Texaco: Searching for Eden in the Urban Sprawl
On other days, he had to dig big old holes and go harvest bones which he measured against his own before throwing them in. He'd often think he recognized one of Ninon's tibias. The width of her arm. The curve of one of her ribs. Then he would set it apart, thinking of reconstructing his sweetie. When his pile became too big, he started to make a more rigorous sorting, threw away, kept, threw away. When he got all mixed up, he would just throw everything into the pit, bawling. Then, in tears, led by torturing heart, he would look for his Ninon in that extraviganza of bones. How does one mourne, ye gods? . . .
Chamoiseau, 153
Chamoiseau, 153
When the Mentohs send Esternome out of his big hutch lifestyle and into that of City, it is with the intention that he “conquer City”, though it is left rather vague as to what this means. Regardless, after spending some time in City and facing some disappointments, Esternome is drawn out of L’Enville and out to the hills, where he establishes his small habitation of Nouteka.
It is here that Esternome gains a bit of respite, and it is here that he learns to create a model for paradise in his “creole garden” of the hills, even while turning his back on City. In the garden, he realizes the importance of mixing plants in the creation of a sustainable and thriving utopia in nature, even if he can’t realize the potential for the mixing of society that the word “creole” suggests. Like the Eden of the Hebrew Bible, Nouteka is idyllic, even while it is impractical in a realistic sense. While the diversity of the plants that create and sustain the garden itself allow it to thrive, the homogeny of its inhabitants causes their culture to wither.
If Nouteka, then, is Eden, then the citation above shows Esternome going through something akin to the fall. Just as Eve’s curiosity tempts her out of the garden, so too does Ninon’s tempt her away from Nouteka, and Esternome after her. Of course, unlike Eve, Ninon is lost in transition between Nouteka and the fallen city, but even here some surprising parallels are notable. Esternome “harvests” bones in the fallen city just as Adam toils in the fields after his expulsion from paradise. He also gives himself the job of sorting things within the fallen city just as Adam is given the job of sorting the animals of the garden and giving them all names, and just as Esternome himself did by lumping all the people of the living city into categories like mulatto, beke, etc., instead of allowing these social groups to work together as a living organism, like in his garden.
Most importantly, this paragraph forms an important turning point as it has Esternome create a new wife for himself out of the city itself. Once again, seeming to imitate God’s creation of Eve from Adam’s rib, Esternome uses a rib from the scorched earth to form the model of a partner for himself. Instead of separating things of the city, as he did previously, this act has Esternome combining the various elements of the city, seemingly ad-hoc, but in his own mind through some order en route to perfection. It is through this act, and through this creation of a new partner out of City that Esternome marries City, in much the same fashion that God is said to marry the people of Israel. As such, he develops a connection that he passes on to his heir, Mary-Sophie, who later becomes both a mother and wife figure to Texaco itself.
From the beginning of Texaco, urban planner is referred to as the Christ, though it is not explicitly mentioned why. Ultimately, it could be said that the planner becomes the Christ by discovering Texaco for what it is—a hybrid culture that is as much a part of its people as they are a part of it. It is by transmitting this message to the urban planner that Marie-Sophie achieves fulfillment of the Mentohs’ instructions to Esternome. By making the urban planner understand Texaco, she makes him, a receptacle for the message of the Mentohs, as built into Texaco by Esternome before her. It is through him that the Mentohs’ message is able to penetrate the world outside the district, and thus through him that City is finally conquered.
It is here that Esternome gains a bit of respite, and it is here that he learns to create a model for paradise in his “creole garden” of the hills, even while turning his back on City. In the garden, he realizes the importance of mixing plants in the creation of a sustainable and thriving utopia in nature, even if he can’t realize the potential for the mixing of society that the word “creole” suggests. Like the Eden of the Hebrew Bible, Nouteka is idyllic, even while it is impractical in a realistic sense. While the diversity of the plants that create and sustain the garden itself allow it to thrive, the homogeny of its inhabitants causes their culture to wither.
If Nouteka, then, is Eden, then the citation above shows Esternome going through something akin to the fall. Just as Eve’s curiosity tempts her out of the garden, so too does Ninon’s tempt her away from Nouteka, and Esternome after her. Of course, unlike Eve, Ninon is lost in transition between Nouteka and the fallen city, but even here some surprising parallels are notable. Esternome “harvests” bones in the fallen city just as Adam toils in the fields after his expulsion from paradise. He also gives himself the job of sorting things within the fallen city just as Adam is given the job of sorting the animals of the garden and giving them all names, and just as Esternome himself did by lumping all the people of the living city into categories like mulatto, beke, etc., instead of allowing these social groups to work together as a living organism, like in his garden.
Most importantly, this paragraph forms an important turning point as it has Esternome create a new wife for himself out of the city itself. Once again, seeming to imitate God’s creation of Eve from Adam’s rib, Esternome uses a rib from the scorched earth to form the model of a partner for himself. Instead of separating things of the city, as he did previously, this act has Esternome combining the various elements of the city, seemingly ad-hoc, but in his own mind through some order en route to perfection. It is through this act, and through this creation of a new partner out of City that Esternome marries City, in much the same fashion that God is said to marry the people of Israel. As such, he develops a connection that he passes on to his heir, Mary-Sophie, who later becomes both a mother and wife figure to Texaco itself.
From the beginning of Texaco, urban planner is referred to as the Christ, though it is not explicitly mentioned why. Ultimately, it could be said that the planner becomes the Christ by discovering Texaco for what it is—a hybrid culture that is as much a part of its people as they are a part of it. It is by transmitting this message to the urban planner that Marie-Sophie achieves fulfillment of the Mentohs’ instructions to Esternome. By making the urban planner understand Texaco, she makes him, a receptacle for the message of the Mentohs, as built into Texaco by Esternome before her. It is through him that the Mentohs’ message is able to penetrate the world outside the district, and thus through him that City is finally conquered.
posted by Jer @ 10:59 PM
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