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

On May 1974, the first performance of Dennis Scotts An spring in the Bone was staged by the Drama Society at the University of the West Indies Mona campus in Jamaica. The bit deals with the destructive imp stage slavery has left(a) on the memoir of Afro West Indians. Scotts aim, through this play, is to reclaim and recreate the recent lost to our ancestors as well as the voice taken from them, that scarce if stands today as an echo in the bone.Though he aspires to recreate the history of then enslaved, he also acknowledges that the foregone should not hold monomania over ones self but act as a guided to not repeat yesteryear mistakes. He focuses on the rate of flow of enslavement and its transition to post emancipation while development the thematic issues of racial prejudice, the supernatural, gender roles in society and the repercussions of history. He go overs the past as a guide to fully understanding ones true personal identity and culture, a view many of his gene ration holds in high count as opposed to the modern generation who intrusts the past should remain in the past.With there being limited and somewhat biased credit of the period of enslavement, Scott intricate oral traditions and folklore animate his play to tone with a aesthesis of emotional and middleual understanding. The title itself is a play on haggling and the play is written in colloquial language in Jamaican dialect and is centered on the murder of Mr. Charles, a vacuous demesne owner, whose death occurs nine days prior to the beginning of the play, presumably at the hands of a black peasant farm owner popularly known as Crew.In the pursuit to capture Crew, his shirt and machete were name by the river bed, covered with blood. It is this evidence that leads to the conclusion by his wife, Rachel, that Crew is dead. In accordance with her cultural tradition, Rachel decides to keep a nine night for her deceased husband. The play is set in Jamaica, in an old dilapidated simoleons barn behind Crews house in the year 1937 during the post-colonial era. The italics in the play represent 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 aft(prenominal) death, the ghost rises out of the grave 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 encourage the deceased spirit to move on. Rum plays a very significant role in a nine night as it is used to appease the rooming spirit up of loved ones states Mango Salute writer, Nadya-Kaye Phillips.Scott uses the nine night as an bridle-path to answer the unresolved questions Crew has left behind by the act of spiritual possession. He brilliantly manipulates the characters of the play to transport the audience to the past and present to fully understand the history of the enslaved and his need to recreate it and elevate more reclaim it. Through this possession the voices of the dead speak through the bodies of the living. It is during the opening scene that Crews spirit manifests itself through Dream Boat later on rum is spilt at the home of the deceased.In Jamaican folklore, the breaking of glass is seen as a bad omen. When the spirit takes hold of dreamboat, Madam uses the at large(p) of a candle and oil to free dreamboat of the apparition. Scott uses stage conventions and props 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 guardianship in authenticating the play as it relates to the financial background of the main characters in the present.Primogeniture is the r ight, by law or custom, of the firstborn child to inherit the family estate, in preference to siblings, it is a practice commonly done 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 mental or material health issues. This part of African culture makes Sonson the best character to be the medium through which Crew communicates. It is after this possession, that the audience is transported through cartridge holder and space to a ship, docked take out an African coast.The use of auditory tomography is consistent in the play through instances of the drum being overcome 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 excess cast, to integrate in this scene. Through this enactment we are able to see the o pposing posts of slavery.We see the perpetual unverbalisedness of the enslaves through the historical perspective of the tribal warfare among rivalling tribes in Africa who sold prisoners of war into slavery and that of their white oppressors in European society through the writings of Bryan Edwards and the Slave traders alongside 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 vision portrays the harsh ingenuousness that the enslaved endured being captured, bought and sold like animals, this same reality that European authors dilute to create a false 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 some the characters c an be compared with these characters personality. Stone for instance has been described as strong, near as strong as Crew, however, Stone as well as other nine characters were given multiple personalities which meant that there was no one-on-one 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.