Orature is an important literature to passed down the culture and religious. My group presented The Three Anansi Stories in three different countries include Ghana, Jamaica, and United States. Throughout these stories, I learned that the Anansi stories were originated at West African during the period of slavery. The stories of Anansi were used as a source of hope and culture retention and renewal for the Africans during slavery. Sharing these stories within the slave community allowed them to form a cultural rebellion and and to gain freedom.

Comparing the Three Anansi Stories and U.S Slave story, both of them use the slavery as the background and they both are in pursuit the idea of freedom.  In “All Stories Are Anansi’s,” Anansi represents a wise character. Anansi use his clever to defeated the hornets, the python, and the leopard who are stronger than he in order to gain the right to tell all stories. In addition, in “Annancy, Monkey and Tiger,” Annancy use his clever and strategy to deceive the tiger and save the life of monkey successfully. From these two stories, we can see that Anansi or Annancy represent the wise figure who has ability to defeat the powerful animals. In my opinion, the spread of Anansi stories represents the best wish of the West African because they wanted to overthrow the colonists in order to gain freedom as Anansi. In the U.S. Slave stories and secular Songs, the story “All God’s Chillen Had Wings” describes that how miserable life of slavery. The oppressor struck them with his lash once they stop working and they did not have time to rest and have enough food to eat. Also, the song expresses the terrible life of the slave. Both story and songs convey the strong feeling to escape for freedom.

However, the Anansi Stories more focus on expressing the idea of cultural retention because the limited education make African become illiterate and cause them can only spread their culture through oral expression. Also, the Anansi stories express the idea of freedom from indirect way because we can only understand that when we read the background of the stories. When we read the stories of Anansi, it is just like a fairy tale to teach us a lesson. On the contrary, in the U.S Slave Stories, the stories convey the idea of the freedom directly. When we read the story and songs, we can strongly feel the terrible life of the slaves and the desire of slaves to escape the painful life and to gain freedom. Therefore, the U.S stories make us feel more passionate than the Anansi stories.