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Anansi
people were killed during these voyages from a combination of
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION starvation, torture, sickness, and suicide. Slavery is a dark and
heavy subject, but important to understanding the history of
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ALISTAIR CAMPBELL Europe, capitalism, and the western world. In the 1990s, the
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell was a poet, playwright, and novelist Breakout theater group worked with a variety of storytellers
who was a key figure in the Wellington Group literary from around the world to inform their plays focused on
movement in the 1950s and ’60s—a movement that orbited educating children in Berkshire, England. Alistair Campbell
around Wellington, New Zealand. Campbell was born to a brought forward a variety of folk tales passed orally during the
Māori mother, native to the Cook Islands, and a White New various Atlantic passages and dispersed through the diaspora
Zealander (“Pākehā”) father, both of whom died when Campbell of slavery. In these coded histories, Campbell and the Breakout
was young. He was sent to live with his grandmother, but she group saw an opportunity to educate children about the
could not afford to take care of him due to the harsh economic horrors of slavery but also about the power of connectivity
conditions of the Great Depression. As a result, Campbell grew inherent to stories and storytelling.
up in orphanages around New Zealand. He began writing
poetry in high school and did well enough to attend the RELATED LITERARY WORKS
University of Otago and then eventually Victoria University of
Wellington. Here, he became part of the burgeoning Anansi is unique in its attempt to illustrate the horrors of the
Wellington Group and began publishing poetry and plays Middle Passage in a play made for children. Other
influenced by the tragedies of his upbringing and by his Māori contemporary theatrical productions, such as The Meaning of
heritage. In 1952 he married Fleur Adcock, with whom he had Zong (2022) by Giles Terrera, have approached the
two sons, but the pair divorced soon after, in 1957. He was dehumanizing journey, with Terrara’s play approaching the
remarried in 1958 to Meg Campbell, with whom he had three massacre aboard the slave ship Zong, where more than 130
more children and remained with until her death just over a enslaved Africans were murdered when the ship ran low on
year before his own. Over the course of his life, Campbell water crossing the Atlantic. On the other side of the coin, the
published over 20 collections of poetry to high acclaim, earning 2012 musical Amazing Grace by Christopher Smith shares
him the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, the Prime similarities with the burgeoning abolitionist sentiments of the
Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, and even general boy in Anansi. The story is based loosely on the life of John
honors from the New Zealand Order of Merit. He also wrote Newton, who was a slave trader in the mid-1700s but
many plays, novellas, and a series of beloved radio plays eventually became an Anglican priest and then an abolitionist
beloved on the islands. Campbell is considered one of New following a moral crisis about the treatment of enslaved people
Zealand’s most important and iconic poets, and a pioneer of he witnessed and empowered. The Interesting Narrative of the
Pasifika literature written in English. Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) is the autobiography of
Olaudah Equiano, who was sold twice into slavery before
eventually purchasing his own freedom. It is largely regarded as
HISTORICAL CONTEXT one of the most important primary sources to the experience of
Anansi is most directly concerned with the institution of slavery the Middle Passage and enslavement in the 18th century, and it
and the Atlantic slave trade specifically. The play depicts the parallels his journey to emancipation with his own journey with
treacherous Middle Passage, a route that Europeans used to religion and Christianity. For a fictional account of the Middle
carry millions African enslaved people to be bought and sold in Passage, Daniel Black’s The Coming: A Novel explores the
the American colonies beginning in the 15th century and trauma and haunting of enslavement and the long ocean
lasting will into the 19th century. Enslaved people were journey through a group of enslaved people shackled in the
captured in Africa and then carried across the Atlantic in a hold of a slave vessel. Much like the girl and the woman in
journey that often took months. They were bound, underfed, Anansi, the characters in The Coming find intense
routinely tortured, and then—upon arrival—sold at auction in enlightenment and beauty in the darkness after having
the colonies, where they would work the many plantations set everything taken from them.
up by European colonists. The merchants would use their
profits to buy goods from the colonies to bring back to Europe KEY FACTS
to sell, completing the Atlantic triangle. Research estimates
over 12.5 million people were taken from Africa to the • Full Title: Anansi
Americas during this time. An estimated 15% of all enslaved • When Written: 1990 (first performed)

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• Where Written: Berkshire be named after Anansi instead. Tiger says he would only allow
• When Published: 1992 such a thing if Anansi can do the impossible: bring him Snake
• Literary Period: Contemporary tied to a pole. Anansi tries a series of traps involving a noose
and meat to snag Snake, but Snake eludes each one easily.
• Genre: Children's Play
Anansi appears before Snake and pretends to lament that
• Setting: Alternates between a slave vessel crossing the nobody in the forest believes Snake is the longest creature.
Atlantic from West Africa to Kingston Harbour and the Snake cannot see past his own pride and is outraged. Anansi
Forest of Stories convinces Snake the only way to prove his length is to tie
• Climax: The girl is sold at auction. himself to a pole, which Snake does without a second thought.
• Antagonist: The Captain, slavery Anansi brings Snake before Tiger and Tiger is amused by
Anansi’s trickery, sticking to his word despite Anansi’s dubious
EXTRA CREDIT method.
Anansi Origins. Despite the cultural splintering of the slave Back aboard the ship, the girl begins to understand that, like a
trade, historians have been able to trace back Anansi’s spider’s web, true strength comes from within. Above deck,
strongest origins to Ghana. The word for “spider” in the Akan feeling isolated, the boy writes in a diary. His father catches him
language is Anansi, or Ananse. and scolds him for engaging in “nonsense.” A sailor takes the
boy to check on the enslaved people in the cargo, checking for
Anansi the Mercurial. The tales of Anansi were almost fever. The girl expresses hatred for the enslavers and wonders
exclusively passed in the form of oral tradition and thus spread why she and the other enslaved people are treated like animals.
in multiple forms. Anansi as a figure is also depicted as both the The woman explains that it is succumbing to this treatment that
protagonist and the antagonist in many versions of his tales. truly enslaves them, then begins another story.
For example, the girl’s version of the calabash story bears In the Forest of Stories, Mancrow has arrived. Mancrow is a
resemblance to another popular Anansi tale wherein the spider great flying monstrosity that promises to eat every living thing.
hoards all of the world’s knowledge in his own calabash that he The king sets out a decree that whoever can bring him proof of
attempts to hide in a tree, only for the calabash to spill and having slain Mancrow will receive a fortune and his daughter’s
break open in a storm, spreading wisdom all across the world. hand in marriage. Soliday, a young warrior, takes up the call.
Before he goes, his Gran grants him six special arrows: one for
hope, one for wits, one for fear, one for anger, one for his name,
PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY and one for a secret only Soliday knows. Soliday faces Mancrow
and unleashes the arrows in order. The first five do nothing, but
On the western coast of Africa, a ship is loaded full of enslaved the sixth fells the beast. Anansi appears and takes some of
people. The vessel is about to embark on the treacherous Mancrow’s feathers. He brings them before the King and
Middle Passage to Kingston Harbour in Jamaica. On board, a claims to be the man who killed Mancrow. The kingdom begins
boy asks his father, the captain, why these people are enslaved to celebrate Anansi, but soon enough Soliday arrives with
and others aren’t. The captain refuses to answer, telling him to feathers of his own, and Anansi’s ruse is discovered. Anansi
mind his business. He asks the boy to take down a log entry, scurries off before he can be caught, content with a full belly
where the captain worries aloud about the effect an outbreak and a good story.
of fever might have on their “cargo” (that is, the enslaved people
they are transporting). In the darkness of the hold, an enslaved Night falls on the ship. The girl wonders what will happen when
girl cries, wondering why she has been taken from her home they reach the harbor, and the woman explains that they will be
and family. A woman tied to the same beam begins speaking to sold. Above deck, a sailor finds the boy crying to himself. The
her, encouraging the girl to reach out with her mind and senses. boy asks the sailor what color god is, and the sailor tells him it’s
They inspect a spider as it tries to make a web, and the woman better to not ask such questions. The boy tries to write in his
is reminded of the spirit Anansi. She begins to tell the girl a diary but is caught by his father, who hits him for disobeying
story, posing it as a riddle. him. Fever has spread in the hold, and the woman is sick. On
their sweep of the cargo, the boy notices this and pretends to
The woman’s words summon in the girl’s mind the Forest of be sick himself to distract the sailor so he does not take the
Stories, a realm separate from time and made up of all the woman away. The woman tells the girl a final story.
stories ever told. Anansi strolls through the forest without a
care, announcing his charm and wits in rhyme. Tiger appears There is a heatwave in the Forest of Stories. Tiger and Anansi
with a terrible roar and tells Anansi he’s been considering what arrive at a pool, and Anansi baits Tiger into taking a swim, but
to call their stories. Anansi convinces Tiger that naming the not before taking off both his coat and his fat. Anansi takes the
story after himself would be too on the nose and proposes they coat and begins to fry up Tiger’s fat, singing to himself. Ratbat
emerges from where he was hiding, drawn by the smell and the

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song, and asks Anansi what he is doing. Anansi manages to keep verse throughout his various escapades. Anansi outsmarts and
Ratbat and Tiger unaware of one another by convincing both overcomes the other animals in the forest through his wits and
that the other’s voice is his echo. Anansi slyly cajoles Ratbat by turning their strengths against them. He convinces Snake to
into flying to Song City to perform Anansi’s Tiger Fat song. tie himself up, steals Tiger’s coat and fat, and even succeeds in
When Tiger emerges from the pool, he is outraged to find his escaping enslavement by the crone Lillibet. Though Anansi
fat and coat gone. They rush off to Song City as well. Ratbat often succeeds in his ruses, it is never for long, and he enjoys
performs the Tiger fat song to the cool animals of Song City his existence as a scavenger and a vagabond, doing just enough
just as Tiger arrives, leading Tiger to believe it was Ratbat who to fill his belly and entertain himself. Anansi’s stories teach the
ate his fat. The cool animals are unconvinced it is really Tiger, girl valuable lessons and connect her to her past and culture,
lacking his great size and magnificent coat. Anansi arrives and allowing her to weather the Middle Passage. Anansi becomes
gives Tiger his coat to try on in order to prove it is him, but symbolic of inner strength, intelligence, and survival.
without his fat it does not fit. Tiger lunges at Anansi but trips The Girl – The child at the center of the play—who is taken by
over his own now-baggy coat, and Anansi escapes gleefully the crew of the ship into slavery and across the Atlantic—is only
once more. ever referred to as “the girl.” The girl is heartbroken and
The woman takes comfort in unlocking the girl’s imagination terrified, having been taken from her home and violently
and promises the girl she will always be with her, even as the separated from her family and culture. Innocent to the world’s
sailors enter and drag her away to throw her overboard to stop injustices, she questions why she is being taken and why the
the spread of fever. The captain reports to the boy that they other enslaved people are treated as they are. In the hold of the
have lost 150 enslaved people and 12 crew members over the ship, she is tied to a support beam with a woman who identifies
passage, and he coughs violently himself, revealing that he has her fear and begins to tell her stories to comfort her, as well as
caught the sickness as well. In Kingston Harbour, the enslaved to teach her valuable moral lessons. Through the stories of
people are sold at auction. As the auctioneer calls out for bids Anansi, the girl learns to nurture inner strength by keeping her
on the girl, she is afraid but begins to tell herself her own story wits about her and treasuring the stories and traditions that
of Anansi. connect her to her home. The girl survives the Middle Passage,
The girl steps into the Forest of Stories, safe in her imagination. but the woman does not, thrown overboard due to her fever. As
She begins to tell the story of an old crone, “Her,” who works she is being sold at auction, the girl begins to tell herself a new
her children to the bone and fills a calabash full of their tears to Anansi story, figuratively escaping into the world of story but
fuel her powers. Dog, Cat, and Crab (her adopted children) also mentally emancipating herself from her bondage.
have no more tears to give and convince her to put out an ad to The Bo
Boyy – The boy, never explicitly named, is the son of the
trick a new girl into servitude. The ad includes the caveat that if captain of a merchant vessel taking enslaved people from West
the servant were to guess the old crone’s true name, they Africa to sell at auction in Jamaica. The boy is bookish and
would be freed and get half of everything she owns. Anansi, curious, and he recalls initially being excited to have been taken
dressed as a woman, takes up the position. He seduces Crab along on one of his father’s sea journeys. However, when he
into telling him the name. Anansi is summoned by Her, who finds out the ship is transporting enslaved people, the boy
wants him to fill the calabash, and Anansi speaks the old crone’s becomes confused and concerned. The boy is White and openly
name: Lillibet. Anansi is freed, and Lillibet is outraged. She flings questions why the enslaved people are treated differently
her calabash at Crab, and it sticks to his back, linking hard work simply due to the color of their skin. He identifies various
and hard backs evermore. hypocrisies and injustices across the ship and the world as he
Back on the auction platform, the girl is sold. But she is no perceives it, but he is repeatedly shot down, either by his father
longer afraid. or the crew for being too inquisitive and not “knowing [his]
place.” The boy attempts to write his thoughts and secrets in a
diary, but his father catches him and forces him to throw it
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS away. The boy feels empathy toward the enslaved people in the
hold and attempts to protect the woman and the girl by
MAJOR CHARACTERS feigning illness so the woman’s fever will not be discovered.
Anansi the Spider – Anansi is a figure from West African Eventually, however, she is discovered. The boy tries to comfort
folklore, a spider deity representing trickery, wisdom, the girl but cannot get through to her. At the end of the play, he
storytelling, and knowledge. In the stories told by the woman in comes across as jaded, already weary of the world’s injustices.
the hold of the slave vessel crossing the Atlantic, Anansi The WWoman
oman – The woman, otherwise nameless, is enslaved
appears as the smallest of all the creatures in the Forest of alongside the girl and is tied to the same beam in the hold of the
Stories, a figurative realm of myth and tradition beyond time ship. When the boy first sees the woman, he is struck by how
itself. Anansi is wry, witty, and whimsical, often breaking into serene and fearless she seems, reminding him of his own

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grandmother. In the hold, the woman speaks to the girl, wants.
encouraging her to use her senses and wits to free her mind, Snak
Snake e – Snake is a creature in the Forest of Stories who
even as her body is in bondage. The woman tells the girl stories appears in the first Anansi story in the play. Anansi attempts to
of Anansi, posing them as riddles with lessons to be learned trap Snake with a noose and a succulent pig in order to tie him
that apply to the girl’s life and current situation. The woman up and bring him to Tiger so that he gets naming rights for their
imparts her own patience and fearlessness onto the girl, stories. Snake easily eludes each one of Anansi’s traps, but
showing her how death and time are not to be feared when one Anansi is eventually able to trick Snake into tying himself up by
remains connected to their home and history. She assumes a convincing him that the creatures of the forest believe that a
mother-like role to the girl, and before she is taken away she bamboo tree is longer than him. To prove he is the longest,
reminds the girl that they will always be together, connected by Anansi tells Snake he would need to uncoil himself and stretch
story and ancestry. Over the journey, the woman catches the out, so Snake ends up letting himself be bound to a pole,
fever that is spreading throughout the ship and is eventually allowing Anansi to become the namesake of the animal stories.
taken away and thrown overboard as the crew attempts to stop
Mancrow – Mancrow is a horrific and monstrous beast whose
the spread of the illness.
arrival to the Forest of Stories spells the end of the world as he
The Captain – The captain is the boy’s father and the captain of promises to eat every living thing. The King issues a bounty for
a merchant vessel taking enslaved people from the western anyone who can prove they’ve slain of Mancrow. Soliday
coast of Africa to Kingston Harbour in Jamaica. Although the eventually succeeds with the help of the six special arrows
boy formerly idolizes his father, he finds him a changed man in given to him by Gran, but Anansi takes credit for Mancrow’s
this context. The captain is cold to the boy, refusing to answer death by stealing some of his feathers and presenting them to
most of his questions about the practice of slavery and even the king as proof of his success.
going as far as to tell the boy to call him “captain” and not
Solida
Solidayy – Soliday is a young warrior who takes up the task of
“father.” The captain insists upon hierarchy, often referencing
killing Mancrow in one of the Anansi stories. He is given six
the investors in his venture as “his masters.” The captain
special arrows by Gran that allow him to fell the creature.
believes money is the only thing that matters. He discourages
When he arrives to claim victory, he finds that Anansi has
and mocks the boy for reading and writing in his diary, seeing
already claimed to have been the one to kill Mancrow. This
no use in writing, and he dictates the ship’s log to his son when
causes the King to realize he has been tricked, and Soliday is
needed. He is constantly afraid of how the potential for fever
eventually rewarded with the hand of the King’s daughter.
will decimate his cargo of enslaved people and tank their value
at auction, and he goes to horrific measures to prevent its Gr
Gran
an – Gran is presumably Soliday’s grandmother. In the
spread, having those afflicted thrown overboard. At the end of Anansi story about Mancrow, Gran warns Soliday of
the play, the captain also catches the fever and is too ill to even Mancrow’s might and grants him six special arrows to slay the
attend the auction. beast with: one for hope, one for wits, one for fear, one for
anger, one for his name, and one for a secret only Soliday
The Sailor – There is one sailor that the boy describes as the
knows. It is the final arrow that ultimately fells Mancrow.
closest thing he has to a friend. This particular sailor taught the
boy knots in the past and looks out for him on board. When the Ratbat – Ratbat is a carnivorous and nocturnal denizen of the
boy’s questions are rejected by his father, he goes to the sailor Forest of Stories brought to a pool by the heatwave in one of
to look for answers. The sailor merely repeats teachings of the the Anansi tales. He is drawn from his hiding place by the smell
church and his superiors and reflects to the boy that asking of Anansi frying up Tiger’s fat while Tiger swims in the pool.
those kinds of questions only gets people into trouble. The Anansi, through a series of clever lies, convinces Ratbat to fly to
sailor just wants to do his job and believes that thinking too Song City to compete in their song contest, singing the song
critically about the world around him will only cause him issues. Anansi made up about Tiger fat. In Song City, Ratbat performs
When they arrive at Kingston Harbour, the sailor checks back the song, making it seem like it was he who stole Tiger’s fat and
in on the boy and misreads his sardonic answers as genuine and not Anansi, and thus another one of Anansi’s ruses is
feels glad they have “made a man” out of the boy. successful.
Tiger – Tiger is the mightiest creature in the Forest of Stories. Her/Lillibet – The old crone, referred to at first as “Her,” is the
He is proud, fearsome, and magnificent, but also full of himself. antagonist of the Anansi story created by the girl while she is
He regularly appears in the stories of Anansi that the woman up for auction. She keeps her true name a secret and works her
tells. In the first story, Anansi tricks Tiger into giving him the various children and servants to the bone. Her real children
naming rights to their stories if he brings him Snake tied to a having abandoned her long ago, she now treats Crab and Dog
pole. In another story, Anansi manipulates Tiger into giving him as her kids. She is cruel and manipulative, and her power comes
his coat of fur and his fat on a hot day. In both cases, Anansi from her calabash, which she fills with the tears of her laborers,
uses Tiger’s pride and ignorance against him to get what he allowing her to see the future among other things. Crab and

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Dog draft a contract for a new helper meant to trick them into
eternal servitude to Her, but they include the caveat that TERMS
whoever accepts will get half of everything she owns if they can
Calabash – A calabash is an evergreen tropical fruit that grows
guess her real name. Anansi, of course, is the one to take on the
in the Americas, bearing fruit in the form of large gourds.
job and quickly seduces Crab to learn her true name: Lillibet. In
Calabashes were often used to create pipes, ladles, bowls, or
a rage, Lillibet throws her calabash at Crab, and it sticks to him
other water-bearing implements. Lillibet’s calabash can be
with the adhesive of tears, connecting hard work, hard backs,
interpreted as both a gourd that Lillibet fills with tears and as a
and hardship forever afterwards.
pool of sorts that allows her to see the future.
Cr
Crab
ab – Crab is one of Lillibet’s two adopted children alongside
Dog. Dry of tears themselves, Crab and Dog draft a contract to
trick a girl into becoming Her helper as a new source of tears. THEMES
However, they include the caveat that if the girl is to discover
Her true name, they will receive their freedom and half of In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
everything she owns. Anansi, disguised as a girl, takes the job coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
and seduces Crab into telling him Her name. After Anansi occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
reveals Her name, Lillibet throws her calabash at Crab, and it a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
sticks to his back forever. black and white.
The King – The King appears in the Anansi story about
Mancrow, setting out a sizeable bounty for proof of Mancrow’s OUTER VS. INNER STRENGTH
death, including wealth, a feast, and the hand of his daughter. Through the many stories of the trickster spider
Initially, he is tricked by Anansi, who brings some of Mancrow’s Anansi and the lessons they confer on the girl, the
feathers and claims to have been his killer, but eventually he play Anansi upholds the power of inner
learns it was Soliday who killed the beast. strength—wits, grace, charm, patience, and determination—to
win out over the bullying power of overt might. The frame story
MINOR CHARACTERS of the play follows an enslaved girl in the hold of a ship on the
Middle Passage from West Africa to Jamaica. Though the girl is
Centipede – Centipede is one of the denizens of Song City in
ultimately sold into slavery, she wins an internal, spiritual
the Forest of Stories. As a drummer, he is aided by his many
victory by freeing herself through story, living on with the
arms and legs.
knowledge of her home and culture and thereby remaining
Monk
Monkeey – Monkey is one of the denizens of Song City in the unbroken despite her bondage.
Forest of Stories.
The girl can reach this place of inner strength because of the
Parrot – Parrot is one of the denizens of Song City in the Forest lessons she learns from the stories told to her by an older
of Stories. Parrot is the most vocal of the group. enslaved woman. The stories of Anansi the spider all revolve
23 Gerbils – 23 Gerbils are a group of gerbils in Song City in around Anansi, the smallest creature in the Forest of Stories,
the Forest of Stories. As a group, they are great backing outsmarting bigger and stronger creatures to get by. Anansi
vocalists due to their many voices and paws for hand uses his wits and powers of charm and observation to convince
percussion. Snake to tie himself up or to get Tiger to willingly give up his
Dog – Dog is the other one of Lillibet’s two adopted children. own coat and fat and even to name the stories after Anansi,
showing how those with wits can use others’ strengths against
Cat – Cat is the third of Lillibet’s three adopted children. them to get ahead. These stories comfort the girl and steel her
The King’s Daughter – The King’s Daughter has her hand resolve, but they also teach her lessons that will carry her
promised to the slayer of Mancrow. She ultimately marries through the hardships of enslavement she has yet to face,
Soliday after Anansi’s deception is revealed. further emphasizing the kind of resilience that comes with
The King’s Servant – The King’s Servant appears early in the cultivating inner strength. The woman also encourages the girl
story of Mancrow, fumbling over his liege to get out the decree to be patient and trust her senses, noting how her mind cannot
of the bounty on Mancrow. be imprisoned even if her body is, supporting the idea that
inner strength has a transcendent quality that can help people
The Auctioneer – The auctioneer appears at the end of the play
triumph spiritually in otherwise unfavorable circumstances.
and manages the sale of the girl alongside the remaining
enslaved people.

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STORYTELLING AND CONNECTION encouraging her imagination and challenging her to learn from
the stories she tells. The stories of Anansi even celebrate the
In Anansi, Campbell highlights the power of
unassuming power of youth, especially in the spider’s ability to
storytelling and oral tradition to transcend context,
make mischief and not take the world too seriously. When the
ultimately connecting people to their pasts, their
boy and the girl encounter each other, the girl senses his
cultural traditions, and themselves. When the girl is first taken
internal conflict and empathy, and the woman notes that even
into slavery, she is displaced and terrified, describing how
conquerors aren’t just created from nothing, implying that
disorienting and horrific her capture was in both her separation
children are born pure and clear hearted but can be damaged
from her family and home. In the darkness of the hold, she can
and pushed into doing harm by their upbringing. Taken
hardly see and is tied up, but through the stories the woman
together, Campbell uses the narratives of the two children to
begins to tell her, the girl is able to imagine another world,
emphasize the purity and wisdom of youth, regardless of
thereby escaping the context of her present moment. But more
background or identity, and he highlights the importance of
than just an escape, the stories also connect the girl to her
their protection and education.
home, culture, and traditions.
The girl and the woman establish a deep bond that carries them
SLAVERY AND COMPLICITY
both through the hardship of their enslavement: the girl gains
the comfort of an elder’s guidance, and the woman gains the Anansi explores the unsettling fact that otherwise
knowledge that the girl will carry on her words and lessons. The ordinary people operating in immoral contexts
woman pushes the girl to observe how a spider in the hold often refrain from challenging evil simply because
makes a web from within to support itself, symbolic of the doing so would mean questioning vast hierarchical systems.
connectivity of stories and their internal source. Likewise, she Both the boy and the girl constantly question why enslaved
explains how the Anansi stories connect the girl to Africa, people are treated as subhuman for no reason other than the
allowing her to transcend her displacement and remain tied to color of their skin. The boy, for his part, is constantly told off by
her home. Finally, she insists that all the individual stories are his father for wondering about the nature of the system. His
connected—both with one another and with their present father regularly berates him for his desire to learn and read,
moment—as one continuous story pointing toward the future, even forcing him to throw away his diary. This disdain for
highlighting the ability of stories to inspire hope. In this way, learning hints at a sense of subconscious fear or guilt in the
Campbell demonstrates the power of storytelling to transcend captain; he is uncomfortable with what thinking critically about
time and context, teaching valuable lessons that ultimately lead the systems he is part of would reveal about the harm he is
to a transformative and spiritual sense of freedom even in the complicit in. The boy is constantly told to know his place, both
face of enslavement and captivity. by his father and by one of the sailors, emphasizing their
unquestioning trust of the hierarchy—the boy’s father even
insists he call him “captain” rather than father. In the cursory
YOUTH AND WISDOM
explanation of the slave trade he does allow, the captain notes
Anansi is a play that takes on the difficult challenge that they are beholden to investors and that “everyone” has a
of teaching children about heavy topics like slavery, “master,” illustrating his ingrained hierarchical perspective and
disease, and the Middle Passage. Therefore, implying his fear of retribution. This illuminates how systems of
Campbell celebrates the mischief and lightness of childhood oppression are built upon fear but also upheld by a greater fear
while also affording the youthful characters the clarity to see of questioning systems of hierarchy. When the girl tells her own
through falsehood and injustice. In other words, the play Anansi story about the nature of slavery, she directly critiques
empowers its young characters, and this, in turn, emboldens the ignorance and greed of the oppressors through Dog, Cat,
young audiences, ultimately enabling them to think critically Crab, and Lillibet. The story she tells herself demonstrates an
about otherwise challenging and disturbing subject matter. understanding of the way oppressive forces work, and this
The boy and the girl serve as foils to one another, but they are knowledge partially frees her—granted, in mind only—from
both aware and appalled by the effects of slavery, and they’re total oppression on an existential level. Ultimately, Campbell
clear in their identification of injustice. Even though the boy’s argues that systems of oppression are fueled by ignorance,
father is the captain of the merchant vessel transporting the guilt, and a lack of critical thought, and he points to the
enslaved people, the boy is still struck by the injustice of their importance of plays like Anansi and stories like it to deconstruct
treatment. He openly questions the hypocrisy of the practice these systems.
and identifies the equality of all people regardless of race, but
he is shot down at every turn by his father and the crew. The CHILDREN AND ELDERS
girl is also confused and horrified by her own enslavement.
In Anansi, Campbell juxtaposes two pairs of
However, the enslaved woman in the hold comforts her,
children and adults as a means of exploring the

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relationship between youth and elders, articulating the bound in the hold. The woman repeatedly describes the
reciprocal ways in which they aid and learn from one another. creation of a web as being like “a dream in the dark” and
The boy and the captain are presented in stark contrast to the encourages the girl to spin her own web, connecting the web
enslaved girl and woman. While the woman challenges the girl symbolically to the idea of hope and how it can be created
and encourages her imagination, the captain constantly through the act of storytelling. “Spinning a web” is also
admonishes the boy, crushing any of his inquisitiveness and idiomatic of the telling of a tale or the creation of a lie,
brushing away his clear penchant for critical thought. As a connecting it with the process of storytelling and with the
result, by the end of the play, the boy and his father have craftiness of Anansi himself.
become estranged, and the captain’s sickness can be read as
just deserts for his cruelty. The woman also falls ill and is
thrown overboard by the crew as they try and preserve their QUO
QUOTES
TES
“investment” (that is, as they try to keep the other enslaved
Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the
people from getting sick), but her relationship to the girl
remains strong. She understands the power and importance of Oxford University Press edition of Anansi published in 2014.
youth and instills valuable lessons in the girl, as well as a deep
connection to her culture through the stories she shares. 1. The Good Ship Hope: West African Coast,
What’s more, Gran and Soliday in the story of Mancrow can be 1971 Quotes
read as analogous to the relationship between the girl and the
Boy But Father, I still don’t see how all those people on the
woman. Gran grants Soliday six special arrows to slay
shore can be a cargo.
Mancrow, and each carries the essence of a virtue, and this gift
can be read as symbolic of elders guiding the youth by instilling Captain Books or no books, you have a lot to learn on this
important virtues in them in order to carry them through voyage. Look to it and do not bother me with damn fool
future hardship. When the woman is taken away, both the girl questions.
and her are comforted in the knowledge that she will live on Boy But who are the people on the shore, Father?
through the girl and through what she has imparted to her,
Captain You are on a serious trading venture whilst you are on
epitomizing the reciprocal strength of such bonds.
my ship, and as the ship’s boy you’ll address me as Captain,
especially in front of the ratings. You’ll learn all about the cargo
SYMBOLS and such soon enough.
Boy They looked just like people to me. But they were tied
Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and together. They looked frightened. Why…?
Analysis sections of this LitChart.
Captain (cutting him off.) I do not have to give you explanations. I
am your father.
WEBS Boy I thought you said your name was Captain.
In Anansi, webs symbolize stories, illustrating
visually how stories come from within but provide Related Characters: The Boy, The Captain (speaker)
those who share in them with strength, structure, support, and
connection. In the dark hold of the ship during the treacherous Related Themes:
Middle Passage, the woman encourages the girl to use her
senses and draw wisdom from her circumstances. As they talk, Page Number: 1
the girl spots a spider attempting to spin a web. The stage
directions note that the web “links them together,” physically Explanation and Analysis
illustrating the web’s connectivity. As the spider spins its web, From the play’s opening moments, the boy is constantly
the woman begins telling the stories of Anansi, the spider spirit, curious about the world around him. In this passage, his
figuratively “spinning a web” of her own. Her stories put the father, the Captain, shoots down that curiosity, forcing upon
spider—and, more broadly, the girl’s circumstances—in context, him an unquestioning respect of systems and authority. The
and she is able to see how the spider’s endeavor is boy has an implicit clarity to his view of the world due to his
representative of the power of telling stories. From small, youth, and he quickly identifies the injustices and
invisible strands, the spider is able to create something entirely hypocrisies inherent to slavery, noting how the people on
from within to prop itself up and anchor itself, much like how shore “look just like [him]” and can’t possibly be “cargo”
the stories of Anansi begin to connect the woman and the girl, because they are “people.” Instead of engaging with him
as well as the girl to her home and culture, even as they remain

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directly on the topic, his father instead shuts him down. This profound rejection of the terms of enslavement that she
reflects a subconscious fear or guilt on the part of the father imparts right away to the girl, insisting that nobody can own
about the true nature of the system he is complicit in. In them but themselves.
other words, the Captain reveals that he knows what he is
doing is immoral in his refusal to engage with his son’s
curiosity. Instead, he relies on the unquestioning structure Woman Riddle me this, riddle me that.
of hierarchy, telling his son to “know [his] place” and insisting
he call him captain rather than father. The boy’s mischievous Girl What is your riddle?
jab in the final line of this passage illustrates the continued Woman What part of you stays free when your arms and legs
clarity of youth, but also how the mischief of youth is an are tied?
important, agitating, and powerful tool in clocking and Girl But all of me is tied. None of me is free.
criticizing injustice where it exists.
Woman Think, child, think.
Girl But I’m scared! I think I might go mad! I think I want to die!
Girl …Please come and hold me, Mama. Tell me this isn’t Woman Tell me what you see!
true.
Woman What’s true is true. Don’t fight it. You’re alive and it’s Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker)
true. It’s true.
Related Themes:
Girl Who are you? I can feel your warmth but I can’t see you.
Woman I am who I am, and you are who you are. No amount of Page Number: 5
fear and darkness can change that truth. Hold on to it! Hold on!
Explanation and Analysis

Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker) In this passage, the woman begins using riddles and
storytelling as a means of connecting with the girl while also
Related Themes: equipping her with valuable lessons to face their reality. The
woman disguises her lessons as harmless riddles and
Page Number: 4 stories. The girl engages with them without realizing she is
engaging directly with her reality, which alleviates some of
Explanation and Analysis the fear involved. The woman tells the girl to “think” and
This passage presents a stark contrast to the earlier “tell [her] what [she sees],” encouraging the girl to use her
interaction between the boy and the Captain. The wits and powers of observation while also subtly hinting at
relationship between the woman and the girl, and the boy the answer to her riddle. The woman understands that the
and the Captain, are constantly juxtaposed throughout the mind is a powerful source of inner strength, and she wants
play. In this case, in response to the girl’s difficult questions, to impart this on the girl. As long as the girl believes “none of
the woman also insists she must accept her reality. [her] is free,” none of her will be free. Therefore, thinking
However, the woman’s intent is not to shut the girl down. and seeing become powerful tools for emancipation, a
Rather, she sees the importance of the girl understanding lesson that the girl carries with her throughout the play.
the fullness of her reality in all of its aspects. Where the
captain pushed aside the harsh realities and inustices of the
slave trade, the woman insists that the girl embrace them,
telling her that “what’s true is true.” When she tells the girl
not to “fight it,” she doesn’t mean that the girl shouldn’t
resist. Rather she is making it clear that the first step to
resistance is a full acceptance of reality. The woman insists
on the girl being alive and present, engaging directly in her
fearful questions with responses of defiance and comfort.
The woman also emphasizes their inalienable personhood,
insisting that “I am who I am, and you are who you are. No
amount of fear and darkness can change that truth.” This is a

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Boy Captain, what happens to the cargo when we get to
Jamaica?
Related Themes:
Captain We auction them, and if this fever leads to
depreciation, it’ll be at a loss, though the insurance will provide Related Symbols:
at least some recompense.
Boy Who will be recompensed, sir? Page Number: 7
Captain Our masters in London, so start praying they are Explanation and Analysis
merciful should we lose too many.
In this passage, the stage directions illustrate the bond
Boy Our masters, sir? between the woman and the girl through both story and
Captain Yes, boy, our masters. Do you think there is a man alive context using the symbol of a spider’s web. The two are tied
who has no master of one kind or another? to opposite sides of the same upright beam, and although
they never see nor touch each other, they create a strong
and intense bond that benefits them reciprocally. The
Related Characters: The Boy, The Captain (speaker) woman coughing foreshadows the illness that will
eventually lead to her death. The image of the girl “peering
Related Themes:
through the dark” toes the line between hopeful and
Page Number: 6 hopeless. She is undertaking a difficult task, but she also
seems to be succeeding. The fact that only she can see the
Explanation and Analysis spider might suggest that it is imaginary. But that in itself
In this passage, the Captain reveals his understanding of the becomes a testament to the nascent strength of her wits
world as being dictated entirely through hierarchy. The and imagination, which the woman encourages throughout
captain is callous in his evaluation of the cargo, more the play—both, after all, are sources of inner strength. The
worried about profit margins than the enslaved people’s last line utilizes direct address to the audience, evoking a
physical health. This outlook seems to be fueled by a fear of web that has not yet been mentioned. Whether literal or
retribution from his superiors. The captain speaks directly figurative, the audience or readers of the play are meant to
to the fact that everyone has a “master” of some kind, sense that the two are connected in a myriad of invisible yet
belying his understanding of the vast hierarchical system of strong bonds, like a web. This invisible web connecting them
oppression that he is part of. However, instead of can be viewed as their home, their culture, or their shared
questioning it, he treats the system as if it is essential to bondage. But ultimately, all of those bonds are
reality, implying that, since there isn’t a single person alive strengthened through their sharing of stories. Something
without a master, there is no reason the practice of slavery woven between the two of them, and sourced entirely from
should be treated any differently. Clearly, the captain is within, providing them structure and support, much like a
afraid—both of economic punishment and of what could spider’s web.
happen if he questioned the system. This is evident in his
evocations of prayer and mercy on the part of his superiors
in the event that many of the enslaved people die in the
crossing. Instead of thinking compassionately about this
potential loss of human life, he thinks only about the trouble
he would be in with his bosses if the enslaved people died.
This illustrates how systems of oppression are primarily
upheld by fear—a fear that fuels an aversion to critical
thought.

A Girl peering through the dark at a spider we cannot see. A

Woman coughing. See how the same web links them together.

Related Characters: Anansi the Spider, The Girl , The

Woman

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Woman Don’t tie yourself up with words like impossible.
Ears can be better at seeing than eyes can, if you listen and symbolizing the power of stories to pull strength from
don’t just hear. Now tell me: what is our Anansi doing now? nothing. The girl is clearly heartened by the spider. This
gives the woman an opportunity to begin sharing the stories
…
of Anansi, whose unlikely feats are symbolic of inner
Girl Look at him! He can hardly get his web started! He strength.
scrambles up to that beam, and then falls, and then he creeps
up again, then he falls back again, and each time he tries he
can’t get a single thread to stick to that beam. Why doesn’t he 2. The Forest of Stories: Naming the Stories
just give up and start in a new place? Maybe he’ll just give up
Quotes
and die…
Anansi I just meant that if they were named after a less
Woman But he is free, and you are not.
magnificent and heroic and unbelievable person than yourself,
Girl But he’s so little and weak… He’s just trying and getting like Rabbit or Mouse or possibly even a little squirt like… me,
nowhere… Wait! He managed! He got one little thread onto the then the people, all over the world, to the end of time, would be
beam! A little, little spider with thin, thin legs. Ha! Anansi. Who so amazed when they found out that YOU were the real star of
gave him that name? the stories that they would be even more impressed, your
Woman You may think he’s too weak and small to have a name, majesty, than they would have been in the first place.
but that little spider, Anansi, was once king. Tiger You can make words stand on their heads, Anansi. But I
won’t let our stories… my stories… be named after you unless
Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker), you do the impossible to prove you deserve it
Anansi the Spider
Related Characters: Anansi the Spider, Tiger (speaker)
Related Themes:
Related Themes:
Related Symbols:
Page Number: 9
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis
Explanation and Analysis
In the stories, Anansi is constantly overcoming stronger,
Still bound up in the hold, the woman continues to push the more powerful characters through his wits, charm, and
girl to use her senses and understand the world around her. powers of observation—traits the woman hopes to impart
This passage illustrates how the woman gets the girl to on the girl by telling her this particular tale. This passage is
come to understand the connection between freedom and one of many examples of how the stories are connected to
inner strength by encouraging her to be patient and use her the present reality of the woman and the girl. Anansi
mind. The woman is very aware of the power of language identifies Tiger’s pride in his eagerness to name the stories
and the power of one’s mindset, noting how the girl “[ties] after himself, and he uses this eagerness against Tiger,
herself up” with negative thoughts and words. In other cleverly proposing how a different name for the stories will
words, the woman is teaching the girl that despairing about make Tiger come across as even grander. Anansi is self-
her imprisonment will only further enslave her. Instead, she effacing and deferent for purely strategic reasons. In
has the girl engage with the spider and her stories of Anansi, essence, he turns appearing weak into his strength. Tiger’s
both as a means of distraction and also as a way to remain comment that Anansi “makes words stand on their heads” is
engaged with the world. a great description of how wits can seem to “do the
The girl’s initial perception of the spider’s endeavor is impossible” when used properly. Through Anansi, the
colored by her own despair, as she believes the spider woman is trying to show the girl what she is able to do with
should “just give up.” To this, the woman points out that “he her mind alone, no matter how small and powerless she
is free, and you are not,” meaning the spider is free both in might feel.
his physical ability to try but also in his mental
determination to succeed. The spider, “little and weak”
much like the girl no doubt feels, eventually succeeds in
making his web. The spider’s ability to make something out
of nothing is representative of inner strength, the web

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4. On Board Quotes
to take from her.
Woman Listen! You must be strong the way Anansi is
strong. Strong on the inside. And you do have a mother.
Girl But she isn’t here! Captain A diary? That sort of nonsense is for lasses. Put it
Woman Africa is your mother… I will teach you stories. They are away and get on with your work.
a treasure no one can steal, even if they have stolen your body… Boy But you keep a diary, Captain.
Tell me what you see.
Captain. These are the ship’s journals and accounts. The ship’s
Girl No! log.
Woman Tell me, girl: tell me what you see. Boy But they still tell a story.
Girl The beginning of a web in the dark. How strong those tiny Captain The only story that counts, young man. The story that
threads must be for Anansi to swing from them. says that money makes the world go round.
Woman Strong enough, you see? From inside himself he finds
the strength to make his web: just enough and no more. Enough
Related Characters: The Boy, The Captain (speaker)
is all he needs to catch a fly.
Related Themes:
Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker),
Anansi the Spider Page Number: 14

Explanation and Analysis

Related Themes:
In contrast to the woman’s belief in the power of
Related Symbols: storytelling, in this passage the captain doubles down on his
disdain for learning and critical thought, implying that the
Page Number: 13 only story worth following is one of greed and profits. The
boy remains curious and critical, pointing out another one of
Explanation and Analysis the captain’s hypocrisies in his own use of a diary. The boy’s
The woman begins this passage by insisting the girl must be note that the logs themselves tell a story underscores both
strong, invoking Anansi’s inner strength as a model. This the omnipresence of narrative but also implies that the
illustrates how the stories they share provide structure to story they tell is likely a damning one. In response, the
understand their present moment. The stories also connect captain doubles down, insisting again that his participation
them to their past and culture. The woman points to Africa in this immoral capitalist system is excusable because that’s
as not just the girl’s mother, but all their mothers, evoking the way the entire world works. The captain is clearly afraid
how the culture embedded in the stories connects them to of the big questions the boy asks him, and counters them by
their home and to one another. These pieces of culture and trying to make the boy feel small and insignificant. But once
tradition become “a treasure nobody can steal, even if they again, his answers hint at his repressed guilt for his
have stolen your body” because, like a web, they are entirely participation in an oppressive system.
internal, and therefore are a source of inner strength.
Although the girl is still resistant and afraid, the image she
conjures up of “a web in the dark” again evokes the invisible They go on their way, brushing aside a spider’s web as they
threads of hope that begin to pick the two of them up, even pass.
in the darkness that surrounds them. The threads are “tiny”
but “strong,” or as the woman points out “just strong enough Girl That one was just a boy my age.
and no more.” Even though the lessons the woman is trying Woman They don’t come in just one size, child. Even these great
to teach the girl through the stories won’t necessarily free conquerors can’t build a person from nothing. They grow just
her, they are “just strong enough” so that she might “swing like you.
from them,”—that is, the stories might help her find the Girl I know it, Mother. That’s our secret, like spinning a web.
beginnings of a way forward. All the while, the woman
Woman Now you’re showing strength. Weave your little web,
encourages her to look, see, hear, and interpret the world
like a dream in the dark, and wait, wait, wait.
around her, showing her that she has enough tools to
survive on her own no matter how much her oppressors try
Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker),

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Anansi the Spider, The Boy, The Sailor Related Characters: Gran (speaker), Soliday

Related Themes: Related Themes:

Related Symbols: Page Number: 20

Explanation and Analysis

Page Number: 16
In this passage, Soliday—on his way to slay Mancrow—is
Explanation and Analysis granted by Gran (who is presumably his grandmother) six
This passage occurs after the girl and the boy encounter special arrows. Each one of the arrows Gran grants him is a
each other for the first time—their parallel characterization trait associated with inner strength. Hope, wits, fear, and
and differing contexts are drawn into sharp juxtaposition. In anger are all instincts and emotions from the head and the
the stage direction, the sailor and the boy are shown to heart that can galvanize or dictate action. The name and the
“brush aside” a web as they leave. The symbolism here is secret, on the other hand, are much more evocative of the
nuanced, suggesting both the way in which story is the enslaved woman’s repeated insistence on the girl’s
connective tissue between everyone, but also illustrating inalienable autonomy. The final two arrows can be read as
how the ship’s White crew brush past any sort of critical representative of how strength can be drawn from inside
thought toward the system of slavery that they are oneself, especially from those things that make someone
complicit in. Broadly, the action expresses haste, or a who they are. Gran’s act of granting Soliday the arrows
practiced lack of care that allows them to continue treating parallels the woman passing on lessons to the girl,
human beings like objects. In contrast, the girl immediately ultimately hinting at how those lessons are potent tools for
identifies how similar she is to the boy, noting the parallel in the girl to wield against obstacles and oppressors.
their age. The woman encourages this empathy, noting how
conquerors are still raised and not just created out of thin
air. This expresses the purity of youth and contends that 10. On Board Quotes
children are molded by the lessons of their elders. Even Girl Why does Anansi keep looking for trouble?
though both are complicit in their enslavement, the woman
Woman Because if you have wits like Anansi you have to use
makes a point to explain to the girl that everyone is a
product of their environment, thus expressing the play’s them. Like a knife, you have to keep them sharp. And like a knife,
larger emphasis on the power and importance of the minds you can use them rightly or wrongly: to cut bread with, to live,
of children. In response, the girl evokes the image of to kill, or to harm yourself. One little knife against all these men:
spinning a web, showing how she has begun to internalize that’s all you’ve got. Keep it hidden!
the lessons the woman has taught her. This illustrates her
understanding that she has been shaped by the stories and Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker),
traditions of all those who came before her and that now Anansi the Spider
the continuity of this web falls on her, showing both
empathy for the boy and an understanding of how the Related Themes:
lessons from the stories will aid her, as well as how the
responsibility of carrying them forward falls on her Page Number: 24
shoulders. The woman continues to preach patience and
Explanation and Analysis
hope, telling the girl to “weave [her] little web, like a dream
in the dark.” In this passage, the girl questions why Anansi goes looking
for trouble, and the woman’s response illuminates how
strength can be dangerous, but how that danger is essential
7. The Forest of Stories: The Initiation Quotes in resisting oppression. Unlike the captain who admonishes
his son for questioning the world, the woman encourages
She seems to conjure from nowhere six spectacular arrows. the girl to be inquisitive, offering a more nuanced idea of
Gran This is for hope: without it, we quail… This is for wits: both the necessity and danger of a critical eye. The girl’s
without them, we fail… This is for fear: your fear makes you clarity of perspective puts her in danger from those who
strong… This is for anger at everything wrong… This is your might be threatened by her questions. But more broadly,
name, simple and true… And this is the secret held only by you. the woman contends that wits and intelligence are

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dangerous, as they reveal the world’s many injustices and the enslaved people the way they do, calling them “more like
hypocrisies. In this way, the girl’s wits and inner strength are beasts.” When the boy pushes back on this, the sailor
both her greatest ally and her greatest enemy, just as a knife returns to a similar defense as the Captain, insisting that
can help her “live” or “harm” her. Instead of shooting it down this is just the natural way of things and that he is just doing
for fear of the danger it might put her in, as the captain does his job. He also connects the system of slavery to the
with the boy, the woman presents the girl with the full system of divinity and heaven, placing God and economic
nuance and responsibility of her intelligence, and thereby superiors on a similar plain. This illustrates the prevalence
empowers her to use it to its full potential. It is, after all, all of a fearful, anti-critical mindset in upholding an oppressive
she has in the face of such oppression: “one little knife system like slavery.
against all these men.” The woman does not sugarcoat their
predicament, but rather equips the girl with the full extent
of her intelligence, for both its potential and its
Woman Riddle me this, riddle me that.
consequences.
Girl What is your riddle?
Woman So light you can barely see it. So beautiful no human
Sailor No, no. you’re out of your depth there, boy. Slaves being can hope to make one. Strong enough to hunt with, pure
are different… more like beasts, or so they reckon. enough to see through, always being made again.

Boy It isn’t true! I saw a girl today, down… down there… Girl Anansi’s web!

Sailor Your trouble is too much imagination. You think too much Woman Good. You’re growing. This is the little answer to my
and some thoughts is plain dangerous. riddle

Boy But she wasn’t a beast! She was just like me! Girl And the big answer?

Sailor I’ve no time for this. A man is a man and a beast is a beast. Woman The big answer is the soul.
The good book says that men were given to rule over beasts as Girl Are we going to die?
they see fit, and neither you nor I are free to question that. Now Woman I’ve told you once before, girl; you’re going to live.
let me be. Beasts or no, I’m just doing my job, and if throwing
Girl But I want you with me! You’re my mother now!
away spoiled cargo is part of it, then who am I to argue? If you
want to know more, young sir, ask yourself whose fiddle your Woman I’ll be with you.
father dances to and why he jigs at all. Aye, there’s a God to be Girl How?
reckoned with.
Woman Listen to my story.

Related Characters: The Boy, The Sailor (speaker), The Girl

Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker),
Related Themes: Anansi the Spider

Page Number: 26 Related Themes:

Explanation and Analysis Related Symbols:

The boy continues to be upset by the treatment of the
enslaved people that he witnesses. In this passage, the boy Page Number: 28
turns to one of the sailors to question why the enslaved Explanation and Analysis
people receive such treatment. The sailor’s response
echoes that of the captain, telling the boy he’s “out of his Though in the past she has posed her stories as riddles, in
depth.” He even goes as far as to directly condemn the boy’s this passage the woman asks the girl a traditional riddle that
thoughts and imagination, speaking explicitly to how connects storytelling with the soul through the symbol of a
engaging in such things can threaten his way of life. spider’s web. The woman uses figurative language to
“Thoughts” are dangerous to him, much like the woman’s describe a spider’s web, evoking its translucence, pliability,
evocation of wits being like “a knife” in an earlier passage. strength, and beauty. With the lessons she has learned, the
Unlike the Captain, however, the sailor does provide some girl is easily able to identify the answer as being a web. The
explanation for why he and the other crew members treat woman uses this as an opportunity to show the girl how her
soul is just like a web, made up of countless invisible

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connections that are unique and strong. The girl is still girl to imagine that the spider who has just been brushed
afraid of the woman dying, as now their bond has become so away is still there. When the girl is able to see the web again
strong that the woman is like a mother to her. However, the in her mind’s eye, she is finally able to understand the power
woman does not have the same fear. She is comforted by of her mind and memories to keep and preserve. The stories
the idea that the girl will live on, since she knows that her will always exist in her mind, meaning that her home, her
lessons will live on with the girl, thus illuminating the culture, and her strength can never fully be taken from her.
reciprocal importance of the relationship between a child And since the stories connect the two of them, the woman
and an elder. The woman knows she’ll “be with [her]” no can never fully be taken from her as well. The girl’s promise
matter what. that she will “always see” the woman reflects a newfound
maturity and understanding. She knows they will soon be
separated but understands that their connection
13. On Board Quotes transcends space and time, since “good stories leave
pictures in your mind, and […] belong to you forever.” In this
Girl (Laughing.) I love that story! It’s the best!
way, the woman is vindicated and at peace.
Woman It’s all one story. Beginning, middle and end.
Girl But I don’t see an end.
Woman Young eyes don’t see an end. That’s as it should be. 14. Kingston Harbour Quotes
Girl What do you mean? Sailor Well if it isn’t our young genius. Found out the color
of God yet?
Woman Where’s our little Anansi?
Boy Yes.
Girl I can’t see him now. The big man brushed him away. It’s just
as if he was never there. Sailor Now you should beware of blasphemy, boy. It’s bad for
the soul.
Woman But you can see it still, in your mind’s eye. Can you see
it? Boy Is it?
Girl Yes, I can. I will always see it, and I will always see you. Sailor Where is the captain? Are you doing his ledgers for him at
the auction?
Woman Well, then. I have no more to say. (Coughing.) Good
stories leave pictures in your mind, and they belong to you Boy He’s sick. Yes, I’m doing his ledgers.
forever.
Related Characters: The Boy, The Sailor (speaker), The
Related Characters: The Girl , The Woman (speaker), Captain
Anansi the Spider
Related Themes:
Related Themes:
Page Number: 39
Related Symbols: Explanation and Analysis
In this passage, the boy’s coy responses to the sailor reflect
Page Number: 37
his disillusionment with his father—the Captain—and their
Explanation and Analysis business. The sailor begins by teasing the boy for his earlier
question about the color of God, but the boy’s response
In this passage, the woman articulates how story transcends
suggests a cold resentment in its brevity. The sailor’s first
time and context—something that provides some comfort
response is again to admonish the boy. There is a dark irony
and even a sense of support even in the darkest times. The
in his contention that “blasphemy” is “bad for the soul,” as he
woman begins by explaining how all the stories she has told
openly drinks from a flask at a slave auction. The boy’s
are connected to one another, but also how their present
response shows his skepticism of the entire operation, but
moment is connected to the stories as well. The girl does
also subtly expresses the idea that questioning the systems
not see “an end” to the stories, reflecting her capacity as a
around him—something that might seem
child to hope. This is why the woman spends so much time
“blasphemous”—might in fact be productive and generative.
teaching, protecting, and encouraging the girl, as “young
The captain contracting the illness that he went to
eyes don’t see an end” and are therefore better suited for
forging a better future. To exhibit this, the woman asks the

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16. The Forest of Stories: At the River Quotes

murderous lengths to prevent the spread of also reads as a
form of poetic justice for his misdeeds. Girl And she threw the empty calabash at Crab, and all the
tears that all her slaves had ever cried made it stick, hard and
fast, to his back. And hard work and a hard back have been
stuck together ever since… That’s what my story’s going to be:
The scene freezes. We are in the Forest of Stories again. The a hard back, many tears and a name that nobody knows. A new
Girl steps down and begins to tell us a story. story for a new world.
Girl. Once upon a time there was a clever, tricksy spider called She steps back into the auction scene, which comes back to life. She
Anansi, who lived in the Forest of Stories. If he was hungry, he doesn’t look frightened anymore
got what he wanted. So will I. And this is how… In the Forest of
Stories there’s no such thing as time. And in that time, once
upon a time, lived a mean old woman with a heart full of hate, a Related Characters: The Girl (speaker), Anansi the Spider,
terrible thirst and a calabash full of other people’s tears to Her/Lillibet, Crab
quench it. Nobody knew her name, except her children. Dog
and Cat and Crab. Now these weren’t her real children, Related Themes:
because her real children had run away from her long ago. And
Page Number: 47
why? Because she treated them like slave. Now look and listen
what happened to her. Explanation and Analysis
Through her Anansi story, the girl illustrates her
Related Characters: The Girl (speaker), Anansi the Spider, understanding of the nature of slavery, allowing her to no
Her/Lillibet, Crab, Dog, Cat longer fear her future. The girl tells her own Anansi fable,
wherein he tricks an old slave-keeping crone into giving him
Related Themes: half of her fortune. The tale connects the hard shells of
crabs with the hard backs enslaved people developed—both
Page Number: 40 literally and figuratively—from weathering constant toil and
Explanation and Analysis abuse. Crab bears the weight of his labor on his back, but it
also becomes a shield, protecting him from further abuse. In
The stage directions in this passage make the connection essence, Crab has reclaimed some of his suffering. The girl
between the world of story and the real world tangible in a then takes this same sentiment and applies it to storytelling.
physical sense, with the girl’s transition from one world into Her story of hardship is now one she and others will be able
the other symbolizing how she has taken control of her own to use as a shield. Even if she remains nameless and plagued
narrative toward some form of mental freedom. Even as she by sorrow, the insight it will provide into the nature of
is bound and at auction, the girl is able to step into her mind oppression (and the nature of the world) will continue to
and escape her bondage, literally entering into the world of calcify and protect those who come after her. That is why,
story. She begins telling her own Anansi tale, symbolizing when she steps back into reality, the girl no longer fears
how she has carried on the woman’s traditions and thus what will become of her, as she has fully reclaimed her
carries her with her. In her introduction to the story, the girl personhood and thereby freed herself mentally.
displays how she has internalized Anansi’s qualities of inner
strength, celebrating his wits and survival instincts as
aspirational qualities. Her story also speaks directly to the 17. Kingston Harbor Quotes
idea that she now wields her wits as a weapon and
understands the power of story to approach oppression and Auctioneer SOLD!
begin to deconstruct it. Girl Once upon a time there was a girl who got taken away. She
lives in a story that never seems to end. Remember her.
Auctioneer SOLD!

Related Characters: The Girl , The Auctioneer (speaker)

Related Themes:

Page Number: 48

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Explanation and Analysis agency by joining the ranks of other stories like her own,
which are also made anonymous and stripped of their
The girl’s final line shows how she is able to make peace with humanity yet empowered by their connection. She is just
herself, finding balance in the understanding that she is just one part of a “story that never seems to end,” grim in the
one of many connected stories that will eventually lead to fact that it persists but also hopeful in the sense that their
liberation. The girl introduces her own life as if it is an stories will continue to live on and eventually contribute to
Anansi fable, further cementing the parallel between the something better. She ends with a direct address, telling the
real world and the Forest of Stories. “A girl who got taken audience to “remember her.” This connects the audience to
away” is very general, and in this way adds her to the many her through the vessel of story, allowing her story to live on
other girls taken into slavery, bolstering the power and in the minds of others.
urgency of the narrative. She reclaims her personhood and

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SUMMARY AND ANAL

ANALYSIS
YSIS
The color-coded icons under each analysis entry make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the
work. Each icon corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart.

1. THE GOOD SHIP HOPE: WEST AFRICAN COAST, 1971

A ship prepares to sail across the Atlantic from Africa’s western The play’s opening scene introduces the parallel perspectives of the
coast. In the Captain’s quarters, a boy and his father, the two children, who are on opposite sides of the slave trade but both
Captain, read and consult ledgers. The boy asks his father how clear-eyed in their identification of its injustice. Both the boy and
people can be considered cargo, and his father barks at him, the girl question the practice of slavery directly, and both are shut
telling him to know his place. On deck, a young enslaved girl is down by elders or superiors. This underscores how youth allows for
being herded into the ship’s hold along with many other an untarnished view of life and justice and a certain clarity of
enslaved people, all chained together. The girl questions where morals—a clarity that experience can apparently cloud. The captain
she is and why she is treated this way, having never seen the and the sailor are afraid of what questioning the system they are
sea and having been separated from her family. A sailor barks at complicit in will reveal.
her, commenting how other cargo doesn’t talk back.

Back in the Cabin, the boy writes in his diary, his “only friend” The boy struggles to reconcile the idealized image of his father he
on board. He recalls originally looking forward to being taken has with the reality of his father’s profession. His innate critical eye
on a journey with his father, assuming they’d be carrying things is emblematic of the wisdom Campbell affords the youthful
like rum and sugar, but he finds himself disturbed by the characters in the play—something he perhaps does to encourage
mistreatment of the enslaved people they’re carrying. The boy the audience to view the world with a similar moral clarity. Notable
cannot understand why they are treated in this way, whipped also is how the boy accesses this injustice through basic empathy.
and herded like cattle. One enslaved person reminds him of his He sees an obvious parallel between the woman and his own
own grandmother because of her grace and serenity in the face grandmother, which allows him to understand that the enslaved
of danger, which only troubles him further. people should be no different to the White sailors, or anyone else for
that matter.

In the hold it is pitch black, but the forms of hundreds of The girl reflects the other side of what the boy was beginning to
enslaved people, crushed together and chained up are barely articulate in his diary and in his questions to his father. She has been
visible. The girl is tied to an upright beam, and someone else is displaced, disoriented, and dehumanized for no reason other than
tied to the other side. She reflects aloud about how she was greed and profit. The woman’s method of comfort emphasizes the
taken from her home, forced into massive ships and treated like importance and power of inner strength. Even though the girl has
livestock. She cries out for her mother, and the woman also tied been stripped of so much, the woman reminds her that there are
to the pole begins to comfort her, reminding her she is still alive certain things that cannot be taken from her—identity, connection,
and telling her nobody can take away who they are. culture—and that these can be sources of strength.

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In the cabin, the Captain dictates to his son the contents of The woman and the girl both benefit from the bond they create, and
their ship for the ledger, noting they must be exercised to avoid the bond is formed in large part through story. Unlike the captain,
disease. Meanwhile in the hold, the girl continues to cry and the who stymies the boy’s curiosity, the woman encourages the girl to
woman begins asking her riddles to distract her. She asks her engage with the world through her senses. Even though she is
what remains free when the body is bound? The girl stumbles bound, her curiosity allows her some piece of freedom as she can
her way toward her senses, and the woman encourages her to explore with her senses and learn about the nature of the world.
listen and look around her, asking what she sees and hears. The
girl sees a spider, and the woman asks her to explain what the
spider is doing, “just to pass the time.”

The boy asks his father what happens when they reach In referencing his “masters,” the captain reveals why he is unwilling
Jamaica, and he responds curtly that the enslaved people will to question the system of slavery. In his mind, the world is inherently
be auctioned off. The captain fears for the damage fever might hierarchical. He both fears punishment and failure, but he also
cause their profits if it were to break out in the cargo hold. The implicitly understands that questioning the ethics of what he is
captain notes that their “masters,” meaning the people to which doing will reveal that he is complicit in something unjust and
the captain and his crew are economically beholden, will be dehumanizing. His primary concern is not for the loss of human life,
upset if they lose too many, telling the boy how all people have but for the loss of profit. Meanwhile in the hold, the web becomes a
masters of some kind. In the hold, the woman coughs but symbol for story. As its invisible threads create structure for the
pretends not to be ill. She refers to the spider as Anansi. The spider, the woman’s story begins to create structure for the girl to
girl thinks the spider is foolish, repeatedly trying and failing to understand the way the world works. The spider’s determination
spin a web, but then to her amazement he succeeds. The girl also reflects an inner strength that the woman hopes to encourage
asks who gave him the name Anansi, and the woman explains within the girl. The web figuratively connects their present moment
that Anansi was king once, and she begins to tell his story. to the traditions and pasts the woman evokes through her story of
Anansi—a spider before them, and a spider in their minds.

2. THE FOREST OF STORIES: NAMING THE STORIES

The Forest of Stories is a dreamlike realm, detached from time Story, and the act of storytelling, connects various contexts and
and full of every story ever told, ranging from ancient fairytales people across time. The Forest of Stories being timeless and full of
to new age sci-fi. The girl is still tied up in the hold, but the many tales is symbolic of how stories are connected by the cultures
beams and ropes around her become trees and vines. Anansi they are passed within and between, as well as how all stories—no
announces himself in rhyme, bragging his wits and craftiness. matter how fictional—look to interpret and make sense of the real
All the other creatures are bigger than him, but Anansi knows world in some manner. Anansi’s rhyme connects childhood with the
how to outsmart them. He is also goofy and childish, but he capacity for inner strength, as he is both whimsical and playful but
always comes out on top. also clever and sly.

Anansi hears a tremendous roar, and Tiger approaches. Anansi The relevancy of this Anansi tale to the girl and the woman’s present
teases Tiger, and Tiger threatens to kill Anansi if he is insolent. situation immediately becomes clear, as Anansi uses his wits and
Tiger has been considering what the stories of the animals will senses to understand how to manipulate Tiger. Though Tiger is
be called and has decided they should be named after him since mighty and strong, Anansi’s intelligence allows him to use those
he is the strongest and most magnificent. Anansi tells him this is things against Tiger, exploiting the beast’s pride and arrogance to
too obvious and tries to say they should be named after him so get his way. A narrative about undermining and outwitting an
that Tiger, the “true star,” can announce himself in a more otherwise powerful figure would undoubtedly sound appealing to
surprising and satisfying manner. Tiger says he will only name someone like the girl, who might otherwise feel hopeless in the face
the stories after Anansi if he does something impossible, like of her oppressor’s wrath.
bringing him Mister Snake tied to a pole.

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3. THE FOREST OF STORIES: TRICKING SNAKE

Anansi sets a trap for Snake by placing a juicy pig in the middle It is unclear whether Anansi expected his initial attempts to fail or
of a noose, but Snake easily evades it, seeing the trap coming whether he is just great at adapting to his circumstances. Either
from a mile away and slithering through to eat the pig without way, Anansi’s manipulation of Snake displays an understanding of
being caught. Anansi tries again with a chicken, but Snake is what makes the creatures around him tick. Anansi’s careful
once again too savvy. Snake pulls Anansi out into the open, and observation of the world around him and his quick wits are strength
Anansi acts ashamed, claiming he was trying to save Snake’s enough to overcome these mighty predators.
reputation. Anansi explains that the animals of the forest have
been calling Snake short. Snake is incensed, claiming to be the
longest creature in the world.

Anansi continues that there is a contest for the world’s longest Anansi understands his circumstances and acts accordingly. Part of
creature, and the prize will be going to a nearby bamboo tree. Anansi’s strength is his charm—everything he says appeals to
Snake is outraged, claiming to be smarter, wiser, and longer. Snake’s pride in some way. Anansi uses his observations of the world
Anansi agrees but laments that the committee is not there to to his advantage.
judge it for themselves, noting how difficult it is to tell how long
Snake is when he sits coiled. Snake, annoyed, tells Anansi to cut
the tree down and tie him to it so he will be all stretched out,
proving his length. Anansi brings Snake to Tiger, who suspects
Anansi has succeeded through trickery but delivers on his
word, promising that the stories will be named after Anansi
from then on.

4. ON BOARD
In the hold, the girl understands how, despite being the The passing of the story from generation to generation emphasizes
smallest, Anansi was also the strongest of the animals because the importance of the relationships between youth and elders and
of his wits. The woman explains that her mother told her the how that connection is articulated and strengthened by story itself.
same stories, which upsets the girl, who misses her own These stories allow the girl and the woman to remain connected to
mother. The woman explains she must be strong on the inside, their home, their past, and each other, even as their rights and
keeping safe the stories of her home, which nobody can take worlds are stripped away. The web symbolizes this fact and projects
from her—not even her captors. Her mother, the woman how true strength comes from within.
explains, is also Africa itself. The girl sees Anansi begin to spin
his web, and the woman notes how he too pulls strength from
within, in the form of silk for his webs.

In the cabin, the boy reads from his diary and the Captain The captain’s hatred of writing in all forms illustrates how ignorance
catches him in the act, calling it a distraction from his work and is essential to his life. It also emphasizes the power of story to allow
the kind of thing meant for girls. The boy counters that the transformative mental freedom, as well as to address and
captain also writes in a logbook but is once again shut down. In deconstruct the world’s oppressive systems. Even though the stories
the hold, the girl calls out to her mother, this time meaning the are a form of escape from the hold for the woman and the girl, they
woman. The woman is able to leave the hold through her also allow them to come to a better understanding of the world they
imagination and the stories in her mind. A body is taken by two are forced to live in. They have also connected the two of them
sailors and beaten before being dragged out of sight. The girl deeply, evident in the girl referring to the woman as “mother.”
panics, and the woman tells her to listen closely instead.

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The girl hears the sailors behaving “like animals,” and the The emancipatory power of stories becomes especially important as
woman questions her, as animals are peaceful and do not act in a defense against the degrading effects of slavery on the mind and
cruelty. The woman explains that by treating the enslaved soul. Although, as the woman previously told the girl, the mind and
people like objects, the sailors eat away at their own souls. The sense remain free even when the body is imprisoned, constant
boy and a sailor come in, and the sailor says they need to watch dehumanizing treatment can cause those who endure it to
out for signs of fever amongst the enslaved people. The girl eventually see themselves as subhuman. Therefore, the nourishing
notices how the boy is the same age as her, and the woman aspects of story become essential to their survival in the hold. The
explains that everybody is a child at one point—even girl’s survival hinges on patience, and her ability to “weave her little
conquerors. The woman urges the girl to be patient and to web,” no matter how impossible it seems. The woman’s comments
“weave [her] little web, like a dream in the dark.” She begins about the children of conquerors also underscores the importance
another riddle. of these relationships between youth and elders, as the lessons
passed down inform the future. Therefore, the girl’s hope, even if it is
“a dream in the dark” must be protected at all costs.

5. THE FOREST OF STORIES: THE WORLD BLOTTED OUT

In the forest of stories, the Animals leap about in joy and Mancrow reflects an unfathomable, almost comical evil. He might
liveliness, filling the space with sound and activity. Thunder be read as a representation of complete and total injustice. In the
signals the approach of Mancrow, a huge dark nightmare of a context of this story, though, he becomes digestible to a child like
creature, bringing about death and doom. Mancrow demands the girl (or to the play’s intended audience).
people bring their children and babies so he can eat them.
Mancrow plans to eat every living thing, and the forest is
thrown into panic.

6. THE FOREST OF STORIES: THE PROCLAMATION

A servant and king stumble over one another attempting to The story’s setup is reminiscent of the most classic narrative
proclaim the oncoming of Mancrow. The king explains that the archetype—the hero’s journey. It is, in other words, a call to
mythical bird threatens the entire realm, and he promises adventure that will require anyone who responds to venture forth
untold wealth to whoever can slay the creature and bring proof into potential danger, face trials and tribulations, and confront an
of the kill. He also promises the hand of his daughter and bids enemy. By recalling this narrative archetype, the play reinforces its
everyone jump into action quickly. own commitment to the long tradition of storytelling.

7. THE FOREST OF STORIES: THE INITIATION

Gran calls for Soliday, presumably her grandson. Gran is Gran, Soliday’s elder, quite literally arms him with virtues to defeat
confused why Soliday appears to be preparing for a hunt, as he Mancrow, reflecting how the woman has used her stories to equip
has just been out hunting. Soliday eventually explains that he the girl with lessons with which to approach her present. Even
plans to slay Mancrow. Gran tells him to stand up and look her though they are physical arrows, each is representative of a form of
in the eye, saying that if he can handle that he can probably inner strength. Hope and wits are self-explanatory, but fear and
handle the threat of the creature. Gran grants Soliday six anger reflect how one must also listen to their instincts and value
special arrows: one for hope, one for wits, one for fear, one for their rage. Finally, Soliday’s name and secret arrows can be read as
anger, one for his name, and one for a secret only Soliday representative of inalienable personhood. Soliday belongs to himself
knows. and himself alone.

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8. THE FOREST OF STORIES: THE BATTLE

Mancrow and Soliday greet each other, and Soliday explains he The secret arrow’s success points to how one’s internal
has come to fell the bird. Soliday unleashes his arrows one by strength—inalienable and individual—is the most effective weapon
one, and one by one, Mancrow is left unfazed. But the final against oppression. As the woman told the girl from the beginning,
secret arrow remains unknown to Mancrow. Unable to discern one’s internal self can never be fully taken or controlled. In this way,
its nature, Mancrow falls and is slain. Soliday takes a feather to a secret becomes powerful, and as if to emphasize this, Anansi
prove his kill. Anansi has been hiding nearby the whole time appears from where he had been hiding to take credit for the kill.
watching and emerges to take a feather as well. Anansi
gleefully recites a rhyme about being the first and the quickest,
and he ends by claiming he is the one who killed Mancrow.

9. THE FOREST OF STORIES: THE REWARD

Anansi is the first to arrive before the king. He pulls out the What the king refers to as “weakness” is part of the source of
feather, claiming that he was the one who killed Mancrow. The Anansi’s inner strength. Because he isn’t particularly large or
king celebrates “weakness” prevailing over strength and offers threatening, he is able to manipulate those with more overt power
Anansi his daughter’s hand in marriage. Anansi just wants to than him. Therefore, weakness becomes Anansi’s strength. Anansi is
eat well at the feast. Soliday arrives with a feather of his own, happy to scavenge, enjoying the trouble he creates and celebrating
claiming he killed Mancrow. Anansi scurries away before he can what small victories he makes off with. This reflects both a childlike
be caught in his ruse, and the king soon realizes he has been happy-go-lucky attitude but also presents a perspective on survival
tricked. While Soliday and the king’s daughter go to their that is a valuable lesson for the girl’s present moment.
wedding bed, Anansi creeps off, celebrating his scavenger’s
lifestyle and his will to survive.

10. ON BOARD
Back in the hold, the girl asks why Anansi always seems to be Anansi’s penchant for “good trouble” can be read as analogous to
looking for trouble. The woman responds that wits like Anansi’s the instinct of children to question things and be mischievous. The
are dangerous but necessary, cutting like a knife. The girl asks woman encourages the girl because she perceives the girl’s clarity
what happens to the people the sailors don’t throw away, and when identifying injustice. Calling it out and deconstructing it might
the woman explains they are sold. On deck, the boy cries to cause trouble, but the trouble is necessary because it can “[cut] like
himself. A sailor comes upon him and tries to comfort him. He a knife” through the systems surrounding them. In contrast, the
asks the sailor what color God is, and the sailor repeats what he boy’s questions about the nature of the world are met by repeated
was taught, which is that all men were made in his image, and denial and admonishment. The sailor is lower on the hierarchy than
the boy points out that that must include the enslaved people in the captain, but he too clearly fears questioning the system he is a
the hold. The sailor warns him that he is out of his depth and part of.
should know his place.

In the cabin, the boy continues to read from his diary. The The boy’s promise illustrates the connection between story and
captain catches him again and hits the boy, calling recording his inner strength. Even though he loses the physical object containing
thoughts useless. The boy tells the diary he must throw it away his thoughts and narrative, he can still hold its essence and meaning
but promises to keep the story alive in his head. In the hold, the in his mind, keeping him connected to his true self. He proves this by
woman is clearly getting sicker. The sailor and the boy come in immediately noticing the woman’s plight and attempting to save her
to check on the health of their enslaved cargo, and seeing that by pretending to be sick himself. He has not allowed his father or the
the woman is sick, the boy falls to the floor, pretending to be sailor to crush his sense of empathy and morality, even though he is
sick himself to distract the sailor. The woman explains the a child and isolated. Thus, his own thoughts—secret only to
sailors mistreat them because they see them as the thing they him—become his source of inner strength.
fear most.

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The woman begins another riddle: what is something strong The image of a web always being remade evokes the idea of stories
and beautiful but light and see-through, always being remade? always being retold—strengthened and extended by their retelling.
The girl realizes it is a web—Anansi’s web. The woman tells her The woman then explicitly connects stories to the soul through the
she is only partially correct, that the riddle has a larger answer: symbol of the web, illustrating how stories forge a connection
the soul. The girl asks again if they are going to die, and the between the past, present, and future—a connection that nourishes
woman says the girl will live. The girl is distraught, feeling that the inner self. By understanding this, the girl is able to come to terms
the woman is her mother now, but the woman promises she will with the woman’s imminent death from sickness and with her own
always be with her, beginning another story. displacement from her home, embracing the idea that she will
always remain connected to both the woman and to her home
through the stories she holds dear.

11. THE FOREST OF STORIES: DOWN BY THE POOL

Ratbat appears by the pool in the depths of the forest of Once again, Anansi uses his wits and powers of observation to
stories, singing random little songs to himself. Ratbat hears manipulate Tiger. Anansi identifies that the things he covets are
Anansi and Tiger approaching in the distance and hides behind making Tiger hot while also prodding at Tiger’s pride about
a tree. Tiger and Anansi arrive, and Tiger complains about how swimming. Anansi sees the pride of others as a tool for his own gain.
hot he is. Anansi acts unsurprised, saying it makes sense Tiger
would be so hot with his great coat of fur, and that it is a shame
he can’t swim in the pool. Tiger is incensed and claims to be the
greatest swimmer there is. Anansi leads Tiger to the pool but
tricks him into taking off his coat and then all of his fat before
diving into the water.

Anansi gathers up Tiger’s fat and begins to cook it, singing to Anansi continues to adapt, in this case playing Ratbat and Tiger off
himself all the while. Ratbat reappears and asks Anansi what he one another to get his way. Once again, he uses his clever and
is cooking. Anansi asks why he is awake during the day, and manipulative ways to distract or mislead others in ways that will
Ratbat says it is too hot to sleep. He explains he will stroll down benefit him.
to song city where they are always having cool, refreshing
parties. Anansi convinces Ratbat to take his tiger-fat-cooking-
song to the song contest in song city, all the while pretending
the voices of Ratbat and Tiger are his echoes so that the two do
not discover one another and so that Tiger won’t discover he
has cooked his fat.

Ratbat, who claims to be a practiced singer due to his use of Anansi is skilled at planting things in the minds of others and then
echolocation, flies off to song city to join the contest, and Tiger having them believe it was their own idea, whether that is Tiger
reemerges from the pool. Tiger is horrified to find his fat and shedding his coat and fat or Ratbat wanting to enter a singing
coat gone, and he threatens to tear Anansi limb from limb for contest.
failing to protect them. Anansi claims that Ratbat made off with
both while he dozed off, but tells Tiger he knows where Ratbat
went, and the two hurry off toward song city.

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12. THE FOREST OF STORIES: SONG CITY

Song city is full of all the “coolest” animals, including Monkey, Anansi also utilizes the insecurities of the other animals against
Parrot, Centipede, and 23 Gerbils. Ratbat arrives and asks them, a testament to his wits and his ability for observation.
about the song contest, and the animals respond that he’s
hardly cool enough. Still, they humor him but only laugh when
they hear him sing Anansi’s tiger fat song. Just then, Tiger
arrives and, hearing Ratbat sing the song about his fat, flies into
a rage, believing it was Ratbat who stole it. Tiger begins to feel
he may have been tricked, as Ratbat’s talk of prizes reminds him
of Anansi’s tactics. The other animals question if this even is
Tiger, without his iconic coat and lacking size.

Anansi appears just in time, egging on the other animals that Tiger tripping on his own coat can be read as symbolic of his
Tiger might be an imposter. An easy way to prove it, Anansi tendency to let his own pride get the better of him. The very thing
suggests, would be if Tiger fit in his coat, which Anansi that represents his supposed magnificence, in other words, is
produces out of thin air. Without his fat, Tiger is far too small ultimately what trips him up.
for the coat, and the cool animals of song city ridicule him. Tiger
lunges at Anansi but trips over his own oversized coat, and
Anansi escapes with ease.

13. ON BOARD
In the hold, the girl laughs, loving the story the woman has just The woman continues to emphasize how all of the stories are
told. The woman says it is not an individual story, but rather connected and how the stories connect her (the woman) and the girl
part of a continuous one. The girl can no longer see the spider to each other. This allows the girl to digest the idea of death and the
and its web, but the woman assures her the spider is still there fact that everything in life is temporary, understanding the power of
in her mind. The girl says she will always see Anansi and always memory and connection to allow people and ideas to continue on
see the woman as well. The woman explains that every living indefinitely.
thing dies, and this should be a comfort.

The sailor enters and drags the woman away, but the boy stays The boy remains empathetic toward the enslaved people, but there
behind. The boy tells her not to cry, and the girl sings Anansi’s is still a disconnect. The girl sings to herself, and the boy does not
tiger fat song to herself. Back in the cabin, the captain dictates understand her, emphasizing how her culture is something that is
to the boy that they have finally arrived on the shores of hers and hers alone. The story has also provided her comfort and
Jamaica. During the journey, 150 of the people they enslaved protection from the realities of her real world. The captain’s illness
died, as well as 12 of the sailors. In order to ensure the quality can be read as a sort of moral comeuppance for his misdeeds. By
of their sale, the captain has been disposing of all of the ignoring the enslaved people’s humanity and focusing only on
diseased enslaved people overboard. The captain feels no guilt, profits, he has become morally sick, and his physical state reflects
but he does cough, clearly having become sick himself. this.

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14. KINGSTON HARBOUR

Back on land in Kingston Harbour, the sailor drinks from a flask The boy’s quiet resolve reflects how his experiences on the ship have
and the boy approaches him. The sailor asks if the boy has changed him. His private discovery, for example, of what color God
figured out the color of God, and the boy responds that he has. is—and his refusal to share it with the sailor—reflects how he has
The sailor tells him to beware of blasphemy, and the boy come to his own conclusions about the world. When the sailor tells
explains that the captain is sick. The two watch as the girl is lead him to beware of blasphemy, the boy is unafraid to question if all
up onto the platform for auction. The auctioneer begins to call blasphemy is bad, emphasizing that he has preserved his critical
for bids, though the girl cannot understand his language. The eye. The girl, about to be sold into enslavement, finds comfort in the
girl remains strong, refusing to let them see her cry, and begins world of stories, beginning to tell her own tale of Anansi and thereby
to tell herself a new story of Anansi. The girl is sold at auction, honoring her connection to the woman and her home while also
but as she speaks, the scene freezes and she enters into the figuratively escaping her imminent bondage. This is illustrated by
realm of the forest of stories, spinning her tale. her literally stepping into the Forest of Stories, showing the
emancipatory power of stories.

15. THE FOREST OF STORIES: QUENCHING HER THIRST

The old crone, referred to only as “Her,” summons her The crone’s magical calabash is symbolic of how oppressors profit
children—Crab and Dog and Cat—to assign them their chores. from the misery and mistreatment of those they enslave—in this
Crab and Dog are exhausted, having been worked to “the bone,” case with Her literally drawing clairvoyance from the tears of her
and they ask if they could get a helper for their labor. They tell servants.
Her that they gazed into her calabash, where the crone collects
tears, and it showed them her need for a new slave, or “helper.”
Crab and Dog have run out of tears to fuel her power, but in
their begging, they explain that a new slave would have a well of
fresh tears for Her.

Crab and Dog and Cat draft an advertisement looking for a girl Although in the case of the girl’s tale, Anansi willingly sells himself
to work for a “nice old woman” at a woodland retreat, hoping to into slavery, there are distinct parallels between Anansi’s
trick someone into toiling for Her. The one stipulation they add predicament and the girl’s own. This shows how the girl has
is that if the girl can guess Her true name then she will get half internalized the woman’s lesson that stories reflect and examine the
of everything the crone owns. Ultimately, they get Her to real world.
agree, since only Crab and Dog know Her true name, and she
lavishes the idea of someone breaking their back grinding
millet, building fires, chopping wood, and crying so many tears
it will fill her calabash. Anansi appears dressed as a woman and
accepts the role from Her, curtsying just well enough to
convince Her of his ruse.

16. THE FOREST OF STORIES: AT THE RIVER

Anansi is exhausted and overworked and plays up his suffering Anansi freeing himself by revealing Lillibet’s true name can be read
to get sympathy from Crab. Still disguised as a girl, Anansi as illustrative of how the girl emancipates herself—if only
seduces Crab and gets him to reveal Her true name. Anansi mentally—by understanding the context and hypocrisies of the
gives Crab a kiss and then heads off to see Her. Anansi asks to system of slavery that oppresses her. Even though she “escapes” into
claim his wages, and the crone refuses, since Her calabash is the story, the story really allows her to better understand her
still empty. The crone demands Anansi sob into Her calabash to present moment.
refill it, and Anansi reveals Her true name: Lillibet.

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Anansi takes half of everything Lillibet owns. Lillibet is outraged Crab becomes symbolic of how slavery can degrade the soul into
and demands to know which one of her children sold her out. learned subservience. Understanding this, the girl sees she must
Crab confesses, and Lillibet throws her calabash at his back, remain hopeful and must remain defiant, and she thereby no longer
where it sticks, adhered by tears, connecting hard work and fears the auctioneer.
hard backs by tears evermore. The scene begins to fade back
into the words of the girl, who remains on the auction platform,
protected by her story and no longer afraid.

17. KINGSTON HARBOR

The auctioneer yells out “SOLD!” The girl continues speaking By telling her story (and presumably sharing it as the woman did
to herself, telling the story of a girl taken from her home, part of with her), the girl continues in the practice of cultural preservation
a never-ending narrative. She demands that she be and mental resistance. She remains connected to her home and her
remembered. The auctioneer’s words echo once more. family and therefore can never fully be enslaved.

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To cite any of the quotes from Anansi covered in the Quotes

HOW T
TO
O CITE section of this LitChart:
To cite this LitChart: MLA
MLA Campbell, Alistair. Anansi. Oxford University Press. 2014.
Dolan, Rory. "Anansi." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 29 Oct 2024. Web. CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
29 Oct 2024.
Campbell, Alistair. Anansi. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014.
CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL
Dolan, Rory. "Anansi." LitCharts LLC, October 29, 2024. Retrieved
October 29, 2024. [Link]

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