Line #17 Literature/IslandBeneathTheSea


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4	''Island Beneath the Sea'' (Spanish: ''La isla bajo el mar'') is a 2009 novel by Creator/IsabelAllende. The novel is quite different from Allende's most famous works and owes more to Historical Fiction than to MagicRealism.
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6	The story is set in late 18th-century Haiti from the POV of Zarité "Teté" Sedella, an Haitian-born slave and her lifelong struggle to obtain freedom for her and her children. Her story is entangled with History, as she happens to live during the tough times of the [[SlaveRevolt Haitian Revolution]], which is quite faithfully described. The second focus is on her master, the French planter [[ObliviouslyEvil Toulouse Valmorain]], along with his Spanish brother-in-law [[DashingHispanic Sancho García Del Solar]], Madame [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Violette Relais]], as they live through the revolution and eventually settle in Louisiana as it is about to be sold to the United States of America.
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9	!!The book displays the following tropes:
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11	* AesopAmnesia: Toulouse Valmorain goes through multiple BreakTheHaughty experiences, but never learns anything from them:
12	** [[spoiler: Tété saves his neck during the slave revolt in exchange for her and Rosette's freedom. He then takes credit for their escape and frees them only years later, when Father Antoine shames him into doing so and never learns to treat Tété as a person.]]
13	** His grossly rude treatment of Tété and Rosette, [[spoiler: their daughter, eventually costs him the relationship with his son, but never manages to grow out of his racism.]]
14	* BeautifulSlaveGirl: Averted with Zarité herself; a lifetime of work wears down her looks. Rosette is a subversion. She was conceived as a result of [[ChildByRape Valmorain raping Teté]]. Teté lives in fear because while Rosette lives a privileged life as playmate to Valmorain's son (her fair complexion helps) she can be sold or given away, as she is property of Valmorain. [[spoiler: Horténse even proposes to do so, unsuccessfully. This fear ends when Valmorain is coerced into granting Teté and Rosette their freedom.]]
15	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Zarité lives free and so do her husband and children, but Rosette is dead. A grieving Maurice leaves their son in Zarité's care and goes away. [[ParentalAbandonment He rarely sees his child]], has abandoned his abolitionism ideas, and never repairs his relationship with his father.]]
16	* BringMyBrownPants: Valmorain wets his breeches when the rebels are about to attack his home in Le Cap, Saint-Domingue.
17	* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: Maurice and Rosette are half-siblings and aware of it.]]
18	* ButNotTooBlack: In 18th-century Creole society, having darker or fairer skin could literally change your life. Zarité is a slave-born mulatto but she looks specifically black. Madame Violette and [[spoiler: Tété's daughter Rosette]] are free quadroons (born of a white father and mulatto mother) and are able to pass themselves as white, if not of Hispanic heritage.
19	* ChildByRape: As a result of Valmorain raping the enslaved Teté, [[spoiler: Jean-Martin (later adopted by Violette and Étienne Relais)]] and Rosette.
20	* DeadGuyJunior:
21	** Maurice is named after his late paternal grandfather.
22	** Zacharie and Zarité's son is named Honoré, after the latter's ParentalSubstitute.
23	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution appears in a few chapters. Gambo, Zarité's FirstLove, eventually becomes his right-hand man.
24	** Antonio de Sedella, better known as Père Antoine, helps Teté finally become a freewoman.
25	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Violette Relais made a career out of her beauty, but she is one of the most compassionate and good-hearted characters.
26	* AnImmigrantsTale: Most of the main characters are Black Haitians, white Frenchmen and Spaniards who migrate to the recently American Louisiana after the Haitian revolution.
27	* MadwomanInTheAttic: Valmorain's first wife, Eugenia, slowly loses her mind in Saint Domingue, due to her family history of mental illness (among women; her brother is sane if quite eccentric) and the increasing paranoia about a possible SlaveRevolt.
28	* MalignedMixedMarriage:
29	** Doctor Parmentier is in a CommonLawMarriage with a black woman and they have several children, but they've been hiding their relationship for decades because it would hurt his business.
30	** Étienne Relais couldn't care less about social and racial prejudices and marries the mixed-race HookerWithAHeartOfGold Violette out in the open. His reputation as TheDreaded helps to keep unwanted attentions at bay.
31	* MarriedAtSea: How Rosette and Maurice finally marry. The captain marries them on waters out of government jurisdiction that would nullify an interracial marriage or one between half-siblings.
32	* MeanBoss: Horténse is brutal with the slaves. She insists that Teté must stay up until she is ready to go to bed, even though she already has a personal servant and Teté must wake up at dawn.
33	* NearAndDearBabyNaming: Zarité and Zacharie's daughter is named after Violette.
34	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Several slaves lose their children due to the their unbearable conditions.
35	** [[spoiler: Sadly, Zarité has to mourn the loss of Rosette, who succumbs to fatigue and illness due to the pregnancy and harsh conditions on jail.]]
36	* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Zarité's children by Valmorain are much older than the two she has with Zacharie. [[spoiler:The youngest, Honoré, is actually ''younger'' than his nephew Justin (Rosette and Maurice's son).]]
37	* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Violette initially finds herself with two lovers who regard their relationship as exclusive: rich planter Valmorain and military officer Étienne Relais, who has a rather modest income. Eventually the love triangle resolves itself peacefully, as Valmorain's intentions were never serious, and Violette ends up happily married to Relais.
38	* SecondLove:
39	** After being widowed, Violette Relais finds a new love in Sancho Garcia del Solar, Valmorain's eccentric brother-in-law.
40	** Years after losing Gambo in the mists of a civil war, Zarité falls in love with Zacharie and are HappilyMarried.
41	* SlaveLiberation: The book describes how the enslaved of Saint Domingue successfully rebel against their French masters, thanks to the instability of revolutionary France and the ratio of one master for ten slaves. It was really a now-or-never situation and [[TruthInTelevision it made for the only successful revolt on history.]]
42	** [[spoiler: Teté spends the second half of the book and the rest of her life as a free woman.]]
43	* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler: {{Subverted}}. Maurice and Rosette are revealed to be siblings when they declare their intention of getting married, but it turns out they knew all along, but weren't allowed to behave as such and the distance put between them and puberty made sure that their feelings for each other turned out romantic.]]
44	* WickedStepmother: Horténse Guizot marries Valmorain and spends years trying to conceive a son that would steal the right to inherit from Maurice, to no avail because Valmorain is too attached to his son, and because [[{{Irony}} she keeps giving birth to daughters]].[[spoiler: Also is that to Rosette; she even tries to pressure Valmorain into selling her at age 7 (Valmorain refuses) and much later, instigates Rosette's imprisonment and eventual death.]]

Context Literature / IslandBeneathTheSea