The tendency towards murderous violence has been a perennial feature of individual and collective... more The tendency towards murderous violence has been a perennial feature of individual and collective human behavior, throughout history and modernity. However, such violence is not without its varieties, consequences, and paradoxes. In the following essay, I will argue that although some elements of the allegorical play, Dream on Monkey Mountain, may admit being interpreted as a symbolic call for " violence " between colonizer and colonized, I believe that Derek Walcott does not agree with Fanon that the formerly colonized can " be first only after a murderous and decisive confrontation. " In my interpretation, Walcott allegorically describes in the play, the dismal physical, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual condition of the colonized, as the result of the prolonged and denigrating colonization, and calls the colonized, not towards violence, but rather towards a courageous faith in self, disciplined cultivation of mind and morals, and creative development of language and imagination, for individual and collective flourishing and freedom of all. The instances of " violence " in the play, in my view, are not meant to be prescriptive but allegorical, and do not advocate violence but rather depict its futility, if and when adopted. Hence, Walcott allegorically prophesies the things that can go right, but also warns of the things that can go wrong in realizing that vison. The things that can go right are expressed by the positive transformations of Makak, Souris and Lestrade. The warnings, on the other hand, come in the form of miserable end of Moustique, who wants to exploit the situation for money and power. The futile consequences of violence come in the shape of Tigre's fatal end. In essence, cultivation of creative imagination and enduring faith in self and its actualization, are some of the salient meanings of Walcott's play.
The tendency towards murderous violence has been a perennial feature of individual and collective... more The tendency towards murderous violence has been a perennial feature of individual and collective human behavior, throughout history and modernity. However, such violence is not without its varieties, consequences, and paradoxes. In the following essay, I will argue that although some elements of the allegorical play, Dream on Monkey Mountain, may admit being interpreted as a symbolic call for " violence " between colonizer and colonized, I believe that Derek Walcott does not agree with Fanon that the formerly colonized can " be first only after a murderous and decisive confrontation. " In my interpretation, Walcott allegorically describes in the play, the dismal physical, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual condition of the colonized, as the result of the prolonged and denigrating colonization, and calls the colonized, not towards violence, but rather towards a courageous faith in self, disciplined cultivation of mind and morals, and creative development of language and imagination, for individual and collective flourishing and freedom of all. The instances of " violence " in the play, in my view, are not meant to be prescriptive but allegorical, and do not advocate violence but rather depict its futility, if and when adopted. Hence, Walcott allegorically prophesies the things that can go right, but also warns of the things that can go wrong in realizing that vison. The things that can go right are expressed by the positive transformations of Makak, Souris and Lestrade. The warnings, on the other hand, come in the form of miserable end of Moustique, who wants to exploit the situation for money and power. The futile consequences of violence come in the shape of Tigre's fatal end. In essence, cultivation of creative imagination and enduring faith in self and its actualization, are some of the salient meanings of Walcott's play.
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