History as the Key to Unlock the Future in Omeros:Philoctete’s Healing, Achille’s Completion, and the Narrator’s Inspiration :: Omeros

History as the Key to Unlock the Future in OmerosPhiloctetes Healing, Achilles Completion, and the Narrators InspirationTime is the metre, memory the only plot (129)Derek Walcott forced the literary world to disagree with him when he denied that Omeros was an heroical. some critics suggest that, like his narrator, Walcott is not sure where his work belongs. Others suggest that Walcott denies its obvious genre in order to avoid being categorized. Regardless, Derek Walcott repeatedly says that the purpose of his musical composition is to wrestle with the duality within himself and that of the Caribbean islands, specifically St. Lucia. Despite occasionally downplaying the significance of any existence, Walcott utilizes a history/ time motif to explore historys importance in forging an identity and the future (Bloom 135). Set in St. Lucia, Walcotts Omeros reveals an island possessing a rich past. St. Lucia, a former colony, has a history of infidel religion and tradition, a diffe rent language, and an economic background based namely on fishing. Locals must try to reconcile their heritage prior to colonization, the influences of colonization, and how to create a new culture from the ashes of the others (Hogan 17). Through most of, if not the entire epic, the island is related to a woman. At times the parentences are general and at times they refer specifically to Helen. These references take many forms including a nurturing nature and physical attributes. The significance of relating the island to a woman lies in a somewhat matriarchal past where women would hold the secrets to healing and have a close link to the intrinsic nature of the island. This is in contrast to the men, who are all in search of something, and while almost linked with the island, they shy away from tradition cutting down trees, turning from the old gods, focusing on tourism and money.Characters like Philoctete and Achille try to reconcile their association of the old traditi ons with the new island, where tourism becomes a staple, as does the Christian religion. Others, including the Narrator, search for a place to belong. In the opening of the epic poem, Philoctete recounts to tourists the chopping down of a blessed grove of trees for canoes, replacing the old gods and values with a new God and varying values. This replacement, or at least shift, of the old with/ to the new runs throughout the epic following most, if not all, characters, each possessing a wound, which only heals upon some sort of reconciliation.