Island Beneath the Sea by Allende
Ref: Isabel Allende (2009). Island Beneath the Sea. Harper Perennial.
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Summary
Island Beneath the Sea is a historical fiction that follows Zarité (‘Tete’), who is born the daughter of an African slave in the French Colony of Haiti in the late 1700s. Tete is sold to a French sugar plantation owner (Valmorain), where she manages the house. Part One of her story is intertwined with that of the Haitian Revolution and the exodus of Europeans and slaves to French New Orleans, at the end of which she is granted her freedom in exchange for saving the life of her plantation owner. In part two, she moves with her daughter, Rosette and Valmorain, to New Orleans where, at the insistence of a local Christian, they are both finally granted their freedom. She works in New Orleans to help raise Rosette, who is, eventually, placed in jail by Valmorain’s wife. Her daughter, married to Tete’s other son, Maurice, whose father is Valmorain, dies in childbirth. Themes include slavery, relationships, the Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution, religion, freedom, race relations, Plaçage, and love.
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Misc Quotes (Saint-Domingue)
“Valmorain had read somewhere that the original inhabitants of the island, the Arawaks, had called it Haiti before the conquistadors changed the name to La Española and killed off the natives. In fewer than 50 yrs, not a single Arawak remained, nor sign of them; they all perished as victims of slavery, European illnesses, and suicide. They were a red-skinned race, with thick black hair and inalterable dignity, so timid that a single Spaniard could conquer ten of them with his bare hands. They lived in polygamous communities, cultivating the land with care in order not to exhaust it: sweet potatoes, maize, gourds, peanuts, peppers, potatoes, and cassava.”
“When they had annihilated the indigenous peoples, the new masters imported slaves, blacks kidnapped in Africa and whites from Europe: convicts, orphans, prostitutes, and rebels. At the end of the 1600s, Spain ceded to France the western part of the island, which they called Saint-Domingue, and which would become the richest colony in the world. At the time Toulouse Valmorain arrived there, a third of the wealth of France, in sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and cocoa, came from the island.
“Among the free mulattoes, the affranchis, there were more than 60 classifications set by percentage of white blood, and that determined their social level.”
“Love, which he had not known before, tossed Etienne Relais about like a tremendous wave, pure energy, salt, and foam.”
“It was a shame the capitaine was poor, Loula thought, because Violette deserved a good life. Love seemed irrelevant to her, since she confused it with passion and she had seen how briefly that lasted, but she did not dare use tricks to get rid of Relais. He was someone to be feared.”
“Baccarat crystal and Sèvres porcelain, the liveried slaves, one behind each seat and others lined along the walls to pour wine, pass the platters, and take away the plates, and calculated that it was going to be a very long night indeed; the excessive etiquette caused him as much impatience as the banal conversation.”
“Valmorain never wondered what she felt in those encounters, just as it would never have occurred to him to ask what his horse felt when he rode it.”
“More than thirty years had gone by since Macandal, that legendary sorcerer, planted the seed of insurrection, and since then his spirit had traveled with the wind from one end of the island to the other, infiltrating slave quarters, cabins, ajoupas, mills, and tempting slaves with the promise of freedom. He adopted the form of a serpent, a beetle, a monkey, a macaw, he blended with the whisper of the rain, he clamored with the thunder, he incited rebellion with the howl of the storm. Whites sensed him too. Every slave was an enemy, and there were already more than half a million of them, two-thirds of whom came directly from Africa bearing their enormous load of resentment and living only to burst their chains and reap revenge. Thousands of slaves arrived in Saint-Domingue, but never enough to fill the insatiable demands of the planters.”
“The French Revolution had hit the colony like the slash of a dragon's tail, shaking it to its foundation. The grands blancs, conservatives and monarchists, looked upon the changes with horror, but the petits blancs supported the republic, which had done away with differences among classes: liberté, égalité, fraternité for whites. As for the affranchis, they had sent delegations to Paris to negotiate their right to citizenship before the Assemblée Nationale, because in Saint-Domingue no white, rich or poor, was disposed to give that to them.”
“Gambo was prideful, and there is no greater danger for a slave than pride.”
“The latest news was the Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen proclaimed in France. The whites were on edge, and the affranchis, who had always been marginalized, at last saw the possibility of achieving equality with whites. The rights of man did not include the Negroes, as Tante Rose explained to the slaves who had gathered for a kalenda; freedom was not free, you had to fight for it.”
“The Jacobins intended to do away with every vestige of the monarchical regime.”
“And at the present we have half a million slaves. They know that the republic abolished slavery in France, and they are ready to fight to obtain the same here. The maréchaussée will not be able to control them."
“In France, opinion changed after people learned of the colonists' suffering in Saint-Domingue, and the Assemblée Nationale annulled the recent decree that granted political rights to the affranchis. Just as Relais had told Violette, that decision was completely lacking in logic, since the mulattoes had nothing to do with the uprising; they were the Negroes' worst enemies and the natural allies of the grands blancs, with whom they had everything in common except color.”
"There is nothing as dangerous as impunity.”
“In one of the camps Gambo met Toussaint, who performed the double role of counselor for the war and doctor; he knew curative plants, and he exercised notable influence over the chiefs, although in that period he kept himself in the background. He was one of the few blacks able to read and write, and thus he learned, though with delays, what was happening on the island and in France. No one knew the mentality of the whites better than he. He had been born and lived as a slave on a plantation in Breda; he educated himself, embraced the Christian religion with fervor, and gained the esteem of his master, who even entrusted his family to him when the moment came to fee. That relationship raised! suspicions; many believed that Toussaint subjected himself to whites like a servant, but many times Gambo heard him say that the goal of his life was to end slavery in Saint-Domingue, and nothing or no one would stop him. His personality impressed Gambo from the beginning, and he decided that if Toussaint became a chief, he would change bands without hesitating. Boukman, that giant with the voice of a tempest, the chosen of Ogu-Fer, had been the spark that lighted the fire of rebellion in Bois Cayman, but Gambo sensed that the most brilliant star in the heavens belonged to Toussaint, the ugly little man with a protruding jaw and bowed legs, who spoke like a preacher and prayed to the Jesus of the whites. And he was not mistaken, because a few months later Boukman the invincible, who dodged enemy fire by swatting at bullets with an ox tail as if they were flies, was captured by the army in a skirmish.”
“They heard the blows against the door, the thudding, the wood shaken by a hurricane of hatred that had been accumulating strength across the Caribbean for a hundred years.”
“The new Gouverneur of the island, Général Galbaud, arrived with a mission to resolve the disaster in the colony. He had full military powers, but the authority of the République was represented by Sonthonax and the other two commissioners. Production on the island had fallen to nothing, the north was a cloud of smoke, in the south there was no end to the slaughters, and the city of Port-au-Prince had been burned to the ground. There was no transport, no working ports, no security for anyone. The rebel blacks were receiving support from Spain, and the British fleet controlled the Caribbean and would soon take over the coastal cities. The French were blockaded; it was nearly impossible to get troops or supplies from France to defend themselves.”
“Civil war broke out in Le Cap (between Sonthonax and Galbaud). The white soldiers in the regular army, and nearly 3000 sailors in the port, were ready to fight alongside Galbaud. Sonthonax could count only on the backing of the national guards and mulatto troops. The general promised that the battle would be ended within a few hours and that Saint-Domingue would be independent. Sonthonax would see his last day, the rights of the affranchis would be revoked, and the slaves would be back on the plantations.”
"We will have to negotiate an honorable way out, Commissaire, because I see no way to acquire reinforcements," Relais concluded, pale and hollow-eyed, his arm bound to his chest in an improvised sling, the sleeve of his jacket hanging empty. "I do, Major Relais. I have thought about it carefully. There are more than fifteen thousand rebels camped outside Le Cap. They will be the reinforcements we need," Sonthonax replied. "The Negroes? I do not believe they want to get involved in this," said Relais. "They will in exchange for emancipation. Freedom for them and their families."
“One month later, on the smoking remains of Le Cap, which was reduced to rubble and ash, Sonthonax proclaimed the emancipation of the slaves on Saint-Domingue. Without them the French would not have been able to wage a war against their internal enemies and against the English, who now occupied the south. That same day Toussaint also declared emancipation from his encampment in Spanish territory. He signed the document as Toussaint Louverture, the name with which he would enter history. His ranks were growing, he exercised more influence than any of the other rebel leaders, and by then he was already thinking of changing sides; only republican France would recognize the liberation of his people, something no other country was prepared to accept.”
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Misc Quotes (Louisiana)
“In Louisiana the labor force of a plantation cost a third of the value of the land; they had to be looked after. Production was at the mercy of unforeseen mishaps, hurricanes, drought, floods, plagues, rats, fluctuations in the price of sugar, problems with machinery and animals, loans from the banks, and other uncertainties, say nothing of the bad health or spirits of the slaves.”
“Toussaint, who was on the side of the Spanish, turned coat and is now fighting at the side of the republican French, who without his aid would be nowhere…Toussaint massacred the Spanish troops under his command.”
“The food had the purely didactic purpose of tempering character. Whoever was capable of swallowing boiled liver or chicken necks with bits of feathers still attached, accompanied by cauliflower and burned rice, could confront the hazards of life, including war, for which the Americans were always preparing.”
"Then there will be two hundred plus Negroes abandoned to their fate and an imprudent boy in poverty. What is gained by that?" his teacher rebutted. "The struggle against slavery is not done plantation by plantation, Maurice, the way people think; the laws in this country and the world must be changed. You must study— prepare yourself and get involved in politics." "I'm no good for that, sir!" "How do you know? We all have an unsuspected reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test."
“Their most notable defect was that they (Americans) considered work a virtue, even manual labor. They were materialists, conquerors, and they were infused with a messianic enthusiasm for reforming those who did not think as they did.”
"I will not live to see it, Maurice. But I know that even if the slaves are emancipated, there will be no equality." "Over time there will have to be, Maman. It's like a snowball that when it begins to roll grows larger, faster, and then no one can stop it. That is how the great changes in history take place."
“Walking and walking across the world he (Maurice) will gradually find consolation, and one day, when he is too fatigued to take another step, he will realize that he cannot escape sorrow, he will have to tame it, so it doesn't harass him.”
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Terminology
Affectation: Behavior, speech, or writing that is artificial and designed to impress.
Arawaks: The original inhabitants of the island of Haiti- ‘La Española’ by the Spanish and Haiti post-independence.
Addlepated: Mentally muddled or lacking in common sense; confused.
Erzulie: A family of loa (gods) that are often associated with water (fluidity), femininity, and feminine bodies.
Loa: A god in the voodoo religion of Haiti.
Legba: Loa of sorcery.
Plaçage: A recognized extralegal system in French slave colonies of N. America by which ethnic European men entered into civil unions with non-Europeans of African, Native American, and mixed-race descent. The women were not legally recognized as wives but were known as placées.
Voodoo: A religion practiced in parts of the Caribbean (especially Haiti) and the Southern US, combining elements of Roman Catholic ritual with traditional African magical and religious rites, and characterized by sorcery and spirit possession.
Zombie: Slave of a sorcerer, a bokor; not even death can free a zombie because he is already dead.
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Chronology
21 Oct, 1805: The Battle of Trafalgar is fought on the SW coast of Spain. A Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships is defeated by a 27-ship English fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson. Nelson dies in the battle, but his fleet destroys the French fleet, ending Napoleon’s dream of invading England (Island by Allende).
Dec, 1803: Haitian General Dessalines proclaims the République Nègre d'Haiti, previously Saint-Domingue. Haiti, "land of mountains," was the name the vanished Arawak Indians had given their island. With the intent to erase the racism that had been the island's curse, all citizens, no matter the color of their skin, were designated negs, and all those who weren't were called blancs (Island by Allende).
20 Dec, 1803: France cedes the Louisiana Territory to the USA (Island by Allende).
1801-1802: A French force led by Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Général Leclerc, fails to re-take Saint-Domingue from Haitian rebels (Wiki, Island by Allende).
Nov, 1802: General Leclerc dies from Yellow Fever (Island by Allende).
Summer-Fall, 1802: French forces suffer nearly 30K casualties. The Premier Consul promised to send another thirty thousand soldiers to the island (Island by Allende).
Jun, 1802: Haitian rebellion General Louverture is captured by the French; he is arrested and deported to France with his family where he is imprisoned in a cell 2900m high in the Swiss Alps (Island by Allende, Wiki).
Leclerc announced that the only way to restore peace would be to kill every black in the mountains and half those in the plains, men and women, and to leave alive only children under twelve, but he was not able to execute his plan because he fell ill (Island by Allende).
Apr, 1802: French forces on Saint-Domingue are devastated by Yellow Fever (‘Macandal’s winged army’). Of the 17K French troops at the beginning of the expedition, 7K were in a lamentable condition; of the remainder, 5000 were dying and another 5000 were dead. Napoleon sends reinforcements (Island by Allende, Wiki).
1802: A French force led by Leclerc bombard Le Cap from their ships, reducing the city to ashes for the second time in 10 yrs. Louverture massacres all whites unable to find refuge under Leclerc’s protection (Island by Allende, Wiki).
1801: A French force led by Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Général Leclerc, departs Brest for Saint-Domingue (Wiki).
1 Oct, 1800: The 3rd (secret) Treaty of San Ildefonso is signed between Spain and France, transferring the Louisiana Territory from Spain to France and the territory of Tuscany to Spain (Wiki).
20 Jan, 1758: François Mackandal (‘Macandal’) is burned to death by French authorities on Saint Domingue. Macandal had escaped slavery in 1748 and was convicted as a poisoner (at the time in St. Domingue, there was widespread panic among enslavers that enslaved people in Saint Domingue were poisoning the white population; (poisoning meant cursing by witchcraft and magic). His death and rebellion are considered a precursor to the Haitian Revolution (modern Haiti) (Wiki).
1751-1757: Macandal, the voodoo priest, leads a slave rebellion on Saint Domingue. By the time of his capture, alive, in 1757, 6000 people had died in his rebellion (Island by Allende).
1733: Georgia is founded as the 13th and last colony in the New World with Savannah as its first city. The settlers maintained friendly relations with the indigenous tribes, thus avoiding the violence that was the scourge of other colonies. In the beginning, slavery-along with liquor and lawyers-was forbidden in Georgia, but soon it was realized that the climate and the quality of the soil were ideal for cultivating rice and cotton, and slavery was permitted (Island by Allende).
1697: Following decades of fighting over the territory, Spain cedes to France the Western part of Haiti (La Española), which the French call Saint Domingue. It becomes the richest colony in the world with a third of the wealth of France, in sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and cocoa, coming from the island (Island by Allende, Wiki).
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