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The short cartoon belowis another means in which Anansi has been preserved in our culture. Here we see Anansi again being selfish, however, in this story he pays for his selfishness. Anansi is seen as the 'villian' in this cartoon rather than the 'hero' who comes out triumphant in the end. This story contrasts from the previous story in my old reading book as it demonstrates a level of morality, teaching children not to be selfish.

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The image below demonstrates the cover of a book in which Anansi is said to have done something good or in other words moral. This is an effort to reconstruct Anansi, thus preserving him in our culture while having him instill good values in children rather than his selfish immoral ones.

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In contradiction to the previous article, another article from the Jamaican Gleaner expresses Anansi's negative characteristics to be ever present in Jamaican citizens. He claims that Anansi is responsible for the negative attitudes observed in persons that hold high authoritative positions, thus degrading the society. This contrasted opinion gives some insight into how Anansi folklore may affect modern Caribbean society.

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My fear of spiders is confined to one single type. It's a peculiarly named spider imported from the continent of Africa during the times of the slave trade. His guile allowed Anansi to survive many centuries here in the West.

The folklore Anansi has taken on metaphysical attributes and breached the reality divide to influence an increasing number of our citizens. The more difficult our economic times, the more Anansi spread his ugly, hairy, occult legs to envelop an ever-growing number of converts to his survival techniques.

With his penchant for trickery, supremacy and his single-mindedness for self-protection, Anansi will say and do just about anything to anybody at any time as long as he benefits from whatever he can, when he can.

Anansi can be seen at the traffic lights where windshield wipers hail up motorists as if they were long lost and dear cousins. They rapidly approach vehicles and quickly shower discoloured liquid on windscreens in the expectation that the motorist will pay them to remove it. The suddenness of their approach sometimes robs drivers of the ability to respond in time to evade the unsolicited and unwelcomed 'service'.

Anansi alive and well

Anansi is alive and well in our constabulary. A prime example is an ageing officer of the law who stopped me for a routine check. However, he proceeded to engage my wife and me in a prolonged and rambling assessment of the new Mount Rosser bypass. My wife made the mistake of commenting on how fortunate he was to be posted in proximity to a popular fast-food establishment.

Having manipulated her into a verbal corner, Anansi struck with deft precision: The officer quickly retorted with the facial expression of sadness and dismay, "But I don't have what it takes to go in there."

Anansi is active in just about every single workplace and business enterprise. There is always someone there finding ways to relieve the proprietors of some income. Twisting, breaking, bending and even circumventing the rules and regulations allow Anansi to shirk duties and responsibilities, to form external alliances for future use and to misappropriate funds as needed.

Anansi flourishes in politics; this is the main arena where his influence permeates every aspect. Our politics not only facilitates Anansi, it nourishes him. Deeply entrenched protectionism, an almost total lack of accountability, repetitive and wasteful spending and access to huge amounts of funds make Anansi salivate uncontrollably.

He calls on every trick that he has ever learnt over the centuries in order to beguile the electorate, bamboozle the supporters, mesmerise the system and frustrate the watchdog organisations to amass power, money and favours for himself and his cohorts.

anansi the politician

I would never claim that Anansi holds sway over all politicians and/or their affiliates, but he can be seen in the supportive 'masses' and in the upper-level administration. Many grassroots supporters feign staunchness to receive financial handouts and favours. Some even accept cash money from one side but vote for the other. In spite of the checks and balances in place, some people in the middle hierarchical structure of politics abuse their power and the trust placed in them to get their friends, supporters, contributors and family members lucrative contracts.

Some even justify their greased palms as 'finder's fee'. And, some higher up the power strata not only do the same for personal gain, they also widen their sphere of influence in order to secure tenure and longevity of their political party.

Anansi has the uncanny ability to morph into anyone. He is found in every profession. He masquerades as respectable lawyers, engineers, doctors, teachers, ministers of religion and in any occupation that may come to mind.

I fear Anansi because he contravenes all the rules of decency and fair play. By his actions, he defrauds the entire nation of finances and morality. Anansi is costing us billions of dollars and hundreds of innocent lives every year. We need to eradicate 'Anansi' from our reality and send him back to the folklore, myth and yarns where he belongs.

- Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.

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My fear of spiders is confined to one single type. It's a peculiarly named spider imported from the continent of Africa during the times of the slave trade. His guile allowed Anansi to survive many centuries here in the West.The folklore Anansi has...

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This article from the Jamaican Gleaner, disagrees with Anansi as being seen as an immoral character having bad influences on Jamaican society, Instead she holds the believes that Anansi should be celebrated and cherished for his contribution throughout history. Her article expresses these sentiments.

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Jamaica Gleaner : Pieces of the Past: The Magical Spiderman - Anancy

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Brathwaite, E. K. (1971). The Development of Creole society in Jamaica. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Elkins, S. (1976). Slavery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Levine, L. (1977). Black culture and black consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Patterson, O. (1978). "The Mirgratory experience: An interpretation," in Adams, R.S. and McNeil, W. H.

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This is a story about Anansi and how he uses his wits to gain food for himself. I distinctly remember this story because it stood out to me from my primary school reading book. Thus, observed is a regional effort to integrate Anansi into the lives of children, therefore preserving him in our culture. However, this story demonstrates Anansi's self and cunning nature qualities that would not benefit society if children were to follow in Anansi's footsteps.

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A masquerade costume modeled after Anansi and displayed on the streets during Carnival time. This demonstrates Anansi's presence in Caribbean culture and illustrates on of the unique ways in which such presence is portrayed. Here, Anansi is portrayed as being half man and half spider, and wears his famous hat and yellow/ orange coat, apparel that is often associated with Anansi in Caribbean versions of Anansi tales.

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Anansi's Influence on Slaves in the Caribbean

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Anansi's Influence on Slaves in the Caribbean

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In an excerpt from "Anansi Tactics in Plantation Jamaica", the author examines how Anansi has morphed into a character that represents the enslaves Africa. She goes into much detail using stories to explain how Anansi fits into the Caribbean plantation society and uses his cunning nature to outsmart those who hold authority over him. The author also examines how Anansi had an influence on the enslaved Africans, encouraging them to feign stupidity and sabotage the planter. Therefore demonstrating Anansi's role in resistance among enslaved Africans

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Upon entry into the Caribbean, Anansi's character and personality transformed into one that the enslaved Africans needed. This creolized version of Anansi can be seen in an excerpt from "An Exploration of Andrew Salkey's Anancy Stories".
Here Anansi is observed to have adopted aspects that is characteristic of sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Of significance, is Anansi's transformation from an upholder of African society to one that wrecks havoc without any regard for societal rules. In this excerpt, Anansi is believed to represent the enslaved African and thus, tales of Anansi see him in situations using his wit to outsmart others, usually representation of the authoritative whites on the plantation. This tranformed version of Anansi still survives in the Caribbean today.

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An art piece of the African Anansi by the Deviantart artist "trowicia". She depicts Anansi as being human with the body of a spider. The mask serve as a representation of his deceptive nature. However, here he is given a darker scarier appearance than usual, instead he is often depicted as a comical character.

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This was done for a mythological art trade with ~Jakeide! It's my interpretation of Anansi from African mythology. Anansi is a trickster god representative of the spider. So I had fun combinin...

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The excerpt from "The Caribbean Short Story: Critical Perspectives" outlines Anansi's role and position in the culture of the Asante-Akan people. Observed, is his deviance from society and its expected behaviors. However, regardless of this he still serves to uphold and even reinforce the Asante society. This is contrasted with his arrival into the Caribbean where instead he serves to erode the values placed by European societies and continues to do this even in present day Caribbean society.

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Andrew Salkey's "Anancy" gives some insight into Anansi's character. The beginning of the  poem establishes Anansi as being both man and spider, as well as being West Indian and African. Therefore cementing that he is an essential part of both cultures. Andrew also notes his changed appearances, which varies depending on country and/or story. The poem also serves to highlight Anansi's  plethora of personalities and abilities some of which are good and others, not very moral. At the end Salkey insinuates that even with Anansi's human and spider characteristics he is still just a folklore or a story and not real.