Explaining Texaco
Patrick Chamoiseau’s Texaco is a captivating novel that traces the history of Martinique from the time it was a slaveholding French colony to its present status as a part of France. Primarily narrated by the personal stories of Marie-Sophie Laborieux and her father, Esternome, Texaco provides a personal and communal record of the black experience in Martinique that a traditional record of history could not provide. Marie-Sophie’s narrative exposes the book’s main theme: language. The book then presents a dichotomy between the residents of Martinique. On one hand, the French language and government structure represents European beliefs in logic and order while the Creole’s beliefs are largely based on magic, allusion, and cultural traditions. There is also a dichotomy between Mulatto (European) French and Creole French, creating an even more polarizing divide between the island’s white settlers and black inhabitants. The 400 page novel is divided into four sections called Ages: The Age of Straw (1823-1920), The Age of Crate Wood (1903-1945), The Age of Asbestos (1946-1960), and the Age of Concrete (1961-1980). Chronologically, Esternome’s journey resembles the migration of former slaves: from St. Pierre, to working in factories, and finally in the city of Fort-de-France. Additionally, the materials also follow the advancement of the peoples from slavery to functioning civilization, and the materials provide security and solidarity in a place such as Ninon. All in all, the book explores the political importance of language and its relation to racial identity in Martinique through the personal narratives of Chamoiseau’s imagined characters.
Upon initially reading the book, one may not exactly understand the ...
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...n and Reno’s French and West Indian helps bridge the gap between Texaco’s interplay of fact vs. fiction, and further validates the imaginative, historical narrative that Chamoiseau so desires.
Good improvement over last two reviews. I like how you are beginning to move away from summaries and drawing connections between works. I would have still liked to see a clearer argument and less discussion of form (esp. in the first half of the essay) and more of substance. But good progress. We need to review what counts as plagiarism, so let's talk in office hours. B+
Works Cited
Burton, Richard D.E., and Fred Reno. French and West Indian: Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana Today. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia, 1995. Print.
Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. Trans. Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokurov. New York: Pantheon, 1997. Print.
Thomas More’s “Utopia”, Bartolomé de Las Casas’s “Destruction of the Indies”, and Michel de Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals” have the commonality of discussing mysterious territories which have certain conditions in several aspects of life which their present audience is unaware. The three authors describe foreign places with vastly different values and social standards, but they all describe the treatments or relations of the indigenous people by Europeans and outsiders, as well as the natives’ reaction to these treatments. More, Las Casas, and Montaigne reveal their personal views through descriptions of the different groups of indigenous people, and all suggest that their “advanced” societies are not necessarily better than those with different
Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean
The novel deals with the pain and pleasure of the past and present and how that effects the identity construction of an individual. The ethnic/racial identity of an individual can be influences by the complexities of a post-colonial society filled with social clashes, inferiority, and the othering of individuals. The novel focuses on the Haitians who have migrated to the Dominican Republic to escape poverty but are still alienated and devalued because of their poor economical conditions. By migrating to the Dominican Republic and crossing the boundary between the two countries they are symbolically being marked as ‘other’ and seen as ‘inferior’ by
"Creole Materialities: Archaeological Explorations Of Hybridized Realities On A North American Plantation. " Journal of Historical Sociology 23.1 (2010): 16-39. Academic Search Complete. 27 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Web.
The ocean is what connects the people of the Caribbean to their African descendants in and out of time. Through the water they made it to their respective islands, and they, personally, crafted it to be temporal and made it a point of reference. The ocean is without time, and a speaker of many languages, with respect to Natasha Omise’eke Tinsley’s Black Atlantic, Queer Atlantic. The multilingualism of the ocean is reminiscent that there is no one Caribbean experience. The importance of it indicates that the Afro-Caribbean identity is most salient through spirituality. It should come to no surprise that Erzulie, a Haitian loa, is a significant part of the migration of bodies in Ana Maurine Lara’s Erzulie’s Skirt. Ana Maurine Lara’s depiction
Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ...
“I like to repeat that I write neither in French nor in Creole. I write in Maryse Conde,”1 (“Liaison dangereuse,” 2007) is a statement that could not be less accurate for the Guadeloupean writer. Writing in French is especially problematic for post-colonialist Francophone authors; using the language of the colonizer while attempting to dismantle cultural and linguistic hierarchy seems to be an act of futility. To be sure, Conde, the author of Crossing the Mangrove, apparently writes in the French language but she capably deconstructs the notion that a language must be necessarily tied to the culture and history it traditionally represents. Through careful practice of intertextuality (the shaping of one text's meaning through reference or application of a previous text) and narrative experimentation in Crossing the Mangrove, Conde demonstrates that objectivity in every sense is impossible. Using the French language is not an act of capitulation to the colonizer and acceptance of all things “French” in the same way that one person's retelling of an event is not the ultimate truth. In Crossing the Mangrove, Conde presents the strange and dark history of Francis Sancher from multiple perspectives and simultaneously works in aspects of the Western literary canon (specifically, William Faulkner). This emphasis on literary and real-life incoherency is iterated by the symbolic motif of trees and their roots throughout the novel. In analyzing Crossing the Mangrove, it is evident that the amalgamation of intertextuality, shifting narrative perspectives, and the motif of trees and their roots contextualizes the fragmented nature of diasporic identity. Truly, it i...
A poem that incorporates the oppression of the people living in Martinique, and the political uprising of Martinique during French colonization would be “Out of Alien Days” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire especially uses examples of imagery and tone to express the ideas of oppression and political revolution to focus on the forms of literature he describes. Along with examples of the literary elements, there should be an explanation of Cesaire’s usage of image and tone that explains the author’s main message in “Out of Alien Days.” In “Out of Alien Days,” Aime Cesaire uses the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone to illustrate the problems of the French colonization in Martinique. Cesaire constructs a definitive path in his poem where he is calling for change in Martinique, and rallying his people against the French empire. This paper is about introducing the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone along with examples used by Cesaire in “Out of Alien Days,” and an interpretation of the literary elements in connection to Cesaire’s theme in the poem.
Langley, Lester D. The United States and the Caribbean in the Twentieth Century; The University of Georgia Press (Athens, 1982).
The San Domingo revolution led to the abolition of slavery, independence of Haiti from France and the proclamation of a black republic. However, unlike many historians, CLR James in his work, The Black Jacobins, does not depict the struggle for independence as merely a slave revolt which happened to come after the French Revolution. He goes beyond providing only a recount of historical events and offers an intimate look at those who primarily precipitated the fall of French rule, namely the black slaves themselves. In doing so, James offers a perspective of black history which empowers the black people, for they are shown to actually have done something, and not merely be the subject of actions and attitudes of others.
A poem that describes the oppression and stereotypes towards the people of Martinique during the French colonization of the country would be “Out of Alien Days” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire’s own message in his poem has been interpreted by scholars through diverse approaches to the underline meaning of the poem. An understanding of the scholars interpretation of the poem should include a brief discussion about Cesaire’s writing style. The literary critics that interpreted “Out of Alien Days” have their own specific argument as to why Cesaire wrote the poem, and the ideas Cesaire wanted the reader to understand. With the literary scholars opinion of the poem, there are similarities and differences amongst the scholars with respect to Cesaire’s style. In this paper I describe the approach scholars used on the poem “Out of Alien Days”, give a brief understanding of Cesaire’s writing style, acknowledge the specific argument of the scholars, and similarities and differences between the diverse perspectives of the poem “Out of Alien Days”.
Migge, B. Language and Colonialism (Applied linguistics in the context of creole communities). University College Dublin. Ireland. 2007. Print
In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon looks at the effects of both racism and the process of colonization on the colonized. Even though Fanon’s work targets a French audience, it holds a universal message which is significant to anyone who is exposed to racism and/or colonialism whether they are the oppressor or the oppressed. While Black Skins, White Masks was written over half a century ago, is Fanon’s work still relevant today? In this short paper I will look at some of the themes of racism, colonization and the complex relationships they create among various groups as well as the inner turmoil which may be created within the subjugated group.
“Through it all” guides us into the life of a Caribbean family as seen through the eyes of the daughter, Andreide D’verette, also with a glimpse of the mother’s point of view. The book dealt with the economic and social issues of the Caribbean based on a historical perspective. The author encountered a dilemma of self-doubt about publishing a Caribbean based book due to the many rejections, however after 10 years of determination her book was finally published.(Giselle Mills) The book shows that even Caribbean families experience challenges with their Caribbean identity and lifestyle, gender sexuality and religion.
For most Caribbean persons their separate and unique identity is derived from their association with the shores and scenes, the special sights and sounds, of the Caribbean environment. Caribbean peoples are new arrivals who have had to reconstruct their identities having lost most of what they had in the transmigration from the Old World (Walcott, 1992). There are other places in the Caribbean where the homeland is contested but by the more penetrative and possibly permanent forces of tourism and television. The fact is that Caribbean citizens actively participate in cultivating this industry. To have a home is to control it. In many parts of the Caribbean, citizens surrender public spaces for exclusive tourist use and pleasures (Richardson). If the Caribbean can be conceived as a single cultural community, this claim cannot be established on the basis of a commonly shared language. Language however is a critical marker of identity in the Caribbean. As noted by De Vos in relation to other parts of the world, “it is undoubtedly true that language constitutes the single most characteristic feature of separate ethnic identity”. In many parts of the Caribbean, very often residents can locate the home of another Caribbean person simply on the basis of an accent or a dialect. As students of anthropology the most important areas to consider when depicting a representation of the Caribbean are not only the physical settings but also the identity of its people, the language and even the