Representation of native by colonizer

          In this blog I would like to show the representation of native by colonizer. How the colonizer use to treat them, what were their thoughts about them etc etc with the help of two examples one of Friday in 'Robinson Crusoe' and the other in 'A Wheat of Grain'.


Robinson Crusoe:

          To know a brief overview click here. Character of Friday is given below.

          Friday is the first person Crusoe introduces into the social order of the island. His name, of course, isn't Friday by birth, but this is the name that Crusoe gives him after saving him from the hands of the cannibals. Crusoe also teaches Friday to speak English, encourages him to eat goat (you know, instead of human flesh), and aids in his conversion to Christianity.

          The first and most obvious point about Friday's relationship with Crusoe is that Friday is Crusoe's subordinate. Friday always calls Crusoe "master," for example. Crusoe also mentions that their relationship is much like that of "a Child to a Father" (176). Why does Crusoe not see Friday as his equal, even after Friday converts to Christianity?

         Crusoe's dominant relationship to Friday produces a pretty interesting dynamic between the two of them. See, for example, Crusoe's description of Friday as he is sleeping:

He was a comely handsome Fellow, perfectly well made; with straight strong Limbs, not too large; tall and well shap'd, and as I reckon, about twenty six Years of Age. He had a very good Countenance, not a fierce and surly Aspect; but seem'd to have something very manly in his Face, and yet he had all the Sweetness and Softness of an European in his Countenance too, especially when he smil'd. His Hair was long and black, not curl'd like Wool; his Forehaed very high, and large, and a great Vivacity and sparkling Sharpness in his Eyes. The Coulour of his Skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not of an ugly yellow nauseous tawny, as the Brasilians, and Virginias, and other Natives of America are; but of bright kind of a dun olive Colour, that had in it something very agreeable; tho' not very easy to describe. (173)

          Crusoe spends a great deal of time describing Friday's body, to be sure, especially the ways in which he resembles a European.

A Grain of Wheat:

          A Grain of Wheat is a novel by Kenyan novelist James Ngugi (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong' o) first published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. The novel weaves together several stories set during the state of emergency in Kenya's struggle for independence (1952–59), focusing on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark secret. The plot revolves around his home village's preparations for Kenya's independence day celebration, Uhuru day. On that day, former resistance fighters General R and Koinandu plan on publicly executing the traitor who betrayed Kihika.

          Here, Britain’s colonization of Kenya is the context against which its characters are formed as well as the primary political tension of the book. Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, himself a native Kenyan, uses this context and development of his characters to explore the moral aspect of colonization from both the perspective of the British and rural Kenyans. Ngũgĩ’s narrative argues that, although both the colonizer and the colonized feel morally justified in their pursuits, colonialism is ultimately an immoral and oppressive practice, justifying the colonized people’s struggle for freedom, even through violent means.

          The novel ends on the day of Kenya’s independence from Britain, thus resolving the conflict between colonizer and colonized. Even so, since the author observes that Britain remains imperialistic, the moral argument against such colonization by any country remains firm.