Literature Review on “An Echo in the Bone” by Denis Scott

On May 1974, the front performance of Dennis Scotts An Echo in the Bone was staged by the gambol Society at the University of the West Indies Mona campus in Jamaica. The bring in deals with the destructive allude slavery has left on the history of Afro West Indians. Scotts aim, through this persist, is to acquire and recreate the historical lost to our ancestors as well as the vocalisation taken from them, that merely stands today as an echo in the bone.Though he aspires to recreate the history of then enslaved, he also acknowledges that the early(prenominal) should non h sure-enough(a) possession over ones self nevertheless act as a guided to not repeat past mistakes. He foc employments on the period of enslavement and its transition to post liberty while using the thematic issues of racial prejudice, the supernatural, gender roles in companionship and the repercussions of history. He sees the past as a guide to fully grounds 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 on that point existence limited and somewhat colorful credit of the period of enslavement, Scott intricate oral traditions and folklore animate his play to lifetime with a sense of emotional and spiritual understanding. The title itself is a play on words and the play is written in colloquial run-in in Jamaican dialect and is centered on the murder of Mr. Charles, a white estate owner, whose demolition glide bys ix days prior to the send-off of the play, presumably at the hands of a black peasant create owner popularly known as Crew.In the pursuit to capture Crew, his clothe and machete were found by the river bed, covered with blood. It is this evidence that leads to the conclusion by his wife, Rachel, that Crew is numb(p). In accordance with her cultural tradition, Rachel decides to keep a nine night for her deceased husband. The play is se t in Jamaica, in an old dilapidated sugar barn posterior Crews ho manipulation in the grade 1937 during the post-colonial era. The italics in the play re endow a prelude of the events that will occur in the play, as well as, the stage directions.A nine night or set up is a ritualistic ceremony concerning the celebration of life and death. The Jamaican Negroes believe that for nine nights after death, the ghost rises out of the scratch up and returns to its familiar haunts states Martha Beckwith in Black Roadways. Its origin is sourced from Africa though it incorporates Christian elements and is performed to throw out the deceased spirit to move on. Rum plays a very epochal role in a nine night as it is apply to appease the rooming spirits of loved ones states Mango Salute writer, Nadya-Kaye Phillips.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 p lay to reassign the audience to the past and present to fully understand the history of the enslaved and his adopt to recreate it and further more reclaim it. Through this possession the voices of the dead speak through the bodies of the living. It is during the opening snap that Crews spirit manifests itself through reverie Boat after rum is spilt at the home of the deceased.In Jamaican folklore, the respite of glass is seen as a bad omen. When the spirit takes hold of dreamboat, chick uses the light of a candle and oil to free dreamboat of the apparition. Scott uses stage conventions and prop to portray of light versus darkness. Light may act as a representation of life and nature as opposed to the darkness of death and the unknown. Sonson, Crews first son, after putting on the clothes of his diseased father, became his fathers vessel to host. These props aid in authenticating the play as it relates to the financial stress of the main characters in the present.Primogeni ture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn kidskin to inherit the family estate, in preference to siblings, it is a practice commonly make in African Societies. The first barn male is treated specially as he will be the patriarch of the family should the existing patriarch die or is unable to perform his responsibility due to cordial or physical health issues. This part of African culture makes Sonson the trump out character to be the medium through which Crew communicates. It is after this possession, that the audience is transported through time and space to a ship, docked off an African coast.The use of auditory imagery is consistent in the play through instances of the outsmart being beaten by Rattler as well as being hear along the dock on the coast of Africa when transported to the past. In this episode, Scott successfully multiplies his characters personalities without having additional cast, to integrate in this scene. Through this enactment we be able to see the opposing perspectives of slavery.We see the perpetual voicelessness of the enslaves through the historical perspective of the tribal warfarefare among rivalling tribes in Africa who sold prisoners of war into slavery and that of their white oppressors in European society through the literary productions of Bryan Edwards and the Slave traders aboard the sea vessel on scene. The irony of this scene as it relates to the voiceless of the enslaved occurs through the violent act of Rattlers tongue being cut off in the past and Rattler in the present being a mute, here also we see Scotts genius use of characterization. Visual imagery portrays the harsh reality that the enslaved endured being captured, bought and sold homogeneous animals, this same reality that European authors dilute to create a bogus preconception.The play successfully links historical events with subjective fictionionalization which clearly depicts the seen and the unseen, the heard and the silenced. The names of few the characters can be compared with these characters personality. Stone for instance has been describe as strong, almost as strong as Crew, however, Stone as well as other nine characters were given multiple personalities which meant that there was no individual characterization. This is better understood in the production of the play which was performed by only black characters who would where white masks to represent white characters.