Worksheet: A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King Source:…

Worksheet:
A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King

Source: https://pennersf.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/a-coyote-columbus-story.pdf

PRE-READING ACTIVITY:

Understanding the significance of the trickster figure in Indigenous culture.
See excerpt below from S. Ratt’s essay, “Continuing Trickster Storytelling: The Trickster Protagonists of Three Contemporary Indian Narratives.”

Review the colonial myth of Christopher Columbus. See TEDed video, ” History vs Christopher Columbus by A.Gendler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD3dgiDreGc&t=8s

They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima (Critical Race Theory Lens)

POST-READING QUESTIONS:

Instructions: Please answer the following questions to help develop your analysis of this short story and generate data for your dramatic reading.

1)How does this story of Columbus differ from the colonial version taught in schools which describes the arrival of “explorers” to North America? Is ‘explorers’ an accurate word? How does King challenge this term?

2)How does Thomas King turn the Columbus story on its head? How does he mock or subvert the colonial version?

3)What kind of language is used and why? How does the use of language set the tone in the story?

4)Why is humour used as a way to tell the story?

Identify the following literary devices in A Coyote Columbus Story. See Literary Devices document uploaded to the Google Stream.
a)Foreshadowing
b)Satire
c)Irony
d)Symbolism
e)Allusion