The Schooner Flight Reflection

A recurring theme through the Schooner Flight is crisis of identity. It is best embedded in Walcott’s description of Shabine as having “Dutch, nigger, and English in me, and either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation.” Genetic and national altercations embody the post-colonial society of Walcott’s Caribbean. Recurring imagery such as, “young men without flags using shirts, their chests waiting for holes,” and, “I had no nation now but the imagination. After the white man, the niggers didn’t want me,” further emphasize the narrator’s struggle with identity and the core message of Walcott’s poem; a journey of self-discovery isn’t about discovering oneself, but the realization that regardless of race or gender we as a people are capable of establishing a greater connection. Overall it is important to note the prevailing importance of this theme as it provides a narrative device to send Shabine on his journey. Contrast of identity also shapes the landscape of the poem, with instances of man vs nature and the moral compass that nationality and race provide for a man. Walcott also chose wisely to reflect this change on the prose with which he writes. He begins the poem almost traditionally before engulfing the reader with references to Caribbean land, sea, and dialect. Most importantly, and perhaps as the greatest instance of this theme, is Shabine reaching the conclusion that by not belonging to a defined nation or race he belongs to a grander commute of social outcasts. Because it shapes the main character and his actions, I believe crisis of identity is one of the poem’s most important themes. 

Bbliography 

Walcott, Derek. “The Schooner Flight.” Famous Poets and Poems, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.