In the following essay on Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain, author Robert Elliot Fox examines the use of metaphor and meaning in a play he— and Walcott—have described as "a dream," and discusses the social implications that the dreams, spirit-talks, and fantasies of the novel's protagonist carry.

In Derek Walcott's own words, "The play is a dream, one that exists as much in the given minds of its principal characters as in that of its writer, and as such, it is illogical, derivative, and contradictory. Its source is metaphor . . ." This statement is crucial to any profound understanding of the work, and my purpose in this essay shall be to examine the nature and function of dreams in the play in an effort to elucidate one essential level of meaning in Walcott's magnum opus.