The Gambit Guild - View topic - Gambit: An Ace of an Icon? - Home of the Gambit Guild - Free Message Board Hosting by FreePowerBoards.com

Here's that paper about Gambit representing Cajuns I told you about a couple weeks ago. A special "thank you" to Crimson Queen, Stefbug, and anyone else who helped me with getting sources/ideas for it! I know I didn't cover everything about Gambit or Cajuns, and I hope you'll be gracious knowing that you all probably know a lot more about Gambit than I do! I had to use MLA citation because of the class it was for, but I left the works cited off because that's not exciting and just adds more length, though I can post it if you want! Sorry the paper is so long!

Gambit: An Ace of an Icon?

Flashing a card and a smile is all Gambit has to do to capture the attention and hearts of comic book readers everywhere. He has a potent charm that either attracts or exasperates all who are exposed to it. He one of comic book readers’ favorite X-Men characters – not only because of this personality but also his marvelous abilities. The power to kinetically charge any inanimate object makes for something we all love to see – explosions! He also possesses skills in thieving and fighting. But there is another element of Gambit that is both mysterious and fascinating: he is a Cajun.

What is a Cajun? The term is actually a shortening of the word Acadian, which were a French people in Nova Scotia, Canada, during the 17th century. They resided in a colony known as Acadia, established in 1604 (Ramsey xi-xii). There they comfortably remained until 1713, when France lost the colony to Britain after the War of the Spanish Succession. Under the Treaty of Urecht, the Acadians were meant to leave within the next year, but the British wanted settlers to tame the wilderness. Hence, the Acadians ended up staying there for 40 more years. In 1748, the British brought 2,500 settlers over to Nova Scotia from their country and in 1755 told the Acadians to evacuate. This exodus was called Le Grand Dérangement, and hundreds left on small, disease-infested ships to the United States as their villages were burned and families were separated (xii-xiii). For 11 years the Acadians traveled and most landed along the East Coast of the United States. They ended up in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Georgia, and both North and South Carolina. They weren’t well received in any of these areas besides Maryland, so in 1756 they traveled to Louisiana and found a home where other French settlers already resided (xiii). There the Acadians settled on bayous and farms and became trappers along coastal marshes and fishermen of crab, crayfish, shrimp, and oysters on the Gulf (xiv).

Since then Cajuns have created their own sub-culture and a quite mysterious one at that. This mystery has caused them to become one of the least understood cultures in America (Rushton 5-6). Their strange civilization, consisting of a peculiar language and a hidden residence in the bayous, has caused people to regard them as “ignorant” and “socially rebellious” (6). Many people have never heard of the Cajun culture, and some never would have if not for the popular mutant known as Gambit. This is especially true among comic book readers, for whom he has been the only example of a Cajun we have seen. Gambit’s portrayal of Cajuns is not perfect, but it does give us an introduction to who Cajuns are.

The most obvious quality of Gambit’s that points to his heritage is his accent. A person needs only to read a sentence from one of his speech bubbles to discover he has a unique way of speaking. He often pronounces the “th” sound as a “d” sound or chops out the “h.” For example, “the” is pronounced “de” (Lobdell, “For the Children” 29) and a word like “without” is pronounced “wit’out” (Lobdell, “Tooth and Claw” 6). Gambit also drops vowels out of words, making a word like “fortunately” become “fort’nately” (Lobdell, “For the Children” 29). He also cuts the “g” off of words ending in “ing,” so “holding” becomes “holdin’” (Mackie 34). All of these aspects of Gambit’s accent are accurate, as they are considered typical of Cajun accents (Thomassie; Melancon). The only problem is they tend to be inconsistent throughout the comics. This is understandable, however, considering there are different writers of separate comics, and it would be difficult for all of them to match writing styles.

There are also specific vowel sound pronunciations in Cajun accents that aren’t written into Gambit’s speech. Cajuns often pronounce words like “high” as “ha” and “tape” as “tep.” Their speech also lacks the aspiration of consonants, which is the burst of air produced in the pronunciation of the letters P, T, and K. This makes P’s sound like B’s (Melancon). Although they’re not included in Gambit’s speech, these idiosyncrasies might have been superfluous and made reading the words difficult. Gambit’s grammar is also different than what might be considered “correct” grammar; he switches word order and verb forms up a bit, saying things like, “We be headin’ in the right direction” (Mackie 29). While this may seem an exaggeration of bad grammar, making him look like an unintelligible hick, it is true that Cajuns tend to use unconventional sentence structure, especially in questions. They often pose questions such as, “What you was doin’ last night?” or “What you said?” (Nihart). Another of the things that is accurate about Gambit’s speech is that he frequently mixes French in with his English.

Gambit’s français is part of his irresistible charm. He often refers to his teammates as “mes amis,” French for “my friends” (Macchio, “A Death” 25), women as “chere” or “dear” (Lobdell, “For the Children” 21), and younger mutants like Jubilee as “petite,” which means “small”(Macchio, “A Death” 29). He also refers to men as “homme” (Lobdell, “For the Children” 9), the French word for “man,” or as “M’sieu” (Lobdell, “Tooth and Claw” 14), which is a shortening of “Monsier,” meaning “Sir.” Gambit often ends questions with, “Non?” (Nikieza 8 ) or “Neh?” (Mackie 41). Other French expressions and words like, “Je M’excuse” (Macchio, “Enter: Mangneto” 25) make their way into his dialogue as well. As enticingly French as they are, that’s all most of them are - French, not necessarily Cajun French. Cajun French is a language of its own. It’s a dialect of French that has been mixed with the languages of people of different nationalities that also settled in the Southern Louisiana area. These languages include Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, African and Native American languages, and of course English (Rushton 289). Some examples of words or expressions that are Cajun French would be “capon (coward),” “cahbin (bathroom),” or “I got the faiblesse (I feel like fainting)” (Nihart).

One of the largest deceptions about Cajuns is that they mostly live in New Orleans (Bernard, “City of New Orleans”). Gambit’s origin has done nothing to dispel this. He began his life and career as a thief in the Big Easy (Sanderson 134). The reality is that as of 1990, less than one percent of the population of the city was Cajun. New Orleans is just outside of Acadiana, the area of 22 parishes that the vast majority of Cajuns inhabit (Bernard, “City of New Orleans”). Gambit started out as an orphan on the streets and was taken in and fathered by Jean-Luc Lebeau, the leader of a guild called the Thieves’ Guild. Gambit was christened Remy Lebeau and trained by them. The accuracy of this name as a Cajun name is questionable; the name Remy is French (“Think Baby Names”), and his last name sounds like it may be, too, but Lebeau doesn’t seem to be a common Cajun name. Leblanc, a similar one, is, however (Bernard, “Surnames”). Another family who formed the Assassins Guild was the Thieves’ Guild’s rival (Sanderson 134). In this guild was Bella Donna Boudreaux, who Gambit married in an arranged marriage to bring peace between the families (Lobdell, “Tooth and Claw” 22-23). Unlike Lebeau, Boudreaux is a very popular surname among Cajuns (Bernard, “Surnames”).

This story of thieves and fighting guilds gives the impression that Cajuns are hostile people. In reality they are known for their friendliness and hospitality, often opening their homes to strangers who might need a place to stay (Hebert). However, the Cajun personality is seen as a very passionate one (Rushton 5). They truly love their friends and hate their enemies (Soileau). Though the feuding family guilds in the comics are fictitious, they are actually a good representation of this concept, with the characters feuding against one another while staying very loyal to their own families.

It is hard to say whether Gambit looks like a Cajun. Defining what a Cajun should look like is difficult because, after all, they are Americans and have mixed with multiple other nationalities. It has been said they have dark hair and eyes, swarthy skin, and are petite in stature (Rushton 5). Since Gambit was adopted, it is unknown whether he is innately Cajun. Gambit does have brown hair, but his mutant status gives him specific qualities that are attributed to his mutant genes and superhero status rather than his heritage. He has a lean, muscular figure and his eyes are a mysterious black with red irises. His apparel is mostly influenced by his being a superhero and thief. Let’s face it – nobody but a comic book character could survive the streets wearing a skin-tight uniform consisting of a pink shirt and blue pants/boots! He also is almost never without a trench coat. This is obviously a tool for theft because it’s easy to hide things in and covers so much of the body, creating a mysterious, incognito effect. Sometimes Gambit has worn a scarf around his neck, creating a more traditional southern look. The common use of “Cajun” alligator logos wearing scarves hints that this is somewhat traditional, if not stereotypical, clothing for Cajuns (“Cajun Gator”).

Gambit’s personality is just as attractive as his exotic looks. A self-proclaimed ladies’ man, Gambit is quite the charmer. He often makes suggestive comments towards other women on the team (Lobdell, “Tooth and Claw” 8 ). His flippancy may make it seem he doesn’t take things seriously, but it’s apparent that he regards his job with the X-Men with sincerity. Although he’s got one of the darkest pasts of any superhero, he seems to want to do well by human and mutant kind by aiding Charles Xavier in his dream of peace among the two groups. He knows when to be serious and when to take advantage of the opportunity to have a good time. This a quality greatly expressed by Cajuns. Their motto is, “Laissez le bons temps rouler (Let the good times roll)!” (Rushton 241). Cajuns have also been described as earthy and simplistic, living scantily on the bayous and satisfying only their most basic of human needs (5). Gambit possesses these qualities to a certain degree. Living as a thief on the streets is not exactly a life of luxury.

It would be impossible for a single character to represent the whole of a culture (although this over attribution is a mistake people often make). Considering this, Gambit is a fair representation of Cajun culture with some other of his aspects. His favorite weapons are playing cards, which he turns into explosives by charging them with kinetic energy. This may be a reflection of the fact that Cajuns love to play cards with their family and friends (Duet). Cajun food is one of the culture’s largest trademarks (Bernard, “Cajun Foodways”), and Gambit makes references to traditional Cajun foods like gumbo (Lobdell, “Tooth and Claw” 12). He also represents Cajun religion. Most Cajuns consider themselves Catholic (Rushton 7), although there are other influences in their religious beliefs, such as the voodoo brought over by African slaves (12). Gambit sometimes makes references to being Catholic, saying he went to a Catholic school (Nicieza23) and expresses knowledge of certain aspects of Catholic doctrine (Kavanagh 14). He also is aided by a traiteur named Tante Mattie Baptiste (Nicieza 1). Traiteurs are healers in traditional Cajun folk medicine (Rushton 271). Catholic prayer and the laying on of hands aid in their treatments, as well as medicinal remedies. Some of the herbal remedies come from voodoo, although, interestingly, this conflicts with Catholicism (“Traiteur”). Gambit also has an ally by the name of Jericho Drumm who practices voodoo, hence his nickname, Brother Voodoo (Zeraphyne).

When I became a fan of X-Men, Gambit quickly became my favorite character. I realized early on he had a unique culture, and this led me to do some research on Cajuns and New Orleans. In doing so, I broadened my cultural awareness and learned about a fascinating group of people. Gambit may not be the ideal representation of Cajuns in terms of accuracy, but he does spark an interest in Cajun culture for readers and may even inspire them to learn more about who Cajuns really are.