'Brother Man'

Brief Biography of Roger Mais

Roger Mais  was a Jamaican journalist, novelist, poet, and playwright. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica on August 11, 1905. He was extremely prolific and by 1951, Mais had won ten first prizes in West Indian literary competitions.

Mais launched his career as a journalist and contributor for the weekly newspaper, Public Opinion from 1939 to 1952, which was associated with the People's National Party. He also wrote several plays, reviews, and short stories for the newspaper Focus and the Jamaica Daily Gleaner, focusing his articles on social injustice and inequality. He used this approach to reach his local audience and to primarily push for a national identity and anti-colonialism.

Mais has published over a hundred short stories. He went to Europe: London and Paris, to fulfill himself; hired a literary agent, wrote under the fictitious name of Kingsley Croft, and presented an art exhibition in Paris. His three main novels are The Hills were Joyful Together”(1953); “Brotherman” (1954) and “Black Lightning” (1955)

He died of cancer at the early age of forty-nine.

Critique of Brother Man

Annie Paul states that “Brother Man” is the first Jamaican novel to portray the Rastafarian in a positive light.  Back then Rastaraianism represented protest and going against the norms of society.  Back  in the  1950s Rastas were viewed with disdain as a  secret cult and a menace to public safety. According to her, :

“It’s interesting to read Brother Man today, when Rastas and things Rastafarian have acquired such cultural charisma that their image, carried abroad by stars such as Bob Marley and other dreadlocked musicians, is now routinely used to advertise Jamaica as a tourist destination.”

Wikepedia, the online Encyclopedia claims that “the book is extremely significant as it is the first serious representation of Rastafarianism in literature.” Roger Mais foresaw the defining power of the Rasta movement to Jamaican society 20 years before the era of Bob Marley and Reggae mainstream.

Gleaner Art critic, Winston Wright sees Roger Mais as a visionary and states:

“In Brother Man, Mais brought prejudice to light and projected the Rastafarian as a person of peace: it seemed he saw the role they would play in a post-colonial Jamaica.”

It must be noted that within 10 years of the book's publication, ghetto youth and middle-class children were drawn to the Rasta message, and by the 1970s, a full-fledged Rasta revolution was taking place in Jamaica.

Religious aspect as it relates to Rastafarianism

In Jamaica during the 1950s when Roger Mais wrote the book Rastas and their religion were scorned. People wrote letters to the press about the fearsome look of Rastas and stating that bearded men should be arrested and put in prison.

“They should be publicly washed and shaved! They should be banished to Africa. They should be sterilized. They should be publicly flogged.”

Rastas were viewed as potential rapists and murderers. In present day Jamaica, on the other hand, Rastas have transformed into an odd kind of respectability. Rasta values, with its ital food and conscious music are perceived to be wholesome, old-fashioned, and desirable.

In the book, good and evil in the Jamaican slums are brought to life. Mais outlines the origins of the Rastafarian cult and the hero's Christ-like walk with the ordinary people he lives with. The healer who everybody calls Brother Man, a.k.a. Bra Man, is a shoe-maker whose ability to cure the sick and injured through a mystic force elevates him to the status of a prophet. As a result, crowds follow him when he walks around the lane.

With each miracle performed, his reputation spreads. Although Brother Man devotes his life to healing and caring for the inhabitants of his neighbourhood, they turn on him when things don't go their way or at the first sign of trouble, as they are not loyal to him.

This story has almost a Christlike symbolism because just as Jesus went about doing good, but yet he was crucified; so too Brother Man is peaceful, gentle, caring and does good to all his neighbours; but they turn on him in the end.