Character analysis
Nanny de Maroon
in Checking Out Me History by John Agard
Nanny de Maroon is one of the historical freedom fighters that the Speaker honors in John Agard's "Checking Out Me History." She appears in one of the poem's italicized, lyrical stanzas, which stands out from the bitter, satirical sections that critique the colonial curriculum. In this moment, she is depicted as a radiant, almost mythical liberator: "Nanny de maroon / catch the bullet / wid her bare hand." This striking image of catching bullets with her bare hands draws from Maroon oral tradition, elevating Nanny to a nearly supernatural figure and illustrating that Black resistance is both genuine and remarkable. Historically, Nanny of the Maroons was an 18th-century Jamaican leader who commanded the Windward Maroons in guerrilla warfare against British colonial forces. Agard pays tribute to her legacy by portraying her in vibrant, rhythmic language that resonates with pride and urgency. Her presence in the poem is significant: she embodies the suppressed Afro-Caribbean history that the colonial education system intentionally overlooked, filling the gaps with figures like Dick Whittington and Robin Hood. Nanny's journey in the poem signifies resurrection — she transitions from being forgotten to being recognized as the Speaker emphasizes her significance. Her defining qualities include bravery, supernatural resilience, and symbolic power as a mother of liberation. She serves as both a historical figure and a poetic symbol, reinforcing that the Speaker's identity and heritage are anchored in a rich, heroic past that had been "blinding" him by being concealed.
Who is Nanny de Maroon?
Nanny de Maroon is an 18th-century Jamaican freedom fighter who appears in one of the poem's distinctive italicised stanzas, rendered in lyrical, celebratory verse that sets her apart from the bitter, satirical tone of the surrounding lines. Agard draws on Maroon oral tradition to present her as a figure who occupies the borderline between the historical and the mythic: she "catch the bullet / wid her bare hand," an image that simultaneously honours documented Maroon resistance and elevates her to near-supernatural status. This dual nature, rooted woman warrior and legendary symbol, is exactly the point. Agard is not merely recording history; he is restoring a form of knowledge that operates through story, pride, and collective memory rather than through the approved colonial textbook.
What is Nanny de Maroon's arc and motivation?
Nanny does not undergo a personal arc within the poem because she is invoked rather than dramatised. Her trajectory is instead the Speaker's: she moves from erasure to resurrection over the course of the poem. At the opening, she belongs to the category of what the Speaker was not taught — the silenced, suppressed lineage of Black and Caribbean achievement. By the time her stanza arrives, the Speaker has gathered enough critical momentum to reclaim her fully, presenting her not apologetically but triumphantly. Her motivation, as constructed by Agard, is liberation — pure, physical, and collective. The image of catching bullets is not personal survival; it is the protection of a people. She acts on behalf of others, which is why the Speaker can hold her up as a maternal emblem of resistance rather than simply a military tactician.
What are Nanny de Maroon's key moments?
The single most important moment is the bullet-catching image: "Nanny de maroon / catch the bullet / wid her bare hand." This three-line unit is extraordinary for its compression. In fewer than ten words, Agard conveys physical courage, legendary status, and the inadequacy of colonial violence to extinguish Black resistance. The italicised, fragmented line structure mimics the breathless quality of oral storytelling, suggesting that this knowledge has been passed down through voices rather than textbooks. The brevity is also pointed — she receives far fewer lines than Dick Whittington or Robin Hood receive across the poem collectively, and yet she is presented as far more consequential. That deliberate imbalance serves as an argument about value and erasure.
What are Nanny de Maroon's most important relationships?
With the Speaker: Nanny is one of the figures through whom the Speaker reconstructs his identity. By invoking her in elevated, lyrical language, he signals that she is not merely historical information but personal inheritance — a cornerstone of who he understands himself to be.
With Toussaint Louverture: Nanny and Toussaint function as a paired counter-narrative within the poem. Both are Afro-Caribbean freedom fighters whose histories were deliberately omitted from the colonial curriculum, and together they form the positive, empowering foundation the Speaker sets against the trivial myths he was fed.
With Mary Seacole: The poem groups Nanny with Mary Seacole as Black women whose extraordinary contributions were written out of official record. Their pairing insists that gender and race operated together in the colonial silencing of history, and that restoration requires naming both.
With Dick Whittington and Robin Hood: These figures are Nanny's structural opposites. They are the myths of pantomime and English folklore that occupied the curriculum space Nanny's story deserved. The contrast is not incidental; it is the poem's central indictment. Whittington's cat and Hood's green tights are deemed more educationally valuable than a woman who led guerrilla warfare against an empire, and Agard exposes that substitution as a political act.
How is Nanny de Maroon connected to the other characters?
- The Speaker (Narrator)
Nanny is one of the central figures the Speaker reclaims as part of his cultural and political self-education. By invoking her in lyrical, celebratory verse, the Speaker asserts her as a cornerstone of his suppressed Caribbean heritage and a source of personal identity and pride.
- Toussaint L'Ouverture
Nanny and Toussaint are paired as fellow Afro-Caribbean freedom fighters whose histories were erased by the colonial curriculum. Together they represent the positive, empowering counter-narrative the Speaker sets against the trivial or Eurocentric stories he was taught.
- Mary Seacole
Like Mary Seacole, Nanny is a Black woman whose extraordinary achievements were written out of official history. Both figures are restored by the Speaker as proof that women of African and Caribbean descent shaped the world in ways colonial education refused to acknowledge.
- Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington represents the trivial, Eurocentric myths the Speaker was fed instead of Nanny's story. The contrast between Whittington's pantomime legend and Nanny's real, life-or-death resistance underscores the poem's central argument about whose history is deemed worth telling.
- Robin Hood
Robin Hood, like Dick Whittington, is a figure of English folklore prioritised over Nanny in the colonial classroom. His presence in the poem highlights the deliberate substitution of mythologised European heroes for genuine Black liberators such as Nanny de Maroon.
Questions readers ask about Nanny de Maroon
Who is Nanny de Maroon in 'Checking Out Me History'?
Nanny de Maroon is an 18th-century Jamaican freedom fighter celebrated by the Speaker in one of the poem's italicised, lyrical stanzas. Agard draws on Maroon oral tradition to portray her as both a documented historical leader — who commanded the Windward Maroons in guerrilla warfare against British colonial forces — and a near-mythic symbol of Black resistance. Her presence serves as a counter to the Eurocentric stories that the Speaker was taught.
What is Nanny de Maroon's most famous image or line in the poem?
"Nanny de maroon / catch the bullet / wid her bare hand" is the poem's most striking depiction of her. In fewer than ten words, Agard conveys physical courage, legendary status, and the notion that colonial violence could not extinguish Black resistance. The image draws on Maroon oral tradition, suggesting that this knowledge was preserved through story and collective memory rather than approved textbooks.
How does Nanny de Maroon relate to the Speaker in the poem?
Nanny is a central figure through whom the Speaker reconstructs his cultural identity. By invoking her in elevated, celebratory verse, the Speaker presents her not solely as historical information but as personal inheritance — a cornerstone of his suppressed Caribbean heritage. She transitions from erasure to resurrection as the Speaker gathers the critical momentum to name and honour her.
How does Nanny de Maroon contrast with Dick Whittington and Robin Hood?
Nanny serves as the poem's structural opposite to Dick Whittington and Robin Hood, who are English folkloric myths that overshadow her story in the curriculum. Agard critiques the preference for pantomime legends — Whittington's cat, Hood's green tights — over a woman who led guerrilla warfare against an empire. This substitution is framed as a political act rather than a mere oversight.
What is Nanny de Maroon's relationship with Toussaint Louverture in the poem?
Nanny and Toussaint Louverture act as a paired counter-narrative within the poem. Both are Afro-Caribbean freedom fighters whose histories were omitted from the colonial curriculum, creating a positive, empowering foundation the Speaker sets against the trivial myths he received. Their pairing asserts that Black and Caribbean resistance was real, organised, and historically significant.
Why is Nanny de Maroon portrayed as almost supernatural in the poem?
Agard raises Nanny to near-mythic status, validating Maroon oral tradition as a legitimate form of historical knowledge, not a lesser alternative to written, Eurocentric sources. The bullet-catching image serves a political and poetic purpose: it argues that the Speaker's suppressed heritage contains its own heroic legends, ones more meaningful to his identity than the European myths imposed by colonial education.
What does Nanny de Maroon represent alongside Mary Seacole in the poem?
Together, Nanny and Mary Seacole represent Black women whose extraordinary achievements were excluded from official history. Their pairing highlights how race and gender intersected in the colonial silencing of the past, indicating that the Speaker's act of restoration must name both. By reclaiming them together, Agard illustrates that women of African and Caribbean descent shaped the world in ways that colonial education overlooked.
How does the form of Nanny de Maroon's stanza reinforce her meaning in the poem?
Her stanza is italicised and fragmented into short, breathless lines that mimic the rhythm of oral storytelling, signalling that this knowledge is derived from communal memory rather than textbooks. The compression also carries significance: she receives far fewer lines than Dick Whittington or Robin Hood throughout the poem, yet is portrayed as far more consequential. This imbalance itself argues about which histories have been devalued and why.
Use this in your essay
Myth versus history: To what extent does Agard's use of Maroon oral tradition
particularly the bullet-catching image — challenge the assumption that written, Eurocentric sources are the only legitimate form of historical knowledge?
The politics of the curriculum: How does placing Nanny in direct contrast with Dick Whittington and Robin Hood construct an argument about whose stories colonial education chose to legitimise, and why?
Language as resistance: Analyse how the italicised, fragmented form of Nanny's stanza enacts, in its very structure, the kind of counter-cultural knowledge the Speaker is reclaiming.
Gender and erasure: Considering Nanny alongside Mary Seacole, how does the poem argue that Black women in particular were targeted for historical suppression, and what is the significance of the Speaker's act of restoration?
The supernatural as political: How does elevating Nanny to near-mythic status serve a political purpose rather than simply a poetic one
and what does this suggest about the relationship between legend and liberation?