Toussaint L'Ouverture

Character Analysis

Slave. General. Military leader. Dad. Honorable guy. Need we go on? Toussaint L'Ouverture is your all-around good guy. He's composed, wise, and pragmatic, even when no one around him is. Even better? He was a real guy.

You Can't Spell "Toussaint" Without "Saint"

To put it another way, Toussaint's a saint. Okay, okay, he's not actually, but he might as well be. The guy is a natural leader to the troops, mainly because of his morality and strength of purpose. Check out what he tells us about becoming the General:

[…] it was not right for one person to own another, not anymore. That was why Toussaint had no doubt that he would lead. No one else had the same conviction. No one else could pursue the cause knowing that it was not only just, but that it was possible. (10.17)

Leave it to Toussaint to make this about conviction. He's not in the war for money, glory, or revenge, unlike most people; instead he wants to make things right. Toussaint firmly believes that slavery is inherently wrong. It doesn't matter how noble a guy is, slavery will corrupt him to the core. So Toussaint takes it upon himself to lead the troops to fight for what is right. He's more principled than anyone else in the book.

Forward-Thinker

But that doesn't mean he has no resistance. Many of the troops don't like the idea of acting civilly, because no one has treated them that way. As slaves, they were punched, kicked, whipped, or worse for standing up for themselves. So it's pretty understandable that they want slave-owners to pay with their own blood.

Not Toussaint, though. He's seen violence with his own eyes but doesn't think it solves anything. In fact, we're told:

Toussaint was thinking further, though. He was thinking about what they would do when they had all quit their posts, and were free. They would need to eat. They would need to hold out against their foes, for surely the French would send reinforcements to destroy them? (8.3)

One of the things that makes Toussaint such a great leader is the fact that he plans ahead. While everyone else is thinking about revenge, he's coming up with a game plan to tackle the problems they'll have in the future. He knows his men need a practical guy to think about stuff like food, crops, and shelter. Without Toussaint, the men would burn Haiti to the ground—and be left with nothing.

Who's Afraid of the Dark?

In the end, Toussaint is captured and awaits his death patiently. We feel sorry for the guy. After all he's accomplished and fought for, he doesn't get to enjoy it in Haiti. Again, Toussaint proves how mature and decent he is:

In the darkness, he thought about death because he knew that was what awaited him. He knew that they could never truly take Haiti from him, because in death he would know those he had lost once again, would speak with them and hold them again. In killing him, the French would be returning him to his ancestors, to his wife, would in some sense be giving him what he wanted. (20.44)

Instead of throwing a pity party, Toussaint willingly accepts his pending death. He doesn't let the French get the satisfaction of taking away his positive outlook. His glass is half full to the end.