How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Page)
Quote #7
[…] the village did not seem to care/that it was dying in its change, the way it whored/away a simple life that would soon disappear/while its children writhed on the sidewalks to the sounds/ of the DJ's fresh-water-Yankee-cool-Creole. (XXI.i.111)
Achille is not overjoyed about the advent of Western-style nightlife, hotels, and casinos. Walcott will later question his resistance to such "progress," though: Does he yearn for traditional life because poverty is more picturesque and serves his art better? Or is it really about what's best for the local population? What do you think?
Quote #8
Bright Helen/was like a meteor too, and her falling arc/crossed over the village, over some moonlit lane with it's black breadfruit leaves (XXI.i.112)
Achille believes that the changes coming to the island spell doom for a more traditional way of life, especially for the younger generation. In this instance, Helen is the island, the other woman in his life, and he sees with sadness that she has entered a beautiful disintegration, just like the meteors in the night sky before him.
Quote #9
This was his garden. God bless the speed of the swift,/God bless the wet head of the mate sparkling with foam,/and his heart trembled with enormous tenderness/for the purple-blue water and the wilting shore/tight and thin as a fishline, and the hill's blue smoke,/his muscles bulging like porpoises from each oar (XXIV.i.126)
Achille's deep connection to the sea allows him to value and love the island for its natural and ancient beauty. This also makes it difficult for him to find a place for himself on an island that is rapidly being consumed by construction and corporate homogenization.