 In the novel, vodou is used both to protect the slaves and to wage war against the slave owners.This point is drawn from an article by Rachel Beauvoir Dominique, who says, "During the night of 14 August 1791 a Voodoo ceremony held in a place called Bois Caiman was a fundamental step in the unification of the slave population of Saint-Domingue.A week later
the plantations (which were mainly sugarcane) were on fire, and the revolution had started.