The Signifying
By Professor Erika M. Pryor ©2012
What is a Signifier ?
• Origin1200–50; Middle English signifien <
Old French signifier < Latin significāre to
make a sign, indicate, mention,
• Sig"ni*fer\, a. [L., from signum sign + ferre to
bear.] Bearing signs. [Obs.] "The signifer
sphere, or zodiac." --Holland. denote.
What is a Signifier?
• A wide variety of African American verbal
games involving insult, competition, innuendo,
parody, and other forms of loaded expression.
The Signifying Monkey
• The Signifying Monkey is a character of AfricanAmerican folklore that derives from the trickster figure
of Yoruba mythology, Esu Elegbara.
• This character was transported with Africans to the
Americas under the names of Exu, Echu-Elegua, Papa
Legba, and Papa Le Bas. Esu and his variants all serve
as messengers who mediated between the gods and men
by means of tricks.
• “The Signifying Monkey” is “distinctly AfroAmerican” but is thought to derive from Yoruban
mythology, which depicts Echu-Elegua with a monkey
at his side.
The Double Entendre’
• The Oxford English Dictionary defines a double
entendre as especially being used to "convey an
indelicate meaning." It may be used to express
potentially offensive opinions without the risks of
explicitly doing so.
• A double entendre is a figure of speech in which a
spoken phrase is devised to be understood in
either of two ways. Often the first (more obvious)
meaning is straightforward, while the second
meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic.
Critical Windows
• Biographical- This is a look at the author’s life and
surroundings.
• Historical- What has happened in the past that leads us to
the conclusions that we draw in the present.
• Psychological- What was going through the author’s mind
at the time of the writing.
• Extratextual- What is going on around the text in that time
period of 5 years plus or minus.
• Subtextual- the underlying message under the text.
• Intertextual - A book/text responding to another text.
• Metatextual- Two different texts having a conversation to
one another.
Making Parallels
• In order to make parallels we must:
1. We must first discuss the Subtext
2. Identify the double entendre’
3. Note our findings
4. Critically think and Analyze our findings
5. Apply the results of our Critical
thoughts to life.
For Example
The Poem
The Signifying Monkey
Page 36 in the Norton Anthology
The Republican National
Convention
The Speech given by
Condoleezza Rice.
handout
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rnc2012-condoleezza-rice-delivers-speech-torepublican-national-convention-in-tampa-fulltext/2012/08/29/334d8122-f224-11e1-892dbc92fee603a7_story.html
What is the Job of the Signifying
Monkey?
• There are three parts to the Goal of the
Trickster
–To Dazzle
–To Deceive
–To Distract
Who is the Signifying
Monkey?
References
•
Washington Post Politics. Washington, DC, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Aug. 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rnc-2012-condoleezza-rice-delivers-speech-to-republican-national-convention-in-tampa-fulltext/2012/08/29/334d8122-f224-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html
•
•
Dictionary .com
Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Aug. 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signifying_monkey
•
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. The Signifying Monkey.2nd
ed, New York, NY. 2004.