This novel by the prolific author Alice Hoffman is a novel
of historical fiction (1807-186-‘s).
Based on the life of the Jewish family of Camille Pissaro, the father of
the impressionist movement, this novel tells the story of the tumultuous life
of his mother, Rachel and his father, Frederick in the tiny town of Amalie on
St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. While
the novel is true to the existing documentation of the historical facts, many
of the characters are invented or filled out with fiction. Camille Pissaro born Jacobo Camille Pizzaro,
grows up in the riot of color and beautiful scenery that exists on St. Thomas. Some of his paintings reflect his childhood
and early adulthood spent among the gorgeous flora and fauna on the
Island. Rachel Pomie Petit Pizzaro,
herself an enticing character, has 4 stepchildren and 1 biological child with
her elderly husband whom she married due to her family’s financial needs. She
bears 5 more children with the love of
her life, Frederick Pizzaro. Her husband
was a scandalous 8 years her junior as well as her deceased husband’s nephew. Even though they were related by marriage and
not blood the marriage was unacceptable to the Jewish community of Amalie of
which they were a part. The members of the synagogue viewed the marriage as improper
and refused to condone it. They were
both shunned by the Jewish community for engaging in an improper union and
refused formal marriage by the rabbi. The
children of their union were also shunned. Instead their children attended the
Moravian school created by the church to educate the black population of the
island. The black population came from
the free children of former slaves, former slaves, and those still bound by
slavery. Camille and his siblings grew
to know, like, and love the black people on the island and view them as equals
in many ways.
All through her childhood, adolescence, and adult life,
Rachel Pomie dreamed of traveling to and/or living in France. However, her
mother refused to give her the financial support needed for the trip to Paris
which was her lifelong dream. There was an ongoing conflict between Rachel and
her mother over her desire to travel to France and her mother’s refusal to
allow it. The community at the time was a Danish colony considered backward in
worldly ways. Many of the ancestors of the Jews of St.
Thomas were the heirs of the legacy of the Inquisition when Jews of Spain,
Portugal, and parts of Italy were required to convert to Catholicism or be
burned alive at the stake. Many Jews left these lands for Holland,Turkey, the
Middle East and the Americas including St. Thomas, an island in the U.S. Virgin
Islands. Rachel’s mother tried to suppress her only living daughter’s
rebelliousness and she refused her permission or the funds needed to travel to
France. When marriage to a widowed
business acquaintance of her father’s was needed to save the family’s finances,
Rachel acquiesced and married the elderly Isaac Petit, father of 4 children. Isaac is still in love with his deceased wife
at the time of their marriage. While
neither Rachel nor Isaac love one another, they respect and care for each other
until Isaac’s death shortly before the birth of their own biological child.
Rachelle’s best friend, Jestine, is the half black daughter of Adelle, the
black maid who raised Rachel. (Spoiler
alert!) Unbeknownst to her, Jestine is really her half-sister, the product of
the affair her father had with Adelle.
As a result Rachel’s mother is cold and unwelcoming to Adelle and
Jestine. Adelle also has her own house
overlooking the sea shore. Jestine is
beautiful and Rachel is homely.
Nevertheless Rachel has a passionate nature and a lovely figure. Knowing that Frederick, her deceased
husband’s nephew recently arrived from France
and who was exceptionally
handsome, could see her, she walked out into her garden in the moonlight
wearing only a white slip. Frederick
falls passionately in love with the woman in the white slip who had a
voluptuous and lovely figure even tho she was not pretty.
Of their 5 children Rachel loves most deeply, her son,
Camille. Camille and Rachel are similar
in many ways. Both are rebellious and
possessed of independent spirits.
However, Rachel does her mother’s bidding and sacrifices her own
happiness for her family’s financial stability.
Camille refuses to do his mother’s bidding and instead insists on
studying art. For high school Rachel and
Frederick acquiesce and send Camille to live with his Parisian Aunt & Uncle while he attends art school. He does very well in art school. His professors and the Parisian art world believe
he is an outstanding talent and has great promise. Nevertheless, when he is 18 per his agreement
with his mother, once school is over he returns to Amalie to work in the family
business. While he was studying in Paris two of his older brothers die from
illness. They were both more suited to
working in the family business than he ever was. Not only is he unhappy in the family
business, but he also is a poor worker.
He prefers to give away
the goods they sell to anyone too poor to pay for them. Of course, one
cannot run a business that way. Though
Rachel realizes Camille is a good artist, she worries and rightfully so how he
will ever earn enough money to support a family by painting. This was a
reasonable belief at the time. Still she hangs one of his paintings unbeknownst
to him in a prominent place in her bedroom.
Sadly, though Rachel should be sympathetic to Camille’s desire
to return to Paris, the center of the art world, Rachel refuses to allow
it. There is no one but Jacobo to take the reins
of the family business. Jacobo is
miserable working in the import/export
business, but he tries. Eventually, he leaves Amalie to follow a Dutch artist
who has praised him and who has connections to the European art world. He returns to Paris. Shortly, there after his mother sends his ill
younger sister to Paris for more advanced medical treatment and follows her
there. Rachel, Jacoby and his sister are
reunited in Paris where Jacoby (Camille) finds love and makes his life. Rachel never returns to Amalie leaving the
business in the hands of the trusted Mulatto employee to whom she has given an
ownership interest and who regularly sends Rachel her share of the income from
the business. Camille Pissaro becomes the father of French Imprssionism. In spite of Camile’s artistic success, his
mother must continue to help support him and his family. Camille still insists on giving some of his
artwork to those too poor to pay him for it.
Because of that, he is never a financial success.
Of interest in understanding the story is to question why it
was titled” The Marriage of Opposites.”
How are characters in the book in opposition? Look at Rachel and her mother, Mrs. Pomie and
Adelle, Jestine and -, Mrs. Halevy and Rachel,
Camille and Rachel, …
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