Intro to Multicultural Literature

Emma Ruch

Zong! By M. NourbeSe Philip focuses on the ship Zong and the neglection and mistreatment Captain Luke Collingwood had towards the enslaved Africans on the ship. The poems in Zong! are to tribute and memorializing the death of the enslaved people who lost their lives on the ship. The format of the poems leads to confusion and frustration as the reader is putting it together. This is because Philip’s takes the idea as a whole and breaks it down by separating words, using fragments of words, filling the page with blank spaces, and using repetition of specific words throughout the page. This specific format pulls emotion out of the reader by trying to get them to understand what is trying to be said. It is almost as if there is a full article of someone speaking about a topic, and Philip pulls out words and letters from the text to focus on the importance of what is trying to be said. The reason this could be frustrating is that the reader is going to have a hard time piecing together what is being said because the message is not always clear.

Knowing the fact that the ship was overcrowded and had about double the amount of desired people for the size of the ship, there began to be a need for a water supply. This causes the Captain to think of many ways they can reduce the amount of water being consumed, so there is enough for everyone on the ship. With a lack of water and resources, Collingwood decided that it would be best to massacre more than 130 Africans on the ship. The text states, “Captain Luke Collingwood is of the belief that if the African slaves on board die a natural death, the owners of the ship will have to bear the cost, but if they were ‘thrown alive into the sea, it would be the loss of the underwriters” (Philips – 189). This quote inherently reveals the cause for the ‘need’ to massacre the innocent people, so the British workers on the ship can still be provided with basic needs. Collingwood tries to cover up his actions of this gruesome action by saying the enslaved people have died due to natural causes of being on the ship. Being a white male he had the advantage to get away with these unforgivable acts stated in the text as, “The ship’s owners begin legal action against their insurers to recover their loss. A jury finds the insurers liable and orders them to compensate the ship’s owners for their loss — their murdered slaves” (Philips- 189). This proves that the jury did not take into consideration the whole case because the idea of it does not seem logical. 

Zong #1 focuses on both the ideas above (the format of the specific poem and the need for water) put into a poem. Philip’s writes Zong #1 almost as a cry for help. Reading through this poem it is almost as reading a person struggling to ask for water. This constant need for water is based on the water storage from the ship, and the stutter of words and sentences. Although throughout the whole poem is letters spread out, towards the end it is clear that the words “water” and “want of water” are being stated throughout the whole poem. This poem would be challenging to interpret if the ending of the book was not read with the background story of what inspired these poems to be. There can be an overall theme of water being looked upon in this poem. It is obvious that there is a call for the need for water on the ship, but it can also be connected to the fact that these innocent enslaved Africans are being thrown overboard into the water as well. It is almost as if the whole theme of this poem revolves around water. This repetitive call for water, “wa         te       r         wat            er      wa   ter         of          w           ant” (Philips – 4) proves that the speaker is gasping for air in between each pace of words. After considering the fact of the circumstances going on, this could be interpreted in two different ways on what the author was trying to tell the reader. Although the enslaved people were probably talking about the need for drinking water, considering the events going on and the treatment they are getting, it could be interpreted that they are calling for the water outside of the boat. 

Discussion Questions:

1. How is the format of Philip’s poems different from ones usually focused on in school curriculum? Explain your answer with what stands out about the appearance of this structured poem.
2. How would you explain the legal system during the time of the Gregson v. Gilbert case?
3. In what different ways can you interpret Zong #1. How does this meaning connect to the overall historical background of the Zong ship? 

Philip, M. NourbeSe. Zong! Wesleyan University Press, 2008.

Alaina Losito

M. NourbeSe Philip’s book Zong! recounts, through the use of poetry, the horrific massacre that occurred on a slave ship in November 1781. Philip uses the repetition and placement of certain words and phrases in order to highlight the importance of said words or phrases. The placement of the words on the page may also allow for the reader to read the text slowly in order to contemplate the significance of each word in relation to the historical context of the poem. This poem can be relevant to current times as well. The formatting and repetition of specific words speak to issues in today’s society of police brutality which brought rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Luxury of a Breath

The first 20 pages of Zong! are included in the chapter “Os”. In the back of the book there is a glossary of words and phrases overheard on board the Zong! In the glossary the word “os” translates to “bone” in Latin (Philip 184). Bones can be associated with images of skeletons and death. This could signify the deaths of the 150 slaves that died on this ship. One thing that is tactful in reading this poem is to read it aloud. In Zong! #1 there is the breaking up of words and letters. These are scattered throughout the page and may not make sense at first glance but when read aloud can be coherent to the reader. If read aloud, this page could sound like someone drowning, or someone who has been deprived of water for so long that their throat becomes dry and they can barely even speak. This usage of water could show the suffering that these slaves endured. The fact that this is the very first page makes it so that the reader is drawn in. On the bottom of the page it says “Masuz Zuwena Ogunsheye Ziyad Ogwambi Keturah.” These are not listed in the glossary which could suggest that these are names of several of the slaves that were murdered in the massacre. This opening scene can be related to the death of George Floyd. While reading this opening page it seems like the speaker is gasping for air and the struggle for words seems terribly difficult. This can be seen in the breakage and scattering of the words on the page. In the incident of George Flyod, the police officer was kneeling on George Floyd’s neck while George Floyd was suffocating and screaming “I can’t breathe”. The opening page parallels this disturbing murder of George Floyd because both show the painful struggle to survive in a situation where another person has complete control over their lives.

The Law is Never in Favor of the Oppressed.          

In this section of the book it also emphasizes the fact that the fate of these slaves was in the hands of the white people on board the ship. These slaves were never in control of their own lives. In Zong! #11 there is an emphasis on the law. On this page there is a significant blank space in between the words “is”, “not”, “does”, “not”, etc. This blank space could be related to the message of the words on the page. There can be so many “what if” questions about history. Questions such as “what if slavery never existed” or “what if racism never existed”. The law is a social construction and so is racism. Both, together, result in the mistreatment and death of so many people in the black community. Zong! #11 could parallel that of the case of Breonna Taylor. She was murdered in her own home by the police when they had no reason to go in her home in the first place. In this instance, Breonna Taylor’s case went to court and lost. All of the evidence needed to prove that the police were guilty was there. Yet, the law is almost always against those of the oppressed instead of the oppressors. This can be similar to that of this page in the book because in this page the speaker says, “suppose the law not / -a crime / suppose the law a loss / suppose the law / suppose” (Philip 20). This is drawing attention to the fact that the law creates who is inferior and who is superior. For example, the law used to state that a white person could own another human being as their own property. This allowed for these slaves to be taken from their own country in the first place. The law also created the insurance on these slaves because they were property. All of these laws based on racism added up to the murder of these 150 slaves. The law was not in these slaves favor just as the law was not in Breonna Taylor’s favor. The law chooses, even before a crime is made, who is innocent and who is guilty. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Are there any other instances in this section of the reading that remind you of other current events? 
2. Do you think Philips wants each of us to read each page in the same way? Or do you think that the placement of the words/phrases in this book were meant to allow for each of the readers to create their own understanding of the page in relation to the historical context?
3. If you did not know what this poem was about (or the name of the poem), what would you think it was about based on the word choices and phrases that Philips emphasizes/draws the reader’s attention to? 

Philip, M. NourbeSe. Zong! Wesleyan University Press, 2008.

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine is a lyric that describes the life black people in America. Rankine tells this story through a second person of view through the character “you”. Throughout the final chapter of the book, the protagonist questions her identity and self worth since society’s racism towards the black community constantly interferes with the way black people view themself as a full human being in America. However, at the end of the book, Rankine switches perspective to first person showing how the protagonist has embodied her true self instead of letting society impact how she views herself.

In the beginning of chapter 7, Rankine writes a non narrative poem with more conventional line breaks than usually. The protagonist has “some years…wanting to escape- floating above your certain ache- still the ache coexists.” (Rankine, 139)  By explaining that escaping from the racism in society gives the protagonist headaches, we can infer that it is painful for the black people to constantly fight against racism. These headaches are a reminder of the emotional suffering that blacks constantly have to deal with. This emotional suffering is evident throughout the rest of Rankine’s poem as shown when “you” discovers that “given the histories of you and you” makes the protagonist question herself by asking “ who is this you” (Rankine, 140) and “How to care for the injured body, the kind of body that can’t hold the content it is living?” (Rankine, 143)  When the protagonist asks these questions, it is evident that society views black people as worthless, which is caused by the long history of racism in the US. 

On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was on trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin, which caused an uproar throughout the United States. While listening to the radio broadcast about Martin, the neighboring car next to the protagonist said something racist about Martin which led to the protagonist unleashing his anger. The protagonist knew that her “partner wants to face off with a mouth and who knows what handheld object the other vehicle carries. You pull your love back into the seat because though no one seems to be chasing you, the justice system has other plans.” (Rankine, 151) We can assume that the protagonist’s friend is black and the person in the neighboring car is white. The protagonist is trying to calm her friend down because she knows that rage and anger will put them at danger. You understand that the justice system has always been against black people. If a black person naturally shows their anger in public, the justice system will unfairly punish black people. Because of this, you doesn’t feel safe showing anger in public. The justice system is an example of how society treats black people. Society wants black people to get over racist encounters and racist history by reacting in a way that is seen as negative and threatening.

At the end of the book, Rankine switches to a first person point of view and tells the last final page of the story through the character “I”. I has an encounter with microaggression before she went to play tennis  where “a woman pulled in and started to park her car” but when she noticed that I is black, “she backed up and parked on the other side of the lot.” I’s husband asked if she won from this microaggression but I knew that “it wasn’t a match…it was a lesson.” (Rankine, 159) In this event, a match is when a person is able to go up against another person implying that the standard for both are equal and fair. A lesson is defined to teach or instruct. This line connects to Rankine’s bigger idea of how to combat racism which is to educate those to show how racism affects people of color since white people can never experience the struggles that people of color face. 

Work Cited: 

Rankine, Claudia, 1963-author. Citizen : An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, 2014.

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you interpret the image on page 147?
2. Why is the shift between second pov to first pov significant?