''Brother Man'' (1954) is a novel by Jamaican author and journalist
Roger Mais
Roger Mais (; 11 August 1905 – 21 June 1955) was a Jamaican journalist, novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born to a middle-class family in Kingston, Jamaica. By 1951, he had won ten first prizes in West Indian literary competitions.Ha ...
, about a Christ-like wise-man and folk
Rastafarian healer, 'Bra' Man' (in dialect) John Power. The book is significant as the first serious representation of the
Rastafari movement in literature. Mais foresaw the defining power of the Rasta movement to Jamaican society 20 years before the era of
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
and
Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
mainstream.
"Roger Mais 'Brother Man' Knotty Dread steps forward"
Jah Works
It is also significant as an exploration of life in the ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
of Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
. It shows how the people relate to leaders, seeing them as God-like or magic depending on their own views, but not hesitating to be overcome by mass bias and discrimination if they believe a leader has failed in any way.
The novel is written in prose with a layout that is seemingly cinematic and episodic; little is done to describe the environment beyond the claustrophobic ghetto of 'The Lane' in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica.["Brother Man Part ii"](_blank)
Imani blog, 2 January 2007
Plot summary
The plot follows the superstructure of Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
's story, with other characters resembling Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
and other figures from his life. It uses this to explore conditions in the black ghetto of Kingston and the growth of the Rastafari movement.
Reception
References
1954 novels
Jamaican novels
Novels set in Jamaica
Jonathan Cape books
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