Monday, October 21, 2013

Sex and Revolution

Alejo Carpentier captures many ideas and images within revolution, and one of those is sex and power dynamics between whites and slaves. As the book transitions between different stages of the revolution, we see how portions of this idea change throughout the revolution, while others stay the same.
Both before and after the revolution, sex was a way to be sure there would be enough slaves. Ti Noel sleeps with many women, who bear many children. These youth will be raised to serve their masters, not knowing any greater purpose. This only fuels the perception that the slaves are goods, to be bought, used, and sold. Later on, after the revolution, when Ti Noel returns to a "free" Haiti, he encounters this same process. Christophe could care less about his slaves, killing them for mere missteps, because he knows that the women are reproducing for him. The role of these women has been reduced to that of animalistic levels, showing that the power dynamics based on sex are not bound to either the colonists or slaves, but exist within both cultures.
Another aspect of the power dynamics shown through sex within the revolution is the raping of white women by slaves. When the slaves attempt to overthrow their masters and earn their freedom, they take advantage of that which was kept above them before. After scaring Mezy into hiding, Ti Noel specifically finds Mezy's latest mistress and rapes her, attempting to show his power in not only scaring his master, but that he can take what is not his to take. The reader is then brought to the scene where Mezy comes upon his mistress, raped and dead, and the hurt that this causes him. This scene was replicated throughout the island as the slaves worked to gain their freedom. The colonists are unable to protect their women from the slaves, which the slaves used to show their power over the colonists at that moment.
So while there are many other issues raised by the revolution, one cannot skip over the power dynamics illustrated by sex throughout the text. The French colonists and slaves both use sex to show their power over the other, among other means.

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