(Download) "On Chapter XLV of Derek Walcott's Omeros (Critical Essay)" by Notes on Contemporary Literature # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: On Chapter XLV of Derek Walcott's Omeros (Critical Essay)
- Author : Notes on Contemporary Literature
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 51 KB
Description
Ever since its publication in 1990, Walcott's Omeros has been a celebrated text, helping to earn the poet the Nobel Prize in 1992. The concentration on postcolonial literature in literary studies during the past two decades has spurred interest in Walcott's poem which presents a Caribbean perspective on the west. Walcott's use of Homeric characters, as well as those of his own device such as the exBritish officer Major Plunkett and Maud his wife, have been well documented. One of the most important figures, however, has been often overlooked--namely the narrator himself. In a chapter late in the poem (XLV), the lives of the narrator and a primary character. Hector, coalesce in such a way that any critical or pedagogic evaluation of the poem would do well to focus on this section. In general, Book 6 of Omeros finds many of the poem's narrative strands coming together: Plunkett loses his wife Maud who, despite his often chauvinistic attitude toward her, loves her; and we witness the death of Hector who, like his Homeric counterpart, is the great rival of Achille in the poem. In fact, chapter XLV begins with Hector's death as he drives his van, the Comet, off the side of the road. The van represents outside influences as it was Hector's canoe (a symbol of island economics) that he traded for the automobile. Like his Homeric namesake who valiantly fought for the Trojans and finally died because of the will of the gods in a battle with Achilles, this Hector is fierce but similarly loses to Achille. In this poem, however, he loses not only his life but also the object of his affection: Helen, an islander who is pregnant with his child and whom Achille pines for during much of the narrative. The death of Hector signals a passing away of part of the spirit of the island as the more timid Achille wins the prize.
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