5.Dream on Monkey Mountain (1967)
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Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017)
St Lucian Poet and playwright. (Nobel
Laureate in 1992). He was born in
Castries, capital of small Caribbean island, St.Lucia, the West Indies,
formerly under British Empire, but gained Independence in 1979
.
He is a mulatto from maternal as well
as paternal side (His mixed racial background of African and European descent
is reflected in the poem ‘a far cry from Africa’). He and his twin brother, Roderick, were the sons of
Warwick and Alix Walcott. Warwick Walcott, a painter, poet, and civil servant,
died when the twins were one year old. The boys and their elder sister were
raised by their mother, a teacher who also supported her family by working as a
seamstress. In this middle-class Protestant family, literature and artistry
were emphasized.
Like his father,
Walcott wanted to become a painter. While he painted his whole life, Walcott's
primary focus became words, in English, instead of images while a teenager.
Attending St. Mary's College on St. Lucia, Walcott became a poet. Before
entering the university, he self-published his first book of poetry at the age
of eighteen, entitled 25 Poems. He borrowed the money to publish it from his
mother, and made the money back by selling it himself.
In 1949,Walcott entered the University
of the west indies on Trinidad, from which he educated in 1953 with a B.A. Even
before graduation, Walcott began a teaching career, which he has conducted to
pursue on the secondary and university levels. While as a student, Walcott also
began writing plays. His first was Henri Christope(1951). In both his poetry
and plays, Walcott also deals with the racial complexities of the West Indian islands and his own racial heritage.
His two grandfathers were white, while both of his grandmothers were black and
descendants of slaves.
Walcott’s first successful play was The
sea at Dauphin (1954). This contributed in part to Walcott obtaining a
Rockfeller Fellowship to study play writing and diecting in New York City from
1957 to 1958. upon his return home to Trinidad, in 1959, Walcott founded the
Trinidad Theater workshop, which provided a forum for his plays. For the
workshop, Walcott wrote his best known play, Dream on
MonekeyMountain(1967).Other significant titles of his include The Joker of Seville(1974)
and O Babylon!(1976)
While Walcott continued to write plays
, Over the years he became better known for his poetry. His breakthrough
collection was 1962’s In a green Night: poems, 1948-1960, Walcott published his
poetic masterpiece, Omerus, a 325 page epic poem which gives a Caribbean twist
to Homer’ Iliad and Odyssey. In 1992, Walcott won the Nobel Prize in literature
for his poetry, one of many honors he has received over his career.
Beginning in the early 1980’s, Walcott
split his time between teaching literature and creative writing at Bostan area
universities and in Trinidad. Though the 1990’s Walcott continued to teach and
write (including 1997’s collection of poetry The Bounty and the Capeman: The Musical with Paul
Simon). He also Reestablished his work with the Trinidad Theater Workshop after
a decade-long hiatus. Married three times, Walcott has a son and two daughters.
Poems:
Ø
1948: 25 Poems
Ø
1949: Epitaph for the Young: Xll Cantos
Ø
1951: Poems
Ø
1962: In a Green Night: Poems 1948—60
Ø
1964: Selected Poems
Ø
1965: The Castaway and Other Poems
Ø
1969: The Gulf and Other Poems
Ø
1973: Another Life
Ø
1976: Sea Grapes
Ø
1979: The Star-Apple Kingdom
Ø
1981: Selected Poetry
Ø
1981: The Fortunate Traveller
Ø
1983: The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott
and the Art of Romare Bearden
Ø
1984: Midsummer
Ø
1986: Collected Poems, 1948–1984, featuring
"Love After Love"
Ø
1987: The Arkansas Testament
Ø
1990: Omeros- Homeric epic poem based on Iliad, in terza rima, used Trojan war to
depict the Carribbean Fisherman’s fight.
Ø
1997: The Bounty
Ø
2000: Tiepolo's Hound, includes Walcott's
watercolors
Ø
2004: The Prodigal
Ø
2007: Selected Poems (edited, selected, and
with an introduction by Edward Baugh)
Ø
2010: White Egrets (won T.S.Eliot prize, 2011)
Ø
2014: The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948–2013
Ø
2016: Morning, Paramin
Plays:
He published more than twenty plays, the majority of which have been
produced by the Trinidad Theatre
Workshop.
Ø
1950: Henri Christophe: A Chronicle in Seven
Scenes
Ø
1952: Harry Dernier: A Play for Radio
Production
Ø
1953: Wine of the Country
Ø
1954: The Sea at Dauphin: A Play in One Act
Ø
1957: Ione
Ø
1958: Drums and Colours: An Epic Drama
Ø
1958: Ti-Jean and His Brothers
Ø
1966: Malcochon: or, Six in the Rain
Ø
1967: Dream on
Monkey Mountain: Story of revolt against the colonialism and search for identity. Makak
(the monkey) is the protagonist of the play, Moustique (mosquito) is the friend
of Makak. Tigre(tiger) and Souris(rat) are thieves. Corporal is a mulatto
officer. Berthilia is the donkey. Basil symbolizes death in it. Won Obie Award
in 1971
Ø
1970: In a Fine Castle
Ø
1974: The Joker of Seville
Ø
1974: The Charlatan
Ø
1976: O Babylon!
Ø
1977: Remembrance
Ø
1978: Pantomime
Ø
1980: The Joker of Seville and O Babylon!: Two
Plays
Ø
1982: The Isle Is Full of Noises
Ø
1984: The Haitian Earth
Ø
1986: Three Plays: The Last Carnival, Beef, No
Chicken, and A Branch of the Blue Nile
Ø
1991: Steel
Ø
1993: Odyssey: A Stage Version
Ø
1997: The Capeman (book and lyrics, both in
collaboration with Paul Simon)
Ø
2002: Walker and The Ghost Dance
Ø
2011: Moon-Child
Ø
2014: O Starry Starry Night
Essays
In his 1970 essay "What the Twilight Says: An Overture",
discussing art and theatre in his native region (from Dream on Monkey Mountain
and Other Plays)
Context/Background:
Derek Walcott has
written numerous plays for the Trinidad Theater Workshop, including Dream on
Monkey Mountain. It is Walcott's best known and most performed play. Dream on
Monkey Mountain was first performed on August 12, 1967, at the Central
Library Theatre in Toronto, Canada. It was first published in 1970 with a
collection of short plays entitled Dream
on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays. It
was adapted, produced and broadcasted for NBC (National Broadcasting Company in
America) in 1970. In 1971, the play was produced off-Broadway by the Negro
Ensemble Company and won an Obie Award that year for “Best Foreign
Play.” It was staged in various parts of the United States and Europe, and it
was presented as part of the 1972 Olympics cultural program.
The Dream on
Monkey Mountain (1967) belongs to the twentieth-century genre called dream
plays, connected with works by playwrights such as Strindberg as well as by
Synge and Soyinka.
It
is a lyrical epic drama in 2 acts in 6 scenes with a prologue and epilogue;
prose, verse, and songs, with some English and
French patois. In addition to its dreamlike plot and its emphasis on
poetic language, beautiful lyricism and the rhythms of the West Indian dialect
known as patois. The play is also designed to be produced in a highly
stylized manner. It is episodic in nature, like ''Don Quixote.'' Dream on
Monkey Mountain is a complex allegory which, at its heart, concerns racial
identity. The play is set in a Jail on an unknown
West Indian island, in 1960s.
Derek Walcott has
described Dream on Monkey Mountain as a “dream”
that “exists as much in the given minds of its principal characters as in that
of its writer.” This accurate description of the illogical
progression of action must be taken into account when confronting this strange
play. A surrealistic fable, the play does not adhere to the tenets of a
realistic narrative.
Walcott has
suggested that the play should be “treated as a
physical poem with all the subconscious and deliberate borrowings of poetry.”
The play itself
is a moonstruck dream. Makak, the central character of the play, lives
alone on Monkey Mountain. He has not seen his own image in thirty years and
ends up in jail after drunkenly destroying a café. Much of the play consists of
his dream in which he discovers his selfworth as a black man.
Critics are
divided over many aspects of Dream on Monkey Mountain, including the
effectiveness of its poetic language. In a review of the Negro Ensemble
production in The New Yorker, the journalist Edith Oliver called the play "a masterpiece" and "a poem in dramatic
form or a drama in poetry", noting that "poetry is rare in modern
theater." Reviewing a 1970 production of the play in Los
Angeles, W. I. Scobie of National Review wrote, "In Walcott's dense,
poetic text and in the visual images onstage there is a brilliantly successful
marriage of classical tradition and African mimetic-dance elements, two strains
that are bound as one into the author's British colonial childhood. And in the
myth of Makak, an ultimately universal figure, there is achieved some
resolution of the conflict between black roots and white culture. This is a
superb play."
Many critics have found startling
similarity in structure and imagery between Walcott’s “Dream on Monkey
Mountain” and Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding (1932). In both the plays,
there are uses of the moon as a stage prop and there are other similarities in
the language of the play. Though Lorca was Spanish and was killed in 1936.
There are other critics who find
similarities between this play and Eugene O Neil’s Emperor Jones (1920).
The
playwright has compared his play’s style to the ritualistic nature of Nō(Noh)
and Japanese Kabuki theater (blend of drama, dance, and music), but
the origins of Dream on Monkey Mountain also reside in the folk customs,
dances, and chants native to the Caribbean islands. The play was inspired by
places and people known to the author since his childhood spent in the
Caribbean.
There
are also references to the history of the Gospel, to texts by Georg Büchner and
August Strindberg, Miguel de Cervantes or the early theatre of Federico García
Lorca, while the main character recalls Peer Gynt (1867) by Henrik Ibsen or The
Emperor Jones (1920) by Eugene O’Neill.
Walcott’s
play illuminated the publication of Éloge de la
créolité (1989), a manifesto written almost 20 years later by three
Martinican authors, Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphäel Confiant, and
which greatly contributed to the international dissemination of the concept of Créole
and creolization
Walcott
himself wrote a prologue for this edition of the plays and named it “What the
Twilight Says: an Overture”, where he explains his own doubts and
concerns being a postcolonial playwright indulging in the indigenous forms of
theatre. He discusses the problems for an artist of a region with little in the
way of truly indigenous forms, and with little national or nationalist
identity.
Short Summary:
Prologue
On a Caribbean Island, the morning after a
full moon, a common unnamed man rampages through the marketplace in a rage.
Taken in custody for drunken misdemeanor and questioning, the man gets trapped
in nightmares and hallucinations. Corporal Lestrade, a mulatto official,
brings in Makak and questions him very methodically. Two other black prisoners
already in cells, Tigre and Souris, try to undermine the corporal as he does
his duty. The corporal grows frustrated and compares them to animals. Makak
does not remember who he is or what he has done and can only say that his name
is Makak and he lives in the Monkey Mountain. The protagonist foregoes his
legal name (which he remembers to be Felix Hobain in the end of the play) for
the derogatory and implicitly racial epithet “Makak, or “Monkey.” There is
a change in scene, and Tigre and Souris don judge’s robes and the corporal
defends Makak. The corporal presents the facts of the case to the judges. He
reveals that Makak claims to have had a dream in which he was told he was a
descendant of African kings. After telling them he has not looked at his
reflection for thirty years, Makak relates a dream in which a white woman came
to him. Parts of his life are slowly disclosed.
Part I, Scene i
In scene I, Makak is found by his
companion Moustique in his hut, where he claims of having seen a white woman
who calls him by his real name and urges him to come home. Moustique finds some
ominous and unaccounted for things like a spider with an egg stack and a white
mask. Makak asks Moustique to follow him to Africa, which he does without
understanding.
Scene ii
In the second scene, in his
hallucinations, Makak becomes a saviour of his people, the man who will revive
their culture, return them to the time before colonial degradation lead them
out of the cave where they see only shadows, and bring them into the light
where they will see the truth. He links himself to his ancestry, proclaiming
himself “the direct descendant of African kings.” And he will save his
race in part because he is “a healer of leprosy”; he can cure the disease that
turns its victim white with decay and causes him/her to disintegrate bit by
bit. The people he seeks to lead have, like Makak, lost their identity-their
names, their link with a tradition. He believes that he has become a prophet
and a healer and therefore, walks amongst the common people healing and tending
the sick.
Scene iii
In the third scene, we are back at the
courthouse, where the corporal Lestrade is again presiding over the trial. Many
men and women come to testify about the various miracles promised by Makak. The
scene changes back to Makak’s hallucinations of his role as a savior. In this
dream, his one companion, Moustique, wants to exploit his power, impersonating
a prophet himself, ignoring Basil, the coffin-maker who warns him he will die
and enraging the people of the island. When confronted by Lestrade and the Inspector,
Moustique defiantly admits that his identity. The crowd turns against him,
beats him up and condemns his life. In his dying breath, he reconciles with
Makak and bids him to go back to Monkey Mountain.
Part II, Scene i
In the second part of the play Scene I
opens in the jail cell. In this scene, Makak, Tigre and Souris confront
Lestrade for allowing the crowd to kill Moustique. Lestrade defends himself by
rationalizing concepts like rights and laws, but denies the convicts any.
Makak offers to bribe Lestrade with money he has hidden. Tigre and Souris
hear it and try to provoke Makak in killing Lestrade and breaking from the
prison. Makak stabs Lestrade in a frenzy shouting that he is a lion and that he
wants blood. He urges Tigre and Souris to drink the blood to defy the racial
bias against them which calls them apes with law. Then they start for Monkey
Mountain or Africa, they are not sure. Lestrade rises clutching a towel to his
wound and resolves to “hunt the lion” and exits with a rifle amidst drumming
and chanting.
Scene ii
In the second scene, Makak with his two
felon followers is back in the forest. The felons believe there are money and a
new life in Monkey Mountain. But Makak still seeks a way back to Africa. The
felons resolve to lose themselves in Makak’s madness to survive and later
exploit him. They start rhapsodizing about Africa to please Makak. They start
talking about how God is like a big white man who frightens them. They also
talk about ways of going home and how they don’t know how to reach home. Tigre
tries to ask Makak about his supposedly hidden money and how it might help them
go home. Makak rants about him being the King of Africa and in a mock ceremony,
the felons crown him. The corporal catches them but apparently loses his
reason. He rants about how he is back to his roots in the forest of Monkey
Mountain, not in Africa. He announces that he loved Africa of his mind, but
also the African half of his heritage, and apologizes to Makak calling him the
old father. Souris believes them but Tigre tries to threaten them with a gun.
Basil the coffin maker distracts him, while Lestrade stabs him with a spear.
They march out putting Makak in front of their procession.
Scene iii
In the third scene, there is a full
indigenous ritual in which Lestrade convicts Moustique for abandoning their
dream. The tribes people judge the politicians and world leaders and convicts
them death sentences. Makak is punished for his false dream and the apparition
of a white woman from his dream is beheaded to cure him of his madness. He
finally announces that he is free and takes off his ritual robes.
Epilogue
In the Epilogue, things are apparently
back to normal and all of them, dead and alive are back in the prison cells.
Makak remembers his name – Felix Hobain and is bailed out by a now alive
Moustique. Lestrade continues his verbal fight with Tigre and Souris and sets
Makak free on account of this being his first offence. Makak decides that he
will return home to Monkey Mountain.
Characters:
MAKAK or FELIX HOBAIN (in
French patois for "Ape", Makak=MONKEY) - He
is an old (sixty to sixty five), black , poor, ugly, charcoal cutter/burner,
of African descent, has lived alone in a hut on Monkey Mountain his whole life.
He is the central character in the play , the one who has the dream on monkey
mountain. He believes that he is ugly and repulsive, which is why he lives
alone in a hut on monkey mountain. Makak
brings down his load of coal from the mountain to sell in the market day. The
dream he dreams one night, forces him off the mountain and on a journey toward
Africa. How he will get from a small Caribbean island to Africa does not seem
to trouble him in the least. With his only friend and business partner, Moustique,
unwillingly accompaning him, Makak becomes a sort of faith healer. When
Moustique is killed in a marketplace riot, Makak has been imprisoned on
Saturday night (July 25th) for his own safety, after getting drunk
and smashing things in the local café. He spends Saturday night and Sunday
morning in jail.
At the beginning
of the play, Makak is in jail, spends the night in jail, where he has the
dream that forms the bulk of Dream on monkey mountain. In dream, he has a
vision of an apparition (a white woman), who tells him that he is descended
from African Kings and urges him to return to Africa to reclaim his
heritage.Makak begins his journey. He finds that he has healing powers when he
cures a sick man’s fever. Though Moustique wants to exploit this gift for
commercial purposes, Makak is only concerned with the larger goal.
In jail, he is unhappy
about the way the mulatto warder Corporal Lestrade approves of ‘white man's
law’, Makak despises himself for being black and longs to lead his people back
to Africa. After stabbing the jailer, he escaped with the help of fellow
prisoners TIGRE and SOURIS. In scene 3,
in his dreams, he will become a fearless warrior (a tribal king). Even
Lestrade will join his exodus, while various hangers-on pretend to lend Makak
his support while trying to undermine and rob him. Amazingly, he receives a
floral tribute from the Ku Klux Klan.
Makak
and his dream is have been betrayed and corrupted , first by Moustique( for
Money), then by Tigre (for money and power), and finally by Lestrade (for black
power). Finally his dream ends when he beheads the white apparition that led
him there in the first place. At the end of the play, the setting returns to
reality, Waking from his drunken dream, he finds he has overcome his obsession
with whiteness and calls himself by his real name, Felix Hobain. He is released
from jail. Reconciled to life on his Caribbean Island, Makak gained a better sense of himself. Along with
Moustique, he goes to Monkey Mountain, his home, and looks forward to a new
life.
CARPORAL LESTRADE (the straddler) -a mulatto (a person of mixed white and black
ancestry), enforces white laws. Corporal Lestrade runs the jail and is
responsible for the arrest of Makak. At the beginning of the play, he
identifies himself with the white authority figures. He follows the rule of the
law to the letter and is contemptuous of the three black men. At the beginning
of the Makak’s dream, Lestrade remains like this. In the scene in which
Moustique impersonates Makak in the
marketplace, Lestrade emphasizes his beliefs on law, and law enforcement to
market inspector Pamphilion. Though Lestrade is stabbed by Makak during the
prison escape initiated by Tigre, he later joins Makak’s journey after finding
the three on monkey mountain. Lestrade stabs and kills Tigre when he tries to
kill them. Lestrade plays an even bigger
role when the three are in Africa. It is he who insists that Makak kill the
apparition that started him on this journey. At the end of the play, when the
setting is again in reality, Lestrade is somewhat kinder than he was at the
beginning of the play and lets Makak go free.
CAIPHAS J.PAMPHILION- Pamphilion is a
law officer who is under the wing of Corporal Lestrade during Makak’s dream. He
listens to Lestrade’s theories and says very little.
TIGRE (TIGER)- a felon, a fellow prisoner in jail when Makak
is brought there. Like his apparent partner Souris, He is a man of African
descent who has been arrested as thief. He is rather vulgar and, In Makak’s
dream, convinces Souris that they should take advantage of the old man. Makak
tries to pay off the corporal so that he will be set free, but the corporal
accuses him of bribery. Tigre wants to steal any money Makak has hidden on
monkey mountain; and to that end convinces Makak that the three should escape
together. Makak listens him, and after leaving the prison the thee make their
way to monkey mountain. Though Makak makes him general (supreme commander), He
is really concerned with obtaining Makak’s money. When the corporal appears on
the mountain and ends up joining them, Tigre pulls a gun on the rest. He is
later killed by the corporal, in part because of his short-sighted greed. He
does not understand the journey Makak and others are on. At the end of the
play, when the setting turns to reality, Tigre is in jail, only concerned with
himself again.
SOURIS (RAT) - a felon, a
fellow prisoner in jail when makak is brought there. He is a man of African
descent who has been arrested as a thief. Souris and Tigre seed to be partners
of some sort. In reality, Souris agrees with Tigre about Makak’s insanity. Bit
in Makak’s dream, Souris is more concerned with getting his fair share of food
from the corporal than with Makak. He goes along with Tigre’s plan and joins
Makak and Tigre’s Jailbreak. He changes sides when the three are on monkey
mountain together. Though Tigre wants Souris to help him to find Makak’s money,
Souris believes in Makak’s vision. He does not stand with Tigre, when he pulls
the gun, much to Tigre’s chagrin. He follows Makak to Africa. At the end of the
play, when reality returns, Souris is still kind to the old man, telling him to
‘’go with god’’.
MOUSTIQUE (MOSQUITO) - friend and business partner of MAKAK, He is a side
kick in the play. He is a small black man with a physical deformity in his
twisted foot, shaped like the letter ‘S’. Often he is compared to Satan, since “Satan has been described as limping, a symbol of
impotence. To some writers and he is frequently black in colour’’.
Makak rescued him from the gutter about four years earlier. Moustique feels
Makak is the only one who believes in him. Moustique sells the coal that Makak
burns. They pair recently purchased a donkey, Berthilia, together for this
business. In Makak’s dream, Moustique plays a complicated role and dies twice. Moustique doesn’t believe Makak’s apparition was real,
and only reluctantly goes on journey. When Moustiue comes upon a sick man and
his family, he convinces them to let Makak try to heal the ill one in exchange
for bread. It works, and Moustique immediately wants to exploit it for
commercial purposed. He goes so far as to imitate Makak in the marketplace for
money. But, he is caught in the deception and is killed, Though Makak tries to
save him. Later, When Makak is a king, he is one of the prisoners brought
before him. He tries to tell Makak that he should not trust his followers, but
Makak does not believe in him. He is killed again. At the end of the play, when
reality returns, he shows up at the jail and begs for Makak’s freedom, though Makak
has already been released. The pair return to Monkey mountain, their bond
seemingly stranger.
JOSEPHUS -Josephus is the sick man who is healed
by Makak. He suffers from a fever (due to snake bite) without sweat, until
Makak saves his life.
BASIL- A carpenter,
coffin maker, dressed like Baron Samedi, (A symbol of death ).
Basil is a black man (or perhaps apparition) who appears when death is imminent
for someone in the scene. Wearing a dark long coat and hat, with half of his
face painted white. Basil also plays a constant role in Makak's journey after
he reaches Monkey Mountain. He compels Corporal Lestrade to confess his sins,
resulting in Lestrade's personal epiphany. When the scene shifts to Africa,
Basil reads the list of the accused.
WIFE OF JOSEPHUS: she gives food to
Makak and Moustique.
APPARITION or WHITE
WOMAN: appears to Makak in dream. Described as moon, muse, white woman
or goddess. Makak beheads it at the end of the play.
MARKET WOMAN - transfigured
into Makak's wives during his dream.
BERTHILIA -a donkey bought by Makak and Moustique
for their charcoal business.
A DANCER, ALSO NARRATOR,
LITTLE BEARERS.,
SISTERS OF THE REVELATION.,
WARRIORS, DEMONS.
A SINGER,
A MALE CHORUS,
TWO DRUMMERS
Plot/Narrative Structure
|
Section |
Summary |
|
PART ONE |
|
|
Epigraph |
A para from Jean-Paul Sartre’s preface to Franz Fanon’s "The Wretched of the Earth (1961), about a tired man, as a result of insult, his self becomes dissociated and heads for madness. |
|
Prologue (in reality, opens in jail) |
Chorus sings, dancer dances, drummer beats drums. The play opens in an unnamed West Indian prison where Makak, (an Old man and Charcoal burner) is arrested for disturbing the peace and claiming divine visions. Corporal Lestrade mocks and interrogates him. Tigre and Souris, the felons, acts as judges. Makak requests to release. |
|
Scene 1 (dream, On mountain) |
Before the arrest, Makak is found by his companion Moustique in his hut. Makak recounts his vision of a white goddess who tells him of his African origin. Moustique prepares coffee, forces Makak to get ready for market to sell coal. Moustique saw a spider beside a white egg sack and a white mask. Makak on Berthilia (donkey), along with Moustique dismounts mountain, sets on journey to Africa. |
|
Scene 2 (dream, On the road) |
Journey to Africa, Makak becomes healer/prophet. Makak and Moustique come across a group of women robed in white praying; and peasants carrying Josephus (a sick man bitten by snake) and Makak heals the sick man. The crowd gives food and money, but Makak insists this power is not for profit. They move towards market. |
|
Scene 3 (dream, at public market) |
News of Makak’s healing powers reached the market. Corporal Lestrade and Market Inspector are waiting for the arrival of Makak. Moustique tries to get profit by pretending as Makak. As he is afraid of a Spider, Basil identifies him as Moustique, not Makak. Moustique is mistaken for Makak and killed by the mob. Makak is arrested. |
|
PART TWO |
|
|
Interlude |
A para from Jean Paul Satre's preface to the Franz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth (1961)", about two worlds- Black and White (native vs Coloniser), |
|
Scene 4 (dream, at jail) |
Still in dream, shifts back to jail where he was convinced by Tigre to stab Lestrade inorder to escape from jail. Lestrade rises and follows them. |
|
Scene 5 (dream, in forest) |
Makak along with Tigre and Souris reaches a forest. Makak in a mock ceremony, crowned as the King of Africa by the felon. Makak makes Tigre his general. But Tigre was killed by Corporal by a spear. They move on to Africa. |
|
Scene 6 (Dream within dream, in Africa) |
apotheosis scene. Makak is now king in Africa, long soliloquy about blackness. Makak holds a court trial. Basil reads the list of white figures Plato, Ptolemy, Florence Nightingale, Al Johnson, Abraham Linclon, Shakespeare and convicts them death sentences. He kills the white apparision and Moustique. Makak’s reclaims his African heritage. |
|
Epilogue (in reality, back to jail) |
Makak wakes up in the prison cell. The dream journey is over. The dead and alive are back in the prison cells. He recalls his true name, Felix Hobain, symbolizing rebirth (new identity). Makak is released. |
Note: Except prologue and epilogue, the entire play is a
dream. The scene number 6 is a dream within the dream.
Opening line:
Mooma,
Mooma
Your son
in de jail a’ready
Your son
in de jail a’ready
Take a
towel and band your belly (Chorus)
Closing Line:
I am going home, I am going
home,
I am going home, I am going
home,
I am going home, I am going
home,
To me Father’s kingdom (Chorus)
Part/ Scene wise- Summary
PART ONE
Prologue
Epigraph:
Thus in certain psychoses the hallucinated person, tired of always being
insulted by his demon, one fine day starts hearing the voice of an angel who
pays him compliments; but the jeers don't stop for all that; only, from then
on, they alternate with congratulations.
This is a
defence, but it is also the end of the story. The self is disassociated, and
the patient heads for madness.
Source: Jean-Paul
Sartre’s preface to Franz Fanon’s "The Wretched of the Earth(1961).
Dream on
Monkey Mountain opens in a small jail on the morning after
a full moon, in an unnamed West Indian
island. A drum is placed in the middle of the stage. A spotlight falls
on the white disc of the drum until glows like the moon. A dancer comes
and sits astride the drum. The moon becomes the Sun. A figure in formal clothes
and stylized makeup like Barom Samedi (a figure often
associated with death and resurrection in Haitian Vodou) comes and stands behind the dancer. As the chorus sings a lament, the
Figure and dancer wave their arms in spidery motion to the music. The
figure rouches the disc of the moon. They move towards two cages, one on either
side of the stage. As the lament continues, light illuminates the cages and there
are two black men inside, Tigre and Souris.
The chorus sings a song about a mother
whose son is in jail, (about Makak).
Conteur (= story
teller):
Mooma,
Mooma
Your son
in de jail a’ready
Your son
in de jail a’ready
Take a
towel and band your belly (contour)
Corporal Lestrade, a mulatto official and an agent of
the oppressive system of the white colonial rule, in Sunday uniform, brings in Makak, a Negro with jute sack. Makak has just been arrested on Saturday night
for being drunk and smashing a Alcindor café on
Saturday evening (July 25th) while claiming he was the
King of Africa. He spends Saturday night and Sunday morning in jail. Lestrade says
that he is “drunk and disorderly! A old man
like that! He has drunk and he mash up Felician Alcindor cafe” (Corporal, 215)”.
Two other
black prisoners (felons) already in a cell, Tigre and
Souris, (Makak is in other cell) try to undermine the
corporal as he does his duty. The corporal grows frustrated and compares them
to “animals,
beasts, savages, cannibals and niggers, stop turning this place to a stinking
zoo” (Corporal, 216). Sourics asks Corporal, why he is calling
the place as zoo. Is it just because he captured a mountain gorilla? Corporal
says, “In the beginning was the ape and the
ape has no name, so God call him man. Now there were various tribes of the ape,
it has gorilla, baboon, orang-outan, chimpanzee, the blue arsed monkey and the
marmoset, ….. so don’t interrupt, Please let me examine the Lion of Judah. What
is your name?” (Corporal, 216-217) The corporal asks Makak for basic information such as his name
in full, occupation, status, ambition, domicile, age and last but not least race.
Makak replies that he forgets his name, and he live on monkey mountain. When asked for
race, he says “I am tired.” (Makak, 219)
and his denominational affiliation is Catholicism (He is "Catholique”). He says that he only wants to go home. In fact he does not remember his basic identity and real name. Corporal pities him for he is Catholic and prepares to
implement Roman Law.
Next is a
trial, where Tigre and Souris robe themselves as judges and the corporal now don Counsel’s
garments and defends Makak. Lestrade is
proud of his power: “I can both accuse and
defend this man. ”(Corporal, 220) The corporal
presents the facts of the case to the judges. The Corporal charges
that Makak created a disturbance in a public bar and that he spoke obscenely
about a dream he had in which he was spoken to by a spirit. In addition, Makak
is charged with urging other people in the bar to join him in rebellion and becoming
violent when he was laughed at. Makak at that time remains silent. Makak asks again to be sent home, saying that spirits truly do talk to
him and as a result he's become mad. Tigre and Souris laugh, but the Corporal
allows Makak to plead his case. When Makak lifts up his head, Lestrade jerks
it back wildly because Makak is a Black native. He reveals
that Makak claims to have had a dream in which he was told he was a descendant of African
Kings. He explains that God appeared to him on Monkey
Mountain in the form of a singing woman, and he calls himself God's warrior.
Corporal: “My
lords, as you can see, this is a being without a mind, a will, a name, a tribe
of its own. I shall ask the prisoner to turn out his hands…….. I will spare you
the sound of that voice, which have come from a cave of darkness, dripping with
horror. These hands are the hands of Esau, the fingers are like roots, the
arteries as hard as twine, and the palms are seamed with coal. But the animal ,
you observe, is tamed and obedient.”(Corporal, 222).
Lestrade calls
Makak a tamed and obedient animal. He orders Makak to do some acts which Makak
performs timidly. “Stand up! Sit down! Up on
the bench! Sit down! Hands Out! Hands in!” (Corporal, 223). The
corporal, however, is successful to establish the fact that the accused is
capable if obeying orders, reflexes and understanding justice. He, therefore,
loudly declares the charge against Makak
in detail. “His rightful name is un-known,
yet on Saturday evening, July 25th, to wit tonight, at exactly three hours ago,
to wit at 5:30 p.m., having tried to dispose of four bags of charcoal in the
market of Quatre Chemin, …. in a state of incomprehensible in-toxication, from
money or moneys accrued by the sale of self-said bags, is reputed to have
entered the licenced al-coholic premises of one Felicien Alcindor, whom the
pris-oner described as an agent of the devil, … When some intervention was
attempted by those present, the prisoner then began to become vile and violent;
he engaged in a blasphemous, obscene debate with two other villagers, Han-nibal
Dolcis and Market Inspector Caiphas Joseph Pamphi-lion, describing in a foul,
incomprehensible manner.” (Corporal, 224)
Corporal also said
that the Makak “damage the premises of the proprietor
Felicien Alcindor, urging destruction on Church and State, claiming that he was
the direct descehdant of Afrikan Kings, a healer of leprocy and the Savious of
his race.”(Corporal, 225).
But, Makak admits
that he is an innocent old man and he wants to go home.
Makak: “I am
an old man. Send me home, corporal. I suffer from madness. I does see things.
Spirits does talk to me. All I have is
dreams and they don’t trouble your soul”(Makak, 225)
He
pleads again: “Sirs, I does catch fits. I
fall in frenzy every full moon night. I
does be possessed, and after that, I am not responsible, I responsible only to
god who spoke to me in the form of a woman on the monkey mountain. I am God’s
Warrior.”(Makak, 226)
In his first
long speech he discloses his degrading and isolated condition. He is
sixty years old; he has lived all his life like a wild beast in hiding without
wife and child; people forget him like the mist on monkey mountain. After
telling them he was not looked at his reflection for thirty years, Makak asks
to be released because he is old. He pleads judges to leave him with his dream:
“Sir, I am sixty years
old, I have live all my life
Like a wild beast in
hiding. Without child, without wife.
People forget me like
the mist on Monkey Mountain.
Is thirty years now I
have look no mirror,
Not a pool of cold
water, when I must drink,
I stir my hands first,
to break up my image,
I will tell you my
dream”(Makak, 226)
Makak
now describes his vision of a white apparition/woman who informs him that he is
a son of the African warrior kings and he should return back to Africa. He has
loved the apparition because, ”she is part of him, his deeper self, his
Jungian anima” She knows everything about him and calls him by his real
name.
Makak
continues his deposition:
“I see this woman
singing
And my feet grow roots.
I could move no more.
A Million silver needles
prickle my blood,
Like a rain of small
fishes
The snakes in my hear speak
to one another,
The smoke mouth open,
and I behold this woman.
The loveliest thing I see
on this earth,
Like the moon walking
along her on own road.” (Makak, 227)
He
claims that he can see her at that moment in the prison, but no one else does.
Makak
believes she gives him strength. Lestrade thinks this vision as an insane one: “My Lords, Is this rage for whiteness that does drive
niggers mad”(Corporal, 228)
The prologue ends with Makak praying on his knees,
rises and falls down; and the two prisoners carry him:
“Lady in heaven, is your
old black warrior,
The king of Ashanti,
Dahomey, Guinea,
Is this old cracked face
you kiss in his sleep
Appear to my enemies,
tell me what to do?
Put on my rage, the rage
of the lion?” (Makak, 228)
SCENE 1
The play shifts
back to the time before Makak was arrested, though it is part of his dream. In
Makak’s hut on monkey mountain, he lies on the ground, and the white mask is nearby. We hear a cry far off, echoing. by his business
partner and friend, Moustique, a small black man with a deformed foot (a
little man with a limp). Moustique rouses him saying it's market day, so they can go the market and sell their coal.
Makak does not want to go.
Makak: I going
mad, Moustique
Moustique: going
mad? Go mad tomorrow, today is market day. We have three bags at three and six
a bag, making ten shillings and six pence for the week and you going mad? (232)
As Moustique
lights a fire and makes coffee, Makak says that he thinks he's going mad and
asks Moustique how long they've known each other. Moustique tells him three,
four years, and recalls him of how they met: ‘One morning in the market, in
a drunken state, sleeping in the gutter like a wet fly in the dust, established
charcoal business.” (Makak cuts and burns; Moustique sells it market) He tells
Makak that he was the only person who believed in a "nigger"
like him with a broken foot. Moustique says: “Four years gone last August” (Moustique, 234)
Makak then
tells Moustique about the experience he had that night before. A
white woman appeared to him, singing. She is using exactly
the same language as he used with the Corporal, but with one difference. (same as his first
long speech) She knew all about him and wanted to come home with him. At the end of the story, Makak says that the woman called out to him by
his real name, which he never knew. ”She call
out my name, my real name. A name I do not use. Come here she say. Come, don’t be
afraid. So I go up to her, one step by step. She make me sit down and start talk
to me.”
(Makak, 235)
When Makak says
that, “she know how I live alone, with no
wife and no friend…”(Makak, 236); Moustique questions, “No friend…” (Moustique, 236).
She told Makak
that he should not live there anymore, believing he was ugly, because he comes
from a royal lineage. Makak explains, “She
say I should not live so anymore, here in the forest, frighten of people
because I think I ugly. She say that I come from the family of lions and kings.”
(Makak, 236).
Moustique grows
frustrated by Makak’s insistence that his experience was real. He asks where
the woman is now, but Makak does not know.
Moustique dismissed
it as a bad dream, “Me and Berthilia have three
bags of coal to try and sell in the market this morning. We still have eighteen
shillings for Alcindor for the shovel, and Johanne promise us a bag if
provisions in exchange for half a sack. You had a bad dream, or you sleep out
side and the dew seize you.” (Moustique,
236).
Makak’s strange
behavior is explained by Moustique as the result either of a fit brought on by
the moon, or of his encounter with the white apparition. The white woman is
described as “the moon, muse, the white
goddess, a dancer”.
After Makak leaves to get the coal so
they can go to the market, Moustique is shaken when he unexpectedly encounters
a bad sign of a mother spider and an egg sack. He says, “A Spider. A spiderwas on the sack. A big white one with
eggs. A mother with the white eggs. I hate those things.” (Moustique,
238).
He kills it, but Makak
believe this is a sign of Moustique’s impending death. Moustique dismisses
it, “I don’t believe that. I not no savage. Every
man have to die. It have a million ways to die. But no spider with white eggs
will bring it.” (Moustique, 239). Makak recalls, “She say I will
see signs,” to which Moustique replies, “Yes, every damned full moon.”
While searching
for coal sack, Moustique finds a white mask with
long coarse hair under a bench. Makak says that he has not seen it
before. He orders Moustique to ready things for their journey to Africa.
Makak says, “Listen, Moustique. I am not mad. To God, I am not mad.
You say once when I pick you up like a wet fly from the dust that you woruld do
anything for me. I beg you now, come. Don’t cry. You say we will friends until
we dead. Come, dint mind the spider. I f we dead, little one, is not better to
die, fighting like men, then to hide in this forest?” (Makak,
242) .
Finally, Moustique
is now convinced and follows him down the mountain. Moustique agrees, “What is to come, will come. Come om down the mountain.”
(Moustique, 242).
Mounted on a
donkey (Berthilia), with a bamboo spear in his hand and Moustique at his side,
Makak starts down the hill to set out on his quest.
SCENE 2
In scene-2, Makak descends from monkey
mountain and acts like a Jesus-like healer and Moustique as a Judas-like
exploiter of Makak’s spiritual strength.
A group of women robed
in white runs onstage, dancing and singing. They're followed by men carrying a sick
man (due to snake bite), Josephus, on a stretcher and he needs to sweat in order to
break his poison-triggered fever. The formally dressed Figure from the
Prologue, now given the name Basil. Moustique appears and greets one of the
Peasants carrying the stretcher. The Peasant asks Moustique to pray with him,
and they both kneel. Moustique convinces them to
let Makak help the sick man in exchange for bread. Moustique joins them in
prayers. As they mutter
fragments of the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary. We also learn that Basil is a
carpenter and cabinet-maker (coffin maker). (Basil
is a death figure dawn from Haitian Mythology.)
Makak has everyone kneel around the
sick one. He has a woman place a hot coal in his hand, “a soul in my hand”.
As it sizzles, Makak prays over them.
He prays: “Like
the cedars of Lebanon,
Like the plantations of Zion,
The hands of god plant me
on monkey mountain,
He calleth to the humble
And from the height
I see you all as trees
Like a twisted forest
Like trees without names
a forest without roots”(248)
Nothing happens at first, which
Moustique and blame on those around the sick man. Still the sick man’s wife
gives them food for their effort. Just as they are about to leave, the sick man
begins to sweat and heal. Moustique seizes the opportunity and collect food and
money from the relatives of the healed man. After collecting the gifts from
those present, Mostique teases Basil and obtains his coat and hat. When
Moustique and Makak finally depart, Moustique wants to exploit Makak’s gift for
healing for profit. Makak will only take as much as they need.
When Moustique is Concerned with collecting
money, Makak clearly states his own view point:
“You don’t undestand, Moustique. This power I have, is not profit” (254)
SCENE 3
At a public market, people gather in
the market for arrival of Makak and they discuus about Makak’s healing miracles
(spiritual powers). They also discuss how
he's passing through town on his way to the sea. Basil is present, lingering in
the background. In the meantime, Lestrade’s recollection
begins and it merges with Makak’s. The corporal, carrying a pistol; and the market inspector Caiphas
J.Pamphilion are on duty at Quarte Chemin Crossroads and they discuss how
they will keep order when Makak makes his rumored appearance. Lestrade harshly
comments: “the crippled, crippled. It’s the
crippled who believe in miracles. It’s the slaves who believe in freedom” (262)
He says that the Black natives are
paralyzed with darkness of ignorance. In fact Lestrade denies the Black aspect
of his mulatto identity. In Lestrade’s recollection A man claiming he is Makak
appears; it is, however, Moustique, appears in hemarket as healer in the
disguise of Makak. Moustique plays to the crowd,asking for cash for his trip to
Africa. While promising to help them cure themselves.
Moustique:
Qui. It is Makak
Let the enemies of Africa make
way. Let the Abyssinian lion leap again.
For Makak walk in frenzy down
monkey mountain, and god send his message in lightening handwriting.
That the sword Of sunlight be in
his right hand and the moon his shield.” (265)
He ultimately fails. As he drops the bowl in
fear of a spider when it falls on his
hand. The corporal loudly mocks him: “A
spider? A man who will bring you deliverance is afraid of spider?”(268).
He becomes upset. It is removed by Basil, who recognizes that he is not Makak
but Moustique. Basil, the coffin Maker ultimately exposes Moustique’s disguise:
“You cannot run at enough, eh? Moustique! That
is not Makak! His name is Moustique!”(269).
Moustique under duress, confesses the
truth: “You know who I am? You want to know
who I am? Makak! Makak! Or the Moustique , is not the same nigger?………. All I
have is this (shows the mask) black fces, White masks!”(270-71). And
insults the crowd , they beat them for a few moments, before the corporal tells
them to disperse.
This truth is also applicable to the condition
of Lestrade because he is a mulatto as both of them are black natives. Makak,
however, arrives after they leave and gazes into Moutique’s dying eyes; what he
sees is only emptiness and black nothingness. Moustique tells him to go back to
monkey mountain before dying.
PART TWO
Interlude:
Let us add, for
certain other carefully selected unfortunates, that other witchery of which I
have already spoken: Western culture. If I were them, you may say, I'd prefer
my mumbo-jumbo to their Acropolis. Very good: you’ve grasped the situation. But
not altogether, because you aren’t them — or not yet. Otherwise you would know
that they can’t choose; they must have both. Two worlds: that makes two
bewitchings; they dance all night and at dawn they crowd into the churches to
hear mass; each day the split widens. Our enemy betrays his brothers and
becomes our accomplice; his brothers do the same thing. The status of ‘native’
is a nervous condition introduced and maintained by the settler among colonized
people with their consent.
Source:
Jean-Paul Sartre’s preface to Franz Fanon’s "The Wretched of the Earth(1961)
In the interlude of the second part of
the play, the playwright uses Jean Paul Satre’s introduction to Franz Fanon’s The
Wretched of the Earth to highlight the schizophrenic psyche of a colonized
native. The two worlds of Black and White. Africa and Europe not only fight in
the psyche of Makak but this war is
running in the minds of all the West Indians or the Caribbeans. They
find themselves in the endless confusion of their of their African origin and
European legacy- whether they should be go back to African origin or to
permanently stick to the white colonizing influences.
SCENE 4
At the beginning of the part two of
the play, still in Makak’s dream, the action shifts back to jail. The Corporal
appears with food for the prisoners and distributes it to Souris and Tigre,
asking how Makak has been behaving. Souris and Tigre tell him that Makak has
been delirious, mumbling all the time. As they ask for more food, saying that
it's their right, the Corporal tells them that they have the right to what
they're getting and nothing more. He bullies Makak into begging for food, which
makes Makak beg to go home. Makak says that he has money, but the Corporal says
he can't be bribed. The Corporal reiterates that he is the law. The corporal
Lestrade, in defending white justice, says: “I
am an istrument of the law, suris. I got the white man work to do” (279).
Lestrade’s attitude echoes the attitude of the white European colonizers
towards the West Indians.
It is the same night that Makak was
arrested and the corporal is feeding the prisoners, Souris and Tigre, pretend
to be on the side of Makak to take possession of his hidden money, ask Lestrade
to release the old man, but he will not. Makak offers money to the corporal for
his freedom. The corporal will not be bribed, and is disturbed by Makak. After
the corporal leaves, Tigre convinces Souris that they might be able to escape
from prison and steal Makak’s money. To the end , they ask him about his dream
and Africa. Finally they overpower Lestrade: Tigre convinces Makak that he must
kill the Corporal-- like the lion he claims to be--- so they can escape
together. Makak reveals that he has a knife. Tigre calls the corporal in, Makak
stabs him, and they escape. The corporal is not dead and goes after them.
SCENE 5
In the forest, Makak directs Souris
and Tigre to rest while he makes a fire. Tigre and Souris are hungry and
uneasy. Makak tries to convince them that if they smoke the leaves of a certain
plant the peace they encounter will leave them without hunger. Souris protests
that he wants real food. As Makak goes a distance away to find firewood, Souris
asks Tigre whether he really thinks Makak has money. Tigre encourages him to be
patient, saying that to get what they want they need to become part of Makak's
madness.
As Makak lays out his plans, Souris
begins to believe in his words. Tigre grows frightened and impatient. Makak
makes him his general. While cooking food Souris has obtained, He and Tigre
discuss how they are convinced that Makak is totally crazy. (Tigre wants hidden
money of Makak, but Souris changes his
mind and supports Makak)
While they hear someone coming, the
three men hide in the bushes. The corporal appears, following their trial and
talking in incomprehensible terms. Basil
comes out of the bushes and tells corporal he must repent. Tigre and Souris emerge from the bushes.
Tigre encourages the corporal to confess his sins as well. Here the corporal
eventually changed and played an ‘another part’. He became aware of his
Blackness and joins Makak’s Back-to-Africa Movement. The critic Bruce King in
his book Dereck Walcott: a Caribbean Life rightly comments: “Walcott said that Dream on Monkey Mountain was about the
West Indian search for identity and what colonialism does to the spirit. The
first half of the play is white, but when Lestrade becomes an ape, the play
becomes Black, and the same sins are repeated, the cycle of violence begins
again” (275)
Under pressure, the corporal admits his Black
identity, love of Africa and his African origin. and asks Makak’s forgiveness.
The corporal becomes an Advocate of the Black race’s law and confesses his
fragmented consciousness:
Corporal: ‘’Too
late have I loved thee, Africa of my mind….. I received thee because I hated
half of myself, my eclipse. But now in that heart of the forest at the foot of
Monkey mountain… I kiss your foot. Monkey mountain… I return to this, my mother. Naked, trying very hard not to weep
in the dust. I was what I am, but now I am my self…. I sing the glories of
Makak! The glories of my race! ….. o god, I have become what I mocked. I always
was. Makak! Makak! Forgive me, old father” (299-300)
Makak appears and declares that the corporal
is one of them. Tigre and Souris wants to take physical revenge on the
corporal, but Makak will not let them. When Tigre wants to shoot the corporal ,
Souris intervenes for he is now firmly on Makak’s side. Makak tries to convince
Tigre to join them, but Tigre remains ready to kill. The corporal ends up
driving a spear through Tigre with help of Basil, killing him. Those who remain
move on.
SCENE 6
The apotheosis scene follows; it is a dream within a dream.
Transported to Africa, As the Chorus sings and dances in his praise, Makak is
placed upon his throne. Makak is now a royal figure, perhaps in Africa, still
followed by the corporal and Souris. Makak speaks himself about his “color of
Black” in a soliloquy: ”I was a king among
shadows, Either the shadows were real; and I was no king, or it is my own
kingliness that created these shadows. Either way, I am lonely, lost, and old
man again. We are wrapped in black air, we are black, ourselves shadows in the
firelight of he white man’s mind. Soon, soon it will be morning. Praise god and
the dream will raise like vapor.”(304)
Corrporal rejects his colonial uniform
and wears African robes. Makak set up a court to pass the judgement on the “enemies
of Africa” who have dominated over Blacks. The Corporal gives a long poetic
speech about how there are prisoners to be tried and how tribal law overrules
Roman law. Basil reads a list of the accused-- figures from history and
contemporary society such as Plato, Ptolemy, Al Jolson, Abraham Lincoln, Mandrake the
Magician, Shakespeare Florence Nightingale -- whom he mentions are
all white and their common crime is “whiteness”. The Chorus shouts that
the accused should be hanged. The enemies are condemned to death because they
have contributed to the repression of the Blacks.
Basil again mentions a catalogue of tributes offered to Makak from
the white world. He lists many letters
from those wanting their favor, including the Ku Klux Klan, and an apology from
South Africa. But Makak shakes head and and all the tribes reject those
tributes. None present are appeased(satisfied).
Even the dead Moustique, now a
prisoner, is brought in, He is being executed for betraying Makak’s dream.
Moustique asks Makak for Mercy, pointing out that these men might betray him as
well. He is taken away. Finally, The apparition of the white woman who made
Makak aware of his African origin is
brought in. The corporal insists Makak must kill her.
Corporal: “she
is the wife of the devil,the white witch. She is the mirror of the moon that
this ape look into ind himself unbearable. She is all that pure, all that he
cannot reach. You see her statues in white stone, and you turn your face way,
mixed with abhorrence and lust, with destruction and desire. She is lime, snow,
marble, moonlight, lilies, cloud, foam and bleaching cream,the mother of
civilization and co-founder of blackness. I too have longed for her. She is the
color of the law,religion, paper, art and if you want peace, if you want to
discover the beautiful depth of your blackness, nigger,chop off her head! When
you do this, you will kill Venus, the Virgin, the sleeping beauty. She is the
white light that paralyzed your mind, that led you into this confusion. It is
you who created her, so kill her! Kill her! The law has spoken”(319)
Makak wants to do this alone, and after much
prodding, the others finally leave. Declaring his freedom, he kills her. By beheading the apparition, Makak kills the
European side of his heritage. Before performing the act of beheading he
removes his African robe. Thus the twin”Bewitching” of Europe and Africa are
rejected at the same time. In fact neither the European nor the African side of
Makak’s self is given the chance to dominate over him.
EPILOGUE
The play returns to reality and the jail. It
is in the next morning. Inside them again are Tigre, Souris and Makak. Makak awakens from the dream and is still in the
jail. He now discovers his true identity, Felix Hobain, and does
not remember exactly why he is there. Some of his dream returns to his
consciousness.
Makak: ‘’Lord,
I have been washed from shore to shore, as a tree in the ocean. The branches of
my fingers, the roots of my feet, could grip nothing, but now, god, thy have
found ground. Let me be swallowed up in mist again, and let me be forgotten, so
that when the mist open, men can look up, at some small clearing with a hut,
with a small signal of smoke, and say, ‘Makak lives there. Makak lives where he
has always lived, in the dream of the his people’….. come Moustique, we going
home.”(326)
As Tigre sings the jailhouse song sung
at the beginning of the play, the Corporal appears, back in his original
uniform. He asks Tigre and Souris how Makak has behaved, and they tell him he's
been delirious all night, as though he's been dreaming. The Corporal wakes
Makak. He asks Makak who he is and where he lives. Makak confirms that he lives
on Monkey Mountain. He says that his name is Felix Hobain and that he's
referred to as Makak because of the way he looks. When he asks why he's in
jail, the Corporal explains that he was drunk and disorderly in the market. He
disrupted the vendors and insulted the inspector.
The corporal sets the old man free.
Just as he is about to leave, Moustique comes, hoping to free his friend. They
go home on monkey mountain.
Themes
Identity/Search for Self
When Makak is questioned at the beginning of
the play, he cannot tell Corporal Lestrade his real name or much about himself.
To the question "What is your race?" Makak replies, "I
am tired." Makak tells the corporal, Tigre, and Souris that he has not
even seen his reflection in thirty years. During his night in jail, Makak has a
dream, inspired by an apparition who came to him the night before. The white
woman who appeared to him told him that he was a king of Africa and must go
there. In his dream, Makak goes on this journey of self-discovery. He heals a
sick man thought to be on his deathbed, and his reputation grows. Though Makak
is jailed in his dream, he stabs his jailer, Corporal and leaves with fellow
inmates. The corporal, and one of the escapees, Souris, join Makak’s journey.
When Makak wakes up in reality the next day, he knows his name and has a better
scene of himself. He has more hope for his future.
Several of the minor characters has
identity issues as well. They include
the corporal, a mulatto who, at the begining of the play, only identifies with
the white, ruling side of the heritage he speaks in disparaging tones to the
black inmates. In Makak’s dream, the
corporal starts out the same way, but has a revelation of his own. He embraces
‘’ tribal law’’ over ‘’roman law’’ and
falls in with Makak’s journey. At the end of the play, when reality returns,
the corporal still disparaging towards the men of colour, but also lets Makak
go free.
Death and Rebirth:
The significant of event of Makak’s journey is healing of Josephus, a man
suffering from fever and near death. It is not the first time that Makak has
saved some one. He befriended Moustique when when he was a drunk in the gutter
and made him his business partner.
During the play, Moustique dies twice. The first time, he is caught
impersonating the now-famous healer Makak in the market place and is killed by
angry onlookers. He is alive again when Makak is a king in Africa. He appears
as a prisoner and tries to tell Makak that the men around him will betray him.
Makak allows him to be killed a second time. Yet at the end of the play, in
reality, Moustique comes to get Makak out of jail. Though Makak is already
free, Moustique escorts his newly reborn friend home. Earlier in the play, the
corporal is assumed dead after Makak stabs him to get out of prison, but he
lives and ends up joining Makak’s journey in the woods on monkey mountain. In
each of these incidents, death had a physical symbol with the character of
Basil. Each time death is imminent, Basil is present. The idea of death and
rebirth are linked to Makak and the others’ search for identity. To understand
who they re, they must directly face death in some form and emerge all the
stronger. Those who do, survive.
Race and racism:
Makak’s identity crisis is related to his
status as a man of African descent. Makak means monkey, and old man believes he
is not worth looking at. The belief is reinforced by racist attitudes expressed
by corporal Lestrade, a mulatto himself. Lestrade equates his black male
inmates with animals in a zoo. Lestrade identifies only with white,
authoritative side of his heritage. It is only in Makak’s dream that Lestrade
embraces the African side of his background and joins Makak’s journey. At the
end of the play, Makak has come to terms with his race because of his dream,
but Lestrade has not.
Setting
Dream on Monkey Mountain is an allegory set on
an unspecified island in the West Indies at an unspecified time, assumed to be
contemporary with the time the play was written. The play's action takes place
in several locations, both real and imagined. The most real place is the jail
run by Corporal Lestrade, where the play begins and ends. In Makak's dream, the
action goes from his hut on Monkey Mountain to a country road where Makak heals
the sick man and then to the public marketplace before returning to the jail
cell. After Makak, Tigre, and Souris escape, they spend time in the forest
before going to a most unreal setting of apotheosis, where Makak is king. All
of these settings underscore Makak's journey from a real existence that is
harsh, through self-awareness, and back to a reality that he feels better about
and in which he functions as a better person.
Symbolism:
Dream on the monkey mountain is replete with
complex symbolism, from characters’ names to entire subplots. Emphasizing how
much of the text is Makak’s dream, many words and actions have multiple
symbolic meanings. For example, each of the four main characters of African
descent - Makak, Moustique, Souris, and Tigre- are the names of animals. They
are monkey, mosquito, rat, and tiger, respectively. These names reveal
something of each character’s personality and perception of themselves, but
also play off the corporal’s racist remarks about running a zoo. Lestrade’s
name reflects his background, black and white. He literally straddles these
cultures. Characters are also symbolic in and of themselves. The prime example
is Basil, whose appearance symbolizes a forthcoming death of another character.
Nearly every thing that happens in
Makak’s dream has symbolic meaning. When Makak heals Josephus, he man with a
fever, it symbolizes the beginning of his awareness of his worth as a human
being. When he is a king in Africa,
Makak has to kill the white woman who appeared to him as an apparition. She
began his journey, and what she symbolizes must be killed to end it.
Walcott employs language of poetry, songs, musical
instruments, enactment of tribal rituals, masks, smoke and loud cries to make
it distinctly Caribbean play.
Language and Dialouge:
Walcott
uses language and dialogue to underscore diversity in dream on monkey mountain.
The west Indian island on which the play is set has several kinds of cultures
with different languages. The character of African descent speak English for
the most part, but it is often dialect with some local ‘’patois’’ words and
phrases, spoken by Makak especially, as well as Souris, Moustiue and Tigre.
Even their names fall under this category. When the corporal is I his authoritative
mode, he speaks in a clipped, proper English. Throwing in the occasional Latin
phrase. During this epiphany in the forest,
corporal’s language changes for the moment and becomes more like the
other characters. Though the corporal returns to the authoritative tone, the
language he then uses is in praise of Makak an that part of the corporal’s
heritage,, instead of against it. Much
of the corporal’s dialogue is a satiric take on the language of British colonialism.
Language defines who characters are and serves as a marker for how they change.
Characters speak to one another which blemishes out that they are not familiar
with correct or proper speech patterns.
Rejection of European legacy
In the play walcott rejects the idea of racial
or cultural superiority through Makak’s repudiation of African origin and
European legacy. The Caribbean culture is the creoliztion of different
cultures. Dream on the monkey mountain is a very complex play and some
ambiguities within play lead the critics to interpret the play in diverse ways.
In spite of its essential dream-sequences and ambiguities the offers us an
unforgettable character named Makak who regains his Caribbean identity through
taking revenge upon the enemies of black people and beheading the apparition of
the white apparition. Makak rejects his obsessions with his African origin and
his European legacy in beheading scene. In fact Makak asserts in reverse the
hybrid origin or multicultural aspect of Caribbean identity, He does not admit
superiority of any one particular influence, culture or race; rather embraces
the hybrid or mixed culture of his society
A DREAM- THE WHOLE SETTING
This play is a dream, one that exists not even
so much in the given minds of its principal characters as in that of its
writer, and as such, it is illogical, derivative, and contradictory.
DREAM WITHIN THE DREAM
— THE SOURCE OF DISILLUSIONMENT
— THE SOURCE OF NEW WISDOM AND ACCOMMODATION
WITH PRESENT
— RECOGNIZE NOT ROMANTICIZE
BASIC MOTIFS
DIASPORA OF CARIBBEAN NEGROS
DENIAL
OF SELF, SPACE AND POWER
Dramatic Devices
Dream on Monkey Mountain has about it a
theatricality that not only forcefully depicts the outward experience of Makak
but leads the audience into his interior life as well. This double entry
depends in large part on the melding of reality and dream, which is attained
through the rich language, the intentionally chaotic plot, the spare but
original production techniques, the provision for spectacle, and the abundant
symbols, both visual and linguistic.
The dialogue makes effective use of the West
Indian dialect and idiom. It also satirizes the bureaucratic language of
colonialism. At some points it borrows familiar lines and blends them into the
characters’ speech, as when Moustique begs and recites the Lord’s prayer
intermittently:And give us this day our daily bread . . . and is that self I
want to talk to you about, friend. Whether you could spare a little bread . . .
and lead us not into temptation . . . because we are not thieves, stranger . .
. but deliver us from evil . . . and we two trespassers but forgive us brother
. . . for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory . . . for our
stomach sake, stranger.
Like the language, the plot unfolds the play’s
action through mixing Western culture and the daily activities of West Indian
life. For example, when Makak, riding a donkey and carrying a bamboo spear, and
Moustique descend the mountain as they start their quest, the image of Don
Quixote and Sancho Panza comes to mind.
Because the production techniques have been
freed from the constrictions of realism, the stage becomes as fluid as the
landscape of a dream. Action moves from the jail to mountain to marketplace to
forest, accompanied by the dimming and raising of lights and the lifting and
lowering of suggestive scenic pieces. Although the play might be performed with
economy by doubling actors’ roles and all but eliminating scenery, it could
also take a spectacular turn, especially by accentuating its use of dance, costume,
and music. Allegorical in its thematic structure, the play incorporates a
wealth of symbols. Some are visual, as in the case of the black and white mask;
others emerge from the action, as in the scene where the corporal mocks the
British colonial attitude; and some arise from the diversity of the language,
which employs the new English of the West Indians.
Historical context
In 1967 as today, Trinidad was a culturally
diverse island in the West Indies, with a heritage that includes slavery,
colonizers, and island natives. There were many racial and ethnic groups:
African, East Indian, and white, with Spanish, British, and French influences.
Though English was the official language, many were spoken on the island
including Creole, Hindi, Urdu, and Spanish. Each culture had its own religion
as well. Catholicism, Protestantism, Hindu, and Muslim faiths were practiced on
Trinidad. The groups often thought of them selves as distinct, which created
problems, social and otherwise, especially during the formation of political
parties and unions.
Trinidad (unified with Tobago since colonial
days in the nineteenth century) had attained independent commonwealth status in
1962. The country was administered by Great Britain as part of its Commonwealth
of Nations, which meant Tobago was ruled by a governor-general appointed by
that country's leaders. A locally elected bicameral legislature was controlled
by the People’s National Movement (PNM), which had been in power since 1956.
PNM held a monopoly on power as the first to form a party-based cabinet government.
In 1967, Trinidad’s economy was not
particularly strong on any front. Two years previously, legislation had been
passed that limited the right to strike, making it harder to form nationwide
unions. The government tried to stabilize the situation, but high unemployment
reigned. This situation created social unrest that would come to a head in 1970
when curfews were imposed. Many black Trinidadians believed there was racial
discrimination in employment.Influenced by and linked to the militant Black
Power movement in the united states, demonstrations on the grass-roots level,
especially among the young, were presented in an effort to affect change. The
demonstrators were critical of the government and accused it of corruption. One
particularly radical group was the National Joint Action Congress, related to
the University of the West Indies. The congress believed that white and colored
businessmen, both local and foreign, owned most of the nation’s businesses. It
wanted to form a government that would control the whole economy, all the land,
and the sugar industry. This government would not be a democracy, but would
take power by force.
Another part of the economy that was
problematic, though on the rise, was farming. Agriculture was supported by the
government’s five-year developing plan, in place from 1962-1967. Trinidad
supported farming initiatives so the country would not have to import as much
food. A significant amount of funding went to the state lands program, which
rented government lands at low price to small farmers. This action did improve
the situation in the short term, but did nothing to address difference between
rural and urban areas they were often single-lane dirt trails, which limited
access to these areas. Trinidad’s future would be bright in the short term for
another reason. Oil deposits had been discovered in the early twentieth
century, and onshore oil drilling had been practiced ever since. By the mid
1960’s, oil drilling occurred both on and off shore. Because of the worldwide
oil crisis in the 197’s, Trinidad’s oil businesses- which included refining and
distributing-would boom. Though life in Trinidad improved greatly as social
programs were created with the government’s new funds, the boom drained people
away from agriculture. The boom was also short-lived. By the 1980’s, Trinidad’s
economy was slumping again.
Literary Heritage & History
Like many countries in the West Indies,
Trinidad has a long tradition of folklore with identifiable stock characters.
Some of these legends have their roots in animist traditions from West Africa
and were brought over by those enslaved. Patois folklore was derived primarily
from the slaves of French speakers and has a variety of characters. They
include the Soucouyant (evil old hag), Papa Bois (the father of the woods), and
Mamadlo, the mother of the water whose form is a snake with human features.
Jumbies are anything that could be construed as a bogey-man. Some stories focus
on La Diablesse, a female devil in disguise who attracts men and lures them
into the forest where they come to harm. Anase tales feature a universal
trickster who lives by his wits, though is also greedy and selfish. He is not
usually admired because of these characteristics, though stories involving him
often try to explain why things are the way they are.
Critical review
Edith Oliver of The New Yorker saw the play as
pure, successful poetry. She wrote, "Dream on Monkey Mountain is a
poem in dramatic form or a drama in poetry, and poetry is rare in the modern
theater. Every line of it plays; there are no verbal decorations. A word, too,
must be said for the absolute trust that Mr. Walcott engenders in his audience,
convincing us there is a sound psychological basis for every action and
emotion."
The New York Times' Clive Barnes shared
Oliver's high opinion. Barnes claimed that this “beautiful bewildering
play by a poet” is a “richly flavored phantasmagoria.”
Even when interpreting Walcott’s
intentions, Barnes came to the poetic aspects of dream on monkey mountain. He
wrote, “I think that Mr. Walcott is counseling is a twentieth century
black identity rather than an attempt to impose a reversal to a preslave black
identity. But much of the play’s interest
is in its spectacle and poetry.”
Another New York Times critic, Clayton Riley, generally
concurred with Barnes, though he believed the play to be too wordy. Riley
argued, “ the play is rich and complex; the author’s use of fable interwoven
with a stark elaboration of historical evidence of oppression illuminates his
work, lends it and arresting weight and texture. Walcott’s characters are drawn
with bold, sometimes extravagant strokes and, prodded by the author, they have
an inclination to talk a bit too much.” Riley’s interpretation also differed
from Barnes.’ Riley believed that “ the thesis, as proposed in Dream on Monkey
Mountain is hat the West cannot- nor should it- exist forever, given its
deplorable record of racist exploitation and butchery throughout the world.”
Barnes and Riley’s colleague at the New York
Times, Walter Kerr, Thought the poetic tendencies of the play were problematic.
He wrote, “ It would be easy to misread [the play], in spite of Micheal A.
Schultz’ admirably composed production.. because the author has a strong bent
towards poetic digression. He is long over some scenes that the thread of
essential meaning is lost altogether; forward movement is clogged by a
waterfall of words.”
After the initial productions, dream on monkey
mountain continued to be presented throughout the world, including regional
productions in the United States. Critics’ issues with the play remained the
same. In 1979, Joseph McLellan of the Washington Post Reviewed a local
production. He found it “a kind of play often written by poets…. it is too
long, loosely organized and specialized in interest for commercial success in
the country, but striking in its use of language, fresh and original in its
ideas and symbolism.” McLellan’s interpretation focused on the dream aspect of
the title. He rote, “ in a colonial society, one way to compensate for lack of
power is to dream. But dreams are also a source of power and a shaping force in
its use, if enough people share the dream. This is the central statement of
dream on monkey mountain.’’
Fifteen years later, Dream on monkey mountain
continued to be produced regionally in the united states. Of a Boston
production at playwright’s theatre, Kevin Kelly of The Boston Globe wrote, ”Deliberately
paradoxical, complex to the point of confusion, dream on monkey mountain is so
intellectually commanding- and emotionally loaded- that you’re constantly being
challenged.’’ In the same review, Kelly compared the play to the
Bible and walcott to shakespeare. Like Most critics, he saw
Walcott’s poetic touch. He wrote, Derek Walcott’s dream on monkey mountain
is great piece of work, a mesmerizing,
multilayered riff that plays like a black version of the Bible with hardly any
specific reference to Christian Literature,but, rather, in its myth-making
reach, allusive reference to all literature. It’s dense, demanding play,
clearly the work of a poet posing inside the proscenium ( the same posture
applies to Shakespeare)
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