Island Beneath the Sea

Content Warning: This section mentions sexual assault.

Throughout the novel, Allende draws attention to the hierarchies and other social structures that perpetuate power imbalances, as well as the violence that typically results from such imbalances.

Most significantly, Allende depicts the system of slavery as practiced in Saint-Domingue as a major imbalance of power that directly inspires the self-emancipated forces to rebel. As Dr. Parmentier comments to Valmorain on one occasion, “There is nothing as dangerous as impunity” (169), meaning exemption from punishment for wrongdoing. The system of slavery in Saint-Domingue effectively elevated the planters to such a high status that they felt they could do anything they wanted on their plantations without consequences. On reflection, Valmorain realizes that the worst part of living at Saint-Lazare was “the absolute power he held over other lives, with its burden of temptations and degradation” (241). As the revolution gains momentum, Dr. Parmentier astutely observes that the rebels’ actions are a perfectly logical and fitting response to the wrongs committed by the French. Even those, like Cambray, who fall on the middle rungs of the ladder of power are likely to use what power they have to struggle for more power, creating endless loops of conflict.