lesson 7: spider’s war

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Lesson 7: Spider’s WarAnansi, the Caribbean ‘spider-man’, answers the call of the Motherland, but with prejudice rife in an age of empire and imperialism, the battle for acceptance will be just as hard-fought as that of the Western Front.

Background ContextThe British West Indian Regiment1

Eager to defend the British Empire, over 16,000 loyal men from the West Indies islands (today, the Caribbean) volunteered to join the newly-formed British West Indian Regiment (BWIR). Soldiers from the BWIR served on the Western Front and in the Middle East and Africa.

Despite their brave contribution, West Indian troops often had to deal with racial discrimination from their fellow soldiers and the military authorities. At first the British War Office did not give BWIR soldiers the opportunity to fight as equals alongside white soldiers. Instead they were confined to labour duties, the worst of which was cleaning latrines. Other jobs included digging trenches, building roads, loading ships and trains, and working ammunition dumps. By 1916, reinforcements were desperately required at the Battle of the

Somme and on other fronts and the War Office relaxed its opposition to the BWIR engaging in combat.

Several battalions of the BWIR were sent to Egypt and Palestine where they played their part in securing victory on the front lines. On 20 September 1917, after the Palestine campaign, the commanding officer of the BWIR, Major General Sir Edward Chaytor, wrote, ‘Outside my own division there are no troops I would sooner have with me than the BWIs who have won the highest opinions of all who have been with them during our operations here.’

In 1918, BWIR soldiers were denied a pay rise given to other British troops on the basis that they had been classified as ‘natives’. After protests by serving


Key Questions:• Who is Anansi the Spider and whom does he represent?• What is Anansi’s story and why does he tell it? • In what ways was racism present during the First World War?

soldiers and island governments, the pay rise was eventually granted. Tensions brought about by this sort of treatment eventually came to a head in Taranto, Italy, in December 1918. Frustrated by

their continued use as labourers whilst waiting for demobilisation, men of the 9th Battalion attacked their officers in a mutiny that lasted four days before being quelled.

Story Frame:This story is not an account of a real animal in the First World War, but, instead, the part-creature Anansi tells a story in first person, representing soldiers from the British West Indies Regiment.

Originating from the Ashanti people of present day Ghana, Anansi is an Afro-Caribbean folktale character, considered to be the spirit of all knowledge of stories. Anansi takes the form of a spider and a man, and is depicted in many different ways. Sometimes he looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face, and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.

The story uses a frame narrative. The storyteller introduces and concludes the piece in Standard English, and the character of Anansi the Spider tells the story in Jamaican patois. There is large use of audience participation, in which the audience are encouraged to join in Anansi’s songs and speeches, and to form part of the BWIR representing different Caribbean islands.

Key Words:Story Words• Accent • Discrimination • Expectation• Humiliation• Identity • Justice, racial

equality• Loyalty

Storytelling Words• Audience participation• Patois• Repetition• Rhyme • Rhythm, pulse• Song • Standard English

• Mother country• Naïve • Patriotism• Propaganda• Racism• Reality• Shame


Albert - Amiens Road, September 2016© IWM Q1201

West Indian troops stacking shells at Ypres, October 1917 © IWM E(AUS) 2078

Attention

Discuss It!• Share spider pictures. Do student have common reactions to the story?

Map It!• Trace Anansi’s journey from Antigua, through Canada and Bermuda to the battle-

fields of France, then later to Taranto in Italy to fight in the mutiny, and eventually back to Antigua.

Draw It!• Independently, draw a spider in your book. Along each of the spider’s legs, write

down a key word, phrase or immediate reaction to this story.


Prepare to AdvanceMake It!• Discuss the meaning of the narrator’s conclusion that ‘One hand can’t clap.’

• Make a wall display. Every student in the class draws around his/her hand and cuts it out. On the cut-out hand, write a quality the student brings to the class, e.g. ‘I am X and I am good at sport;’ ‘I am G and I am very helpful.’ Combine all these to a wall display. This can demonstrate that no one person is good at everything, and people will always need the skills of others to help them out.

Draw It!• In groups, draw on a large piece of paper images to represent the different settings

that occur in each stage of the story – The Methodist church, the volunteer office, cold Canada, the ship, working on the land in France and then in the trenches.

• Within each setting, draw emoticons to show how Anansi feels at each stage of the story.

Discuss It!• Who is the traditional figure of Anansi? Whom does Anansi represent?

• What was Anansi’s expectation of how war would be? How does the reality differ from his expectation?

• What is the main ‘war’ being fought in this story? Is it the First World War itself, or a war of another kind?

• How does Anansi change his attitude over the course of the story? Do you think he is justified to do so?

• Why should Anansi the Spider tell this story? What is the effect of using Anansi to tell the story?

• How is the audience encouraged to participate with the story, and what is the effect of the use of audience interaction?

• The story is introduced in Standard English, in which the narrator says the story will have ‘rhythm,’ ‘pulse,’ ‘beat,’ and ‘heartbeat.’ Draw a heart shape in your book. Fill it with words you may associate with the words ‘heart’ and ‘pulse.’


Discuss It!• Using the activity above, find examples from the story that relate to ‘pulse’ and

‘heartbeat’. These may be metaphorical. Possible answers could include:

- the story comes from Anansi’s heart, where all our emotions are;- our pulse beats quicker when we have extreme emotions, such as excitement,

anger, fear or rage as Anansi experiences in the story;- the rhythm of a heartbeat could echo the sounds of soldiers tramping on the

ground as they march to war;- the use of songs in the story have a rhythm and pulse;- everyone in the world has a heart and a pulse, regardless of their background

or ethnic origin;- ‘connect with your heart and play your part’ reflects the use of propaganda at

the time. • Anansi concludes by saying, “We are men and spiders that Britain wants to forget.”

Is the word ‘spider’ a metaphor for the men? How do people usually treat spiders?

• Although there are not literal animals in this story, can you see any similar themes coming through in the way that the soldiers from the British West Indian Regiment were treated?

• Discuss the questions in this quotation: “A story is never just for story’s sake. It’s up to you what sense you want to make. What does it mean? And what will you take?” How does the story deal with the issue of racism in the First World War? What is the message of the story?

• Discuss the relationship between language and identity. The story is introduced in Standard English, and then told in Jamaican patois, a Creole language based in English. Everyone has a language and an accent in which that language is spoken. Discuss:

- What language/s do you speak? - Do you consider yourself to have an accent in English? - How would you describe your own accent? - Do you consider your language/s and accent a part of your identity, or not?- Do you ever change your accent in different situations? Why or why not?- Link back to a key question regarding the story: Why do you think it is

important for Anansi to tell his story in Jamaican patois?


Forward March

Act It!• In groups, role play an award ceremony in which Anansi will be presented with the

medal from the activity above. What speeches will Anansi, the presenter and invited guests give?

Draw It!• Independently, make a comic strip showing the key scenes from the story. Add

in your own captions, and add in speech bubbles and thought bubbles for the characters throughout the story.

• Share comic strips. Discuss the key themes emerging from the class’ collection of comic strips. What are the different characters thinking and feeling? Is it possible to see how conflict can arise?

Make It!• Design and make a medal to be awarded to Anansi the Spider. Consider the

following:- What shape would the medal be? - What material would it be made from and why?- What images, words and phrases would you use to summarise his story?

Sing It!• Anansi says, “To know a people, you must know their songs.” Learn songs that reflect

the global diversity of your classroom.

• Write and perform a song, using rhyme and rhythm, for Anansi to sing to spread a message of justice and racial equality.

Illustrations by Sheena DempseyText © The Story Museum42 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BPwww.storymuseum.org.uk

1 The Story of the British West Indian Regiment in the First World War www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-story-of-the-british-west-indies-regiment-in-the-first-world-war

Write It!• Anansi says, “Giving our lives doesn’t seem to matter.” Write a speech raising

awareness of the role of the West Indies Regiment during the First World War.

• Write a news report on the treatment of the British West Indies Regiment during the First World War. Include interviews with soldiers from the regiment.

lesson 7: spider’s war

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