ANANSI: By Alistair

Campbell
Forest Of Stories- Down By The Pool
By: Renicia
Clayton, Zane
Anderson,
Jimmoya Auld
4L/M
In this Presentation, we will be
Analyzing the Forest of Stories, ‘Down
By The Pool’.

Questions Of the Day:

★ What Is Anansi’s Motive in this

forest of stories?
★ Why did woman tell girl this
specific Forest Of Stories?
SUMMARY- Song
Riddle me this and riddle me that
Listen to my story
Riddle me this and riddle me that
This story’s kinda gory
Riddle me this riddle and riddle me that
Down by the Pool
Riddle me this riddle and riddle me that
The summer time’s a swoon
Anansi is near, Anansi is here
Ratbat and Tiger
Trapped in a wire, (Anansi's Web rept 2)
It’s too darn hot, it’s too darn hoooooot!!!!
It’s isn’t surprising, Tiger’s coat is appetizing
I am Anansi small and Quick
I’ll cook up Tiger’s thick thick thick
Coat cause I’m the man
Unzip your coat and hand it to me
So i can have a galumptuous feeeeast
Salt and pepper, herbs and spice
Tiger fat is nice nice nice
Fry it, boil it stew it quick
eat the lot and don’t be sick
Riddle me this and riddle me that
Enters ratbat from a tree
For a contest directed by anansi
I’ll sing your story and win that trophy for you
Anansi! Where’s my fur coat!
Five more minutes or I will rip your throat
Into a million shreds, you’ll wind up dead
Ok Tiger, on a higher note, we’ll make it there but
five’s too stout
Make it where? Just a hunch you see.
Wrap in a banana leaf and just follow meee!!
 Setting

Setting- Hot Tropical Climate,

Summertime, Sunny
Themes In ‘Down By The Pool’

Betrayal

Deception
Themes- Deception
The theme of deception, is one of few themes that was portrayed in this aspect of the play,
‘Down By the Pool’. Deception can be defined as deceiving someone through lies or
exaggerated truths to get what one truly desires. In this forest of stories, Anansi did just that
as he wanted to eat Tiger’s “galumptuous fur coat”. The theme of deception was first
highlighted when Tiger was invited to a pool by Anansi because “he looked terribly hot”. Here
Anansi uses Tiger’s feelings about the climate to initiate his plan. He had also told Tiger that if
he swam in his Fur coat, it would shrink and that he would have to be careful in bending over
for the rest of his life. Anansi used Tiger’s undying love for himself and his simple minded and
trusting behaviour to deceive Tiger into thinking that he needed to take off his coat inorder for
him to go swimming. He lied to Tiger and because Tiger trusts Anansi, he obliged.
Themes- Betrayal
The theme of betrayal is another theme that is portrayed in the Forest of Stories, ‘Down By
The pool’. Betrayal in its essence requires some kind of trust beforehand. Tiger found trust in
Anansi as he felt somewhat comfortable around him. This can be said because when Anansi
had coaxed Tiger out of his fat and coat, Tiger told Anansi to not watch him and that taking off
his Fat and coat was not a frequent occurrence. Therefore, Tiger had enough trust in Anansi
to think that he was able to take his fat and coat off and and have nothing be wrong with
when he was ready to put them on. It can be inferred that Tiger takes a lot of pride in his fat
and coat as when he was in the pool, he was asking Anansi if his coat was being watched
very closely. Thus, Anansi not only lying to Tiger so that he took his fat and coat off and then
cooking it, but lying about falling asleep and pretending to not know where the fat was, could
be considered as a big betrayal of Tiger’s trust.
 Contrast

Techniques Used The literary technique of Contrast is one of the few

techniques presented in this Forest Of Stories in the

In This forest of play Anansi.

Contrast can be defined as a rhetorical device that a

Stories
writer uses to determine the difference between two
subjects, places, people, things, or ideas.
In the beginning of this Forest of Stories this technique
is presented when the narrator introduces Ratbat and
where the climate of the location is described.
imagery
The narrator said “ Enter Ratbat, cool as ice”, while
Contrast, (visual,
auditory) further into the play, the climate of the location is stated
Foreshadowing,
Cliffhanger, as “The heat is high, The heat is hot, A sweltering
summers what we’ve got”. This is observed as the
author juxtaposes Ratbat’s coolness and the sweltering
atmosphere of the forest as a was to highlight Ratbat’s
indifference towards the climate.
Techniques Cont’d
Foreshadowing
Another technique featured in this Forest of Stories is Foreshadowing. This can be defined as
a literary technique in which a writer gives hints as to what is coming later in the story.
Foreshadowing was first highlighted when Anansi spoke about Tiger looking terribly hot and
was trying to convince him to go to the pool. In doing that, Anansi had uttered “ However, if you
don’t know how to swim, you’ll just have to stew in your fur coat”. This gives some implication
to the audience that Anansi has a plan that has to do with stewing Tiger’s Fur coat. The
technique was also depicted when Anansi was coaxing Tiger into take off his fur to get his fat,
he said “Well everybody knows how delicious, how scrummy and how lip smacking tiger fat is”.
This allows readers to form an assumption as to why Anansi is trying so hard to get Tiger to
remove his fur. Later on it is revealed that Anansi tricked Tiger out of his fat to cook it, in which
he did.
Techniques Cont’d
Cliffhanger
Cliffhanger is another technique introduced in this section of the play. A Cliffhanger is a
literary device that ends a section of a story on a big dramatic question.
At the end of ‘Down by the Pool’ when tiger realizes that his coat and fur were missing, he
threatened Anansi to help him find them or else he would rip Anansi into “a million
quivering shreds” and only giving him five minutes before he does so. Anansi responded
that five minutes was a tight time to work with but they ought to make it. This statement
brings forth questions upon questions as to what is Anansi trying to achieve and leaves
Tiger confused. Anansi then responds to the confusion saying “ just a hunch I had while I
was sleeping”. This statement referring to a ‘hunch’ leaves readers in suspense wondering
what is yet to come and the true meaning behind Anansi’s words.
Techniques Cont’d
Imagery - Visual Imagery
A major technique used in this Forest of Stories is Imagery, to be more specific
Visual imagery.
Visual Imagery can be defined in a case where the author uses various visual
qualities to create imagery. This can include various shapes, sizes, colours, lights,
shadows, and patterns.
The technique mentioned is presented in the beginning of this Forest of Stories when
Ratbat entered singing the following line “ She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny polka
dot bikini, That she wore for the first time today.”. In this case the readers are able
to read and see a visual representation of a female wearing a very small polka dot
bikini.