SOURCE: "The Theme of Madness in the Plays of Derek Walcott," in CLA Journal, Vol. XXXII, No. 2, December, 1988, pp. 148-69.

In the essay below, Peters analyzes Walcott's depiction of madness in his characters as a response to the clash between European, African, and New World cultures.

Madness in the works of Derek Walcott and most Afro-American writers means freedom from inhibitions resulting from living under cultural, political, economic, social, and philosophical proscription. Those deemed mad usually are able to delineate in the most profound terms how the proscriptive forces operate. In many cases characters like Derek Walcott's Makak, Ralph Ellison's Surgeon Vet, Alice Walker's Meridian Hill, and Ernest Gaines' Copper dare to confront what those who hold to the same norm consider overwhelming and matchless odds. These characters, in contrast to their "normal" counterparts, often wander toward the realm of the absurd. From the perspective of those who...