Who Is The Protagonist In The Novel Island Beneath The Sea
Island Beneath the Sea: A Feminist Study
Introduction
The novel, Island Beneath the Sea, is a historical tale that takes place in the Caribbean and New Orleans, at the turn of the 18th century. The story, which is written from several characters perspectives, is primarily centered on the life of a slave named Tété. Tété, the principle protagonist in the novel, is a mulatta who spends most of the novel enslaved by her main antagonist, a Frenchman named Toulouse Valmorain. Written from both a historical and a feminist standpoint, Allende paints a picture of the privilege of French and male colonists, and the burdens of Black people and women. The author weaves several feminist themes together in her story. Throughout the novel, not one female character is truly free. Specifically, the protagonist has to contend, most obviously, with the institution of slavery. Aside from the indignities of being bought, being sold, being controlled, and being forced to labor, Tété had to deal with the reality of also being a sexual slave. Within the societies that the Valmorains live, slavery and the subjugation of women are societal mores: …show more content…
Regardless of how hard Tété tried, she could not escape scrutiny. Consequently, she suffered many traumas at the hands of her master. Tété never forgot the traumas she was forced to suffer. In one passage, Allende wrote of Tété, “She had not forgotten the first time she was raped by her master when she was a girl, the hatred, the pain, the shame, nor the later abuses she’d borne for years” (Allende, 2010, p. 363). According to Andersen and Witham (2011), “Specific data show the connection of rape to the women’s status in society; women of the lowest status are the most vulnerable to rape” (p. 277). As Tété was Black, a slave, and a woman, there was no one lower in status in her
Introduction
The novel, Island Beneath the Sea, is a historical tale that takes place in the Caribbean and New Orleans, at the turn of the 18th century. The story, which is written from several characters perspectives, is primarily centered on the life of a slave named Tété. Tété, the principle protagonist in the novel, is a mulatta who spends most of the novel enslaved by her main antagonist, a Frenchman named Toulouse Valmorain. Written from both a historical and a feminist standpoint, Allende paints a picture of the privilege of French and male colonists, and the burdens of Black people and women. The author weaves several feminist themes together in her story. Throughout the novel, not one female character is truly free. Specifically, the protagonist has to contend, most obviously, with the institution of slavery. Aside from the indignities of being bought, being sold, being controlled, and being forced to labor, Tété had to deal with the reality of also being a sexual slave. Within the societies that the Valmorains live, slavery and the subjugation of women are societal mores: …show more content…
Regardless of how hard Tété tried, she could not escape scrutiny. Consequently, she suffered many traumas at the hands of her master. Tété never forgot the traumas she was forced to suffer. In one passage, Allende wrote of Tété, “She had not forgotten the first time she was raped by her master when she was a girl, the hatred, the pain, the shame, nor the later abuses she’d borne for years” (Allende, 2010, p. 363). According to Andersen and Witham (2011), “Specific data show the connection of rape to the women’s status in society; women of the lowest status are the most vulnerable to rape” (p. 277). As Tété was Black, a slave, and a woman, there was no one lower in status in her