In this aside, Sansay relates the struggles that the French troops faced in their attempt to suppress the Haitian revolution. The French revolution and the subsequent manumission of slaves coincided with and contributed to this uprising in Saint Domingo, although the stability of the colony had steadily decreased as sugar production increased. The cause of the revolutionaries’ unprecedented success against the French was partially that many of the slaves on the island had been born in different parts of Africa. This meant that most slaves had served in their respective countries’ militaries before they were sold into slavery, and therefore had some wartime experience. Furthermore, the slave population enormously outnumbered the combined French military and white population on the island. The European soldiers also encountered unfamiliar diseases upon their arrival in Saint Domingo, which decimated their numbers. As a result, the French military was unable to maintain the requisite amount of troops, and thus required a constant supply of reinforcements. The European response to the Haitian revolution is significant in the larger context of the novel, since it explains the presence of the French generals in the colony, and provides the basis for the revolution and the “horrors” which Mary describes. References: 1. Leonard, Virginia W. "Haitian Revolution." Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450, edited by Thomas Benjamin, vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, pp. 538-542. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 2 March. 2017.,

1. Denis, Watson. "Haiti." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, pp. 616-632. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed 1 March. 2017.

When seeing the title of this novel for the first time, readers may think that Sansay's "Horrors" of Saint Domingo are the atrocities, such as enslavement and exploitation, that the European colonists committed against the native peoples. We discussed in class, however, that Sansay is actually referring to the the ways in which the enslaved natives rebelled against their white oppressors during the Haitian revolution. Upon arriving in Santo Domingo, the main protagonist Mary says, "A more terrible picture could not be imagined," which suggests that she is not used to seeing the mistreatment of the white inhabitants (62). The mention that “the people live in tents, or make a kind of shelter,” is her main evidence of the the colonists’ misfortunes. Subsequently, she notes that “only the roofs and floors [of the houses] have been destroyed,”(62). The partial collapse of these houses foreshadows Clara's marital issues and destruction of Clara’s “domestic tranquility,” due to her flirtations with General Rochambeau (83). In addition, this passage hints at the later razing of the town and massacre of the white inhabitants by the revolutionaries (122-124). Finally, this passage includes the first use of the word “horrors” in this novel; this ultimately implies that the main focus of these “horrors” and the overall book will be the about the violence of the Haitian revolutionaries against the European colonizers.

European colonists (and subsequently their descendants) typically used slave labor to support agricultural endeavors, such as sugar and cotton, on vast plantations. This caused the island's exports to become extremely profitable for the French. "Slavery in Saint-Domingue - TLP," The Louvre Project, http://thelouvertureproject.org/index.php?title=Slavery_in_Saint-Domingue 22 February 2017.