Prose Commentary: “The Dragon Can’t Dance”

The extract from Earl Lovelaces novel, The Dragon Cant Dance, is a highly descriptive prose which reveals the feelings the character Aldrick Prospect has for the loss of his communitys traditional warrior mentality. The piece of prose provides us with a third-person yet detailed account of how superannuated customs in Aldricks home (presumably Trinidad and Tobago, as the capital of Port of Spain is mentioned as being a assort of his locality) are disappearing in the face of more upstart and temperate customs.Aldrick, the protagonist of the prose, yearns to reignite the peoples passion for celebrating traditional genus Circuss, which he portrays in uniquely violent, sinister, undimmed and energetic depiction. He has a sense of nostalgia for the past, when carnivals were more beastly. Even with this rather austere rendering of past carnivals, Lovelace insists that ancient traditions supersede the significance, awe and entertainment of modern carnivals, which bewilder clowns and fancy robbers. Aldrick laments at the loss of almost antediluvian traditions, and his sadness is effectively conveyed in the intensely passionate prose.The enactment is structured in dickens paragraphs, each comprising of twenty lines. The equal organization of the passage aids in making it clearer and more coherent. Lovelace is able to clearly contrast two opposing carnivals (past carnivals and the carnival Aldrick is experiencing in the present), thus allowing readers to make clear distinctions among them. The tone of the prose is generally calm and monotonous, with the cashier exposing a slight sense of dread towards what has become of the renowned carnival.Although the language of the passage is generally simple and direct so as to give the reader a clear impression, Lovelace alike adds a few colloquial phrases which originate from the West Indies. In withdraw 23, for example, calypsos of rebellion is mentioned, describing Philos lost sense of tradition. In Line 30, jab jabs are mentioned as being part of the present carnival, once again in even soing a sense that the narrator is conversing with the reader in a casual manner appropriate for the West Indies.Rhythm in the passage is achieved by dint of a multifarious number of methods. Most sentences are lengthy, and pauses are created with the frequent use of commas, which are regularly spaced to create a successful rhythm. It is the practice session of commas in long sentences which give the passage most of its flow, as it creates a calm and slow-paced atmosphere, in which the narrator appears to be intensely contemplative. The lack of punctuation, however, aids in speeding the pace. Repetition is also used to create rhythm, as it accelerates the pace.Usage of this can be observed in Line 6, where and is repeated three times, and in line 6 to 7, in which back is repeated twice. Rhyming, especially in Line 1, provides the prose with a smoother flow, when the backs of these thin shacks are describ ed. Rhyming, however, is not a very remarkable element in the passage, and usage of it is minimal. The listing of similar terms is evident throughout the passage and clearly generates a rhythmic beat. Line 10 contains a quintessential example of this technique, where the village, the tribe, warriorhood and feminity are grouped.Alliteration is applied for the same reason of creating a smooth beat, as it connects neighboring words more intensely, as is unmingled in Line 1, with the phrase Monday morning. The usage of imagery in the passage is very subtle, and mainly utilized to describe what carnivals used to be like. The main symbolic representation used to represent ancient customs is the dragon costume that Aldrick wears in preparation of the carnival. When Aldrick wears the dragon costume, he feels a sense of entering a consecrate mask that invested him with an ancestral authority, accentuating the amount of reverence that only Aldrick feels for ancient tradition.In Line 19 to 2o, the dragon is again used to illustrate Aldricks attraction to ancient carnivals, as the narrator describes his aspiration to reestablish old traditions like the open claws at a dragons hand, threatening destruction. The terms open claws and destruction serves to reinforce the link between ancient customs with violence and evil. Yet, even with this rather negative characterization of ancient customs, Aldrick urges people to practice them, so as to let them see their beauty, as is shown in Line 18. In this line, however, ancient customs are linked with the release of beauty.The fusion of both violence and beauty to depict the carnival far-famed in bygone years creates a particularly strong oxymoron that enhances the mystery and virility of ancient customs. The image of the ancient carnival as evil, violent, and surreptitious is throw out emphasized by terms such as stickfighters in Line 25, warriorhood and devils in Line 26, and black in Line 27, which are used by the narrator to recount an actual description of the ancient carnival. The usage of imagery is a vital component of enhancing the depiction of the ancient carnival, as it adds elements of mystery and fear.Personification is another(prenominal) literary device used by Lovelace for a variety of reasons. In Line 1, the narrator describes Monday as the morning breaks upon the backs of these thin shacks, giving morning the ability to physically influence the structure of shacks. The phrase exudes a slight sense violence with the use of the word breaks. With this, one is reminded of the physically violent ancient carnivals. In Line 4, personification is again used in a similar method, with the term awakening Hill.Bestowing a hill with a human action gives the prose a mysterious and lively quality, which supports the main theme of attempting to prompt a return of authorized and violent traditions to Aldricks homeland. The main theme of ancient carnivals in contrast with present-day carnivals is cogi tate throughout the passage, partially due to repetition. Rebellion is a word frequently used in the prose, and underscores the violent nature of ancient carnivals which Aldrick tries to revive. Black is another term that is apparent in copious amounts throughout the passage.The repetition of black heightens the sense of mystery and evil surrounding ancient carnivals. The author Lovelace, primarily to add emotion and drama to the passage, also practices the literary device of onomatopoeia. The terms crow, in Line 2, beating in Line 4, cries in Line 9, and crack and tinkling in Line 31 exemplify the use of onomatopoeia, and present readers with a more dramatic narration. Onomatopoeia also amplifies the amount of energy which the ancient carnival contains. All these literary devices effectively give the passage a slimly poetic quality that enriches the impression of the carnivals to readers.The passage is a narrative account of how one person (Aldrick Prospect) yearns to revive his c ommunitys ancient carnivals, in the face of new, more calm carnivals. This ancient carnival originates from Africa, which is presumably where Aldrick and his community of people derive from. His longing for this has a certain dream-like quality, because of the mournful and monotonous tone. The consequential implication is that Aldrick yearning is more a pipe dream rather than a goal, and indeed, his desire for a return to ancient traditions are unachievable in the end.The narrator reveals that ancient traditions allow always been a part of the people of the community, yet it has been suppressed in the face of modernization. This so-called warrior mentality has, instead, remained if not in brain, certainly in blood, connoting that people still retain a primitive instinct which could be freed. The notion is starkly similar to Goldings novel Lord of The Flies, in which children who were taken away from their train atmosphere and placed in a natural environment devoid of human interf erence become more violent, evil, and generally primitive.In the passage, however, it is only Aldrick which retains and exhibits his primeval instincts, as he fails to make other people behave like him. As observed in Line 35, the dragon alone was left to offer the message, depicting Aldricks loss of support. Ultimately, even Aldrick himself admits that his thirst for ancient traditions is diminishing, as it states in Lines 39 to 40 that maybe he didnt believe in the dragon anymore. The bear believer in ancient traditions- the dragon, has lost not only support for his cause, but perhaps even his own heart, as the forces of modernization triumph against the peoples original roots.The basic theme presented is the loss of culture and primitive passion, which have simply developed into more pacific actions and behaviors with the progression of time. The peoples need to rebel and fight has abated, and resultantly there is slight of a need to demonstrate violence and fear. Aldrick is p lainly a character who is trapped in an age where ancient violent traditions hold no applicative value, thus creating a mournful atmosphere of suffering. In conclusion, I can assert that the passage from the novel The Dragon Cant Dance, by Lovelace, is exquisite in its depiction of one mans loss of identity.The passage utilizes a combination of different literary devices to instill a lugubrious and melancholic atmosphere to perfectly instance the theme, which is the loss of ancient traditions. This unique theme is thus conveyed to readers in a very idiosyncratic yet effective manner, and the authors message is successfully expressed. On the whole, the passage is able to elucidate the complicated theme of the loss of tradition due to civilization in a simple and artistic and effective manner.