Master Dew Setting and Socialism in Masters of the Dew

Jacques Roumain's novel Masters of the Dew is at once a deeply personal tale full of poignant and powerful moments ass well as a political parable with a clear and compelling call to action. The degree to which the author, an aggressive activist for Communism in Haiti during the first half of the twentieth century, manages to blend the personal and the political in this work is a testament not only to his skill as a writer but to the depth of his convictions and values. Many different elements of the work stand to exemplify the Communist and socialist principles at the heart of Roumain's work and life, from the protagonist Manuel who like Roumain returns from abroad full of new ideas and new ideologies, to the plot of the novel and the manner in which the Haitian peasants are able to work together -- and struggle in such attempts -- in order to try to carve out a better life for themselves. One of the most pervasive elements of the story is the setting, however, and there are many ways in which Roumain uses this setting to enhance the Communist principles and values that are central to the novel. Throughout Masters of the Dew, the setting plays a practical, symbolic, and supportive role in presenting the text's central message.

Salient Features of Setting

The novel starts out with direct and explicit reference to the practical significance of the setting in shaping the lives of the characters in the story, and of propelling the eventual action that illustrates Roumain's Communist values and ideals. As the story opens, an old woman named Delira Delivrance reflects that everyone is going to die while "plunging her hands into the dust…the same dust that the dry wind scattered over the high...

23). Before anything is truly known about the characters or the plot, the setting makes it clear that humanity is in conflict with nature, or perhaps that nature is in conflict with itself, unwilling or unable to allow itself (in the form of life, human and vegetable) to flourish. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that a new harmony with the natural forces must be found, and indeed the purely practical element of the story involves Manuel's attempts to provide relief from the dry conditions on the island. The perspective of opposition to or within nature is not correct, but rather the humans on Haiti need to learn to work with their setting in a balance based on principles of need and mutual benefit, and when things seem in conflict it is because the proper and natural course of action is not being followed. Later in the story, when some events have begun to create greater levels of cooperation amongst characters and with the natural environment, Annaise is not perturbed when "night began to develop her," because "the chestnut horse knew the road" (p. 95). Familiarity with the setting and an acceptance that natural phenomenon -- the night, the horse -- will fulfill their purposes guides the character at this point, and thus the setting provides a directly practical example of Communist values of shared work and natural progress.
Failing to see the symbolism in these practical encounters with the setting would of course be a gross misreading of Roumain's text, and indeed there is a strong symbolic aspect of the setting as it relates to the themes of the novel and the clear arguments in favor of Communism and Communist ideals that appear throughout the book.…