Read the excerpt from Midsummer by Derek Walcott. With the stampeding hiss and scurry of green lemmings, midsummer’s leaves race
to extinction like the roar of a Brixton riot tunneled by water hoses; they seethe toward autumn’s fire—it is in their nature, being men as well as leaves, to die for the sun. Based on the excerpt, what is the speaker’s perspective on the riot? The speaker thinks that the riot was a mistake. The speaker thinks that the riot was somewhat inevitable. The speaker thinks that the riot should have happened in the fall. The speaker thinks that the riot was entirely preventable.
