What Role Does Religion Play in History? 

In Derek Walcott’s “The Sea is History”, Walcott references religion various times throughout the story of the African slaves who had died during their journey overseas. Walcott’s use in biblical terms such as “Genesis” create a much grander scheme as it was built up to be “… like a light at the end of a tunnel, the lantern of a caravel…” (Stanza 2 & 3, Line 7-10). The word genesis is defined as “in the beginning” or the “origin of formation”. By definition, it sounds like religion plays a part in history, until when the poem goes further into the story that it is apparent that in western culture, the only pieces of history that are considered valid are the ones accompanied by documents and artifacts during that time. Historical figures such as “the white sisters clapping to the waves’ progress” are shown to be a rejected idea of history as it is followed by the claim “…that [the Emancipation] was not History, that was only faith…” (Stanza 19-21, Line 60-5). The comparison between African slavery and religion seem uncanny because in this poem is seems almost like African slavery did not exist and since there was no evidence of it existing, it is therefore as equivalent to the state of religion. For that reason, most of western culture has not appropriately recognized the many lives sacrificed during these painful times that had gone to making western lives better.