Character analysis
The Speaker (Narrator)
in Checking Out Me History by John Agard
The Speaker is the only human voice in John Agard's dramatic monologue "Checking Out Me History," serving as the narrator, protagonist, and political critic all at once. He transitions from a state of imposed ignorance — shaped by a colonial British education that presented nursery-rhyme figures like Dick Whittington and Robin Hood — to a conscious, defiant journey of self-education rooted in Caribbean and Black history. This process is active; the Speaker deliberately "checks out" the suppressed histories and takes ownership of them.
Tonally, the Speaker shifts between bitter irony and fierce pride. His repeated line — "Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" — highlights his awareness that knowledge has been selectively curated against him, while the phonetic Caribbean dialect ("dem," "me," "wha") asserts his cultural identity as a form of resistance. The poem's visual layout further reflects his mindset: colonial figures are presented in flat, rhyming couplets, while Black historical figures — like Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nanny de Maroon, and Mary Seacole — are expressed in rich, lyrical free verse, showcasing the Speaker's emotional investment and respect for them.
By the end of the poem, the Speaker sees himself as a lantern-bearer, illuminating his own path forward. His defining traits include intellectual curiosity, cultural pride, righteous anger, and resilience. He embodies a generation that is reclaiming control over the historical narrative.
Who is The Speaker (Narrator)?
The Speaker of "Checking Out Me History" is a Caribbean man, almost certainly of African descent, who functions simultaneously as narrator, protagonist, and polemicist. He is never named, and that anonymity holds significance: he represents not just one individual but a collective of people whose identities were systematically flattened by colonial education. What defines him above all is consciousness — a sharp, politically awake mind that has looked back at his own schooling and found it hollow. His dialect, rendered phonetically throughout ("Dem tell me," "wha dem want to tell me"), is not a marker of limited education but the opposite: it is a deliberate stylistic assertion that his voice, his language, and his cultural inheritance are valid on their own terms.
What is The Speaker (Narrator)'s arc and motivation?
The Speaker's journey moves from imposed ignorance to willed enlightenment. The opening sections of the poem establish the starting condition: a colonial British curriculum that populated his mind with Dick Whittington, Robin Hood, and 1066, figures and dates that carry no personal or cultural resonance for him. The motivation driving the arc is not mere curiosity but righteous anger at the theft of self-knowledge. He understands that what was withheld was withheld deliberately — "Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" is not a passive complaint; it is an accusation. His response is the act named in the title itself: he checks out history, actively going to find what was hidden. By the poem's close, he positions himself as a lantern-bearer carving his own path, suggesting the arc ends not in arrival but in ongoing, self-directed illumination.
What are The Speaker (Narrator)'s key moments?
The recurring refrain — "Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" — serves as the poem's structural and emotional engine. Each repetition accumulates weight, moving from observation to indictment. The contrast in form between the sections on colonial figures and those on Black historical figures is a key moment enacted across the whole poem: the flat, sing-song rhyming couplets used for Dick Whittington and Robin Hood signal contempt and dismissal, while the expansive, image-rich free verse given to Toussaint L'Ouverture, Nanny de Maroon, and Mary Seacole signals reverence and reclamation. The description of Toussaint as "de thorn / to de French" and a "beacon" represents the Speaker's most emotionally charged act of historical recovery. The lantern metaphor at the poem's conclusion is the culminating moment, transforming the Speaker from victim of erasure into active architect of his own historical consciousness.
What are The Speaker (Narrator)'s most important relationships?
The Speaker's relationships are all mediated through history and education, making them unusual but no less intense. His contempt for Dick Whittington and Robin Hood is not personal but political: they symbolize what was prioritised over him, English folklore dressed up as universal knowledge. His treatment of them in clipped, nursery-rhyme couplets is deliberate mockery — he strips them of gravitas because they were granted unearned gravitas by his schooling.
Conversely, his connection to Toussaint L'Ouverture is deeply reverential. Toussaint is invoked as a freedom fighter and a symbol of possibility — someone who proved that colonial power could be resisted and defeated. The lyricism the Speaker lavishes on him reflects the personal significance of this recovery.
Nanny de Maroon holds particular importance as a female figure of resistance, described as a "see-far woman" — a seer and a warrior. Her inclusion explicitly corrects a curriculum that erased Black women's heroism entirely.
Mary Seacole represents a more targeted injustice: a Caribbean woman whose medical contributions on the battlefield were whitewashed from a history that celebrated Florence Nightingale instead. The Speaker's reclamation of Seacole is an act of justice as much as education.
How is The Speaker (Narrator) connected to the other characters?
- Toussaint L'Ouverture
The Speaker holds Toussaint L'Ouverture up as a towering symbol of Black liberation, describing him in vivid, reverent free verse as a 'beacon' and 'de thorn' to colonial oppression. Toussaint's story is one the Speaker was deliberately denied, making the act of reclaiming it central to the poem's defiance.
- Nanny de Maroon
Nanny de Maroon is celebrated by the Speaker as a fierce, visionary freedom fighter — 'see-far woman' who led her people through the mountains. Her inclusion represents the Speaker's recovery of female Black heroism that colonial education erased entirely from his schooling.
- Mary Seacole
The Speaker reclaims Mary Seacole as a Caribbean nursing pioneer whose contributions were whitewashed from history. By naming her alongside battlefield imagery, the Speaker highlights the injustice of her omission and asserts her rightful place in his own historical consciousness.
- Dick Whittington
Dick Whittington represents the trivial, Eurocentric mythology the Speaker was force-fed in place of genuine history. The Speaker's flat, dismissive rhyming couplets for Whittington signal contempt — he is a symbol of colonial miseducation rather than a figure of any real meaning to the Speaker.
- Robin Hood
Like Dick Whittington, Robin Hood is presented by the Speaker as a colonial placeholder — a figure of English folklore prioritised over authentic Black and Caribbean history. The Speaker's ironic treatment of Robin Hood underscores the deliberate erasure at the heart of his education.
Questions readers ask about The Speaker (Narrator)
Who does the Speaker blame for his lack of Caribbean and Black history?
The Speaker blames the colonial British education system, which he claims intentionally curated his teachings. His refrain — "Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" — frames this as an active, calculated erasure of Caribbean and Black history in favor of English folklore and dates like 1066.
What is the Speaker's most repeated and famous line in the poem?
"Dem tell me / Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" serves as the poem's defining refrain. The Speaker returns to it throughout the poem, and with each repetition it gains intensity — shifting from a simple observation about selective teaching into a full political indictment of colonial miseducation and the deliberate suppression of his cultural identity.
How does the Speaker feel about Toussaint L'Ouverture?
The Speaker holds Toussaint L'Ouverture in deep reverence, celebrating him in vivid, lyrical free verse as "de thorn / to de French" and a "beacon" of Black liberation. Toussaint is one of the histories deliberately denied to the Speaker, making his reclamation of him one of the poem's most emotionally charged acts of defiance and self-recovery.
Why does the Speaker treat Dick Whittington and Robin Hood so dismissively?
The Speaker dismisses them because they symbolize the trivial, Eurocentric mythology presented to him instead of genuine history. He renders both figures in flat, sing-song rhyming couplets — a deliberate stylistic mockery that strips them of the unearned gravitas conferred by his colonial education, exposing them as placeholders rather than figures of any real cultural significance.
Why does the Speaker include Nanny de Maroon and Mary Seacole in his reclamation of history?
Both women represent a double erasure — Black and female — that his colonial curriculum overlooked entirely. Nanny de Maroon, celebrated as a "see-far woman" and warrior leader, corrects the omission of Black women's heroism, while Mary Seacole's acknowledgment as a Caribbean nursing pioneer directly challenges a narrative that celebrated Florence Nightingale and erased Seacole's equivalent contributions on the battlefield.
What does the lantern metaphor reveal about the Speaker's motivation?
The lantern metaphor, which closes the poem, reveals that the Speaker's motivation goes beyond anger to encompass an ongoing commitment to self-directed illumination. By positioning himself as a lantern-bearer carving his own path, he indicates that reclaiming history is not a finished act of arrival but a continuous project of resistance and self-determination rooted in cultural pride.
How does the Speaker use dialect, and what does it say about his identity?
The Speaker's phonetic Caribbean dialect — "dem," "me," "wha" — functions as a political and stylistic assertion throughout the poem. Rather than signifying limited education, it signals the opposite: his language, voice, and cultural inheritance are valid on their own terms. Using dialect in a poem that explicitly addresses colonial miseducation makes the Speaker's mode of speech an act of resistance.
Does the Speaker resolve his anger by the end of the poem, or does he remain in conflict?
The Speaker does not achieve resolution but adopts a posture of ongoing, determined struggle. The lantern metaphor suggests he is still carving his path rather than reaching a final destination, and the refrain "Dem tell me / Wha dem want to tell me" never entirely fades. His journey concludes in active, self-directed defiance — committed resistance rather than settled peace.
Use this in your essay
How does the Speaker use poetic form as a political argument? Consider how the contrast between rhyming couplets and free verse structurally enacts the poem's central claim about colonial miseducation.
To what extent is the Speaker's identity defined by absence? Explore how the deliberate withholding of Caribbean and Black history shapes the Speaker's sense of self and fuels his reclamation project.
Analyse the function of dialect and voice in the poem. Argue whether the Speaker's phonetic Caribbean English is a stylistic choice, a political act, or both, and what it contributes to his authority as narrator.
How does the Speaker construct heroism in "Checking Out Me History"? Compare his treatment of European folkloric figures with his portrayal of Toussaint, Nanny, and Seacole to argue what the poem defines as genuinely heroic.
Is the Speaker's final position one of resolution or ongoing struggle? Use the lantern metaphor and the poem's refrain to build a thesis about whether the Speaker achieves liberation or commits to a lifelong act of resistance.