The passage that struck me was very early on. The 4th paragraph starts out simply enough with at the first light, referencing dawn. From there is where things got tricky with the line “on this very fragile earth thickness exceeded in a humiliating way by its grandiose future”. I was not sure what the line was describing at first due to the oxymorons. To understand it I continued to read the passage with the context of the French colonized central American islands and their prevalence of slave plantations. That was when things made a bit more sense, describing a volcano destroying the island leaving nothing left but confusingly, “bubbling and a beach of dreams and the insane awaking.” From there I believe I understood what it the passage was talking about. The fragile Earth was a carribean colonial island. The humiliating way by its grandiose future refers to the relative prosperity felt by the plantations due to the inhumane practice of slavery. After realizing this I understood the final line better. The effect of the volcano was wiping the slate clean and returning the island to a beautiful paradise, (the beach of dreams), unimaginable by the modern human standard, (the insane awakening.)