The text opens with the words ‘Hill’ and ‘Carnival’ beginning with a capital letter, not only to indicate that the Hill and Carnival in reference are the names that people call it, but also to show clearly the significance of them. The first sentence sets the scene extensively, but phrases such as ‘Monday morning’ and ‘the awakening Hill’ lay down the scene in words especially as these phrases signify the beginning of something about to happen as waking up on a Monday morning is the clear start of the working week on most calendars. Young boys are sweeping the floor ‘before the mist clears’ and it is said that Aldrick puts on his costume at dawn in the second paragraph, which in addition to setting the time of day as being very early, it also made the surroundings clearer as a reader can imagine the mist disappearing to make way for the sunrise. This adds onto the idea that this is the beginning of a great event about to take place later in the day, with the excitement rising and the atmosphere getting warmer just like the sun. The boys clearing the ground also bring the idea of a fresh start, with the boys getting the floor ready for a new day.
At this point, the atmosphere appears to have been quiet and peaceful early in the morning, but this idea of silent stillness is broken within the first twenty words of the text. There is an obvious instance of consonance in the phrase ‘Monday morning breaks upon the backs of these thin shacks with no cock’s crow’. The repetition of the ‘mo’ sound in ‘Monday morning’ gives a sort of quiet humming noise that is in direct contrast to the rapid sounds created by the letters, ‘b’, ‘c’, and ‘k’, in the words, ‘breaks’, ‘backs’, ‘shacks’ and ‘cock’s crow’, giving the impression that the Carnival is very much anticipated by the inhabitants of the shacks and that the fact that it is Monday morning is enough to be aware of the Carnival’s arrival and there is no need for a ‘cock’s crow’ to awaken the villagers, with the onomatopoeia giving the reader the sense of hearing the cock’s crow had it been heard at all that morning.
The little boys are described thoroughly, to underline the importance of their job as sweepers and as announcers of the masqueraders’ coming. To personify the Hill by saying that the boys ‘move across the face of the awakening Hill’, Lovelace influences readers to see the Hill as a separate being that ‘wakes up’ with the villagers in order to celebrate the Carnival. The boys are said to be ‘sweeping the yards in a ritual… that goes back centuries for its beginnings’ can also be interpreted as personification of the ritual itself, with the ritual having to go back across the Middle Passage and the many different African locations in order to remember the ritual that it was. The author writes, ‘back to Africa when’, describing Africa as a time, not a place, to emphasize that this festival has not changed due to its location, but has changed only over time due to the absence of several groups of people. The culture has been lost, as well as their affirmation of warriorhood and femininity. This list, ending in the mention of a pre-existing ‘link’ between the villagers and their ancestors, demonstrates how much depth there is in the Carnival’s tradition, and here, Lovelace makes the immensity of the loss extremely apparent. In the literal sense, a reader can speculate on the plot to come, namely by expecting the character to struggle to regain the missing strength, femininity and culture.
Lovelace introduces a character finally in mid-sentence, Aldrick Prospect who is putting on his dragon costume, and the sounds created by the letters ‘b’ and ‘m’ in the words ‘the memory burning in his blood’, plus the repetition of the phrase, ‘Carnival Monday morning’, brings the reader back to the beginning of the text so as to remind the reader of the setting made up previously and ensure the reader’s thought does not stray too far away after reading the description of the history. Going from the past to the present so quickly differs from the slow, gradual train of thought going from the present back in time to the past. This further illustrates the huge loss of history, and how all of the old customs have been lost so abruptly and unknowingly in just ‘three hundred odd years’.
In Aldrick Prospect’s stream of consciousness, the warriorhood in the people of this Hill had not yet died in them, which contrasts the earlier implication that it had probably died already and this provides a slight sense of hope. Close to the end of the first paragraph, the alliteration of the ‘h’ sound in the words ‘homeland’, ‘home’, ‘humanness’, ‘uphold’, ‘huddled here’, ‘hill’, ‘hanging’, ‘hand’ and ‘human’ gives the sound of a louder buzzing reminiscent of the humming noise made earlier on in the text, indicating that more people are probably getting up and making noise in the area. Lovelace writes about Aldrick’s determination and him describing themselves as ‘hanging over the city like the open claws on a dragon’s hand’. This simile in the end of the first paragraph shows that perhaps there is strength in the people and that it is not all lost.
However, the second paragraph starts with the word ‘But’. The fact that he is ‘putting on his costume now at dawn’ and it is not ‘before the mist clears’ anymore, may be an indication of how long the process of getting into the costume takes, but it may also be a sign of Aldrick’s thought process as he thinks. He may have felt extremely hopeful and confident at first, but on hindsight, there are negative aspects to the Carnival as well, hence the use of the word ‘But’ and Lovelace continues to indicate these negativities with the repetition of the words, ‘last’ and ‘Once’. The word ‘last’ gives a sense of isolation, and this is further emphasized as he reflects upon Fisheye’s limitations and Philo’s decision. The word ‘Once’ is used to open sentences twice, and these points out that at one point Fisheye and Philo were not under the present-day situations. The mood is nostalgic and it gives the sense that Aldrick misses the old times. The word ‘rebellion’ is repeated several times as well since its first appearance in the end of the first paragraph and the reader is able to tell that the idea of rebellion must be something that has also been lost and something that Aldrick misses as well.
Stickfighters and jab jabs are described as two of the main attractions of the Carnival in the past. Both groups are described to be energetic and extreme in the sense of what they did to contribute to the Carnival and in the way they appeared. The stickfighters are compared to devils that have ‘horns on their heads and tridents’, ‘black men who blackened themselves further with black grease to make of their very blackness a menace’. This analogy is a dark and astonishing one, as Lovelace does not even choose to find synonyms for the word ‘black’ or ways to use alliteration of the ‘bl’ and the ‘ck’ sounds. By simply repeating the word ‘black’ again and again in a short sentence, the tone is made to be very intense very rapidly. In the text that I hold, and as can be seen in this very document, the word ‘menace’ is directly underneath the word ‘men’ and in this particular placement of words, I notice Lovelace’s vivid description of the transformation from ‘men’ into ‘menace’ ever more. The mention of devils and their horns and trident and them being a threat lets the reader know just how fierce and vigorous the stickfighters were.
And as for the jab jabs, they are described as being men who intentionally hurt each other to display just how much ‘burning pain’ they could withstand. This continues the hellish comparison as sinners that are sent to Hell are often described as being either in ‘burning pain’ or being ‘without feeling’ altogether. The sounds created by the letters ‘f’ and ‘l’ in the words, ‘filled’, ‘tinkling bells’, ‘long’, ‘lashed’, ‘full force’, ‘proclaiming’, ‘display’, ‘flinching’, ‘feeling’ and ‘landing’ cause a great effect. The reader can almost hear the bells ringing in their caps and shoes with the repetition of the ‘l’ sound, and with the ‘f’ sounds in particular, the reader can picture the jab jabs biting their lower lips as they endure the pain and the sound of the long whips pushing away air violently, leaving sore, aching burns on their skin.
Lovelace then writes three sentences, each one including the word ‘alone’. He writes that the stickfighters and the jab jabs have died and are now gone, which emphasizes the fact that over time, beings that were once menacing, threatening and hellish have vanished, leaving Aldrick completely alone in carrying the message. The message was lost now ‘among the clowns, among the fancy robbers and the fantasy presentations’. Clowns are a big contrast to the stickfighters, as are jesters to jab jabs, and these individuals that are dedicated to making people laugh have completely changed the meaning behind the Carnival. Words like ‘fancy’ and ‘fantasy’ points out that what there is now was not as authentic, meaningful or as exciting as what it used to be. The traditions have ‘drowned amidst the satin and the silks and the beads and feathers and rhinestones’, which highlights the difference between now and the past, when people’s humanness ‘was not determined by their possession of things’. Lovelace repeats the word ‘But’ in his last sentence and his last sentence appears to be Aldrick’s last thought before he heads out into the open in his dragon costume. It stresses the unimportance of all that he has thought about since he first put on his costume; because the worst thing that has occurred to him in this final moment is that he ‘didn’t believe in the dragon any more’.
To me, the text did not seem like it was about the magnificence of the Carnival at all, but the importance of the old traditions, full of energy and ideas of rebellion. After reading it a few times now, the sounds I hear and the images I see are hardly celebratory or colourful, but are gloomy and dim. However, the artistry of the work was pleasant to read as I have found a vast number of interesting uses of literary techniques, especially with those associated with sound because creating an atmosphere by simply using the sound of different words is a technique I find enjoyable to pay close attention to and to find meaning in. The impact this text has is stimulating and I believe I would enjoy the whole novel if I get the chance to read it in future.
