Fort-de-France is the largest city and capital of Martinique. These two noteworthy features make Fort-de-France a pivotal location in the story of Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau. The city inherited the position of being the largest and most influential city on the island due to the devastation of Saint-Pierre, and the characters of Texaco witnessed this formation. Ultimately, the protagonists of Texaco would have to face the will of the city in the pursuit of their dreams.
History
Fort-de-France, originally known as “Fort Royal,” was established in the year 1672 as a fort by which the French were better able to control the Caribbean. The island of Martinique was in the prime position to facilitate trade between the New World and Europe, and the major powers of the time (mainly France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands) were keen on dominating this market. The next year it was decided to erect a town around the fort that bore the same name (Marlin-Gordier and Darsières). They picked the location of Fort Royal due to the site’s ability to protect ships from both weather and hostile nations. While its commercial purpose led to its prosperity, the town had endured many hardships. Prior to the year 1918, the town had an insufficient water supply and was prone to yellow fever outbreaks due to the swamps that surrounded it. In 1839, an earthquake left many dead and a portion of the city destroyed (Encyclopedia Britannica). The year 1890 saw most of the city destroyed by a fire caused by poor building materials in the houses, and the following year a cyclone killed nearly 400 of the city’s inhabitants (Marlin-Gordier and Darsières). These hardships and successes would lay the groundwork for the setting in which the protagonists of Texaco found themselves in.
Components of Texaco’s Fort-de-France
In Texaco, the audience was introduced to Fort-de-France when Esternome arrived there. He based his opinions upon what he remembered in Saint-Pierre, which was his first taste of urban life. His initial impressions of the city were not too kind, and he scrutinized the details he was most familiar with as someone who has constructed buildings before: “Everything had been built with no regard for memory. The wood was either too new or too old. The stonework showed the work of many mason hands. The windows didn’t match each other… Nothing evoked [Saint-Pierre]…” (Chamoiseau 167). While the buildings of Saint-Pierre were mostly uniform, Fort-de-France was comprised of numerous different methods of construction based on historical events. “Whoever feared earthquakes, would erect a house of wood. Whoever feared hurricanes or remembered the fire, erected a house of stone” (Chamoiseau 178). By referencing the disasters that had sculpted the personality of the city, his statement connects itself to the history discussed previously and reveals the variety of different individuals and mindsets that lived within Fort-de-France.
Refugees and Initial Circumstances
Esternome came to Fort-de-France as a refugee from Saint-Pierre, his former city having been a victim of Mount Pelée. Just like the others who shared a similar fate, Esternome found shelter and nourishment in a military canteen that housed refugees: “Worn out by stupor like my dear Esternome, [the refugees] thus vegetated there like sheep at the doors of a slaughterhouse. Only the military canteen, creaking behind a donkey, could reanimate them” (Chamoiseau 163). Fort-de-France had suddenly found itself as the new home of many who had lost their previous one. This sudden change meant that the city had to evolve from being an important settlement in Martinique to being the most influential and largest on the island. Not only did the people of Saint-Pierre make their way over to Fort-de-France, but also the trade and economic responsibilities once shouldered by the former city. This change presented a tough challenge that would require the city to make adaptations in order to fulfill the role of both being the caretaker of displaced peoples and the prime urban area for Martinique’s citizens. (Marlin-Gordier and Darsières). This shift in identity will have consequences for its inhabitants when the world gives rise to new challenges for the island to meet.
Fort-de-France during War
The world wars saw Fort-de-France sink into strife as the rising price of food gave way to both violence and suffering. Because Europe demanded so much of Martinique’s goods in order to fuel the war effort, there was a lack of supplies in order to sustain the island’s own population. “But it wasn’t enough to feed all of [Fort-de-France]. The vendors, just off the hills, would spark riots… Flour and bread cost as much as a dish of chicken with rice” (Chamoiseau 191). As is typical for a populace that struggles to feed itself, the citizenry turned to violence and thievery to solve their problems. “Then the thieves flocked. The town council decided to turn off the lights after a certain hour. This left [Fort-de-France] to an envious herd” (Chamoiseau 191). The hardships that the circumstances levied against the inhabitants of Fort-de-France would be felt by Texaco’s protagonists and would drive the narrative in a different direction. These hardships would help inspire the formation of Texaco and bring the story that we know to fruition.
Texaco vs. Fort-de-France
A major conflict occurs between the city of Fort-de-France and the community of Texaco which was established by the protagonist Marie-Sophie Laborieux. Texaco was a smaller formation of hutches surrounding an oil and gas depot headed by the company with the same name of Texaco. Ever since the formation of the community, the authorities in Fort-de-France had sought to destroy it. They sent policemen with crowbars and batons to the community in an attempt to uproot its inhabitants, an occasion that led to violence (Chamoiseau 306). Despite the homes and belongings of the citizens of Texaco being destroyed, Marie-Sophie would continue to return to rebuild it. Each attempt she made was thwarted. After civil unrest struck Fort-de-France, the city could no longer afford to continue its war against the community of Texaco, and it was rebuilt once again in a more permanent state (Chamoiseau 313). The most recent threat made known to Texaco was that of the Urban Planner who possessed the power to have the community destroyed forever: “In discovering the [planner] I got the feeling he was one of the riders of our apocalypse … The council had been waging an open war, for a few years now, against the insalubrity of a few quarters … It was Texaco’s turn now” (Chamoiseau 25). The battle for Texaco’s survival against Fort-de-France took center stage in the novel, for it was the pinnacle in which all other events led up to.
Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Fort-de-France”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Aug. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/place/Fort-de-France. Accessed 3 April 2022.
Marlin-Godier, Micheline, and Camille Darsières. “Histoire: Ville De Fort-De-France.” Fort-De-France, City of Fort-De-France, https://www.fortdefrance.fr/fort-de-france/connaitre/histoire/.
Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. Trans. Rose-Myriam Réjouis & Val Vinokurov. NY: Vintage, 1997.
Editorial Collective
Matthew Stedelin, Connor Mayall, Nicholas Shaheen
