Robinson Crusoe
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The story of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe demonstrates British imperialism and ethnocentrism. The story is based on the real-life adventures of a Scottish Sailor named ôAlexander Selkirk,ö who ôquickly faded from memoryö as DefoeÆs fictional Crusoe ôbecame a great successö (p. 18). Shipwrecked on an island of ôsavages,ö Crusoe encounters an exceptional savage he attempts to tame and turn into an ideal servant, his Man Friday. Throughout the novel, we see that British culture, the culture which Crusoe is part of, is portrayed as being superior to the culture of the cannibalistic savages he encounters on the Island. While Crusoe does, indeed, tame one of them, Man Friday, Man Friday is only considered exceptional by Crusoe because he is the most ôBritishö of these savages. Man Friday is admirable to Crusoe because he is generous, grateful, honest, and desires to do good. In other words, Man Friday is only considered admirable by Crusoe because he is the exceptional savage who appears to be as ôBritishö as the British. As Zuiderveen notes of Crusoe, ôCrusoe, instead of merely allowing that he saved FridayÆs life out of good will, is thrilled with the prospect of having a devoted slaveö (p. 3). Therefore, Crusoe only admires Friday because his characteristics are similar to the ones idealized by his own, British, culture. The opening of Robinson Crusoe revolves around CrusoeÆs ability to be self-reliant and develop the skills and abi
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s. We can only surmise that had Friday at any time exhibited to Crusoe the violence and danger that the cannibals posed; Crusoe would not have hesitated to kill him.
We see that Crusoe views Friday as exceptional because he exhibits many of the qualities and characteristics of an ideal Britain. Friday becomes a ôfaithful, loving, sincere servantàwithout passions, sullenness or designs, perfectly obliged and engaged: his very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a father and I dare say he would have sacrificed his life for the saving of mine, upon any occasion whateverö (Defoe, p. 279). Nevertheless, Crusoe, like many European missionaries of the era, continues to convert Friday to the religion and ideals of Anglicans. He gradually weans him away from his taste for human flesh and offers Crusoe the opportunity to introduce the European Christian God into the life of a savage. Mcinelly says of DefoeÆs protagonist, ôPsychologically, Robinson Crusoe shows that relations with an alien Other can hone an ego that can master both its own selfhood and the destiny of others,ö a foundational sentiment of European imperialism and ethnocentrism (p. 1).
We see that despite CrusoeÆs and FridayÆs relationship, Crusoe still vi
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Approximate Word count = 1554
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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