → controls perception of identity

• Alt reading: Suggests deliberate manipulation → history is weaponised

AO3

• Agard exposes how colonial narratives suppress identity, controlling what people know about themselves

“I carving out me identity”

• Metaphor → “carving” → effort, struggle → identity must be actively created

• Present continuous → ongoing process → identity is not fixed

• Violent undertone → “carving” → suggests pain, resistance

• Pronoun “me” → personal ownership → reclaiming identity

• Contrast → passive “Dem tell me” vs active “I carving” → shift in power

• Alt reading: Identity is constructed through resistance to oppression

AO3

• Agard presents identity as something reclaimed and rebuilt, resisting imposed narratives

“But now I checking out me own history”

• urning point signalled by “But now” → structural shift → passive → active

• Present continuous “checking out” → ongoing process → identity is being actively rebuilt

• Verb phrase → informal, investigative → suggests questioning authority + reclaiming truth

• Pronoun shift → from “Dem tell me” → “I… me” → power reclaimed

• Caesura / line break → emphasises transition → moment of resistance

• Alt reading: Suggests identity is not fixed → must be continuously rediscovered and challenged

AO3

• Agard presents identity as actively reclaimed, showing resistance against imposed colonial narratives

structure and form

• Irregular structure → reflects disruption of identity

• Contrast between non-italicised vs italicised sections → imposed history vs reclaimed history

• Enjambment → continuous flow → overwhelming control vs liberation

• Use of dialect → challenges colonial language dominance

• Oral tone → performance-like → reinforces cultural identity

best comparisons

• The Emigrée → identity shaped by memory and external forces

• London → power controlling individuals

• Tissues → fragility of human systems and identity

grade 9 thesis insight

Agard presents conflict as a struggle over identity and knowledge, showing how power controls history to suppress individuals, while true identity must be actively reclaimed through resistance and self-expression.