An Echo In the Bone: Summary Of Act 1

An Echo in the Bone: Summary of Act 1

In Act 1 of the play An Echo in the Bone by Dennis Scott, the scene opens up with Rachel, the wife of Crew who has recently been widowed, lamenting over his death. Word around the village reveals that Crew, before his death, killed a white man. Rachel's daughter enters after her mother's mourning sporting a soon-to-be baby bump for her husband, Jacko. Sonson, Rachel's son enters as well and begins to have a heated conversation with his mother and sister-in-law. Soon after, Rattler and some village friends enter Rachel's house. After small talk and a little bit of a drum beat with Rattler's drum... the wake begins. The guests invite Crew's spirit and beckon him to make peace and go to the grave. at the wake Sonson puts on his father's clothes and begins to speak to his mother as if he were Crew himself. After this event, the play has a flashback. The play takes the reader back to the days of slavery, on a voyage on a ship on its way from Africa to the Antilles. The characters in the beginning take on a different identity in this scene. Bridgit portrays a plantation owner who has come to survey the quality of the potential workers. After being disrespected by one of the slaves, her escort resorted to cutting out the tongue of one of the slaves as a punishment. After the flash back on the ship ended. there was another flashback which took the reader to the time when the village discovered the a white man  was killed and the Crew had been missing for a few days now. The scene begins with Madam in her store complaining that the people of the village do not respect her store and the job it plays in providing for her financially because the villagers continually 'trust' items and seldom ever repay her for the items. After two villagers came into the shop to talk about the latest gossip about Crew, Rachel enters and is confronted with the ugly truth about her husband. after satisfying their insatiable need to know exactly what happened to Crew, she invited them to the wake at her house since it had been 9 days since his disappearance and she was certain that he was not alive. Again, the scene takes a flashback to the selling of three female slaves to a plantation owner. they are embarrassed in front of their potential master as he gropes them trying to decide which one he favours the most. Then as a final flash back, a Maroon(a person born free in Jamaica) meets up with an escaped slave and they engage in a conversation that propels the reader into Act 2.

An Echo in the Bone: Reading vs Acting

An Echo in the Bone: Reading vs Acting

Becoming the Character

My experience today in acting out the first scenes of the play helped significantly in my understanding of its story line and cultural concept. Acting out the play as opposed to reading it, gave me a better perspective of the characters and the action that was taking place. Being immersed in and having to take on the persona of a character through the play allowed me to truly experience the character and their individual situation in the play. 

Stage Directions and Working with Others

Acting out the stage directions when contrasted with reading the stage directions, gave me a tangible experience of the scene and layout of the play. The stage directions that guided what I was to act and how to act it, made me understand the character's personality better and how they react to other characters. Also, working with the other students who played the other roles gave an idea of how the other characters personalities would be like.

An Introduction to An Echo in the Bone

Echo in the Bone (1974)

The Echo in the bone was written by Jamaican-born, Dennis Scott. He was born on December 16, 1939 and he died on February 21,1991. He was awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for "Uncle Time" in 1973.

The Slave Trade

It was for economic reasons that triggered the enslavement of people particularly, the Africans; as they were viewed as inferior and lower classed in the eyes of the Europeans. The plantation system lasted roughly between the years of 1640-1876. The plantation system came about as a result of the tobacco industry struggling to compete with the large Virginian tobacco estates which could supply cheaper and better quality tobacco. In addition, the demand for tobacco from Europe had decreased and sugar was now in demand. As a consequence, sugar replaced tobacco and became the main crop throughout the colonised Caribbean. This is commonly known as the Sugar Revolution and it also marks the commencement of the plantation system.

Features of the Plantation System

*Large Farms( up to 5,000 acres) The main crop was sugar and the remainder of the land was used for the rearing of animals and growing of vegetables.

*Individual Plantation Houses included several buildings:

>Houses for workers

>Huts for slaves

>Office for records

>Workshop for repairs

>Jail

>Sick house

Conditions of Enslavement

The slaves worked from sunrise to sunset under strict and constant supervision form plantation owners,overseers and watchmen. 

>Field Workers-Africans

>House Workers-East Indians

Revolution

Revolutions occurred on the plantations in the Caribbean. The enslaved did not possess the superior or ideal weapons however, they did manage to successfully undertake revolts which included numerical advantage (strength in their numbers to overpower the Whites) and killing and wounding their oppressors.The first and most notable revolt took place in Haiti in 1791 that took nearly 12 years to come to fruition. In 1804, Haiti successfully became the first colony where freedom was attained. It was led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Emancipation from slavery was officially abolished in 1834.

Caribbean Tradition

A Wake is a watch or a vigil held beside the body of someone who has dies, it is often accompanied with ritual observances and practices. 

Nine-Nights

Nine-Nights is a funerary tradition practiced in the Caribbean  It is an extended  that wake lasts for several days. Friends and family come together to the home of the deceased. They share their condolences and memories while singing hymns and eating food together.Nine-Nights is not a time to mourn but it is a time to celebrate that the deceased is not suffering anymore.  As the name suggests, this celebration lasts nine nights and days with the ninth and final night being the night before the church service 

As tradition has is on the ninth night it is believed that the spirit of the deceased passes through the party gathering food and saying goodbye before continuing on to its resting place. The Ninth night t is the most important since it marks the end of the celebration. Stories about the deceased and memories are shared, along with prayers. On the ninth night a table is set up under a tent with food for the loved one, though no one is allowed to eat from it before midnight because it is believed that this is the time that the spirit passes through

In order for the deceased to move on there is a particular process that occurs. First, there is the "seeing". This is when someone looks at a doorway and sees the spirit. Then, they tell someone and that person tells someone and it goes on like a grapevine. The leader of the ceremony greets the spirit and then the night song begins. This is a song played for the spirit while he or she is told stories by the elders. Traditionally on the ninth night of the deceased's death their bed and mattress are turned up against the wall, in order to encourage the spirit to leave the house and enter the grave. Then the leader of the ceremony uses a piece of white chalk to draw a cross over the exit that the spirit used to leave, requesting of the spirit not to return.

Obeah

Obeah  is a term used to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices developed among West African slaves. Obeah is involves both benign and malignant magic, charms, luck, and with mysticism. In some cases, aspects of these folk religions have survived through syncretism with Christian symbolism and practice introduced by European colonials and slave owners. 

Music and Singing in relation to West Indians

Music and singing is significant to West Indians because it is what defines us, our struggle to be identified and our past history. During slavery, the Europeans tried to strip the West Africans of their identity which included religious practices, cultures, norms and music. Music and singing was used as an outlet to describe their struggle in slavery, it was also used as a form of entertainment and recreation on rest days. In contemporary times this phenomena has remained embedded in our culture and is highly regarded today. Hand clapping, drums and dancing are some of the elements that comprise the West Indian tradition.

Chorus

The chorus provides some structure to the narrative and can provide information and commentary that to not come from the main characters. The chorus acts as a kind of liaison between the audience and the actors, giving the audience a lens through which to view the action of the drama, allowing the audience to identify with a group that is "outside" the action or a character that is not actively involved in the play. it can act as an element of foreshadowing.