Autobiographical Poem

Task:Define your own identity in an autobiographical sketch or poem titled “I Am What I Am.” If you like, write a collaborative poem with your parent(s), or siblings, or guardian, modeled on “Ending Poem.”

I am what I am

On everyblock

A child of many Mexican descendeants

Evertime, everywhere

Daughters

A loving person

Shy yet loud person

Who doesn't care what people think

Feels what she feesls

A mexican sweetheart

Big hearted person

Lazy person

Helper

Creative person

Fights for what she wants

Lover

We are what we are

We are sisters

Wik-Elements

Task: Identify the following elements in Equiano’s narrative: You will give definitions of each literary element and identify them in the text.

Identify Genre: A type category a piece of literary falls into.
-Equiano's narrative is an autobiography and it's a slave narrative.

Symbolism: Represents something greater or bigger than itself.
-The ship can be a symbol because of the pain the slaves had to go through while on the ship. Some were abused, got sick, and got killed on the journey in the ship.

Imagery: A description that can give the reader an image of what they are reading.
-An expample of imagery was when Equiano said that "This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable."

Plot: seguence of events: The events that make up a story.
-The plot of Equiano's narrative was that Africans were captured by white traders. The white traders put them under the deck of the ship. While on the ship they were treated badly and they were abused. The ship traveled until it got to Barbados, where white man choose the African men that were going to work for them.

Characters: A person or thing that is part of the story.
-The characters in Equiano's narratives was himself, slaves, traders, and the buyers.

Setting: Place and time it takes place.
-The setting was taken in the middle passage in 1789.

Conflicts(Internal/External): Struggle between to opposition characters.
-The Conflicts in Equiano's narrative was both interal and external. It was internal because Equiano didn't know he should die or not. It was external because the slave on the ship were treated badly, wripped and beaten.

Point of View: A position from which something is observed or considered.
-The Point of view was first person because Equiano told the story.

Wiki-Cabulary

Task: All vocabulary words and appropriate definitions for the passage Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (London, 1789; vol. I)

Loathsome (adj.): arousing intense dislike and disgust
Pestilential (adj): likely to cause disease
Copious (adj): plentiful; abundant
Improvident (adj): shortsighted; failing to provide for the future
Avarice (n): greed for riches
Apprehensions (n): feeling of anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen; taking of a criminal into custody, the power or ability to grasp the importance, significance or meaning of something
Procured (v): to obtain something, especially by effort, to provide somebody for prostitution
Dejected (adj): feeling or showing sadness and lack of hope, especially because of disappointment
Accursed (adj): enduring the effects of a curse; horrible or hateful
Quadrant (n): a 90 degree arc representing one fourth of the circumference of a circle. The area bounded by a quadrant and the two perpendicular lines that connect it to the center of the circle.
Kindred (adj): close to somebody or something else because of similar qualities or interests. Related to somebody by blood. (n) closeness to somebody not related to you by blood based, e.g. on similarity of character or interest. Relationship by blood, or less strictly by marriage

Comprehension Questions For Olaudah Equiano's Narrative

Task: Answer the following questions for Olaudah Equiano's narrative.

Comprehension Check Questions:
For what crimes were slaves punished? And what was the punishment?
- The Crimes that slaves were punished was for trying to escape off the ship. The punishment was that the slaves were treated badly, beaten and wripped when they tried to escape off the ship.

Critical Thinking Questions:
Interpret:
Why does Equiano blame the illness aboard the ship on the “improvident avarice” of the traders?
- Equiano blames the illness aboard the ship on the traders because they didn't take good care of the slaves. The slaves were treated badly, wripped, beaten and the traders didn't feed the slaves. I think that improvident avarice meant the the traders were really smart because the slaves that survive are the strongerest of the bunch.

Support from the text:
How can you tell that Equiano has a great zest for life despite his assertion that he wanted to die?
-Equian had a great zest for life then wanting death because he was curious of the world around him. He was curious about the quadrant that the marines were looking through it and that everthing around him was like magic.

Infer:
What does this passage reveal about the author?
-The was educated because the author wrote a narrative about his journey on the slave trade.

Draw conclusion:
Explain what a variety of languages indicates about the slave trade.
- The languages indicates about the slave trade that the slaves were taken from different parts of Africa.

Thematic Focus:
When one culture dominates another, what troubles might society face?
- One culture dominates another the society will face misunderstanding between the cultures, their culture will be lost, their will be a loss of freedom, and the lost of rights.

Quote by Emily Dickinson

Task: Analyze this quote and the response should include your self perception.

“I am nobody, who are you?”

I am Juanita Trujillo, a daughter, an older sister, a friend, a cook, a learner, a listener, a sports lover, a helper, a traveler, a reader, a cleaner, a worker, a watcher, an assistant, an artist, a painter, a bike rider, a student, an explorer, a photographer, a shopper, a babysitter, a creative thinker, a creative maker, and a very creative person.

Quote by D.H. Lawrence

Task: Analyze this quote and the response should include your self perception.

"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough Without ever having felt sorry for itself.”

A small bird will drop dead from a branch and will not feel sorry for iself that it will die at any moment. But humans will feel the complete oppsite. They will feel sorry for their selfs that they can die at any moment. Wild animals fall dead without having felt sorry for itself. They didn't feel sorry for itself because it is the way of life. They know that they will be eaten by an animal that is more stronger and faster then they are. Humans will feel sorry because they will have so much to leave behind this world. They worry about what will happen to family and friends once they leave this world.