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《鲁滨逊漂流记》中殖民文化对殖民地文化影响(2)

2013-05-05 18:07 2. The Ugly Black along the African Coast
The opposite of the civilized white were the colored, especially the black had worse image than the Indies. With full of discrimination, the black were called as Negroes. In the novel, we could find that they had the character of simplicity, friendliness and wisdom. When Robinson asked some food to eat, they were so kindly to fetch the food for the stranger. They were not as foolish as we originally imagined, and thought out a good idea to give the food to Robinson within precaution of each other: “they took a safe way for us all, for they brought it to the shore and laid it down, and went and stood a great way off till we fetched it on board and then came close to us again.”(Defoe, 22) They lived with nature, and mastered many skills to support their life. They did much better work at taking off the skin of the leopard only with the sharpened piece of wood. However, in the whites’ eyes, they were stereotypically contented fool, offensive, ugly, suppositious, lazy, weird and pessimistic. They were still unavoidable to depict as ugly people with quite black and stark naked, “The women were as stark naked as the men”. (Defoe, 24) They looked strong, while in front of the beasts, they were extremely frightened and were vulnerable to the attack of wild animals. They had no arms except a long slender stick that they would throw them a great distance with good aim, though it couldn’t resist the attack of the wild beasts. When they saw Robinson’s advanced arms—gun and powder that he used to kill the leopard as a reward for their food, they were so astonished that “some of them were even ready to die for fear, and fell down as dead with terror”. (Defoe, 23) Besides, the foolish local people worshiped the gun and gun-taker; and they thought he were the God from the heaven. Here Defoe portrayed their foolishness pretty well and indicated that only the noise and the fire of the colonist’s gun could conquer one nation to another. Naturally, such foolish people needed to be civilized by the kind and just whites. （科教范文网 lw.nseaC.Com编辑发布）
3. The Cruel Cannibals—the American Indians
Another opposition of the civilization was the cruel cannibals. Friday lived in a savage tribe with the nature of eating man’s flesh. Such behavior is unacceptable in a civilized society, since it was the most inhuman and evil behavior in the world. Thus those westerners took the chance to construct “the other’s” images and found a good justification for their construction. In colonial literature, it always narrated that God abandoned those cannibals. Robinson Crusoe was the same, and as followed,
“Who, as to me, were innocent and whose barbarous customs were their own disaster, being them a token indeed of God’s having left them, with the other nations of that part of that world, to such stupidity and inhuman courses…But that unless something offered that was more a call to me than yet I knew of, I would not meddle with them.”(Defoe, 187)
They were impressed us that they were Idolaters and Barbarians, and had several bloody and Barbarous Rites in their Customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols. When they held a man-eating feast, they danced ugly around the fire.
However, the fact about “cannibals” needed to be proved. The story of “cannibal” firstly appeared in Columbus’s journals and letters and it turned out to be created by him. According to the survey, he never met any cannibals. (Arnold, 3) Columbus was good at word invention, just the same as the invention of America Indians. (Motohashi, 81-89) While the first reference of the tribe of cannibals was in Shakespeare’s last drama the Storm and the most impressed character was a savage called “Caliban”.（张德明, 2007：113） Some scholars thought that the originality of cannibal was mostly associated with him. (彼得.休姆, 2004：158)
Although in the novel, we could find the narration that the westerners particular the Spaniards was notorious of killing those natives barbarously, though it was just used a few words to refer the fact: “by all which I understood he meant the Spaniards, whose cruelties in Americans had been spread over the whole countries and was remembered by all the nations from father to son.”(Defoe, 173) However, in documentary there was evident that the barbarous treatment of the Spaniards to the inhabitants was abhorrent. （科教范文网 lw.nSeAc.com编辑发布）
Ⅱ. Cultural Colonization: Bringing Civilization to the Savage—Friday
Above colonial discourses in the fiction constructed the ugly and barbarous image of “the other” to us and especially the bloody custom of cannibals could not accept in any civilized society. Therefore, spreading “civilization” to “the other” was natural and inevitable in Robinson’s plan. Instructing the savage—Friday to a civilized man became his great task.
From the novel, we had learned that Robinson appeared in front of the savage—Friday as a deliver. He saved Friday from the cruel and bloody killing with advanced European arms. The delivered poor man used his own way to express his exceeding gratitude: kneeling down every ten or twelve steps in token of acknowledgment for saving his life and at length he came close to Robinson, and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, and, taking the white by the foot, set the foot upon his head; while Robinson twisted that it was in token of swearing to be his slave forever. Consequently, Friday not only lost his liberty, but also suffered culture construction and finally reduced to the dilemma of losing his national culture identity.
A. Changing Their Primitive Life Style Into an Easier Life
Firstly, it was changing their primitive lifestyle: eating men’s flesh, the habit of being naked and using wooden tools and arms. Such civilization was still in the first stage of the society: primitive society. On the contrary, the white had already experienced the Renaissance with the core of Humanism, and advanced science and technology and prosperous economy. And they never planed to have them lead a happy life. Bringing civilization to the savage—Friday was a strategy to carry out their culture colonization.
1. Getting Rid of the Habit of Man-eating
In order to change Friday’s nature of cannibal, Robinson tried to let his man taste other flesh, and made him aware that it was both inhuman and cruel to do that. This seemed apparently good to the local people’s civilization. But it was unjust that covered all the civilizations of the Indies. Furthermore, from the novel, we found that they ate man’s flesh just when they were in the war. In daily life, they never ate man. And from history, we learned that the Indians in America made great contribution to the world’s civilization. American crops like corn took root in Africa and contributed to better nutrition and higher population that perhaps promoted the slave trade itself. Likewise, American potato was introduced to Europe and became the dominant food staple in Ireland. The tobaccos brought to Europe, which stimulated their economy. However, in this novel, their cultures were removed. What was worse, they were distorted as the most savaged people, which was the common means those colonial literatures used.
2. Making Clothes for “Friday”
For another thing, Friday’s nation together with the black people inhabited along the African coast was stark naked, which was obviously against the modern civilization and needed to be changed. This was the second step Robinson spread his colonial culture. In Robinson’s mind, after he had Friday wear the sewed clothes, he praised his man turned out to be a handsome and decent man as the white. It put as the following,
“He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight strong limbs, not too large; tall and well-shaped, and, as I reckon, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a fierce and surly aspect. But seemed to have something very manly in his face, and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of a European in his countenance too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; his forehead very high, and large, and a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes. The color of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not of an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of America are; but of a bright kind of a dun olive color that had in it something very agreeable; though not very easy to describe. His face was round and plump; his nose small, not flat like the Negroes; a very good mouth, thin lips, and his line teeth well set, and white as ivory.”(Defoe, 165)
Briefly, under the white’s dressing up, the colonial people would become as good-looking as themselves. In contrast, the people with naked body meant ugly and uncivilized images. Moreover, Defoe once described that in the island “the weather was so violent hot that there was no need of clothes.”(Defoe, 107) Though Robinson argued that he was with some clothes on would keep his skin from burnt and that the air itself made some motion may be cooler than without it. In fact, the Indians were not stark naked as described in the colonial literature. In the civilization of the Indians, they had the feather and skin of animals as their clothes, though the process of making clothes was exceedingly complicated. After the invasion of the Europeans, their dress was completely substituted by the western cloth. It meant their culture was substituted too. The westerners really brought some civilization, but it based on derogating and deserting the native culture and absorbing abroad culture completely without any choices. This was another symbol of culture invasion. （科教范文网 Lw.nsEAc.com编辑整理）
3. Instructing “Friday” to Use Tools and Arms
The third was to introduce advanced tools and weapons to local people. Robinson taught Friday to work and make tools. In return, with the help of his instruction, Friday learned well. It indicated that under the rule of civilized nations, even the most barbarous savage would do well. Robinson also instructed Friday to use gun. Before Friday learned it was a common weapon, he as well as those people unaware of what it was quite worshiped it and even made a conversation with the gun. This evidence amused us, which showcased how fool he was. But none were born to know everything. We could find that Friday had great gift to learn something new and do very well. He was also instructed to make tools and make bread and he did as splendidly as Robinson. While Defoe would rather make these achievements contribute to Robinson in order to show the white’s civilization and kindness.
B. Banishing Friday’s Language and Instructing English to Him
In modern times, with the trend of globalization, learning an international language was useful for people. While in the age of colonization, in order to completely rule the colony, the conquerors required the people in the colony learning the colonist’s language and forbad speaking their native language. In Robinson Crusoe, it was written that Robinson taught Friday to speak English for the convenience of communication with him. While the first few words he taught were Friday—the savage’s name, Master—Friday being required to call him, Yes and No. As we knew that, Robinson once bred a parrot, what he taught the bird was to call him his real name: Robinson. But for Friday, Robinson purposed to tell the savage his name was Master. The few words here meant Robinson was superior to Friday and Friday was meant to his lasting servant. Thus, teaching Friday English was just an excuse to make the servant serve him.
C. Mocking Friday’s God and Instructing the Real God to Him
In order to divert Friday into a Christian, Robinson spent much time and efforts on Friday. Firstly, Robinson purposely instructed Friday’s faith was not real faith but a superstition and told him what real faith, the God and Devil was. Defoe justified that Robinson was pleased to open the savage’s eyes and of course successfully he was diverted into a Christian. Friday was also praised much more divine even than those westerners. Friday was followed reading Bible and praying regularly. Even he seemed to argue for Friday’s religion as a superstition was common, （科教作文网http://zw.nseAc.com）
“by this I observed, that there is priest craft even amongst the most blinded, ignorant pagans in the world, and the policy of making secret religion, in order to preserve the veneration of the people the clergy, is not only to be found in the Roman but among the most brutish and barbarous savages.”(Defoe, 174)
In fact, he just proved that the savage’s religion was superstition, while the God was the real might to be deserved to be trusted. During Robinson instructed Friday the God, there was an interaction between them. Friday looked like not the passive one to absorb the preach superstition, and he asked a surprising question even troubled the preacher. But at length, it was Friday solved the problem. It was dramatic that the savage’s earnest and persistence toward Christianity opened his eyes. By contrast, when he couldn’t answer Friday’s question, he excused that “though I was now an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill enough qualified for casuist, or a solver of difficulties. And at first I could not tell what to say, so I pretended not to hear him, and asked him what he said.” (Defoe, 176) From here we would doubt whether he was an eligible instructor and he really believed in God. Karl Marx had ever sharply pointed out that we would not take much seriousness to Robinson’ s faith for he just got some entertainment from it and viewed those praying as creative activities. (刘意青，2005：177) Moreover, another critic had argued “Robinson indeed trusts in God, while he believes that mankind only was faithful to practical affairs, they would be delivered from God. Such practical affair was ‘Great Business’.”（翟文明，2006：85）We could conclude that Robinson was not a faithful Christian, whose religion was only served for him. However, with the help of his instruction, Friday turned out to be an earnest priest, even much more divine than any other westerners. Friday was perfectly made as a “civilized westerner”.
Principally, those naked bad-mouthing words about the savages impressed us, we would be easily lured to trust that the westerners indeed were much more civilized than “the other”, and they really brought civilization to “the savages”. When we turn over the leaf of the history, the fact is on the opposite. The people in colonies were not savaged as the author depicted in the novel. India and Egypt had ever been known as the forerunner of civilization.（翟文明，2006：319-320）They had an old history. India’s religion spread to the west and drove the society forward. Its spice made food tasteful. The ancient Egyptians had advanced civilization. Egyptians with their wisdoms and hard work created the world wonder pyramid. The usage of mummy to preserve the dead body was creative to the world. Its advanced method inspired people to apply it to the storage of materials and food mostly in modern industry and daily life. African countries seemed much more backward than other continents for its extremely adverse environment. Nevertheless, their contribution to the world was in substitutable. It is acknowledged that, nowadays, the rap, one of the most important elements in the music, originated from and popular among the black people is spreading every corner of the globe. Furthermore, it is popular in different group of people ranging from different ages, different social status and interests. So, can we judge that the black people’s culture is inferior to the westerners?
Ⅲ.The Dilemma of Losing His National Culture Identity
Friday’s honesty and loyalty won the trust of Robinson and he became his servant, assistant and guardian for the rest of life and accompanied his master to return to Europe. Even though he was praised highly by his master, he was still in the dilemma of losing his national culture identity.（周庭华，魏文，2006：109-110） As a servant, he did what his master said. In the third part of Robinson Crusoe, there was a plot of Friday tricking the bear. The bear was allured onto the tree by Friday and was in a dilemma, which was as clumsy as the clown of the circus, free of the cruelty of a beast, and amused the people. Beast left its living environment and appeared to the dilemma and ridiculous which just a reflection of the people in the colony losing their national culture identity. Above all, the colonists’ cultural colonization was never bringing in bless but a strategy of consolidating colonial rule.
 
 
Conclusion

Robinson Crusoe is not a simple adventure fiction but a speaker of beautifying colonization and cultural colonization. Nowadays, it is popular for culture exchange and communication. Culture colonization develops to cultural influences on each other because of globalization. When a rash of foreign cultures flood into one country, her people will realize that they should maintain their dominant culture. At the same time, they’d like to keep the balance of absorbing the best, and weeding out the obsolete and worthless to strengthen their own culture. It means that they will take the initiative to choose whether they accept the other cultures. But from Robinson Crusoe, we find that “the other” has no choice but receives the colonist’s culture unconditionally. The naked culture invasion is justified as spreading civilization. Their aim is apparent.

Although without difficult words to understand and less literary, its influence is innumerable. Critic Green comments, “Those works make great impact on society which may not be the great literary works.” (陈兵, 2006: 75) Robinson Crusoe is the best example. We find it is far more powerful than those literary novels. It has won much popularity after being published. “Jean Jacques Rousseau suggested it benefited those growing youth, while Karl Marx used it to illustrate his economical theory.”  (陈兵, 2006:75) In addition, critic Green points “In fact, those missionaries went overseas colony besides Bible, and they took it with them everywhere. It proved its influence.” (陈兵, 2006: 75) And in those works, the great amount of replicated colonial ideas met the demand and expectation of readers, which farther strengthened the colonialism atmosphere in Britain at that time. From this aspect, Robinson Crusoe as well as other English adventure fictions had injected the conscious colonism to English ordinary people when they were in popularity.

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