Omeros Books 5-6

In Book 5, Walcott seems to question authority and why/how a society determines what is acceptable and what is not. In chapter 38, the reader is asked who determines the value of time, money, history… Walcott emphatically declares that all of these things are determined by various groups of people in England. All of these concepts have power because society believes and places value upon it. What is time really? At birth, individuals are not aware of the value of a second, minute, or hour. Children must be taught. Whether we remember as children waiting for the time to pass or as adults we are constantly hounded how much longer it will take, it makes no difference. Time only has value because someone a long time ago came up with this crazy concept and it stuck. Money is the same way (though some people never come to fully understand or grasp the value or lack thereof of money). Walcott recognizes that “the Corn Exchange” is responsible for setting the market or the economy (197). Yet these consepts seem trivial in Omerors. Hector seems to adopt this value system established by the authority in Great Birtain, but his life is not happier. He is still dogged by tourists taking his picture and has to play the part of the ignorant native to win a few pieces of silver from the tourists.