Checking Out Me History

themes

• control

• identity

• power of institutions

• power of man

message

• Oppressive systems result in loss of identity

• By being an autodidact you can reclaim your identity

• We cannot change institutions but can change ourselves

 

structure and context

• Longer stanzas when speaking about his own history shows passion to do with black history

• Creole shows rebellion against linguistic prejudice (not rly structure but still)

• Cyclical structure shows how oppression is something that will be repeated

d t m

dem tell me

• Deixis - we never find out who "dem" are

  • it is not one specific instituion that is oppressing the speaker - it is all over the world

• Creole dialect shows rebellion against linguistic prejudice

c o m i

carving out me identity

• "carving" is an act that takes time and care

• He is taking control, being an autodidact, allowing him to reclaim his voice

b m t m o i

blind me to my own identity

• Institution of the education system is physically oppressing him

• His own history is deliberately hidden

 

 

h s t f r

Hopeful stream to freedom river

• Natural imagery and aspirational adjectives

• Shows how he is being liberating from a Eurocentric curriculum by being an autodidact