Questions on Brother Man

1. Some of the Narrative techniques used in the novel Brother Man are:

• Point of View-Roger Mais strategically uses this narrative technique. He consistently changes the persona in each chapter thus, giving different perspectives and views of the events of the story. He often writes in omniscient so as to express every character involved in the book's thoughts and feelings in the first person.
• Foreshadowing-The tension between Brother Man and Brother Ambo in the early scenes of the book shows that there will be some kind of conflict towards the end of the novel. Papacita and Girlie's dysfunctional relationship also foreshadows a gruesome outcome for the couple.
• Theme-There are several themes displayed in the book due to the fact that Roger Mais takes the time to involve everyone to express their views. The fact that  as the chapter changes a new persona is introduced is a leading factor to the variety of themes.
• Setting.
• Characterization-Characters such as Brother Man, Minette, Girlie,Cordelia, Jesmina are all model examples of characters within the novel that would attract a reader's sympathy. Meanwhile characters such as Papacita and Bra Ambo definitely are exempt from this bunch
• Plot-there are many varying & intricate plots within this story

3. The setting of Brother Man is a poor slum meighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica. The first publishing of Brother Man was done in the 1950's so the time era is presummably the 1950's aswell.

4. Some of the themes in Brother Man are:

• religion
• betrayl
• abuse
• poverty
• jealousy
• greed
• revenge
• love
• infidelity

5. First, it is evident at the beginning of the novel that Brother Man and Brother Ambo have a rivalry of sorts and are already some conflict is displayed. Bra' Ambo being the community's obeah man was known to have some items within his household which weren't exactly legal at the time. Knowing that the police were going to search his house he decided to go to Brother Man in the hopes of him storing the items in his house for a while. However, Brother Man refuses to hold any unholy items in his household and turns Bra' Ambo away. Thus, making Bra' Ambo very angry.
Papacita is a young man who apparently doesn't like hard work and is a well-known 'Cassonova' to most girls in the village. He is involved in a counterfeit scheme - A scandal where both he and a man named Fellows make and use counterfeit cash. When the police (Corporal Jennings) seem to be catching on, Fellows flees the scene immediately.
Girlie and Papacita seem to have a dysfunctional relationship. They are constantly bickering with each other. This is because of Papacita's constant flirting and infidelity. Papacita leaves Girlie and decides to live elsewhere with the thought of Minnette in his mind. Girlie of course being distraught and emotionally unstable about this decision follows him and ends up committing murder.
Cordelia, in the beginning, is very ill. Brother Man heals her and she is very grateful. However, a few days later her child is sick. Cordelia calls Brother Man to heal her baby boy, but this time, his prayer's are unanswered. He gives her money and tells her to take the baby to the hospital. However, after going to the hospital only once, she decides to get involved with obeah and goes to Bra' Ambo. In the end, she is driven to   insanity and she ends up suffocating her child and then killing herself.
 Brother Man is a very religious but when a murder takes place and the murderer was said to have long hair and a beard like Brother Man, Persons begin to ostracize bearded men with long hair classifying them as murderers. In the end, Brother Man is stoned by several persons who believe the theory that all bearded men with long hair are murderers and Minnette saves him .

Jesmina returns home only to find that someone has broken into her house asking for the whereabouts of her husband, Shine and the weed. Jesmina quickly maneuvers out the window before the man could cause any bodily harm to her and stays with Brother Man and Minnette for a while.

6. Foreshadowing refers to a suggestive peice in a literary work which begins to develop an idea before it actually occurs. In this way it serves as an introduction to a few of the book's main characters. Foreshadowing is evident in the "Chorus of the People in the Lane" like at the beginning of the book. On page eleven, there is mention of Bra Ambo. We get the sense that he is someone of great influence but are still not quite made aware of his purpose in the novel. His predictions are taken seriously by the villagers but the reader doesn't yet know why. In the chorus of the people in the lane Cordelia's name also appears and is related to her boyfriend who has been taken up by the police for drugs. This signifies Cordelia's problematic position even at the very start of the book. This continues throughout the book and only gets worst. From the series of foreshadowing among the villagers we also learn that they respect Bra Man as a godly man stating that he shows the gospel way. In the same respect there is already some comparison drawn between himself and Bra Ambo. The contradiction between them is shown when someone says that they'd rather follow Bra Ambo's way. Already Mais is letting the reader know that there is some difference between both Brother Man and Bra Ambo.

7. Some examples of flashbacks are the scene were Brother Man tells Minette of his past and when Minette returns the favour and divulges her past to Brother Man.