Sunday, October 12, 2008

Hybridity / Otherness

the concept of hybridity - introduction

Mimicry, Ambivalence and Hybridity

Caryl Phillips -
The Pagan Coast

1. Briefly summarize the plot of this part of the novel.
2. Characterize Nash and his relationship to Edward Wlliams.
3. Define the main aim of the project of the American Colonization Society.
4. Why is Nash sent back to Liberia?
5. Comment on Nash's feelings when he came to Liberia? Does he feel at home?
6. Decribe the problems Nash encounters during his mission. How do his attitudes to Edward and his mission change?
7. What is the life in Africa like for Nash?
8. Why does Edward decide to travel to Liberia himself? Why is this journey symbolic?
9. What does Edward encounter in Liberia? What consequences does this journey have?
10. Comment on the form and its function.

Derek Walcott -A Far Cry From Africa (full text)

a complex website about the author

1. What historical events does the poem allude to? (Mau Mau Uprising, Kenya)
2. What do the first part of the [poe, refer to?
3. What does the rest of the poem depict?
4. Do you find the form of the poem symbolical?
5.
Explain the meaning of this line: "I who am poisoned with the blood of both,/Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?"
6. What mood is created in the poem? By what images does the poet create it?
7. How are the British and Kikuyu people portrayed?
8. What does the second stanza reveal about the speaker's identity?
9. Find some rhetorical figures and poetic devices in the poem and explain them.
10. What is the main theme of the poem?