In Wild Thing, Sue Prideaux frames Paul Gauguin’s activism in Polynesia as a direct response to the dual coercive forces of colonial law and missionary authority. Early French intervention in the region largely consisted of missionary activity. However, the government became escalated following the expulsion of missionaries from Tahiti in 1836; France responded with military force, declaring the island a protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880 (“French Polynesia Profile” BBC, 6 Jun. 2023). Simultaneously, France sought to annex many of the region’s other islands and island chains, solidifying its control over the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands, the Marquesas Islands, the Society Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago by the late 19th century.

French rule was consolidated through the Code de l’indigénat, a legal framework that formalized a two-tiered system of justice. As one study explains, “The indigénat established a legal regime of exception that subjected colonised ‘natives’ to summary sanctions and administrative penalties outside ordinary judicial safeguards” (Mourouga, Erell. “The Code de l’Indigénat and Colonial Management in Algeria (1865-1944).” LSE Beacon Journal, 21 Aug. 2023). This system, which denied full citizenship to Polynesian subjects, operated in parallel with the moral and social control exerted by Catholic missionaries, who suppressed local customs, imposed dress codes, and controlled education.

Prideaux documents Gauguin’s growing opposition to this environment, which he condemned in his own writing. In a manuscript, he declared that to “set up a parasitical administration […] is barbarous folly, that is shameful!” (303). His resistance took multiple forms. He used journalism in papers like Les Guêpes and Le Sourire to satirize corrupt officials and crony infrastructure projects. He petitioned colonial inspectors about disproportionate tax burdens and exposed gendarme abuse. In Hiva Oa, he acted as a “barefoot lawyer,” successfully challenging the legality of forcing children into distant missionary schools and defending islanders against unjust fines. Through these actions—and even satirical carvings targeting clerical hypocrisy—Gauguin publicly contested the everyday injustices produced by the interlocking powers of colonial administration and the Church.