Dear Alejo Carpentier

Dear Alejo Carpentier,

     My name is Will Ticknor and I wanted to present you with a question pertaining to your book The Kingdom of This World. In Part One in the last paragraph of the chapter titled "The metamorphoses" we see the long waited return of Macandal:
     "The anxious wait lasted four years, and the alert ears never despaired of hearing, at any moment, the voice of the great conch shell which would bellow through the hills to announce to all that Macandal had completed the cycle o his metamorphoses, and stood poised once more, sinewy and hard, with testicles like rocks, on his own human legs"(37).
     As previously stated in the book Macandal does posses magical voodoo powers allowing him to change into animals and creatures alike. Is his metamorphoses simply turning back into a human to finally lead the Haitian slaves in revolution or is it to show that by waiting four whole years the Haitian slaves were not on the verge of revolution but instead a cyclical reactionary path leading to little or no freedom for themselves?
     I believe the latter seems to be the case for three reasons. First the main quest of Macandal was to "...wipe out the whites and create a great empire of free Negroes in Santo Domingo" (30). However this only results in the death of one oppressor in exchange for King Henri Christophe who is no better and maybe worse. My second reason is simply questioning Macandal's followers. Why did they wait four years? Even without Macandal they could have still continued their revolt in the city square. However once Macandal was thrust into the fire "There was no longer anything more to see. That afternoon the slaves returned to their plantations laughing  all the way" (46). This seems more like an act of defeat than victory.
     To conclude I propose my third and final reason why there was no revolution. Ti Noel is successful in his own metamorphoses but only transforms out of cowardice. It is claimed that "man's greatness consists in the very fact of wanting to be better than he is" (179). However Ti Noel, our protagonist, aims to be like Macandal who is dead. Simply put there is no revolution nor metamorphoses to be seen. There is only imitations of previous powers. Mr. Carpentier I would be honored to have your insight on my opinion.

With deep respect,
Will Ticknor