Gros-Jean, Mi-Jean and Ti-Jean
HELLO. YOU are ready now (“Yes, yes, more than ready.”) for us to talk about Gros-Jean, Mi-Jean and Ti-Jean. The title of the play, Ti-Jean and His Brothers, prepares us for Ti-Jean’s prominent role, for what other reason would the dramatist have had for using the name of the youngest brother in the title but to prepare his audience for Ti-Jean’s position? Would you have been surprised if this were your very first encounter with this play and discovered that there are two older brothers in it but the title is as it is? You would then have been wondering why his name is used.
A friend of mine told me some time ago that when she was still in the classroom, one of her students had shared with her that “Common sense noh common”. This is something that I want you to contemplate and bear in mind as we learn about these three brothers and as you turn your mind to their attitudes, self-conceit and interaction with others.
We are introduced, at the outset, to a family – to a mother and her three sons, who are clearly facing economic difficulties. This is evident in the place where they live and the possessions that are identified. They live from fishing and their cooking is done over wood fire. You do know what my reason for saying this is. Their situation is further worsened by the fact that they have caught the eye and become the target of the devil, who does not live far from them.
Do you remember that earlier in another lesson I had said that you are to factor in the St Lucian flavour as you study this play? It is presented early in the character of the bolom, an aborted foetus from St Lucian folklore which the devil uses as his tool/messenger. The bolom comes with an offer and, given the circumstances of this family, it is unlikely that one or more of the young men would not have grasped what would have seemed as a chance at material success. Consider, too, that it would have been a challenge to their young manhood. Gros-Jean and Mi-Jean, no doubt, see it as a challenge to their belief in their abilities.
Gros-Jean decides to go, to leave home, to better his prospects, he thinks. He has great confidence in his physical strength, describing his arm as “iron arm”. He believes that with his physical strength he can defeat anything. In his arrogance, he ignores his mother’s advice. In fact, as you know, he wanted to leave without his mother being aware.
HUMAN NATURE
Here the playwright captures an aspect of human nature, in that many persons, when they are young, do not want to take advice. Have you ever heard or perhaps said, “Cho, mi know you’d a sey that again. Alright ma/ sah, mi know dat aready,” while rushing away. Gros-Jean could have benefitted from his mother’s blessing, but he did not think that he needed anything else but his “old iron arm”. I want you to imagine the look on the face of each family member during this scene and what, as a result, the audience would have learnt about each of them. This is drama, remember!
How does he fare in the world outside his home? When we look at how he reacts to his mother’s advice, we can expect him to pay scant regard to the small creatures of the forest. Again bolstered by self-conceit, he fails to listen and so does not get valuable help. In his boastfulness and short-sightedness, he stumbles right into the devil’s clutches by taking a job from him. Gros-Jean does not take the time, or perhaps he does not even have the ability, to recognise the disguised evil in the form in which he has presented himself. Before we go on, I would like you to look at the contract which was agreed upon between Gros-Jean and the devil. I wonder how many persons enter into similar contracts without realising the trouble, the danger into which they put themselves?
To the theatre audience, the look on the face of both characters would, it is likely, have been very similar ... smugness and satisfaction. Their reasons, though, would have been vastly different. I can almost see Gros-Jean holding up his arm, fist clenched, in anticipation of victory as the devil quietly smirks and thinks, “I’ve got you.” How could Gros expect honesty and fair play from the devil? He expects a trial of physical strength but gets his personhood undermined instead. We know how it would feel to have someone deliberately calling us every name but our own, while we have to try hard to hold on to our anger.
His life is at stake, but Gros-Jean has no other option of keeping his life; he has nothing prepared to use against the devil. The inevitable takes place, for he could not contain his rage forever.
What a picture is created here of this person who is getting angrier and angrier but doing everything not to explode! Can you describe his hands, his eyes, his cheeks, his body language, in fact, as he says again and again that he is not angry? What an explosion when it comes!
One lesson for us is that we must be very careful of the agreements we make. Be good to yourselves, and God bless!