Shanice Diaz 2017061057

UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

MARACAS ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH.

Final Exam: Portfolio

An Assignment
Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
ENGL388- CARIBBEAN LITERARY MASTERS: DRAMA

INSTRUCTOR: Ms. Nicole Bengochea

By

Shanice Diaz

8 May 2020

Approval……………….
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The Black Jacobins: BIOGRPAHY OF C.L.R JAMES

C. L. R. James was born on 4 January 1901 in the British colony (of the time) of Trinidad and

Tobago in the Caribbean island located in the north-eastern coast of Venezuela. James went to

attend the Queen's Royal College which was a high school in Port of Spain.

C. L. R. James was a renowned Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and

essayist, who was also a popular cricket writer. James strived hard to put across the voices of the

African native races. James was attached with socio-political causes like putting across the

voices of lesser African races to the world. James wrote several times under his pen name J.R.

Johnson. Sections of his writings throughout his life were dedicated to Caribbean and Afro-

nationalism. James was widely known for his varied range of activities that included sports,

occasional playwriting and acting. James had his own autodidactic facility. He was often termed

as an “anti-Stalinist dialectician” as his views were more open and revolutionary. James was

awarded an Honorary Doctorate from South Bank Polytechnic in London for his immense

contribution to socio-political awareness building work on races and sport. James was a very

popular cricket writer whose great work ‘Beyond a Boundary’ made way for a new era of writing

on cricket. The book is arguably the best written by James and also the best book ever written on

sport.

James started out his career by taking up the job of a school teacher. Eric Eustace Williams, who

became the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, was one of his students there. James

later turned into a writer to become a cricket journalist. He formulated a group along with Ralph

de Boissière, Albert Gomes and Alfred Mendes to bring out the anti-colonialist Beacon Group

which comprised of writers who were attached with The Beacon magazine.
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The Black Jacobins: SUMMARY

In ‘The Black Jacobins’, author C.L.R. James provides an historical account of the Haitian

Revolution, which unfolded in the French-controlled West Indies colony of San Domingo in the

wake of the French Revolution. In the first chapter, James focuses on the slave population in the

island, which were owned as property by the focus of the second chapter: the white slave-owning

classes. He specifically mentions a number of slave rebellions as evidence that the slaves were

not the docile, happy folk that many slavery apologists made them out to be.

In the third chapter, “Parliament and Property,” James describes the debate that raged in French

assembly houses over whether the colonialists or Mulattoes should be accepted as citizens in the

republic. In the fourth chapter, “And the Paris Masses Complete,” James describes continued,

strained relations between the Parisian metropolis and the colony, as well as the newfound threat

of the British.

In the fifth chapter, “The Rise of Toussaint,” James describes Toussaint’s physical features, his

relationship with the French general Laveaux, and his early efforts to consolidate his power on

the island. The sixth chapter, “The Mulattoes Try and Fail,” details the efforts of the Mulatto

class on the island to derail Toussaint’s power. The seventh chapter, “The White Slave-Owners

Again,” chronicles French administrator Sonthonax’s departure from the island. In Chapter IX,

“The Expulsion of the British,” Toussaint reluctantly agrees to aid the French in curbing the

British assault on their territory.

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The Black Jacobins: REFLECTION

In the history, James extrapolates Trotsky’s theories of ‘permanent revolution’ and ‘combined

and uneven development’ by applying them to colonial contexts and anti-colonial revolution in

another part of the world – the Caribbean and the Haitian Revolution – and to earlier time

periods, too. Permanent revolution as defined by Trotsky articulates the idea that revolution and

socialism were possible in a ‘backward’ country such as Russia, despite its lack of capitalist

development. Others, including Marx, argued that socialist revolution would happen first in

those countries where capitalism was most fully developed. Trotsky’s theory of permanent

revolution is fundamentally linked to a related idea: ‘combined and uneven development’.

Trotsky applied this idea to the situation in Russia, which had pockets of society which were still

feudal along with other areas featuring the most advanced forms of capitalism.

Thereafter, ‘Black Jacobins’ enacts the permanent revolution long before the Russian

Revolution. On slave plantations, it shows a system producing vast concentrations of unwaged

and exploited slaves, who are capable of challenging colonial power because their exploitation

and grievances are at boiling point. These enslaved people are depicted as living in the most

appalling and ‘backward’ conditions – and yet on the plantations they live side-by-side with the

plantation machinery that is powering economic growth back in mainland France, and also the

wealth being accumulated by the ‘big’ planters of the great houses in the French colony.
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The Black Jacobins: REFERENCE

 James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins
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Moon on a Rainbow Shawl: BIOGRAPHY OF ERROL JOHN

Errol John, (born Dec. 20, 1924, Port of Spain, Trinidad—died July 10, 1988, London, Eng.),

Trinidadian-born actor and playwright who wrote Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (1958), for which

he won The Observer’s prize for best new playwright in 1957 and a Guggenheim fellowship in

1958.

John, a founding member of the Whitehall Players in Port of Spain, pursued his acting career

from 1950 in London, where he found himself relegated to playing minor black characters, with

the notable exception of his performance in the title role in Othello at the Old Vic Theatre

(1962). His play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, about a man’s struggle to escape an impoverished

Port of Spain slum, was produced first in London in 1958 and then revised for a production in

New York City in 1962. It was later performed in such diverse countries as Iceland, Hungary,

and Argentina, and it became required reading in many West Indian schools. His other plays

included The Tout (1966) and Force Majeure, The Dispossessed, Hasta Luego: Three

Screenplays (1967). For television he wrote The Emperor Jones (1953), Teleclub (1954), and

Dawn (1963). He appeared on London stages in Salome (1954), The Merchant of Venice (1962),

and Measure for Measure (1963), as well as in such films as The African Queen (1951), The

Nun’s Story (1959), and Guns at Batasi (1964).

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Moon on a Rainbow Shawl: SUMMARY

Moon on a Rainbow Shawl was part of the new wave of drama in the 1950s, plays which

depicted the society of the time and included working class characters. It had beaten almost

2,000 other plays to win a drama competition in 1957. But it was set not in England but in

Trinidad. Its characters are a group of poor Trinidadians, living crammed into a small yard

around a water tap and speaking Caribbean English.

A mother is at the heart of the drama. Sophia Adams, beautifully played by Martina Laird, is far

more than the stereotypical West Indian matriarch no one dares to cross – although she has

perfected the art of the straight look. She is also exhausted, hard-working and vulnerable. Her

body is in service: her breasts available for a squally baby, her arms for washing rich women's

silk underclothes, her heart for everyone. Escape is a pipe dream: "Sometimes I wish I could do a

little running myself." She won't go far in her outsize men's shoes. By the end of the second act

she is in despair: "Everyting is wrong." Ephraim feels trapped too but he is packing for England.

He doggedly sums up the dilemma of the time: he hopes to be master of his destiny but may

become its victim. He is abandoning his pregnant girlfriend, Rosa, Jenny Jules's Mavis, the vivid

prostitute who lives opposite, is in comic contrast, although, like everyone, she is only trying to
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survive. She has a loud mouth, swivelling hips and skirt like a carnival. She is betrothed to

hilarious, gold-toothed Prince whose hernia cramps his chivalry. Only Sophia's daughter Esther

embodies hope: a scholarship girl who may be educated out of a rut. Michael Buffong's

entertaining production is tender and true. But even the captivating Ebony Steel Band cannot

banish its melancholy.

Moon on a Rainbow Shawl: REFLECTION

The moon reflects the mystery and fear within our souls. It reflects to us all that we cannot see

inside ourselves. Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, a play in three acts, written by Trinidadian

playwright and actor Errol John, was first published in 1958. It has had several performances,

perhaps most notably in New York in 1962, featuring noted actors James Earl Jones and Cicely

Tyson. The time period of the play is post-world War Two Trinidad, a very important period in

the history of the country, as it ushered in a period of rapid change. During this boom period the

GDP of the country increased annually from 1951-1961, by 8.5%. There was a corresponding

growth in population and industry; goods and services flourished. More importantly, there was a

change in attitudes and expectations: Trinidad and Tobago had been profoundly changed by

World War II. During the war, social and economic conditions had been very depressed, and in

spite of relative prosperity for many, continued to be so for some people. In Moon, we see a

cross-section of characters weathering these changes. Most have not been blessed with new

opportunities; but others have, or are on the verge of making their own dreams. Moon’s
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characters play out this common theme in a way that is uniquely Caribbean, as in this society, it

is the woman, who by dint of her strength, unshakeable values, and unwillingness to bow out in

the face of enormous struggles, lays the groundwork for the creation of a new nation.

Moon on a Rainbow Shawl: REFERENCE

 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl. (2012). Retrieved 7 May 2020, from

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/sites/default/files/moon_background_pack.pdf
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Ti Jean and His Brothers: BIOGRAPHY OF DEREK WALCOTT

Walcott was educated at St. Mary’s College in Saint Lucia and at the University of the West

Indies in Jamaica. He began writing poetry at an early age, taught at schools in Saint Lucia and

Grenada, and contributed articles and reviews to periodicals in Trinidad and Jamaica.

Productions of his plays began in Saint Lucia in 1950, and he studied theatre in New York City

in 1958–59. He lived thereafter in Trinidad and the United States, teaching for part of the year at

Boston University.

Walcott was best known for his poetry, beginning with In a Green Night: Poems 1948–1960

(1962). This book is typical of his early poetry in its celebration of the Caribbean landscape’s

natural beauty. The verse in Selected Poems (1964), The Castaway (1965), and The Gulf (1969)

is similarly lush in style and incantatory in mood as Walcott expresses his feelings of personal

isolation, caught between his European cultural orientation and the black folk cultures of his
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native Caribbean. Another Life (1973) is a book-length autobiographical poem. In Sea Grapes

(1976) and The Star-Apple Kingdom (1979), Walcott uses a tenser, more economical style to

examine the deep cultural divisions of language and race in the Caribbean. The Fortunate

Traveller (1981) and Midsummer (1984) explore his own situation as a black writer in America

who has become increasingly estranged from his Caribbean homeland.

Of Walcott’s approximately 30 plays, the best-known are Dream on Monkey Mountain

(produced 1967), a West Indian’s quest to claim his identity and his heritage; Ti-Jean and His

Brothers (1958), based on a West Indian folktale about brothers who seek to overpower the

Devil; and Pantomime (1978), an exploration of colonial relationships through the Robinson

Crusoe story. The Odyssey: A Stage Version appeared in 1993. Many of Walcott’s plays make

use of themes from black folk culture in the Caribbean.

Ti Jean and His Brothers: SUMMARY

Gros-Jean has decided to leave home to make his own way in the world. Although his mother

tries to give him advice about protecting himself from the devil; he disregards her advice by

stating, ‘I know all of this already’. This indicates that he believes that he knows best. Therefore,

he is now a man who can make is own fortunes instead he kicks leaves his mother and heads.

Gros-Jean believes brute force is the solution to all his problems. This is seen when he attacks

the Old Man. Gros-Jean want a shortcut to success so the Old Man advices him to go and work

for the White Planter (the Devil). The twist to the plot is that Gros-Jean agrees to work for the

Devil; however, if he gets angry the agreement states the devil can eat him. The Devil provokes

Gros-Jean by calling him several names and insisting he goes back to work. Gros- Jean finally
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explodes in anger. The scene ends with the devil consuming him. Similarly, Mi-Jean leaves

home and like his brother he disrespects nature like his brother Gros-Jean. This results in Mi-

Jean not talking the warnings of the creatures, especially to avoid the Old Man. We see the Old

Man’s cunning when he pretends to have visual problems. Like his brother Mi-Jean is also

arrogant. He believes his intellectual abilities surpasses all others. Therefore, he believes he can

outsmart the devil. He too goes to work for the devil (the planter); however, he refuses to speak.

Once again, the devil uses weakness to destroy the brother. Like his brothers before him, Ti-

Jean leaves home to go an conquer the Devil. Unlike his brothers, he is able to outsmart the

Devil by allowing him to experience a range of emotions. Ti-jean begs the devil for the life of

Bolom and his wish his granted. Bolom is born.

Ti-Jean and His Brothers: REFLECTION

Walcott’s choice to narrate the play from the point of view of a frog is a nod to traditional fables,

many of which incorporate the points of view of animals. Additionally, the three brothers also

embody traditional fabular archetypes—Gros Jean is the strong but dumb warrior, while Mi-Jean

is the smart but impractical dreamer. These characterizations set readers up to understand how

these traits will work both for and against the brothers throughout the play.
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The description of the Devil’s face as “powdery” can be a subtle reference to whiteness—indeed,

over the course of the play, Walcott associates the Devil with whiteness in several ways.

Additionally, Ti-Jean’s mother’s faith in God, in spite of her difficult circumstances, is the first

mention of faith in the play, setting the precedent for belief in God to become an important them.

The contrast between the Planter’s abundant meal and the family’s starvation highlights this

inequality. What’s more, here, Walcott characterizes Ti-Jean as a young boy, without much to

offer, while Mi-Jean and Gros Jean are only slightly more useful in that they make an effort.

When it was said that the Devil “owns half the world,” the Bolom subtly links the Devil to

capitalism by implying that the world is the Devil’s property. The fact that the Devil is unhappy

even with so much wealth and power implies that ownership and material wealth aren’t the

secrets to happiness; rather, the ability to feel and create human bonds are what guarantee joy

and success in the world of the play

Ti-Jean and His Brothers: REFERENCE

 Walcott, Derek. Ti-Jean and His Brothers.

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Man Better Man: BIOGRAPHY OF ERROL HILL

Errol Gaston Hill (August 5, 1921–September 16, 2003) was a Trinidadian-born playwright,

actor and theatre historian, "one of the leading pioneers in the West Indies theatre". Beginning as

early as the 1940s, he was the leading voice for the development of a national theatre in the West
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Indies. He was the first tenured African-American faculty member at Dartmouth College in the

United States, joining the drama department there in 1968. Hill was an actor and announcer with

the British Broadcasting Corporation in London, and subsequently went to teach at the

University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, as creative arts tutor

(1953–58 and 1962–65). Between 1958 and 1966 he was also working as a playwright. He was a

teaching fellow at the, 1958–66; University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria (1965–67), and then an

associate professor of drama at Richmond College of the City University of New York, 1967-68.

He was a professor at Dartmouth College from 1968 to 1989. After 1972 he devoted himself to

scholarship and writing. His early work focused on creating a body of plays uniquely suited for

audiences and actors in the West Indies. His later published work brought to light the many

accomplishments and trials of black stage actors.

Hill's works include the play Man Better Man (1964) and the non-fiction books The Trinidad

Carnival (1972), The Theatre of Black Americans (1980), and the Cambridge Guide to African

and Caribbean Theatre (1994). He also wrote some poetry, published in anthologies and regional

literary journals.

Man Better Man: SUMMARY

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The adaptation of Trinidadian playwright Errol Hill's 1960s play, was dubbed 'Jamaica Style' and

put on by the Jamaica Youth Theatre and the Philip Sherlock Centre. This was seen in the use of

the Jamaican dialect, with a few musical references to the likes of Beenie Man, Bounty Killer,

Munga and others. 'Man Better Man' tells the story of a village's struggle to be released from the

web of superstitions created by the local obeah man Papa D.

This struggle begins with a young man, Briscoe, who enters the ring of stick fighting to win the

love of the proud Miss Lily. Briscoe goes up against the fearsome Tiny Satan and seeks the help

of Papa D to make him win. Unknown to the village Papa D is the archetypical 'trickster', using

his cleverness to outsmart his minions. One of the funnier scenes is when Briscoe goes to Papa

D's hut in the forest to seek his 'spiritual power'. Papa D has Briscoe stand in a tub of water and

chants foolishly over him, while he spins him around in circles. However, Papa D plots to spread

a rumour that Briscoe will win while he bets on Tiny Satan and steals all the gambling money. In

a matrix-dance like stick fight Briscoe loses and takes it out on Papa D but is clubbed in the head

by Papa D's assistant Minee Woopsa. In the end Briscoe's so-called ghost comes back to haunt

Papa D who confesses and Briscoe is crowned the champion.

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An Echo in the Bone: BIOGRAPHY OF DENIS SCOTT

Dennis Scott (16 December 1939 – 21 February 1991) was a Jamaican poet, playwright, actor

(best known for appearances on The Cosby Show) and dancer. His well-known poem

"Marrysong" is used in the IGCSE syllabus. He was also a theatre director and drama teacher.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Scott attended Jamaica College, where he became headboy. He was

further educated at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, and taught in Jamaica,

Trinidad and Tobago (at Presentation College), and at Yale University in the United States.

While at UWI he was the assistant editor of Caribbean Quarterly. Thereafter, he went to Athens,

Georgia, on a Shubert Playwriting Fellowship (1970–71), and was later awarded a

Commonwealth Fellowship to take an education diploma course in Newcastle upon Tyne,

England. He returned to teach at Jamaica College, and then became director of the School of

Drama at the Cultural Training Centre in Kingston.

Scott taught at the Yale School of Drama, and was head of the Directing program from 1986

until his death, which occurred in New Haven, Connecticut, at the age of 51. Scott was one of the

most significant poets writing in the early post-independence period in Jamaica, and his first

published collection, Uncle Time (1973), for which he won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, is

marked by an effective literary use of the vernacular, or "nation language". He has been regarded

as one of the main influences for modern Jamaican poetry. His other poetry collections are

Dreadwalk: Poems 1970–78 (1982), Strategies (1989) and After-Image (2008).

His plays include Terminus (1966), Dog, and An Echo in the Bone (1974); the latter was

published, together with a play by Derek Walcott and one by Errol Hill, in Plays for Today

(1985), edited by Hill. Scott's dramatic work is acknowledged as a major influence on the

direction of Caribbean theatre.

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An Echo in the Bone: SUMMARY

An Echo in the Bone is about a poor farming family in rural Jamaica in 1937 – with a father,

Crew; mother, Rachel; two sons, Jacko and Son Son; and Jacko’s wife, “Bridget” – all

descendants of enslaved Africans who continue to live and work on a sugar plantation in abject

poverty after slavery ended in 1834. The play takes place during a nine-night ceremony, a

traditional African-Jamaican ritual to usher departed loved ones to the afterlife. In the play, Mas’

Charlie is dead. Everyone suspects that Crew killed Mas’ Charlie, ran away and disappeared for

nine days. His wife, Rachel, believes that her husband, Crew, is dead, and she decides to have a

nine-night ritual in his honor. In the play, the nine-night ceremony explores what happened to

Crew and to all the African ancestors through ritual spirit possession. Crew and the ancestors

return to speak through the living from a 1792 capture on a slave ship off the coast of West

Africa to Crew’s existence on a Jamaican sugar plantation in 1937.

An Echo in the Bone examines the burden of the greater crime: the crime of Crew killing the

white plantation owner or the crime of slavery against enslaved peoples that led to Crew killing

Mas’ Charlie in defence of his family’s survival.

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An Echo in the Bone: REFLECTION

Though Denis Scott aspires to recreate the history of then enslaved, he also acknowledges that

the past should not hold possession over one’s self but act as a guided to not repeat past

mistakes. He focuses on the period of enslavement and its transition to post emancipation while

using the thematic issues of racial prejudice, the supernatural, gender roles in society and the

repercussions of history. He sees the past as a guide to fully understanding ones true identity and

culture, a view many of his generation holds in high regard as opposed to the modern generation

who believes the past should remain in the past.

With there being limited and somewhat biased credit of the period of enslavement, Scott intricate

oral traditions and folklore animate his play to life with a sense of emotional and spiritual

understanding. The title itself is a play on words and the play is written in colloquial language in

Jamaican dialect and is centered on the murder of Mr. Charles, a white estate owner, whose

death occurs nine days prior to the beginning of the play, presumably at the hands of a black

peasant farm owner popularly known as Crew.

Scott uses the nine night as an avenue to answer the unresolved questions Crew has left behind

by the act of spiritual possession. He brilliantly manipulates the characters of the play to

transport the audience to the past and present to fully understand the history of the enslaved and

his need to recreate it and further more reclaim it.

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An Echo in the Bone: REFERENCE

Scott, Denis. An Echo in the Bone.