Petruso is a freelance author and screenwriter in Austin, Texas. In this essay, she discusses how the idea of uncertainty is employed in the play in both positive and negative ways and in terms of each character's death or disappearance.

Many critics and scholars who have written on John Pepper Clark's The Raft have argued that the play can be read as a metaphor for the helplessness of humankind and the uncertainty of life. They point out that the raft floats down the Niger River in the dark for much of the play. The lumbermen on the raft encounter obstacle after obstacle (whirlpools, storms, fog, large ships, and the splitting of the raft), and at least three characters (Ogro, Ibobo, and Kengide) die. Yet in two of the three deaths (Ogro and Ibobo), there are positive elements. They do not die passively, but hold out hope in...