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Epilogue
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dream on Monkey Mountain, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism
In Dream on Monkey Mountain, the history of European colonialism suffuses every element of life on the tiny island of St. Lucia, casting it as an inescapable and oppressive force controlling the lives of the play’s characters. Even though Makak lives in the wild forest of Monkey Mountain, he isn’t immune to the power of White supremacy. Late in the play, he describes how the sight of his own Black (and therefore, according to…
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Racism, White Supremacy, and Madness
The two parts of Dream on Monkey Mountain each start with a quote drawn from Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, a book that explores the psychological ramifications of colonialism on colonized subjects and their colonizers. The epigraph to the first part predicts that the sense of inferiority imposed on colonial subjects leads to madness, and the play goes on to show that the prediction was correct. Makak, for instance, thinks of…
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The Power and Limitations of Faith
In his brief career as a prophet, Makak has notable success as a faith healer. He cures Josephus of the illness caused by a venomous snakebite and later he heals a young boy’s abscessed tooth. In fact, Makak is so successful that Moustique decides to impersonate him, hoping to make his fortune. Moustique’s short-lived career as a spiritual charlatan—demanding donations even while it’s clear he knows that he can promise nothing—illustrates the promise and limitation…
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Dreams and Progress
Most of Dream on Monkey Mountain takes the form of the visionary quest—or psychotic episode, depending on one’s interpretation—that Makak experiences during the full moon. The play’s prologue and epilogue take place in the local jail where Makak finds himself incarcerated by Corporal Lestrade for drunk and disorderly conduct. Eventually, it becomes clear that almost everything that takes place between these two scenes is filtered through Makak’s temporary insanity. His brief career as a…
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