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Gros Jean
The play’s antagonist, the Devil has two disguises: the Planter and the Old Man, also called Papa Bois. According to the Bolom, one of the Devil’s assistants, the Devil longs to feel a human emotion but is unable to. This is why he challenges Gros Jean, Mi-Jean, and Ti-Jean to a challenge—he wants to see if anyone can provoke anger in him. The Devil easily beats Gros Jean and Mi-Jean at the challenge, by taking advantage their big egos to make them angry. But humble, faithful, and rebellious Ti-Jean proves impossible for the Devil to beat, as Ti-Jean refuses to play by the Devil’s unfair rules. When disguised as the Planter, the Devil is a white man who owns a sugar cane and cotton plantation, where he employs many black Caribbean workers for low wages and subjects them to difficult working conditions. When Gros Jean goes to work for the Planter, he complains about having received no rest or pay for two days straight, which speaks to the brutal conditions colonized peoples worked under during colonial rule. Walcott’s choice to make the Planter one of the Devil’s disguises suggests that he believes the systems that the Planter represents—colonialism and capitalism—are evil. Papa Bois, on the other hand, in Caribbean folklore is usually depicted as a benevolent spirit of the forest, but in this play Walcott chooses to link him with the Devil. Perhaps because of the positive qualities generally attributed to Papa Bois in Caribbean cultures, both Gros Jean and Mi-Jean blindly trust the Old Man, while Ti-Jean, thanks to a tip from Frog, recognizes him as the Devil. Ultimately, the Devil, disguised as the Planter, loses the challenge to Ti-Jean when Ti-Jean tells him that he has destroyed all of his property. Through his characterization of the Devil, Walcott highlights the evils of materialism and, by contrast, the importance of humility and faith.
Devil / Planter/ Old Man Quotes in Ti-Jean and His Brothers
The Ti-Jean and His Brothers quotes below are all either spoken by Devil / Planter/ Old Man or refer to Devil / Planter/ Old Man . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1
Quotes
“What counts in this world is money and power.”
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“Remember what the old son of a leaf-gathering beggar said? He said that working for the Devil was the shortest way to success. Well, I walked up through the bush then I come onto a large field. Estate-like, you know. Sugar, tobacco, and a hell of a big white house where they say the Devil lives. Ay-ay. So two next black fellers bring me up to him. Big white man, his hand cold as an axe blade and his mind twice as sharp.”
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“Other people want what I have, Charley, and other people have more. Can’t help myself, Joe, it’s some sort of disease, and it spreads right down to the common man.”
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Act 2
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“A man is no better than an animal. The one with two legs makes more noise and that make him believe he can think.”
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“Descendant of the ape, how eloquent you have become! How assured in logic! How marvelous in invention! And yet, poor shaving monkey, the animal in you is still in evidence...”
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Act 3
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“You are hardly a man, a stalk, bending in the wind with no will of its own, never proven your self, in battle or wisdom […]”
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Devil / Planter/ Old Man Quotes in Ti-Jean and His Brothers
The Ti-Jean and His Brothers quotes below are all either spoken by Devil / Planter/ Old Man or refer to Devil / Planter/ Old Man . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
“What counts in this world is money and power.”
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“Remember what the old son of a leaf-gathering beggar said? He said that working for the Devil was the shortest way to success. Well, I walked up through the bush then I come onto a large field. Estate-like, you know. Sugar, tobacco, and a hell of a big white house where they say the Devil lives. Ay-ay. So two next black fellers bring me up to him. Big white man, his hand cold as an axe blade and his mind twice as sharp.”
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“Other people want what I have, Charley, and other people have more. Can’t help myself, Joe, it’s some sort of disease, and it spreads right down to the common man.”
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Act 2
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“A man is no better than an animal. The one with two legs makes more noise and that make him believe he can think.”
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“Descendant of the ape, how eloquent you have become! How assured in logic! How marvelous in invention! And yet, poor shaving monkey, the animal in you is still in evidence...”
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Act 3
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“You are hardly a man, a stalk, bending in the wind with no will of its own, never proven your self, in battle or wisdom […]”
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