〈魯濱遜漂流記〉中的殖民主義傾向

1、THE COLONIALISM TENDENCY IN ROBINSON CRUSOEbyLi FenJune, 2007Xiaogan UniversityAbstractRobinson Crusoe is an excellent adventure story, and both the work and the hero have been so popular since the publication in 1719 that almost everyone knows it .But a close reading of the novel reveals colonialis

2、m hidden underneath the storyline such as race and power and so on, and this paper is to show its very important aspect related to colonialism, which is always ignored by people. The protagonist of the novel is a typical colonist, who settles on the island and colonizes it. In the novel, the author

3、transforms colonialism through the power of fictional representation into the adventures of a single man mastering an island, his native companion and himself. Being taken a British trader as its hero and set on a distant Caribbean island, Robinson Crusoe cries out for study of its colonial contexts

4、. Indeed, from every aspect of the novel we can see very clearly colonialism characteristic. Key words: Robinson Crusoe; religion; trade and commerce; relationship; colonialism論魯濱遜漂流記中的殖民主義傾向摘要魯濱遜漂流記是一部經(jīng)典的歷險小說，自從1719年出版以來，無論是作品還是主人公都家喻戶曉，但仔細研讀我們不難發(fā)現(xiàn)隱藏在文字里的有關(guān)種族和權(quán)利的殖民主義，此文就是主要研究它的這一重要方面，但卻是經(jīng)常被人們忽略的殖民主

5、義。這部小說的主角是一位典型的殖民主義者，他定居在和殖民著這片荒島。在這部小說里，作者是通過虛構(gòu)人物的力量融入到單個人的冒險經(jīng)歷中來表現(xiàn)殖民主義的，這個人控制著整個荒島、他的同伴和他自己。魯濱遜漂流記把英國商人作為這部小說里的定格在遙遠的食人荒島上的英雄。這部小說呼喚殖民內(nèi)容的研究，事實上我們能從這部小說的每一個特征都看出殖民主義。關(guān)鍵詞：魯濱遜；宗教；商業(yè)貿(mào)易；關(guān)系；殖民主義Contents1. Introduction .12 .Robinson Crusoe and colonialism.1 2.1 The definition of colonialism.1 2.2 Analyzi

6、ng colonialism from the background at that time1 2.3 Analyzing colonialism from nation priority and Crusoes mindset.2 2.4 Analyzing colonialism from the religion.4 2.5 Analyzing colonialism from the relationship between Crusoe and Friday.5 2.6 Analyzing colonialism from trade and commerce .7 2.7 Ana

7、lyzing colonialism from slave trading and establishing empire.83. Conclusion.9 Notes.9 Bibliography11The Colonialism Tendency in Robinson Crusoe1. IntroductionRobinson Crusoe is a very popular novel. Whose author is Daniel Defoe. He was born in 1660 in London, his father, James Foe, was a butcher an

8、d candle maker and it seems that the young man was disappointed that he was not more high born. This may be the reason why he added the De to his surname. As a young man, he was filled with the ideal of becoming a minister but instead went into commerce and by the early 1690s he was engaged in the r

9、evolutionary activities against James II, King of England. Late in life he turned to fiction and wrote an enormous number of works, mostly adventure stories, so some see him as the Ernest Hemingway of his way.Maybe many contemporary readers commonly regard it as a very exciting and educative novel,

10、which makes people be active and lead a better life depending on hard work, but we should not ignore its another very obvious tendency-colonialism. Though Crusoes journey toward selfhood begins on unsteady grounds, where he is nearly swallowed by a storm, enslaved by Moors, and ship wrecked on an un

11、inhabited island frequently by cannibals and located in the middle of Spanish Empire, Crusoe gradually learns how to control himself over land and people. In the novel, the author transforms colonialism through the power of fictional representation into the adventure of a single man mastering an isl

12、and, his native companion and himself.In this essay, I attempt to demonstrate the extent to colonialism which shapes the novel. From the background at that time, we can know the possibility of colonialism, which the current situation calls for .Religiously, there is an ideal island in the novela pla

13、ce where mutual respect and tolerance between Protestant and Catholic. Economically, it functions as an argument for the expansion of trade, all the people think that the colonized people are potential consumers of English goods and psychologically, it shows that the British people view themselves a

14、nd their international achievement with intense pride and see more of themselves through their contact with colonized people and Crusoe gradually finds his self-importance. To some degree Crusoe is a colonist and the novel acts as a colonialism propaganda test.2. Robinson Crusoe and colonialism2.1 T

15、he definition of colonialismColonialism means policy of acquiring colonies and keeping them dependent, which is the exploitation of colonized country by a stronger one, the use of the weaker countrys resources to strengthen and enrich the stronger country, by which a nation maintains or extends its

16、control over foreign dependencies. The protagonist of the novel is a typical colonist, who settles on the island and colonizes it. The author transforms colonialism through the power of fictional representation into the adventure of a single man mastering an island, his native companion and himself.

17、2.2 Analyzing colonialism from the background at that timeDuring that time, many exciting changes were taking place in all aspects of life. Elizabeth I of England died and her cousin, King James I, took over the crown, uniting Scotland and England under one rule. His belief in the divine right of Ki

18、ngs, and his attempts to abolish Parliament and suppress Presbyterianism create resentment that lead to the English civil war, the monarchy was restored under King Charles II in 1660. This is known as the Restoration Period. The term Restoration referred to peoples story desire to restore art and en

19、lightment to England. Visual art become more popular, theater became legal again, and science and philosophy were revolutionized, which encouraged travel and exploration. Scientists and inventors discovered calculus, the telescope and microscope, the mechanical calculators, the pendulum clock and ic

20、e cream. In addition, the writers and philosophers wrote about life in terms of heroic endeavors, worship, society and the cosmos. Europeans had been traveling and discovering new continents for hundreds of years, but with so many technological advancements, travel and exploration became more access

21、ible.During this time, Europeans began to settle in North American. The Pilgrims founded Plymouth in 1620 and Boston in 1630. So many people were quick relocated the new world that by 1691 the Royal Colony of Massachusetts was established. Also, African slave trading becomes a very profitable endeav

22、or for Europeans. In fact, slave trading is the reason for Robinson Crusoes initial voyage. All these background factors accelerated the tendency of colonialism.12.3 Analyzing colonialism from nation priority and Crusoes mindsetAt that time, the Welsh, Scots and English took themselves as Britons be

23、cause they came to see themselves as a kind of people apart and distinct from other nations and people. They think British people were superimposed over all the other internal differences in response to contact with the other. The French and other Catholic nations of Europe distinguished themselves

24、from whom the British, because of their common religion of Protestant and their market economy. Protestantism, in particular served as a common commitment during the eighteenth century, conflicts with these other nations, which often involved colonial activities and trade aggression throughout the n

25、on-European world. From 1688 on, England had been expending, and the pride of Englishness had been enlarging, particularly with reference to the countrys overseas possessions. The English continued to associate their national prominence with their colonial activities, whether trade or the acquisitio

26、n of foreign territories, through the eighteenth century. Nonetheless, Great Britain experienced its share of anxieties on the road to imperial greatness; both in dealing with other European powers and its native subjects, and the British people view themselves and their international achievement wi

27、th intense pride. The English further reduced their concerns regarding their international status by becoming an increasingly self-referential society, seeing more of themselves in spite of their increasing contact with a diverse range of cultures; or we might accurately say, seeing more of themselv

28、es through their contact with colonized peoples. Despite Crusoes origins are insignificant, once he said that mine was the middle state or what might be called the upper station of low life. By the end of his adventures, he is filled with a sense of his own self importance, who sees himself and his

29、experiences as being of immense consequence. Given the reach of Britains trading and territorial empire during the eighteenth century and the resulting effects on British subjectivity, it is not surprising that Robinson Crusoe emerged in England when it did with its bold assertion of colonial author

30、ity by means of a single individual. This novel is a work that asserts the primacy of individualism to the rise of capitalism and the spread of Protestantism. In fact, imperialism has a profound influence on western culture and its artifacts and colonialism helped to assist the development of capita

31、lism, the kind of individualism we see in Robinson Crusoe could have only arisen in eighteenth century England, a stronghold of Protestantism and material capitalism.2 Robinson Crusoe owns seventeenth and eighteenth century travel literature. Studies of the novel, while otherwise thorough in tracing

32、 the social and cultural influences that gave rise to the novel, have similarly paid little attention to the colonialism as a shaping force. The sheer expanse of the globe through which Crusoe wanders has a paradoxical effect on him: rather than being overwhelmed by the vastness of his environment a

33、nd dwindling under feelings of insignificance, Crusoes self-image enlarges the farther he travels from England. The double movement, which are expending empires and expending selves, serves to position Crusoe at the center of the both the world he inhabits and the authors work. Crusoe takes on signi

34、ficance as a character because he stands as a seemingly stable and coherent subject in the wake of an expending empire. This is precisely the type of mindset that colonialism would require, and Crusoe is the character to show British self-assurance among a person or in a landscape that would easily

35、overpower him. Crusoes long solitude and growing control of his imagination is very notable. The enlarging self that typifies Crusoes response to his experiences compensates in many ways for the actual danger of his situation. Particularly while on the island, Crusoe constantly faces physical peril,

36、 both real and imaged. He finds himself stranded in the middle of the Spanish Empire on an island beset by Cannibals. While Crusoes situation should impress upon him a sense of his own smallness in the world, Crusoe responds by finding evidences of his self-importance. Surveying his circumstances on

37、 the island, Crusoe images himself :“Lord of the whole Manor; or if I pleased, I might call myself King, or Emperor over the whole Country which I had possession of. ”The seeming persistent confidence with which Crusoe asserts himself over the island derives largely from the nature of his danger, th

38、e only inhabitant on the island, he might just as well shrink in terror. Instead, he imagines himself in great terms. By placing Crusoe outside of human society for nearly two decades, Crusoe has the opportunity never afforded in actual experience. He has the luxury of working out the political bran

39、ches of colonialism before the economic. While it may seem odd to speak of political implication of an individual dwelling in solitude, Crusoes mastery of himself and his creation of an imaged kingdom prepare him for his reencounter with human beings of an alien culture and eventually for the recove

40、ry of his property and revenues and his renewed trading ventures. Then Crusoes colonial experience is clear: master yourself and you master your destiny, master your destiny and you master others, master these and you master the economic life.2.4 Analyzing colonialism from the religionIn the novel,

41、there is an ideal island a place where mutual respect and tolerance between Protestant and Catholic flourish, is ultimately Crusoes creation and represents a distinctly English colony. In the religious landscape of the eighteenth century, the gulf between Protestant and Catholic was still the most s

42、triking feature. The constant threat and a catholic monarchy being restored by force and the persecution of Protestants throughout European heightened the English, Welsh and Scots sense of separateness from the other European nations. Due to the military victories against such adversaries, Protestan

43、t Britons came to see themselves as Gods chosen people and in his divine care. This is not to suggest that the British were necessarily an extremely pious people. The protestant worldview, however, was such an elemental aspect of their culture that it informed their thinking and identity, even if re

44、gular church attendance was not a priority. While the sincerity of Crusoes conversion and his religious commitment have been debated by critics since the novel was first published, the author does fashion in Crusoe a Protestant viewpoint that is close to his own and crucial to the colonial possibili

45、ties as he envisioned them in the novel. Robinson Crusoe is a person who is tolerant, committed to essential practices rather than doctrinal controversy, keenly evaluative of his own behavior in relation to his religion, intensely personal in his encounter with God, and committed through arts of int

46、erpretation to seeing Gods hand in everything from the grand outlines to the daily details of his life. Crusoes religious views are especially crucial if we see him as a British Protestant competing for territory with Catholic French and Spanish colonials. The English overseas Empire defined itself

47、in opposition to the Catholic empire of Spain from the beginning. The British saw themselves as saving native peoples from Catholicism as well as from their own savage ways. Crusoe is a character apart and distinct from other human beings. Most important, Crusoe comes to view his isolation as a resu

48、lt of a divine will, that is, God is both aware of and responsible for his isolation. Crusoe assuredly claims that God knows that he is here and Crusoe declares he was brought to this miserable circumstance by Gods direction as a form of punishment for a dreadful misspent life. Crusoes isolation thu

49、s serves to both enlarge and render significant his existence in the world. He was singled out by God unlike the rest of crew. The Spanish shipwreck Crusoe discovers off the coast of the island reinforces this interpretation of his experience: “Of two ships companies who were now cast away upon this

50、 part of the world, not one life should be spared by mine.” Crusoe is the only English Protestant among either crew. Crusoes Protestantism develops and is refined through his island experience and the fate of the other crew member might seem a minor point were it not for a number of anti-catholic re

51、ferences scattered throughout the novel; his island experience establishes in his mind religious and national boundaries. Once he has been literally singled out and separated from the European world by God, Crusoe is assured of his place in it on reentering that world. Crusoe comes to see the unique

52、 place he occupies in the world as an English Protestant. This is not to say that Crusoe becomes a religious bigot. The author was an advocate for religious freedom and much of his opposition toward Catholicism naturally derived, as it did for many of his contemporaries. Although clearly unhappy wit

53、h the religious persecution prevalent in his own culture, the author and many eighteenth century Britons believed that the Inquisition embodies an extreme form of religious intolerance that allowed them to see, by comparison, Great Britain as a nation founded on constitutional and religious libertie

54、s, in spite of widespread prejudice among Protestants. The cause of religious freedom informs the nature of the colony. Crusoe creates on his island subjects is a pointed illustration of what was an ideal nation and colony:“It was remarkable too, we had but three subjects, and they were of three dif

55、ferent religious. My man Friday was a Protestant, his father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist. However, I allowed liberty of Conscience throughout my Dominions. ”Crusoes colony is implicitly contrasted with Brazil, since liberty of conscience expressly associated with Crusoe

56、s island colony seems outside the ideological bounds of a predominantly Catholic colony. Crusoes attitude toward Catholicism in general remains intact and integral to both the formation of his identity as a British Protestant and the kind of colony he establishes on the island. The religious overton

57、es of the novel thus provide a blueprint for a religiously sound colonial policy. Since colonialism brings colonizing peoples into contacts with individuals of competing Christian creeds as well as non-Christian Colonialism must establish a strong liberal and principled policy on religion as does Cr

58、usoe.2.5 Analyzing colonialism from the relationship between Crusoe and Friday Another advantage of the island setting is that it provides the ideal condition for Crusoe to make himself the object of his own reflections, a process that teaches Crusoe how to master himself and prepares him to master his native companion, Friday. The farther Crusoe wanders into the world, the more he comes t