A dilemma of Caribbean Populace: Post-Colonial conflicts and Identity crisis in Derek Walcott’s Plays

Abstract

Today, it is said that the colonial age is over, and the new age is called “postcolonial”. However, the traces of colonialism can still be observed in the postcolonial period, for colonialism opened a big wound in the psychology, culture and identity of the once colonized people. Thus, the major themes in the works written in the postcolonial period have been the fragmentation and identity crisis experienced by the once colonized peoples and the important impacts of colonialism on the indigenous. Nobel Prize laureate Derek Walcott, a victim of colonial legacy has represented these conflicts in reference to Caribbean region with depth and self-evaluation through his writings. In this paper I will examine the identity crisis and fragmentation undergone by West Indians in the postcolonial age with reference to selected works of Derek Walcott.