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"The Ballad of John Henry"
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"The Ballad of John Henry"
Mad River Theater Works: John Henry
Background Information
*Steel Driving Men- drive railroad spikes while laying the track
*John Henry lived while US expanding railroad
*Most of work done by hand
*Big Bend tunnel- one & half miles long, longest tunnel in the world at the time
*Rock had to be blasted, teams of men drilled 15 foot deep holes in the rock so blasting powder could be inserted
*Drilling holes=Steel Driving
*Shaker= man to hold the steel bit
*Driver= hit the bit with a hammer
*It would take a Shaker and a Driver one working day to drill one hole
*Introduction- Cabin in West Virginia mountains
*1st Scene- 1. Civil War, 1840 2. John Henry's dad is talking to the baby about his dreams for JH's future
*2nd Scene- 1. JH is young man 2. Plays a trick on Master 3. Army frees the slaves
*3rd Scene- 1. Goes to NY for work 2. Background of Steam Drill 3. Works as Steel Driver 4. BEST Steel Driver
*4th Scene- Contest
*Conclusion- Look past exaggeration & remember "a man ain't nothin' but a man"
*Ballad- poem or song narrating a story
*Scholars believe him to be a real person who lived from 1840-1875
*People from Alabama & Southern West Virginia say they worked with him
*True: worked on a tunnel for the railroad connecting Washington, DC to Cincinnati, Ohio
*Former slave from Virginia or NC
*Ballad is about contest between man vs. machine - Steel Driver vs. Steam Drill
Steel Drivers
Slang Words
*Gussied up- dress up
*A mean streak a mile wide-very mean
*Shenanigans-foolish actions
*Coppers-police
*Doorman-man opens the door to fancy buildings
*Off the hook-get away
*A goner-dead
*Captain-boss
"The Ballad of John Henry" Concepts
*Oral Tradition- stories passed down by word of mouth
*Exaggeration-stretch the truth
*Repetition- words or phrases repeated for emphasis
*Dialect-way people speak in a region
*Rhyme-words in a line rhyme with other words in a line
*Dialog-characters speak to one another
*Legend states he used two hammers at a time instead of one hammer
*John Henry could drill two holes in one day vs. an ordinary man could drill one hole in one day
*Development of Steam Drill sped up the process of building railroads