Harriet Martineau’s The Man and The Hour (1841), Traditions of Palestine (1830) and Society in America (1837): Toussaint Louverture, Napoleon and Jesus

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the influence of Martineau's Society in America (1830), Traditions of Palestine (1830) and Thomas Carlyle's Hero Worship (1840) on her fictional biography of the leader of the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture. In her Society in America (1837), Harriet Martineau expresses the sentiments of the growing feminist abolitionist movement that championed the Black heroes of the anti-slavery movement while making analogies to white women's lack of civic rights. In her The Man and the Hour (1841), she presents the point of view of the leader of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), Toussaint Louverture, as a conscientious leader seeking to free his people from white colonial oppression. Martineau seeks to condemn the institution of slavery and at the same time offer a revisionist view of the Haitian leader as one who, ironically, in her fictional biography abhors violence. Martineau's portrayal of Toussaint in her fictional biography makes comparisons with both the Black leader's nemesis, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Jesus, as models that define Toussaint's character and accomplishments. Martineau's novel represents a remarkable feminist achievement in presenting the Haitian Revolution from the perspective of its most important hero, Toussaint.