Review of "Mass Man" by Derek Walcott
Mass Man by Derek Walcott, is a poem written in free verse, that describes some aspects of playing mass in a Caribbean setting while alluding to the history behind the celebrations. In the poem Walcott’s role is that of an observer. He is on the outside meticulously processing all that he witnesses while procuring it in his memory so that it can later be recorded for posterity. No detail is too inconsequential; no action above scrutiny. As an observer of a custom whose history is tied to the oppression of the people who created it, Walcott is not celebrating with his countrymen, rather, he is mocking that they celebrate their freedom by impersonating and imitating their former oppressors. Walcott’s very description of the things that he sees is therefore derisive and laden with double meaning. In stanza one of the poem, Walcott is showing how black men, the ordinary descendants of slaves, are trying to imitate those who once enslaved them, via their mass costumes. “Through a great lion’s head clouded by mange / a black clerk growls.” At first glance, it reads that a black man, who is a clerk, is wearing a costume that is supposed to be the head of a great lion, but instead the costume looks haggard and diseased. Its symbolic representation however, is tied to the literal representation through the common history that unite both connotation. The black clerk represents the slaves that once inhabited the island, whereas the lion’s head denote their British oppressors. That the lion’s head is “clouded by mange” suggests the imperfection of the great British conquerors. “Next, a gold-wired peacock withholds a man” indicates that the costume is overpowering the man who occupies its space. Here Walcott continues with his allusion to slaves and slave owners. The slave owners, like the peacock were proud, believed themselves superior, and exercised control over the slaves, much like the costume is getting the better of the man. Just like the costume “withholds” the