Post-colonial literature explores the colonial experience from the point of view of the oppressed. Understanding that most of the literature of colonization was written by and reflected the perspective of the colonizing oppressor, post-colonial writers express what is called the "view from below." They reveal how the sub-altern or lower-class person experienced and reacted to oppression.

This poem by Black Guyanese poet Grace Nichols rips the veil away from the misconception that the external appearance of a slave or colonized person represents the internal reality of what that individual feels. What the ruling class, called "Massa" in this poem, might interpret as a smile, the speaker renames "skin-teeth," meaning the skin rolling away from the teeth. She deliberately does not characterize this expression as a smile.

The speaker also challenges the idea held by the ruling class that bending over to work implies submission. The speaker states that both the seeming smile and the seeming submission are masks that hide her true feelings. She hides these feelings not because she is cowed, but because this subterfuge is a form of power: both these gestures are way to enable her "better ... rise and strike again."

By telling her own story of what her often misinterpreted body language means, the speaker takes control of her narrative. This is completely typical of post-colonial poetry. Where a "massa" might read compliance and a "happy" slave, the slave expresses unhappiness and a desire to strike out. The poem is meant to leave the ruling class feeling uneasy and decentered.

This counter-narrative that creates unease is a pattern that can be found in other post-colonial literature.