The Sea at Dauphin

Derek Walcott’s The Sea at Dauphin gives the audience a glimpse inside the rough lives of the fisherman and villagers of the West Indies. Afa is obstinate, believing himself brave for refusing to acknowledge the rough waters and deadly dangers of the sea. However, he drunkenly promised to take Hounakin, elderly and recently widowed, out in his canoe to experience the life of a fisherman. Now, in the sunrise and anticipation of the day, Afa regrets that offer. He is more concerned about his profits than the safety of his passenger--which rightly earns accusations of Afa’s greed, pride, and even cruelty from his mate Augustin. In this world where the villagers live and die by the sea, Afa is willing to risk his life to ensure his own survival. He will defy nature and God to pursue success.

Deliberately modeled on Irish writer J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea, Walcott’s The Sea at Dauphin is a drama of men against the power of nature. With poetic stage directions, vivid descriptions, and use of French patois dialect, The Sea at Dauphin is a postcolonial masterpiece.