HIST 429 Black Count - class taught my Samantha Perez PDF

Preview

Summary

class taught my Samantha Perez...

Description

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo By: Alexandra Foto Samantha Perez HIST 429_03 5 May 2017

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and The Real Count of Monte Cristo explores the life and evolution of Thomas- Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailletrie, once the spoiled son of an heir to a large estate, to Alex Dumas- the forgotten soldier who fought alongside Napoleon in his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, only to be betrayed and spend time in Taranto, Italy as a prisoner of war. Written by Tom Reiss, the book attempts to prove Alex Dumas, the French general, is the inspiration for characters in his son, Alex Dumas’, novels, specifically The Count of Monte Cristo. General Alex Dumas was born the son of a white noble man, Antoine Alexandre, and a black slave woman Marie Cecette. Antoine, after many fights with is brother, ran away from his sugarcane plantation to the jungle. Having gone undetected for many years, his younger brothers, Charles and Louis, presumed he was deceased, and assumed his position as first heir to the family’s riches in France. Years later, upon hearing of the death of his brothers, Antoine returned to France to assume his role as heir, bringing along his favorite mulatto son, Thomas- Alexandre. Thomas- Alexandre, former slave child in Saint Domingue, was now the heir to, what was, a very wealthy family. He received the best education- both by books and by sword- and was showered with gifts from his father. When Thomas- Alexandre was twenty- four, a falling out with his father led to a signed enlistment in the Sixth Regiment of the Queen’s Dragoon. This was the first record of the name “Alex Dumas,” and the first he’s worked since stepping of the ship in France. As a private in the Queen’s dragoon, Dumas fell in love with a girl, Marie- Louise Labouret, who he was forbidden to marry until he was a sergeant. Three years later, Dumas came back for his lady as a lieutenant colonel of a free legion. From then on, Alex Dumas climbed the ladder to one of the army’s highest ranks. At this point, the novelist, attempts to compare his

father, “the purest, noblest man who ever lived,” to his Count of Monte Cristo counterpart, Edmund Dantès, “before his education in the dungeon transformed him into the Count” (155). Not long after Dumas and Marie- Louise married, the French Revolution began. First, Dumas commanded the Army of the Alps, where he succeeded in conquering two important mountain passes- the Little Saint Bernard Pass and the Col du Mont Cenis. Battles like the Army of the West, the Army of the Rhine followed until Alex was relieved of his duties due to unknown injuries. In 1796, Dumas returned to duty with the Army of Italy, commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Having been under the command of Napoleon, Dumas was forced to obey his orders, even though he disagreed, wholeheartedly. He may have been out ranked in Napoleon’s army, but “Dumas had been a general of division when Napoleon was still a captain…” (196). Nonetheless, Alex Dumas fought under Napoleon until his campaign in Egypt, when his fleet of ships exploded and Napoleon abandoned his troops. Upon finding a way home from Egypt, Alex boarded a boat called the Belle Maltaise. Unfortunately, the Belle Maltaise did not make it back to France, but landed in Taranto, Italy, where General Dumas became a prisoner of war. Of course, Dumas’s “imprisonment would eventually be used by his son as the basis for the… imprisoned hero Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo” (275). Two years later, Alex Dumas was freed when Naples surrendered to Napoleon, who was aware of his former friend’s imprisonment all along. The Black Count tells the story of a forgotten soldier, Alexandre Dumas, and his life from childhood as a slave, to the noble son of a Marquis, and a war hero. Although Alex Dumas may be a forgotten hero, his extraordinary life will forever be immortalized in son’s novels.

In The Black Count, Tom Reiss tells the life story of Alex Dumas, a French soldier, who was born a slave in Saint Domingue, and rose to command armies as a French General during the Revolution. Reiss attempts to point out the similarities between General Dumas and the characters in his son, Alex Dumas’s, novels such as The Count of Monte Cristo. Although Reiss’ research, is comprised of mostly primary and secondary sources, there still was not much to base the story on. While the novel is supposed to be told as the life story of General Dumas, Reiss drifts off many times, as if to fill in areas of the biography where important information was supposed to given. There were many times where it was easy to forget that the book is actually about a person. With that being said, the “research” Reiss did before writing the book, his stories of travelling and the Château de Vincennes, is quite entertaining and relates to what is happening in the story at that time. As far as the actual construction, Reiss’ book is impeccable. Unlike many authors who only utilize the notes to give extra information, Reiss uses footnotes. This makes the story easier to incorporate within the book. His use of sections within the book make it more organized and thus easier to relate different time periods during General Dumas’ life. The Black Count is very well written and, having won a Pulitzer Prize, further proves so. Although Reiss’s attempt to prove the similarities between the General and his son’s novels was not entirely successful, I do believe he was able to accomplish something elseGeneral Alexandre Dumas is a forgotten soldier. As Reiss said “The worst sin anyone can commit is to forget” (3). The only honor France attempted to make was a monument of Alexandre Dumas- hero to all French colonial slaves, in the form of mega- shackles. Today, “there is still no monument in France commemorating the life of General Alexandre Dumas’s” as a hero (330)....