Brother Man Essay

742 Words3 Pages
In the tough West Kingston slums of Jamaica, John Power is the healer of village and has almost a godlike status amongst the villagers. Brother Man, by Roger Mais, is the tragic story of an honest Rastafarian healer and visionary who is caught up in a web of conspiracy and betrayal. Although Brother Man devotes his entire life to healing and caring for his friends and other village members, Mais does a great job by enhancing the story with rich emotional detail in describing how many of the people Bra’ Man (as Power is called) cures turn on him in more ways than one. Mais does a very effective job in writing in the dialect of the Rastafarians of Jamaica and by doing so, adds a special tone and general feeling to the writing of the novel. Mais fundamentally incorporates dialect as his main rhetorical strategy throughout the novel, especially during conversations between Fellows and the novels main antagonist, Papacita. Mais successfully integrates a very unique dialect and tone to his writing, which allows the reader to fully grasp the setting and circumstances of the novel. “Oh, not too bad, only Ah wish it was paper money we was handlin’,” (Mais 68). This novel is purely based around the actions of Bra’ Man and how he interacts with the members of his village. As a healer, people seek advice and help from Brother Man at all times, and while his sole purpose in life is to help the lives of others, he is still disrespected throughout the novel whenever anything goes wrong and their loyalty shifts to anger. However, Brother Man is able to regain the respect of the community and as the novel progresses Brother Man’s fame becomes renowned and he develops numerous followers as well as adversaries. However, out of pure jealousy, Papacita frames Brother Man with counterfeit money and sends the innocent prophet to jail. However, after several twists and deep

More about Brother Man Essay

Open Document