Samples of Students’ Monologues:

Monologue of Brazil
By Mitchel

    You should have seen them run, your Majesty!  They weren’t expecting us at all!  Really, they turned out so happily to meet us; you never would have thought that in the next hour, they would have muskets in their faces!  We had to shoot a few of them to get our point across, but eventually they stepped into line.  No offense, your Majesty, but I regret having to return home.  It seems the drawback of being a messenger is that I won’t be able to settle that land with everyone else!  And it’s beautiful land, my lord!  And the women!!!   Oh lord, what savage, primal beauties! 
     I contend that ancient letter we received half a century prior still shines true today.  It is this I humbly request of you, your Majesty, that I return to that place and become another settler.  I want to farm that land, and its women, in the name of our God, of course.  Oh God, that beautiful land, so fertile.  It begs to be ploughed.  I can only pray for the day when I can . . . harvest it.  So please your Highness, send me back. . . for Portugal . . .for God . . .for the women.

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Brazil monologue
By Mara

It was an ordinary day, when the strangers camp to my camp.  I was walking to the water pool, when I spotted the strangers with layers of extra - skin that I would think would over-heat the body.  They had strange necks with puffs on the sides.  They had shiny sticks that they pointed at us.  My friends and family were really frightened!  I didn’t understand what was happening!  They grabbed the women and chained the men!  The strangers were like big fish feeding on little fish, us.  They didn’t leave, either.  They have been here for some time now, and many of our tribe has fallen ill. Some women have formed relationships with the people from another land.  I am enslaved for a leader of the strangers.  I help him communicate with my people, for I seem to understand their strange language.  He does not harm me or bet me like some other natives get beaten.  I am grateful for my needed skill.  The strangers have changed our land and our people.  I wish it was all a dream and I wish I could wake up. 

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By Mistead

Brazilian Woman:
            These men have entered our country and have enslaved us. It started out with a delightful welcoming of these men on our shores. We interacted with each other curious about one another. They carried mysterious objects in their hands and had clothing that covered their bodies. But never did we fathom the idea of being enslaved by them. I guess they thought we were lesser beings or an asset to their exploration. They have killed our husbands, made our children slaves on the sugarcane fields and now they want to marry us or at least mate with us. They speak foreign tongue but clarify with hand gestures and actions about how we Brazilian woman look beautiful. They are even persuading our women by force to go on a ship to their remote homeland. It is as if we Brazilian woman have become their prized jewel that they love and yet discard. They speak to us about a God who will supply all our need and try to convert us into their spiritual mentality. We are not suited to that type of labor they expect us to have on the sugarcane. In the hot sun, the Brazilian women shrivel like dead animals. I can’t stand it but it doesn’t seem like I have a choice. When we looked at these men, they showed disappointment about the productive of our work habit. We would be hit if didn’t comply with their orders. At some point, when we were unable to handle the work load they gave us they brought other men of a darker pigment onto our land to do our work. I sometimes think that maybe they might treat us better but when I see the destruction of what they have done to us, I think otherwise. These strange men have killed us. After they landed on our shore there have been many deaths of my people. It was as if they had brought a blind disease to kill us. I don’t understand it. My effort now is trying to mend our people’s relationship with these men and hope that maybe that we could live in harmony and peace.  Will we ever be able to enjoy our homeland again? Will we ever be able to be to live happily and free again?

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By Megan

I am an African slave girl.  I’m not sure how old I am.  They took my mom away when I was really little and the old women who took care of me didn’t bother to keep track of the years I’ve been alive.  Anyway, I am one of the lucky ones.  Why?  About a year ago, the plantation owner made me the playmate of his two daughters.  I’m dressed better than most of the other slaves and I am fed better than most because I live in the main house.  It’s nothing special.  I sleep on a cot in the kitchen with some of the other house slaves.  The best thing is that because I spend all my time with the “young ladies”, I have taught myself to read.  I listen to their lessons and I read over their shoulders as I fan them and stuff whenever I can. But these half Portuguese brats are quick to punish if they catch me reading ‘cause slaves are not allowed to learn to read.  Sometimes they just decide they hate me and they want me punished.  I hate them.  I really do.  I have to do everything for them.  I have to pick up after them, clean their clothes, and I have to let them win every game! It’s not fair!  I miss my mom.  I wish I could run away.  I wonder what will happen to me when the girls get too old for a playmate.  I am being yelled at for apparently one of the girls has gotten sick and I must clean up after her and take care of her.  Who is ever there for me?

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By Amanda

     My mother is a native of this land and my father is from a land called Portugal.  The darker skinned people seem to take care of the things that my mother used to.  This is all very strange to me, I’m not used to this kind of people!  But it is kind of nice to heve my friends or people that I can talk to other than mother and father.  Most, well, all of the kids don’t like me. I’m not even sure why people always look at me weird like I’m some big green animal or something.  I wish I was like all the other kids, maybe things would be easier!