Introduction
Aimé Fernand David Césaire was born on 25 June 1913 in Basse-Pointe, Martinique (Pallister xvii). Born into poverty with a rat-infested home and six siblings, Césaire prevailed beyond his environment and obtained a distinguished secondary school education at Fort-de-France’s Lycée Victor Schoelcher (Pallister xvii). After studying in Paris, Césaire met former Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor, sprouting Césaire’s appreciation for the values of African tradition (Pallister xvii). Césaire served as the mayor of Fort-de-France starting in 1945 (Murdoch 2). It is at around this point where Aimé Césaire appears in Texaco.
In Texaco, Césaire is described primarily through the perspective of Marie-Sophie Laborieux and secondarily characterised by his interactions with Marie-Sophie. For black Martinique, Césaire was an inspiration. Marie-Sophie describes the feeling when she says, “To see that little blackman, so high, so powerful, with so much knowledge, so many words, gave us an exalted image of ourselves” (Chamoiseau 250). She speaks of Césaire with high regard throughout the novel, where her appreciation grows further upon interacting with him. Upon meeting Césaire in person, Marie-Sophie requests electricity and water for Texaco (Chamoiseau 368). While during this encounter, his reaction towards the people of Texaco is initially that of irritation likely due to the unexpected arrival of several dishevelled citizens at his doorstep, Césaire holds true to his word to do his best. Marie-Sophie continues to hold the utmost respect for Césaire, calling him “Papa Césaire” (Chamoiseau 367), which is significant since “Papa” is a title only held for the father figures in Marie-Sophie’s life.
Political Career
Aimé Césaire began his political career by writing review publications and evolved his career by holding office in several positions. Early in his political and literary life he co-founded the review L’Etudiant noir (Pallister xvii). In this review, Césaire focused primarily on negritude, a theory commonly associated with Césaire (Murdoch 2). Césaire throughout his career acted under the doctrine of negritude—a faith in the values of black civilization—which provides much of the theory behind the actions Césaire took in his career. Later, he published the review Tropiques which commented on politics and social order (Pallister xvii), establishing his public political background. In 1945, he was elected a delegate to the National Assembly in Paris (Pallister xx). Not long after, he became Mayor of Forte-de France in a major landslide win (Murdoch 2).
While in this mayoral position, Césaire also served as the deputy of the Communist party to the National Assembly (Pallister xix). As a result, Césaire advocated for Martinique to become an overseas department of France. This goal was met in 1946 (Pallister xix), which is praised by Texaco’s Marie-Sophie as being obtained “in the békés’ face” (Chamoiseau 248). However, upon having reassessed the results of France departmentalization status, Césaire found the move to not be impactful due to colonialist tendencies in both France and Césaire’s own communist party (Pallister xx). As a result, Césaire became less affiliated with the French Communist party due to disagreements about the process of assimilation (Murdoch 11). Césaire established himself as an advocate for change, focusing his efforts on a new political group with negritude as the focus.
Negritude
As defined in the biography Aimé Césaire, negritude is an assertion of “the legitimacy of belonging to an African culture” (Pallister 23). This movement is one that takes pride on the black culture that colonialism had attempted to erode. It embraces the seeming lack of technological progress made by those of African origin by redirecting importance to the values of African history (Murdoch 4). African progress is often viewed only in the context of technological progress, which is used to dismiss the independently-developed society as archaic. Janis L. Pallister clarifies that negritude is not a construct, even though a Western lens may view it as such. Specifically, it is vegetal—not carnivorous (Pallister 7). This is to say that negritude is a natural state rather than an idea designed to convince.
Césaire in Texaco
Césaire’s presence in Texaco occurs at the end of Esternome Laborieux’s life, the latter of which holds shifting viewpoints towards Césaire. Initially, Esternome is enamored with Césaire to the point of Esternome considering him a Mentoh (Chamoiseau 250). However, upon listening to Césaire speak, he declares him a mulatto (Chamoiseau 251). Esternome’s interpretation of Césaire results from Césaire’s refined use of the French language rather than Creole. This hesitancy towards Creole aroused Adlai H. Murdoch to question “In this world where the French language meant domination, how did the call to “decolonize our minds” jibe not only with his political agenda of departmentalization, but also with his use of French rather than Creole, despite its being the language of the “mother country” and not that of the black majority in Martinique?” (Murdoch 2) Arguably, Césaire’s attachment to the French language was a necessary concession Césaire had to make to gain political influence. Marie-Sophie later comments that Esternome’s assessment of Césaire was incorrect (Chamoiseau 253), affirming that while Césaire bore the language of the mother country, he was representative of black Martinique.
Césaire is contrasted with Monsieur Alcibiade, a staunch assimilationist. The audience’s introduction to Césaire occurs with the first mentions of Alcibiade’s assimilation. Alcibiade treats Césaire as a “black blackman” and fears Césaire’s proficiency in French and attachment to Africa (Chamoiseau 248). Alcibiade and Césaire can be viewed as opposites when it comes to the future of Martinique due to their respective beliefs; Assimilationism and negritude are directly opposed in that assimilation advocates for melding into a collective culture of Martinique, while negritude opposes the rejection of African culture. Césaire’s values turned many from assimilationism, such as Alcibiade’s associates, who then rallied around Césaire (Chamoiseau 252). It was this strong ideological opposition and crumbling of assimilationism that causes Alcibiade to lose his grip on sanity following Césaire’s election as mayor (Chamoiseau 252).
Marie-Sophie credits Césaire and communists for allowing people to settle anywhere without fear of retribution from landowners (Chamoiseau 314). Throughout the early turmoil of Texaco, it was Césaire and affiliated politicians that brought some peace to the community. Césaire’s support of Texaco makes sense in the broader context of negritude: Texaco, if anything, was the closest return to African community that could exist in Martinique. Its communal nature did not relish in competition within inhabitants. Rather, it was a union of individuals with shared experiences who contributed to each other’s survival.
Works Cited
Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. Trans. Rose-Myriam Réjouis & Val Vinokurov. NY: Vintage, 1997.
Murdoch, Adlai H. “Ars Poetica, Ars Politica: The Double Life of Aimé Césaire.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 41, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 1–13. muse.jhu.edu/article/372467.
Pallister, Janis L. Aimé Césaire, Twayne Publishers, 1994.
Editorial Collective
Angel Flores, Payton Carrol, Jayme Greer
