Brother Man - Roger Mais
Brother Man: An Analysis
In Roger Mais’ Brother Man, the author uses various narrative techniques such as flask back, characterization, setting, themes, plot, and foreshadow to narrate the story. Each technique shall be described in detail in the remainder of this analysis.
The use of flash back is evident in Part Three, Chapter Three (pg. 109) when John ‘Brother Man’ Power begins to compose his will and testament. During this composition his entire life up to his arrival in Orange Lane (his current place of residence) is made known to the audience and images of his childhood in the church, his introduction to Rastafarianism, and the days before he became a religious man are brought into focus. Similarly in Part Four, Chapter Thirteen (pg. 154-6), Brother Man describes to Minette an incident which occurs during his youth. Through this description the reader is taken to an earlier point in Brother Man’s life, and is given insight to how he became the man he is at the time in which the story is actually occurring.
Roger Mais develops characterization not through lengthy descriptions or introduction but abruptly via the ‘Chorus of People in the Lane’, a recurring element (motif) which precedes each new section of the novel. The first ‘Chorus of People in the Lane’ which heralds Part 1 of the novel informs the reader that “Bra’ Man show de gospel way…”, thus, instantaneously the reader is aware of the fact that Brother Man is a religious person. Characterization is further developed through the way in which characters interact with one another, the way they react in certain situations and occasionally the reader is given direct insight to what the character is thinking.
The novel Brother Man is set in 1950s Jamaica. The entire novel seems to take place during the year 1951 as Brother Man states in his will and testament, “I, John Power, thirty-four years/was born in the parish of Kingston, in the year Nineteen Hundred Seventeen…”, thus, being thirty four years
In Roger Mais’ Brother Man, the author uses various narrative techniques such as flask back, characterization, setting, themes, plot, and foreshadow to narrate the story. Each technique shall be described in detail in the remainder of this analysis.
The use of flash back is evident in Part Three, Chapter Three (pg. 109) when John ‘Brother Man’ Power begins to compose his will and testament. During this composition his entire life up to his arrival in Orange Lane (his current place of residence) is made known to the audience and images of his childhood in the church, his introduction to Rastafarianism, and the days before he became a religious man are brought into focus. Similarly in Part Four, Chapter Thirteen (pg. 154-6), Brother Man describes to Minette an incident which occurs during his youth. Through this description the reader is taken to an earlier point in Brother Man’s life, and is given insight to how he became the man he is at the time in which the story is actually occurring.
Roger Mais develops characterization not through lengthy descriptions or introduction but abruptly via the ‘Chorus of People in the Lane’, a recurring element (motif) which precedes each new section of the novel. The first ‘Chorus of People in the Lane’ which heralds Part 1 of the novel informs the reader that “Bra’ Man show de gospel way…”, thus, instantaneously the reader is aware of the fact that Brother Man is a religious person. Characterization is further developed through the way in which characters interact with one another, the way they react in certain situations and occasionally the reader is given direct insight to what the character is thinking.
The novel Brother Man is set in 1950s Jamaica. The entire novel seems to take place during the year 1951 as Brother Man states in his will and testament, “I, John Power, thirty-four years/was born in the parish of Kingston, in the year Nineteen Hundred Seventeen…”, thus, being thirty four years