Description
As a final text for French 164, Partick Chamoiseau’s Texaco acts as a unifying agent, tying together many of the themes presented in earlier works, clarifying, embellishing, sometimes even inventing them. As the storytellers (Esternome (as remembered by Marie-Sophie), Marie-Sophie, Oiseau de cham) recount their adventures across almost two centuries, we begin to see the reality of history through the lens of fiction. These several voices tell their personal stories in a way which ‘cannot be told in any other way’, giving the reader the opportunity to interpret what has been told thought his/her own understanding of reality. Religion/Faith: the relationship between the individual and his deities, the source of belief, the strength of a power beyond the individual, the relationship between deities and mankind Identity: the search for personal identity, the need for a local/national identity, the process of self-discovery, the relationship between the individual and the reality in which one lives For this final paper, choose ONE (1) of these themes and analyze it using Texaco as the basis of your discussion and relating it to any TWO (2) other works, Notebook of a Return to a Native Land by Aimé Césaire and Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel read during the course of the semester. Chamoiseau’s work should provide ample opportunity for specific examples to support your discussion. When referring to other works, you may speak in more general terms although specific references will make your analysis stronger. Sources should be the three books
