Oral Notes

– 3 Poems From Other Cultures Essay, Research Paper `Night of the Scorpion Family Life: · Mother important as the night when she was stung sticks vividly in Ezekiel?s mind. · Father desperate for mother to survive, as he, a sceptic, tries everything. · Mother cares for kids, as she is pleased she was bitten and not the children. · All families in community are concerned about each other, as everybody goes to Ezekiel?s house and takes part in the rituals as if all this is part of normal family life.Learning from Parents: · Learns about scorpion stings, and rites involved with them in the community. · Importance of thinking of others first, like in the last verse. · The belief that the rites will work, and the sting will go away.Reference to Culture: · Scorpion stings are expected where they live, because they all know what to do · They live in a very close-knit community, as everybody comes round. · They believe in God and also the devil, so they are religious. · Religion different from ours as the rites are known to us to be useless. · We place emphasis on medicine – they prefer religion · Many different beliefs are associated with the scorpion, e.g. it moving moves the poison in the woman?s blood etc.Limbo Family Life: · No family life references in this poem as the poet, Brathwaite may well have been taken from them to be a slave, and either doesn?t remember them, or doesn?t want to, i.e. thinks of home too much and this is sad for him.Learning from Parents: · There is no reference to this either because being taken away may mean that he doesn?t remember anything, or he may consider any of this knowledge useless as he has no hope of escaping to the culture that he knows.Reference to Culture: · The culture here is very different.? Two ideas are interwoven, limbo dance to keep the slaves happy, and the idea of neither heaven or hell · The first one is derived from whence they came, a dance they brought with them · Obviously they are beaten and hate going below deck because he talks about the stick being like this, and the sounds of the torturous culture that the slaves know · They are not happy with their lives and find them dark (see ex. book notes) and the only culture they know is brought with them · They do, however, intermingle cultures as they are brought to one where they are slaves.Poem at 39 Family Life: · It is obviously tough for her as her father was a slave descendant.? She had to live with knowing she was from slaves · Father eager for it not to happen again, as he tells her how to get through it: · Not through violence, but by abiding by rules, and being seen as respectedLearning from Parents: · Father influential on her, as she does everything like he told her to.Reference to Culture: · Her cultural upbringing is one of discrimination, (see notes on poets), but she wants to break away from that · Father was eager to show her that she was different, but not different, as she was different, but shouldn?t be. · They had some good things, as they had good food, possibly from their own culture, showing that it is important and just as good, but different. · To be generous, to everyone, presumably whites who she will forgive and forget. · She sees no cultural differences.Overall · Clear thing in all 3 is the fact that they are discriminated against and want equal rights · They will fight for them, as they know how hard it can be · They show faith in things, medicines of theirs, the breaking out with paper and the music saving them.? This shows determination.Favourite · My faavourite poem was Limbo as it had two different things in it · It is also the most moving as it is graphical · It shows light at the end of the tunnel throught their own faaith and the limbo danec