Dream on Monkey Mountain

by Derek Walcott

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The Play

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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. Since it concerns Makak’s belief in an unseen force (a white goddess) and the power of his imagination to will unnatural events to happen, it is appropriate that readers, too, should be asked to suspend disbelief in the improbable. Walcott asks his audience to accept the pleasures and possibilities for personal growth available to those who, like Makak, have given themselves over to an irrational force.

Many events in this play do not make sense in naturalistic terms. Characters such as Moustique die and then return to life with a renewed sense of purpose. The sick are healed by the humblest of men, Makak, an old charcoal burner who first appears in a prison for drunken conduct and petty thievery. A cabinetmaker named Basil turns out to be a figure for death itself. These strange occurrences must be accepted at the outset if the play’s symbolic meanings and political function are to emerge. The absence of naturalistic content also allows readers to pay attention to the beautiful lyricism and the rhythms of the West Indian dialect known as patois. An acclaimed poet and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992, Walcott has suggested that the play should be “treated as a physical poem with all the subconscious and deliberate borrowings of poetry.”

In addition to its dreamlike plot and its emphasis on poetic language, the play is also designed to be produced in a highly stylized manner. The playwright has compared his play’s style to the ritualistic nature of Japanese Kabuki theater, but the origins of Dream on Monkey Mountain also reside in the folk customs, dances, and chants native to the Caribbean islands. There is a political reason behind Walcott’s employing a Caribbean setting and elements of West Indian folk traditions in his play. By using the West Indian theater as a showcase for the oral culture of the West Indies, Walcott hoped to create a more secure social identity for West Indians living under English rule.

The play’s ritualistic style is related to the system of belief held by many of the characters in the play. These characters, who live in the village near Monkey Mountain, accept on faith the healing powers of Makak’s magic. Walcott, therefore, creates an analogy through the style of the play between the villagers’ belief in Makak’s healing function and the significance of a nativist theater in enhancing the meaning and value of the lives of Caribbean villagers. Although the play does not, finally, portray a revolution against the colonial regime by the impoverished followers of Makak, the play’s style and setting do acknowledge a distinct Caribbean culture. In this sense, Dream on Monkey Mountain is a radical political statement that affirms the cultural autonomy of Walcott’s native Caribbean islands.

Like the setting, the play’s characters are presented in a stylized manner. They embody different, often ambiguous, responses to living under the yoke of colonialism. Many of the villagers, Moustique and Tigre among them, deny the mysteries of their own customs. They do not believe in Makak’s dream vision of descent from a line of ancient African kings. Moustique and Tigre are, for most of the play, interested only in how they can turn the phenomenon of Makak’s...

(This entire section contains 1223 words.)

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healing powers into their own economic profit. “You black, ugly, poor, so you worse than nothing,” Moustique tells Makak. Although he does not believe Makak, Moustique is quick to “sell [Makak’s] dreams” when he realizes that Makak’s powers are believed by other villagers. Makak tells Moustique that his ability to heal “is not for profit.”

Corporal Lestrade, a mulatto, presents a different response to the confusion of living in a racially mixed and culturally bifurcated society. The corporal identifies himself completely with his colonial oppressor by becoming part of the long arm of English law. Instead of taking pride in local traditions, the corporal believes he must “protect” the villagers from their own beliefs. Unlike Makak, the corporal thrives on the official rule of law and on a belief system based in Judeo-Christian religious principles. The corporal’s authority stems from what has been acknowledged to be true by the members of the society in power, rather than from what must be taken on faith. In the course of the play, however, Makak convinces the racist corporal that the lowly coal burner is worthy of being enthroned as a holy king.

In contrast to these characters, who in different ways live in self-hatred and denial of their own racial and ethnic identity, many other villagers believe without equivocation in Makak’s powers. Makak tells them that his power is really a belief in their own powers of hope and imagination. In one scene, for example, Makak prays not that Joseph, a dying villager, will be cured, but that his people will believe in themselves. Joseph’s sudden recovery after Makak’s visit spurs a general recognition among other villagers that Makak is a savior.

The main action of the play’s first part is Makak’s quixotic sojourn through the West Indian countryside with his skeptical companion and business partner, Moustique. These scenes are framed by a prologue and epilogue that bring the action back to the oppressive circumstances of a West Indian village under colonial rule. No matter how uplifted the audience may feel when Makak is empowered to heal sick villagers such as Joseph, the two scenes that frame the play’s main action leave open the question about the communal value of Makak’s “dream” of African nobility. In the epilogue, Makak is released from prison after he slays the apparition of the white goddess. He is let free to resume his life as a humble coal salesman. There are strong indications that nothing has changed in a material or economic sense in the life of Makak or in the lives of any of the villagers who believed in him. The corporal, for example, thinks that Makak suffered a drunken fit in his night in jail and that none of the scenes of healing and liberation actually took place. Regardless of whether or not Makak’s powers were real or only imagined, he has experienced an internal transformation by the end of the play. In his last speech, Makak affirms that he has been touched by God and that he is on his way home to the origins of his people, which he now locates on Monkey Mountain, rather than in the distance of Africa. “This old hermit is going back home, back to the beginning, to the green beginning of this world,” he says. In the epilogue, Makak also for the first time recalls his legal name, Felix Hobain. Makak’s return to his home with Moustique as companion and his remembering of his legal name suggest his acceptance of a West Indian identity that is distinct from either a purely African or purely English identity.

The Play

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Dream on Monkey Mountain opens with a prologue set in a West Indian jail where Makak, an old black man, is placed after his arrest on Saturday night for being drunk and disorderly. The mulatto jailer, Corporal Lestrade, tells the two thieves in the other cell, Tigre and Souris, that Makak thinks he is the king of Africa. The three men taunt and mock Makak, who reveals that during a dream an apparition in the form of a beautiful white woman had appeared and ordered him to reclaim his African heritage.

Shifting to Monkey Mountain, where Makak lives, scene 1 re-creates in a flashback the inception of the dream. Early in the morning, Moustique awakens his friend Makak so they can go to the market to sell coal, but Makak insists that they instead begin a journey to Africa, as an apparition appearing before him during the night had commanded. Mounted on a donkey, with a bamboo spear in his hand and Moustique at his side, Makak starts down the hill to set out on his quest. In scene 2, Makak heals a man near death, thereby beginning to establish his fame among the folk. The third scene, still in the dream state, takes place a few days later in the market, where the vendors talk excitedly of Makak’s miracles. Then Moustique enters, pretending to be Makak, and takes money and goods from the people, supposedly to finance his African journey; when they discover that he is a fake, they beat him. Makak arrives just as his friend dies.

Part 2 of the play returns to the jail. Scene 1 first recounts in a fairly realistic way the actual exchanges among Makak, the two thieves, and the corporal. It then moves into the dream state once more, acting out Makak’s hallucinations, in which he stabs the corporal and escapes with the other two men. Once they have left the stage, the supposedly dead corporal rises, draws the knife out of his chest, and announces that he will track down Makak and the thieves, who are “attempting to escape from the prison of their lives.” He goes on to explain: “That’s the most dangerous crime. It brings about revolution.”

Scene 2 continues the dream that began in the jail. The old black man and his fellow escapees, Tigre and Souris, stop to rest in the forest. Tigre, believing that Makak has money hidden on Monkey Mountain, plays along with the idea of going to Africa in order to pacify the old man; Souris, on the other hand, has started to believe in the vision, telling Makak: “But your dream touch everyone, sir. Even in those burnt-out coals of your eyes, there is still some fire.” The corporal enters in pursuit and imitates a British colonial authority, ordering his imaginary native people in phrases like “What-ho, chaps, more lights” and “No fear, lads! Steady on!” Before long, though, the corporal becomes a convert as well. He murders the doubting Tigre and insists that they fulfill Makak’s vision, claiming, “We cannot go back. History is in motion. . . . Forward, forward.”

Scene 3 completes the dream and is called in the stage directions an “apotheosis,” or an exaltation and glorification of an ideal. Makak, now a king in Africa, presides over a court where judgment falls on racial oppression throughout history. At Makak’s side stands the corporal, a fanatical adviser who demands that all prisoners and traitors be put to death, including historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Cecil Rhodes. Moustique, who died in an earlier dream but has been resurrected, is also condemned—for betraying the vision and arguing that Makak’s followers have corrupted his good intentions in order to fulfill their own desire for power and revenge. Finally, the white apparition appears before the court, the corporal demanding her death, explaining, “She is the colour 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.” Once Makak beheads the symbol of whiteness, he regains his freedom.

The epilogue, which takes place the next morning in the jail, returns to realism. Sober now, Makak is released, and his friend Moustique comes to take him back to Monkey Mountain. Although he had only dreamed his moment of glory, Makak has experienced a true apotheosis, one in which he discovered his own worth as a human being.

Dramatic Devices

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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

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In 1967, much like today, Trinidad was a culturally diverse island in the West Indies, with a history steeped in slavery, colonization, and indigenous heritage. The island was home to various racial and ethnic groups, including African, East Indian, and white populations, influenced by Spanish, British, and French cultures. Although English was the official language, many other languages were spoken on the island, such as Creole, Hindi, Urdu, and Spanish. Each culture also practiced its own religion, including Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, and Islam. These distinct groups often saw themselves as separate, leading to social and other issues, particularly during the formation of political parties and unions.

Trinidad, which had been unified with Tobago since the colonial era in the nineteenth century, achieved independent commonwealth status in 1962. As part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the country was administered by Great Britain, with Tobago governed by a governor-general appointed by British leaders. A locally elected bicameral legislature was dominated by the People's National Movement (PNM), which had held power since 1956. The PNM maintained a monopoly on power as the first party to establish a cabinet-based government.

In 1967, Trinidad's economy was struggling on multiple fronts. Two years earlier, legislation had been enacted that restricted the right to strike, making it more difficult to form nationwide unions. Despite government efforts to stabilize the situation, high unemployment persisted, leading to social unrest that culminated in curfews in 1970. Many black Trinidadians believed they faced racial discrimination in employment.

Influenced by the militant Black Power movement in the United States, grassroots demonstrations, particularly among the youth, emerged to demand change. Protesters criticized the government, accusing it of corruption. One notably radical group was the National Joint Action Congress, associated with the University of the West Indies. The Congress argued that most of the nation's businesses were owned by white and colored businessmen, both local and foreign. They advocated for a government that would control the entire economy, all land, and the sugar industry, aiming to seize power by force rather than through democratic means.

Agriculture, another problematic yet growing sector of the economy, was supported by the government's five-year development plan from 1962 to 1967. Trinidad promoted farming initiatives to reduce food imports. Significant funding was allocated to the State Lands Programme, which leased government land to small farmers at low prices. While this improved the situation in the short term, it did not address the disparities between rural and urban areas. Rural regions often had single-lane dirt roads, limiting access and connectivity.

Trinidad's short-term future looked promising for another reason. In the early twentieth century, oil deposits were discovered, and onshore oil drilling began. By the mid-1960s, drilling was taking place both on land and offshore. The global oil crisis of the 1970s led to a significant boom for Trinidad's oil industry, which included refining and distribution.

This surge in the oil sector resulted in substantial improvements in Trinidadian life as social programs were funded by the government's newfound wealth. However, the boom also drew people away from agriculture. Unfortunately, the boom was short-lived. By the 1980s, Trinidad's economy was in decline once more.

Literary Style

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SettingDream on Monkey Mountain serves as an allegory set on an unnamed island in the West Indies, at an unspecified period, presumed to be contemporary with the play’s writing. The narrative unfolds in various locations, both tangible and imagined. The most concrete setting is the jail overseen by Corporal Lestrade, where the story begins and concludes. Within Makak's dream, the scenes shift from his hut on Monkey Mountain to a country road where he heals a sick man, then to a bustling marketplace, and finally back to the jail cell. After Makak, Tigre, and Souris escape, they traverse the forest before arriving at the fantastical setting of apotheosis, where Makak is crowned as king. These diverse settings highlight Makak's journey from a harsh reality, through self-discovery, and ultimately to a more positive reality where he emerges as a better individual.

SymbolismDream on Monkey Mountain is rich with intricate symbolism, spanning from character names to entire subplots. Given that much of the narrative is Makak's dream, many words and actions carry multiple symbolic layers. For instance, the names of the four main characters of African descent—Makak, Moustique, Souris, and Tigre—translate to monkey, mosquito, rat, and tiger, respectively. These names reflect each character's personality and self-perception, while also playing into the corporal's derogatory comments about running a zoo. Lestrade's name signifies his mixed heritage, straddling both black and white cultures. Characters themselves embody symbolic meanings. A prime example is Basil, whose appearance foreshadows the impending death of another character. Almost every event in Makak's dream holds symbolic significance. When Makak heals Josephus, the feverish man, it marks the start of his recognition of his own human worth. As king in Africa, Makak must kill the white woman who appeared to him as an apparition, symbolizing the necessity to end what she represents to conclude his journey.

Language and Dialogue
Walcott employs language and dialogue to highlight the diversity in Dream on Monkey Mountain. Set on a West Indian island teeming with various cultures and languages, the play features characters of African descent who primarily converse in English. However, their English often includes dialects with local "patois" words and phrases, particularly spoken by Makak, Souris, Moustique, and Tigre. Even their names reflect this cultural blend. When the corporal adopts an authoritative stance, he speaks in precise, formal English, occasionally inserting Latin phrases. During his moment of revelation in the forest, his language temporarily shifts to resemble that of the other characters. Although he reverts to his authoritative tone, the language he uses afterward praises Makak and acknowledges his heritage, rather than opposing it. Much of the corporal's dialogue satirizes the language of British colonialism. Language not only defines the characters but also marks their transformation.

Literary Heritage
Trinidad, like many West Indian nations, boasts a rich tradition of folklore with recognizable stock characters. Some of these legends trace their origins to animist traditions from West Africa, brought over by enslaved people. Patois folklore, primarily derived from French-speaking slaves, features a variety of characters. These include the Soucouyant (an evil old hag), Papa Bois (the father of the woods), and Mamadlo, the water mother who appears as a snake with human features. Jumbies are any entities resembling a bogey-man. Some tales center on La Diablesse, a female devil in disguise who lures men into the forest to harm them. Anase stories revolve around a universal trickster who survives by his wits, though he is also greedy and selfish. While he is not typically admired for these traits, his stories often seek to explain the nature of the world.

Compare and Contrast

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  • 1967: Trinidad and Tobago has been an independent nation since 1962, although it remains under British administration.

    Today: Trinidad and Tobago is an independent republic within the British Commonwealth, having maintained this status for over twenty years.

  • 1967: Trinidad's economy is unstable, with high unemployment rates, particularly among the youth. This situation soon leads to unrest, strikes, and protests on the island.

    Today: Although Trinidad's economy remains unstable, both unemployment and inflation levels are slightly lower and tend to fluctuate. There is more optimism now, as the oil boom of the 1970s demonstrated that a robust economy is achievable.

  • 1967: The PNM (People's National Movement) holds firm control in Trinidad, facing few challengers despite allegations of corruption.

    Today: Corruption scandals and challenges from the NAR (National Alliance for Reconstruction), NDP (National Development Party), and the Movement for Unity and Progress have reduced the PNM's dominance in national politics.

  • 1967: The Black Power movement is significant in the United States and is gaining traction in Trinidad.

    Today: While such a radical, widespread movement no longer exists in the same form, many individuals continue to fight against racism in both countries.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources
Barnes, Clive. ‘‘Racial Allegory,’’ in New York Times, March 15, 1971, p. 52.

Kelly, Kevin. ‘‘The Poetic Power of Walcott's Dream,’’ in Boston Globe, July 26, 1994, p. 57.

Kerr, Walter. ‘‘How to Discover Corruption in Honest Men?,’’ in New York Times, March 15-21, 1971, sec. 2, p. 3.

McLellan, Joseph. ‘‘Powers of the Dream,’’ in Washington Post, November 30, 1979, p. C10.

Oliver, Edith. ‘‘Once Upon a Full Moon,’’ in New Yorker, March 27, 1971, pp. 83-85.

Riley, Clayton. ‘‘A Black Man's Dream of Personal Freedom,’’ in New York Times, April 4, 1971, sec. 2, p. 3.

Scobie, W. I. ‘‘The West Coast Scene,’’ in National Review, November 3, 1970, p. 1174.

Walcott, Derek. Dream on Monkey Mountain, in Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays. Farrar, Straus, 1970, pp. 207-326.

Further Reading
Colson, Theodore. ‘‘Derek Walcott's Plays: Outrage and Compassion,’’ in World Literature Written in English, April, 1973, pp. 80-96. This article examines the significance of the plays featured in the volume Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays (1970).

Hamner, Robert D. ‘‘Mythological Aspects of Derek Walcott's Drama,’’ in Ariel, July, 1977, pp. 35-58. This essay analyzes various plays by Walcott, including Dream on Monkey Mountain, through the lens of mythology.

Montenegro, David. ‘‘An Interview with Derek Walcott,’’ in Partisan Review, Spring, 1990, pp. 204-214. In this interview, Walcott discusses his sources of inspiration and his experiences as a writer.

Olaniyan, Tejumola. ‘‘Derek Walcott: Islands of History at a Rendezvous with a Muse,’’ in Scars of Conquest/Masks of Resistance: The Invention of Cultural Identities in African, African-American, and Caribbean Drama. Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 93-115. This chapter explores Dream on Monkey Mountain and other works by Walcott from multiple historical viewpoints.

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