Sunjata

Alrighty welcome back for another edition of Chris' corner! This week I will be discussing the african folk tale Sunjata.
The thing that stuck out to me the most was the way in which the story was told. In Africa, there are men called griots who have the role of singing the local stories. In one way they are there for entertainment but they also were responsible for preserving many stories specefic to the African culture. In reading the text, it often seemed like the author was repeating his words. I found myself saying okay I get it, no need to repeat...But then I remembered that these words were being sung! In today's pop music, there is almost always a chorus, a few words or a phrase that is repeated in a song. I believe this is what the author, the griot, is doing when he repeats his words...he is making the story more melodious and pleasing to the ear.
Another thing that interested me was the character flaws in Sunjata. Two examples come to mind 1) Sunjata steals the strip of cloth that is worth one shilling and six pence from his brothers 2) He becomes prideful when he boasts that he will shoot the cotton tree and it will fall down if his mother was pregnant with him for seven years and never had a fright. Although Sunjata does show strong character qualities, such as confidence, wisdom, and leadership qualities, he does fall short in the two examples listed. These flaws allow the reader to relate with Sunjata a little bit more through his humanity. Ah one more thing that could be seen as a flaw...when he was a baby he refused to stand up because he was angry that he was denied the kingship! I mean come on, your really going to crawl around for seven years just because your pissed you didn't get to be king? Life's not fair Sunjata, get over it, get off your butt and make something of your life!