Introduction
Charles de Gaulle, born on November 22, 1890, in Lille, France, played a major role in French war efforts during World War II, French politics, and the creation of a better government system in France. During his presidency, de Gaulle did many major things, but one of the minor things he did was travel to the island of Martinique. This event can be seen in the book Texaco, by Patrick Chamoiseau as it did in real life. Throughout the novel, de Gaulle is depicted as a larger-than-life figure who will fix all of Texaco’s problems and set them free from the torment of the local békés and their issues revolving around City.
Background
From a young age, Charles de Gaulle was fascinated by war and became a part of the French military. When he was old enough, he attended Saint-Cyr military academy and joined the French army after graduating. He battled in World War I where he was wounded and taken as a prisoner of war for three years (Anderson).
In between World War I and World War II, de Gaulle quickly rose through the ranks, and by the time World War II began, he had been promoted to the role of brigadier general. In 1940, the Head of State in France, Philippe Petain, signed an armistice with Nazi Germany and created a new government in France. De Gaulle, who was a strong nationalist, was opposed to working with Germany and left for England to continue his opposition against Germany (Anderson).
During his time in England, de Gaulle started the Free French resistance which was created to oppose the partnership with Germany. Despite these heroic efforts, de Gaulle only received support from Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. De Gaulle continued these efforts until 1944 when the Allied Powers freed France from their German suppressors. Soon after D-Day de Gaulle and the rest of the French resistance entered Paris to begin restructuring the French government, after he helped restructure the government he retired from politics (Anderson).
His retirement didn’t last long as he was soon brought back into the political stage where he was elected as the president of France. Throughout his first term, de Gaulle began to create a more independent version of France which helped lead to economic growth. However, those who were in the working class didn’t experience the same benefits due to the rising rates of inflation. Additionally, de Gaulle began to withdraw France from their territories in other parts of the world to allow them their own freedom (Anderson).
De Gaulle was elected for a second term in 1965 following his first and continued his nationalistic quest to improve France. One early course of action he took was to remove France from NATO in 1966. However, his second term, like the first, was plagued with many issues. The biggest was the continued unrest due to the state of France’s economy. Those in the working class went on strike due to the issues surrounding the French economy. De Gaulle soon promised change for an improved economic system which was one of the last major things he did as President of France. Following his second term de Gaulle retired from politics and went back to his home where he died at the age of 79 (Anderson).
Trip to Martinique
During de Gaulle’s presidency, he made a visit to Martinique in March of 1964. The purpose of his visit was to further solidify Martinique as a department of France (“De Gaulle à La Martinique”). While he was there de Gaulle visited the city and its surrounding areas. In addition to this de Gaulle gave a speech to show his gratitude to Martinique and to confirm Martinique’s status (“De Gaulle’s Triumphal Tour”).
De Gaulle’s visit was a huge deal at the time as he was one of the most famous and well-known people in France. In an article written in the Dominica Herold, someone is quoted saying, “you must meet this great man – he’s terrific” (“Dominican to Meet General De Gaulle”). The excitement surrounding de Gaulle’s visit was extremely high which can be seen by the reported 60,000 people who were waiting at the airport when he landed (“De Gaulle’s Triumphal Tour”).
In the book Texaco, by Patrick Chamoiseau, it can be seen how this visit plays out from the perspective of Marie-Sophie. When Marie-Sophie learns that de Gaulle would be visiting Martinique she sees this as an important opportunity and begins preparing. “I had borrowed a truly holy rooster from Hernancia, worthy of a New Year’s Day…” (Chamoiseau 328). The quote continues by covering all of Marie-Sophie’s plans of de Gaulle visiting Texaco, and the daydream she creates from it. Clearly, Marie-Sophie believes that de Gaulle would be able to solve all of Texaco’s problems and their fight to become more than a small community and it explains why she puts so much into her preparations and why the people of Martinique are so excited for his visit because they too hope that de Gaulle’s visit will solve all of their problems.
When he made this visit, he drew in large crowds of locals. There were many people who climbed trees, went up in tall buildings, and crowded around just to catch a glimpse of de Gaulle. Those who went to see him dressed up and greeted him with singing and dancing. The local people were extremely happy to see him visit their small island (“De Gaulle à La Martinique”). A New York Times article wrote about de Gaulle’s visit saying, “For de Gaulle’s brief visit, there were parades, dances, and parties. And hotels, restaurants and bars were crowded with visitors before, during and afterward” (“Caribbean’s French Touch”). De Gaulle was so pleased with the turn out he said, “My God how French you are!” (“De Gaulle à La Martinique”), further showing how excited he was to see such a big turnout.
These accounts are similar to Marie Sophie’s account of the events when she states, “The blackfolks had come down in clusters from everywhere. They filled Sainte-Therese where De Gaulle was to go through. They covered Stalingrad Square with blue-white-red flags and banderoles naming the commune they were from” (Chamoiseau 328). From this, we can draw that Chamoiseau incorporates the actual reactions of the people in Martinique as a reference to how the people in his book reacted to de Gaulle’s coming to Martinique along with the impact of his visit.
Works Cited
Anderson, Tim. “Charles de Gaulle.” Great Neck Publishing, 1 August 2017, EBSCOhost. ISBN: 9781429812689,
https://i-share-sie.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CARLI_SIE/1hp6e5d/alma9984528887405890.
“CARIBBEAN’S FRENCH TOUCH; Visit by De Gaulle Bodes Well for Martinique and Guadeloupe.” New York Times, 5 Apr. 1964.
Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. Trans. Rose-Myriam Réjouis & Val Vinokurov. NY: Vintage, 1997.
“De Gaulle’s Triumphal Tour,” Dominica Herald. 28 March 1964, page 1, https://www.dloc.com/UF00102878/00059/images.
“Dominican to Meet General De Gaulle; Mrs. Allfrey To Martinique For Press Interview,” Dominica Herald. 7 March 1964, page 1, https://www.dloc.com/UF00102878/00056/images.
“✵Le Général de Gaulle à la Martinique: en 1964✵”. YouTube, uploaded by βrμt34©, 7 May 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-A7-ROTcUY.
Editorial Collective
Payton Carroll, Angel Flores, Jayme Greer
