The Flock

When Walcott wrote “The Flock,” his homeland of Saint Lucia was still under British Rule. For centuries the Europeans had prohibited enslaved people from learning to read or write. Therefore there was very little traditionally Caribbean literature or art that expressed the views and experiences of non-Europeans. Instead, the island’s culture, language, politics, and aesthetics were deeply fragmented and dominated by European influence. Natives of Saint Lucia spoke a Creole language called Patois, a combination of English and West-African dialects. However the schools taught all students in English.

Saint Lucia would not achieve full independence until 1972. Still, the power of the British was waning as the island’s inhabitants of African and Caribbean descent were working towards independence and self-governance. This process, called decolonization, was of great importance for Walcott and many other writers who lived in places governed by Europeans. Countries colonized by European powers still feel the influence of colonization. Postcolonialism, first defined by theorist Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism, is a lens that interrogates the cultural, political, and economic legacies of colonial rule.

Walcott has an ambiguous relationship with the postcolonial movement. Critics have noted that his work closely follows European traditions and