Idea Transcript
‘Robinson Crusoe is the true symbol of British imperialism. After his shipwreck on a remote Island, with a knife and a pipe in his pocket he becomes an architect, a carpenter, a knife grinder, an astronomer, a baker, a shipbuilder, an umbrella maker, and a cleric. He is the true prototype of the British colonizer. ‘ James Joyce.
Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Lord of The Flies (1954) 'Crusoe's first settlement' In this half circle I pitch'd two rows of strong stakes 1, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground about five foot and a half, and sharpened on the top 2; placing other stakes on the inside about two foot and a half high, like a spur to a post3, and this fence was so strong, that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it: This cost me a great deal of time and labour, especially to cut the piles in the wood, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth. The entrance into this place I made to be not by a door, but by a short ladder 4, which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me, so I was completely fenc'd in 5, and fortify'd6, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night, which otherwise I could not have done, tho' 7 as it appear'd afterward, there was no need of all this caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from 8. Into this fence9 or fortress, with infinite labour, I carry'd all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition and stores, of which you have the account above, and I made a large tent, which, to preverve me from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I made double, viz10 one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it, and cover'd the upermost 11 with a large tarpaulin12 which I had sav'd among the sails. And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock, 13 which was indeed a very good one, and belong'd to the mate of the ship. Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and every thing that would spoil by the wet, and having thus enclos'd all my goods14, I made up the entrance, which till now I had left open, and so pass'd and repass'd, as I said, by a short ladder. When I had done this I began to work into the rock 15 , and bringing all the earth and stones that I dug out thro' my tent, I laid 'em up within my fence in the nature of a terras 16, that so rais'd the ground within17 about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a cave just behind my tent, which serv'd me like a cellar18 to my house.
Notes 1. I pitch'd two rows of strong stakes: I positioned two lines of strong posts; 2. sharpened on the top: with a pointed end at the top; 3. like a spur to a post: like a support for a post; 4. sladder: portable steps (scalletta); 5. so I was completely fenc'd in: so I was completely closed in; 6. fortify'd: defended; 7. tho': abbreviation of 'though'; 8. apprehended danger from: feared danger from; 9. fence: protective barrier; 10. viz: that is; 11. the uppermost: the top one; 12. tarpaulin: a covering made of heavy material; 13. hammock: a bed made of cloth which hangs between two posts; 14. enclos'd all my goods: closed in all my belongings; 15. work into the rock: excavate the rock; 16. terras: terrace; 17. within: inside the barrier; 18. cellar: the room under a house where people store food and objects.
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Lord of the Flies During a third world war, a plane carrying a group of evacuated English schoolboys crashes on a desert island in the Pacific. The novel Lord of the Flies opens with two of the children, Ralph and Piggy , meeting on the beach. Ralph finds a large, white shell, a conch, and blows it. Many young boys, approach at its sound. Three of the older boys, Ralph, Jack and Simon, set off to explore their new home. They climb to the top of a mountain and discover it is an uninhabited coral island. On their return they blow the conch and call a meeting. ‘This is a good island’ Ralph pushed the tangle of fair hair that hung on his forehead. ‘So we may be here for a long time.’ Nobody said anything. He grinned suddenly. ‘But this is a good island. We – Jack, Simon and me – we climbed the mountains. It’s wizard. There’s food and drink, and-‘ ‘Rocks – ‘ ‘Blue flowers –‘ Piggy partly recovered, pointed to the conch in Ralph’s hands, and Jack and Simon fell silent. Ralph went on‘While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island.’ ‘He gesticulated widely ‘It’s like in a book.’ At once there was a clamour ‘Treasure Island-’ ‘Swallows and Amazons-‘ ‘Coral Island-‘ Ralph waved the conch. ‘This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grown-ups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.’ 'Huts on the Beach' Ralph was standing by a contraption 1 of palm trunks and leaves, a rude shelter that faced the lagoon, and seemed very near to falling down. He did not notice when Jack spoke. “Got any water?” Ralph withdrew his attention2 from the shelter and realized Jack with a start3. “Oh, hullo. Water? There by the tree. Ought to be some left.” Jack took up a coconut shell that brimmed with 4 fresh water among a group that were arranged in the shade5, and drank. The water splashed over his chin and neck and chest. He breathed noisily when he had finished. “Needed that.” Simon spoke from inside the shelter. “Up a bit.” Ralph turned to the shelter and lifted a branch with a whole tiling of leaves 6. The leaves came apart and fluttered down 7. Simon's contrite face appeared in the hole. “Sorry.” Ralph surveyed8 the wreck with distaste. “Never get it done.” He flung himself down9 at Jack's feet. Simon remained looking at the hole in the shelter. Once down, Ralph explained. “Been working for days now. And look!” Two shelters were in position, but shaky9. This one was a ruin. “And they keep running off. You remember the meeting? How everyone was going to work hard until the shelters were finished? “Except me and my hunters - “ “Except the hunters. Well, the littluns10 are -” He gesticulated, sought for a word11. They're hopeless. The older ones aren't much better. D'you see? All day I've been working with Simon, no one else. They're off bathing, or eating, or playing. Simon poked his head out carefully. “You're chief. Tell 'em off12” Ralph lay flat and looked up at the palm trees and the sky.
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“Meetings. Don't we love meetings? Every day. Twice a day. We talk. He got on one elbow. “I bet if I blew the conch13 this minute, they'd come running. Then we'd be, you know, very solemn, and someone would say we ought to build a jet, or a submarine, or a TV set. When the meeting was over they'd work for five minutes then wander off or go hunting.” Jack flushed 14 “We want meat.” “Well, we haven't got any yet. And we want shelters. Besides, the rest of your hunters came back hours ago. They've been swimming.” “I went on,” said Jack. “I let them go. I had to go on. I - “ He tried to convey the compulsion to track down 15 and kill that was swallowing him up16 “I went on. I thought, by myself -” The madness came into his eyes again. “I thought I might kill.” “But you didn't” “I thought I might.” “But you haven't yet.” His invitation might have passed as casual, were it not for the undertone. “You wouldn't care to help with the shelters, I suppose?” “We need meat -” “And we don't get it.” Now the antagonism was audible. “But I shall! Next time! I've got to get a barb 17 on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs -” “We need shelters.” Notes 1.contraption: a strange-looking construction; 2. withdrew his attention: took his attention away from; 3. with a start: with a jump of surprise; 4. that brimmed with: was full of; 4. in the shade: out of the sun; 5. with a hole tiling of leaves: the leaves are laid on the branch like roof tiles (tegole); 6. fluttered down, fell lightly to the ground; 7. surveyed: looked at; 8. flung himself down: threw himself down; 9. shaky: unstable; 10. littluns: contraction of ‘little ones’ – the small children; 11. sought for: tried to find ; 12. tell 'em off: tell them they must not behave like that; 13. conch: a large shell that is blown to call a meeting, 14. flushed: became red in the face; 15. track down: follow and find and animal; 16 swallowing him up: consuming him; 17. barb: a projecting piece of metal that prevents a spear from coming out.
Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Foe (1986) In this extract from Robinson Crusoe, Robinson spies land in the distance and learns from Friday that it his country. Robinson shows Friday the boat he has made and tells him they will make a bigger one and take him back to his people. Friday's response is not what he expected . ‘You teachee me good’ Upon the whole, I was by this time so fix'd upon my design of going over with him to the continent, that I told him we should go and make one as big as that, and he should go home in it. He answered not one word, but looked very grave and sad: I asked him what was the matter with him? He ask'd me again thus; Why, you angry mad with Friday, what me done? I ask'd him what he meant: I told him I was not angry with him at all. No angry! No angry, says he, repeating the words several times, Why send Friday home away to my nation? Why, says I, Friday, did you not say you wish'd you were there? Yes, yes, says he, wish be both there, no wish Friday there, no Master there. In a word , he would not think of going there without me; I go there, Friday, says I, what shall I do there? He turn'd very quick upon me at this: You do great deal much good, says he, you teach wild mans be good sober tame mans 1; you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life. Alas! Friday (says I) thou knowest not what thou sayest, I am but an ignorant man my self. Yes, yes, says he, you teachee me good, you teachee them good. No, no Friday, says I, you shall go without me, leave me hear to live by my self, as I did before . He look'd confus'd again at that word, and running to one of the hatchets 2 which he used to wear, he takes it up hastility, comes and gives it me, What must I do with this? Says I to him. You take, kill Friday, (says he) What must I kill you for? Said I again. He returns very quick3, What you send Friday away for?, take, kill Friday, no send Friday away. This he spoke so
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earnestly4, that I saw tears stand in his eyes: in a word, I so plainly discover'd the utmost affection in him to me, and a firm resolution in him, that I told him then, and often after, that I would never send him away from me, if he was willing to stay with me. 1. tame mans: domesticated (like animals) men (the opposite of wild savages); 2. hatchets: small axes; 3. returns very quick: ansers very quickly; 4. earnestly: sincerely. J.M Coetzee’s novel Foe (1986) describes how a certain Susan Barton is set adrift after a mutiny on a boat carrying her from Brasil to England. By chance, she lands on an island inhabited by a man named Cruso and an African named Friday, who cannot talk because his tongue has been cut out, perhaps by Cruso, who may have been a slave trader. They all live together for a period until they are rescued by a ship heading for England. During the voyage home, Cruso dies. Susan takes over responsibility for Friday, who nevertheless remains an impenetrable mystery to her. She then contacts the writer Foe entrusting him with her story and asking him to turn it into a novel. Foe, however, disappears, and Susan and Friday move into his home before they set out to find him. When she does succeed in finding him, she discovers Foe wants to change significant details of the story, which he believes will help the novel sell. Barton is increasingly disturbed by Foe's handling of the story.
In the following extract Susan Barton tries to communicate with Friday yet again. Dressed in a robe and wig belonging to Foe, Friday whirls round and round as he plays his flute. Susan starts to accompany him on another flute, and feels they are playing a duet, but she soon realizes that Friday is oblivious to her. ‘Did Friday, in truth, so much as hear me’ At last I could not restrain myself from varying the tune, first making one note into two half-notes, then changing two of the notes entirely, turning it into a new tune and a pretty one too, so fresh to my ear that I was sure Friday would follow me. But no, Friday persisted in the old tune, and the two tunes played together formed no pleasing counterpoint, but on contrary jangled and jarred 1. Did Friday in truth so much as hear me, I began to wonder? I ceased playing, and his eyes ( which were always closed when he did his flute-playing and spinning2) did not open; I blew long blasts 3 and the lids did not so much as flutter 4. So now I knew that all the time I had stood their playing to Friday's dancing, thinking he and I made consort 5, he had been insensible of me. And indeed, when I stepped forward in some pique and grasped at him 6 to halt the infernal spinning, he seemed to feel my touch no more than is it had been a fly's; from which I concluded that he was in a trance of possession, and his soul more in Africa than in Stoke Newington. Tears came to my eyes, I am ashamed to say; all the elation 7 of my discovery that through the medium of music I might at last converse with Friday was dashed 8, and bitterly I began to recognize that it might not be mere dullness9 that kept him shut up in himself, nor the accident of the loss of the tongue, nor even an incapacity to distinguish speech from babbling 10, but a disdain for intercourse with me. Watching him whirling in his dance, I had to hold back an urge to strike him and tear the wigs and robes away and thus rudely teach him he was not alone on the earth. 1. jangled and jarred: made a discordant and unpleasant sound; 2. spinning: turning round and round on the same spot; 3. blasts: long loud notes; 4. lids...flutter; his eyelids (palpebre) did not move even slightly; 5. made consort: was keeping him company (accompanying); 6. stepped forward...at him: when I stepped forward, irritated, and tried to hold him; 7. elation: joy; 8. dashed: destroyed; 9. dullness: stupidity; 10: babbling: meaningless speech.
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