Ananse's Feast

Ananse's Feast

Retold by Tololwa M. Mollel, Illus. by Andrew Glass

Grade: 3rd

Ever been the victim of a trick? Or perhaps been a little too greedy? In Ananse’s Feast, Ananse the spider uses his cleverness to trick his friend Akye by inviting him inside as a guest to his feast. When Ananse makes Akye go wash his hands multiple times in a puddle outside, he eats portions of the feast so that in the end there is no food left for Akye. When Akye notices what Ananse has done, he plans to get his revenge on Ananse. Will Akye get his revenge? Will Ananse learn his lesson? You will have to find out in this retelling of the Ashanti tale, Ananse’s Feast.

During a drought in Africa, Ananse is all stocked up on food but is greedy and does not want to share with anyone. When his friend Akye smells the food coming from Ananse’s house he knocks on Ananse’s door. Ananse sees that it is his friend Akye and invites him inside for food. But clever Ananse says its nice manners to wash your hands in his house and he makes Akye go wash his hands in the puddle outside. But since he is a turtle he must crawl to wash his hands then crawl back which makes them dirty all lover again. While Akye makes all of these trips, Ananse greedily eats all the food. Akye recognizes what Ananse is doing and then tells him they must do this again. When the drought is over and water has been restored, Ananse is not a good swimmer so was not able to get as much food. Akye invites Ananse to a feast in his home but since Ananse isn’t heavy enough to stay underwater, he wears a robe and fills it with pebbles to weigh him down. When Ananse reaches Akye’s house underwater, Akye says it is good manners to take off your robe before eating. Ananse has no choice but to take off the robe and float back to the surface. Akye eats all the food and joins Ananse on land after saying he was glad he could make it.

The language in this story is the dialogue between the two main characters, Ananse the spider and Akye the turtle. The dialogue between these characters could indeed reflect spoken language because since this is traditional literature the dialogue has been changed over time but still reflects the main theme of this story. The language found in this story preserves the structure of oral stories because it is written language and the story stays preserved opposed to that of an oral story. The language in this story reflects the early retellings because they typically were told to teach a lesson or have the audience learn from the story and the language in this story does just that. This story explores the universal theme of greed.

The illustrations in this story positively complement the narrative because the illustrations help the reader to see the expressions on the characters faces during the events in the story as well as provide a visual of what the setting looks like. These illustrations offer authentic cultural detail because the setting takes place in Africa so the illustrations are based on the setting of Africa. Such as the illustrations of the dry desert to express the drought, the hut that Ananse lives in or the underwater home of Akye.

Ananse the spider represents the trait of cleverness as well as greed. There is no ambiguity in this story, the message is very clear: if you are greedy it will come back to you. Once Akye realizes that Ananse has tricked him, the reader is able to predict that Akye will invite Ananse to a feast where he will trick him to give him a taste of his own medicine. The resolution to the story was Ananse being in the same situation he put Akye in and realizing that being greedy is not a good quality to have. The theme of this story was able to express the values of African culture because it is apparent that based on this story Africans believe that it is wrong to be greedy especially towards your friends. The language in the story reflects a vernacular of African language in a sense of the African food that is mentioned in the story at Ananse and Akye’s feasts. There is no way to tell what time period the story took place and the setting we know takes place in Africa.

The characters in this story are Ananse the spider and Akye the turtle. The setting takes place in Africa and since there is a drought one can make the prediction that the season is summer. The problem/solution is that Ananse tricks Akye so that he does not have to share his food with him and Akye then in returns does the same. The resolution of the story takes place when Ananse experiences the feeling Akye did when he decided to be greedy and trick him so that he didn’t get a chance to have any food. The theme of the story is the result of what happens when you are greedy.

This would be a good story to have in a classroom library because it would introduce your class to themes of stories in diverse cultures. This is an African tale and focuses on the theme of greed. You could read this book as well as others from diverse cultures and have students work in groups to identify the themes of the stories. Students could take different stories from different cultures, identify the theme and act it out for the class. When the groups were done acting, you could lead a class discussion on the many diverse themes.

The MA ELA Frameworks for this book are, RL.3.2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text, MA.8.A. Identify elements of fiction (e.g., characters, plot, setting, plot, problem, solution) and elements of poetry (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia).