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5 July 2026 03 00 pm 05 00 pm ENG 2025 PI ELIT1002 Dr K Warnapala P1 DG — Transcript

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0:00[music]
0:07[music]
0:17>> Hi everybody. Welcome back to Augustan
0:20literature.
0:21Okay, so I think in my previous lecture
0:25I was talking about this economic
0:27individualism.
0:29And I said that
0:32uh it the economic individualistic
0:34Crusoe has to couple his economic
0:37individualism with the kind of a
0:40religious doctrine.
0:42And now um
0:44one of the
0:46the the the dilemmas in this text is
0:50this
0:51split
0:53uh
0:53between a kind of a religious morality
0:57and
0:59capitalist economic interest. So, I
1:02think I talked about it
1:04this idea that Defoe is kind of a
1:07capitalist. I'm going to talk about that
1:09a little later on.
1:10Um but that he's also kind of
1:15um
1:16working with a kind of a moral and
1:18religious
1:20idea as well.
1:22So, if you are a capitalist, you have to
1:25disregard certain virtues of morality.
1:27Why? Because your whole purpose is to
1:30pursue a kind of a economic goal. And
1:34here it's economic gain.
1:36Um but um
1:38and then if you have a kind of a divine
1:41scheme in mind, then what you need to do
1:44is you need to meditate upon religion
1:46and you need to kind of reflect upon
1:49your past sins and adventures.
1:52Uh so
1:54in this text we're going to see a
1:56of a
1:59a kind of a double
2:02kind of a ideology working through on
2:04the one hand Crusoe is capitalist, but
2:07then on the other hand he is a kind of a
2:09moralist as well. But then both those
2:12are what you call oppositional ideas.
2:16Why? Because this idea that religion
2:18religion needs what you'd call
2:20antithetical or oppositional
2:24to a point of view of morality.
2:26But what's interesting about Defoe is
2:29he's going to kind of have both
2:32going hand in hand here. So
2:36we have talked about his
2:38capitalistic
2:40schemes, right? So I think I talked
2:42about it last time, the fact that he is
2:47this
2:48kind of an he has an individualism that
2:51is centered around money, but then he's
2:54immediately going to see that
2:56the the kind of
2:59what you'd call the meaninglessness of
3:02that discourse. So that discourse or
3:05that value needs to be coupled with a
3:07religious
3:09kind of a
3:10value as well.
3:13So
3:15let us go to the next slide.
3:23Now I think I talked about this value of
3:27individualism in Robinson Crusoe. Didn't
3:31I?
3:32Because I I I I think I talked about
3:35this idea that he has this desperate
3:38obsessive need for personal liberty.
3:42In fact somewhere in page three
3:45he's going to talk about um
3:49this need to get away,
3:51right? Uh and
3:54he says something like this. He says, "I
3:57should certainly run away from my master
3:59before my time was out and go to sea."
4:04This is what he says.
4:05Uh so, there is a suggestion. So, this
4:07is about three pages into the text.
4:11So, this idea that he cannot be kept in
4:14one place, that he needs to be free,
4:16that he needs to
4:18kind of
4:20not be tied to certain things.
4:24Uh that
4:25that he's that he's always kind of
4:28restless and actually
4:30in about page four of the novel, he says
4:34um
4:34I I should never settle to anything with
4:37the resolution enough to go through with
4:39it and my father had better give me his
4:41consent than force me to go without it.
4:45Uh I was now 18 years old, which was too
4:48late to go apprentice to a trade, to a
4:51clerk, to an attorney.
4:53That I was sure if I did, I should never
4:57serve out my time.
4:59Uh that's what he's saying. If I was in
5:01any any one of those professions, I
5:03would I would have run away and I would
5:05have somehow ended up in sea.
5:08So, from the very beginning of the
5:10novel, this individualist approach is
5:14emphasized. Uh this idea that he needs
5:17to leave, he needs to go abroad, he
5:20needs to expand business and property,
5:22he needs to have change.
5:25And this strong sense of individualism
5:28is also present when he lands in certain
5:30places.
5:32Uh and this example would be when he
5:35lands in Brazil. Uh because
5:39when he kind of gets away finally, I
5:42think I would have talked about it. He
5:44gets caught to these pirates.
5:47And
5:48he finally is able to get freedom and
5:50when he does get freedom, he lands in
5:54Brazil and I told you, right? He starts
5:56to become a planter. He starts to be
5:58richer than his neighbor. Now Brazil is
6:02a representative
6:04of a political society or it is symbolic
6:07of a society.
6:10So a society would suggest, you know,
6:12kind of a community, right? Now here is
6:14a man. He has his own life. Now he has a
6:17job. He has a neighbors. He has a
6:20community.
6:21He is getting rich.
6:24So he could have had a family, all of
6:26that, right? But then this essential
6:29restlessness in Crusoe.
6:32So he
6:34I think I talked about it. A man kind of
6:36has this proposition. If you help us the
6:39slave trade, you're going to get richer.
6:41And even though this man is secure, he's
6:44not at peace with that sense of
6:47security. So strong sense of
6:49individualism, this need to break free,
6:52not to be shackled by society, not to be
6:54shackled by community. So
6:57he he leaves, right? Because he's now
7:00ambitious about expanding his business
7:02and plantation, but I think it's more an
7:04inherent restlessness that gets Crusoe
7:08away.
7:09Not so much as to kind of
7:12get more money. This idea that he cannot
7:15stay in one place.
7:17So what's interesting is that
7:21here is a man who kind of
7:26wants to what you'd call
7:30not be tied down, right?
7:33And actually when he
7:36lands
7:38in the island, what happens is he starts
7:41to become so individualistic,
7:44so into himself, and I think I would
7:46have mentioned this before, that he he
7:49becomes
7:50even scared of the possibility of
7:52meeting another human being.
7:54Um uh he he is comfortable
7:59by himself. In fact, he's afraid of
8:01other people.
8:03I mean, later on we I think I talked
8:06about it. He he's afraid of the
8:07footprint that he sees on the shore. Uh
8:10that he cannot even sleep for days and
8:12days. Uh so,
8:15this implication that this is a man fit
8:17for solitude,
8:20fit for being alone, right? And not to
8:24be with other people. But then we
8:26realize that he's also going to be jumpy
8:28even about nature.
8:30For instance,
8:32I mean, when there is a kind of a storm,
8:35I mean, he is enterprising, right? We
8:38have already built up that argument.
8:40Crusoe is an enterprising economic man.
8:43Fearless, but then we realize that he's
8:45also very cautious. Cautious of other
8:48beings, cautious of
8:51other [snorts] phenomena.
8:53So, this suggestion that he he does not
8:58he does he does not trust other people.
9:00He's more comfortable on his own.
9:04And
9:06now he will kind of live this solitary
9:09life.
9:11Okay, let's get on to the next slide.
9:19Now, how does Robinson Crusoe reconcile
9:22his economic individualism with
9:25religious individualism? I've already
9:27talked about how he starts to embrace
9:30religion.
9:32Uh didn't I talk about it? Uh this idea
9:35of Crusoe's relationship with God.
9:38Uh
9:39because I think I talked about it. He
9:42progresses from a man devoted to money
9:45to a man devoted to God.
9:48Uh and uh we realize later on that his
9:52uh relationship with God is going to be
9:54extremely intense.
9:56Uh it is going to be very sincere.
9:59But what is interesting is that
10:02uh
10:04the book began with a tension between
10:08Crusoe and God.
10:10Why? Because when Crusoe wants God's
10:13help, he will pray to God. When he
10:16doesn't, he doesn't give uh too much so
10:19he doesn't care too much about God.
10:21Uh so there's a tension now between
10:23God's purpose and human impulse to
10:26forget God.
10:27>> [snorts]
10:27>> Uh so whenever he wants his inspiration,
10:31he will call him. But then when he
10:33doesn't, it it will all
10:35and be forgotten.
10:37Uh
10:38now when he uh uh uh
10:42kind of starts to think of God in a
10:46different way,
10:48uh we realize that Christianity begins
10:50to dominate him. And along with
10:52Christianity, a morality starts to
10:55dominate him. And we see this strong
10:58coupling of Christianity and morality in
11:00the latter part of the novel. In the in
11:03the uh
11:04at the end of the novel. Uh why? Because
11:08um
11:09what is being suggested now? What is uh
11:12uh religious individualism?
11:15Uh we could also kind of call it um
11:19kind of a secularization.
11:21Uh now what does
11:23uh uh religious individualism mean? In
11:26the sense that now his experience of God
11:32or his religious growth as a God-fearing
11:35man,
11:37as a man who now will strive to please
11:41God, now who will kind of have
11:44an inward connection to God. Now, what
11:47is interesting is that
11:49all of that is now
11:53kind of
11:55what's the word? All of that is absorbed
11:58or embraced by Crusoe through an
12:01individual perspective, or through an
12:04individual conscience. In the sense that
12:07now
12:09in this island there is nothing called a
12:11society.
12:13We have only an individual. And there is
12:17really no church or no device or no
12:20mechanism to kind of force or kind of
12:25suggest to him that God is um
12:29what he needs to kind of
12:32embrace. There's really nothing around
12:34him. So, this is what you call a kind of
12:37a
12:37secularization. Now, what is the meaning
12:40of secularization?
12:43Have you heard of this word before? What
12:46does secularization mean? We kind of
12:49talk about a secular state,
12:52don't we? We say that some
12:54countries are secular, some are not.
12:58Some
12:59uh through a constitution
13:02imply that the state is secular, but in
13:05practice the state is
13:07completely oppositional.
13:09Uh
13:10I won't give examples, but I think you
13:12should know.
13:13What is secularization? Now,
13:15secularization is this
13:18process by which uh society
13:23uh
13:24kind of removes itself from the
13:27dominance of religious institutions and
13:29symbols.
13:31Uh for instance, religious institutions
13:34lose
13:35uh their functions within the state or
13:39within the society, but can exist in
13:43um in pockets of their own. For
13:45instance, this idea that religious
13:48content
13:49will not be kind of embraced uh and
13:55given legitimacy by the state.
13:58Uh so for instance, um
14:02uh uh
14:03secularization is a kind of a
14:06non-religious
14:08uh kind of a process. For instance, if
14:10you say a state is secular, what you are
14:13suggesting is that that state will not
14:16be religious, that it will operate on
14:19non-religious
14:20um
14:22kind of
14:23uh agendas.
14:25Uh
14:26it does not mean that people don't
14:28engage in religious practice. People
14:30will display beliefs of religious kind.
14:32They will conduct their lives in a
14:34manner that suits their religious
14:36beliefs. Uh for instance, uh
14:39you would have all
14:41uh last month you would have all been
14:43aware that there was a
14:45uh American election, right? And when
14:48Joe Biden was um elected, um when he
14:51became president-elect, did we know his
14:53religion? Was that kind of talked about
14:57in on CNN or anywhere?
15:00Actually, even I found out later that he
15:02is a Catholic. It's only much later that
15:04we are told that. So, uh for instance,
15:07um in a country like ours, would we not
15:09know
15:10um
15:11what the religion is of
15:13a political candidate?
15:16That might be the first criteria. So,
15:18there is a suggestion that in a secular
15:20state, uh religious thinking, religious
15:23practice, and religious kind of
15:25legitimacy lose state and social
15:28significance, right? So, what does
15:30secularization now mean in Cruso? What
15:34does it mean?
15:36What does it mean that there is a lot of
15:39secularization here? Here,
15:41secularization means that Cruso will
15:45conceive of God as something that is
15:48willed and chosen by him.
15:51There is really no mechanical or
15:57or a kind of a societal process that
15:59pushes him into believing uh that God
16:02exists. So, this idea that now
16:07what happens is you will kind of
16:11recognize
16:13uh God, and you will recognize the
16:16importance of God uh
16:19without the bias that comes through
16:22institutions like the church. For
16:25instance, usually a religion in a in a
16:28any country is
16:30uh directly or indirectly
16:32uh kind of pushed towards people through
16:35either
16:37the church or through the monarch.
16:40Uh for instance, that was how it was
16:42practiced at this time, the time that
16:44Cruso is referring to.
16:46Uh
16:47now, what what is being suggested is
16:49that uh his connection to God is
16:52something that the individual contracts
16:56with God.
16:58Uh so,
16:59now uh
17:02there is really nothing to divide the
17:04individual and God. Why? Because if if
17:09man, through his inner conscience, finds
17:12God and has a kind of a religious
17:14epiphany, uh here, an epiphany is a of a
17:17transformation.
17:19Uh, then he has through his kind of
17:21interior self, he has found a connection
17:24to God.
17:26Uh, and therefore now that cannot be uh,
17:29breached by any other institution. Now,
17:31why? Because in Crusoe's island, there's
17:33really nobody around.
17:35So, it is only and and there's nobody
17:38telling him anything. It is him who now
17:40decides what is going on.
17:44Let me get on to the next slide.
17:50So, now what do we have here? As I was
17:52earlier telling you, now there is a
17:54focus on religious individualism or the
17:57personal discovery of God.
18:00Uh, for instance, uh, when he starts to
18:04Christianize Friday later on. Uh, I'll
18:08talk about Friday uh, towards the end of
18:11uh, this lecture. When he starts to
18:13Christianize Friday, the man he has uh,
18:16a kind of um,
18:18found uh, towards the end of his uh,
18:21stay. Uh, he uh, states this. He says
18:26um,
18:27I quote, "Yet nothing but divine
18:30revelation can form the knowledge of
18:32Jesus Christ. Nothing but a revelation
18:35from heaven can form in the soul." End
18:38quote.
18:39What is he saying here?
18:42Look at these words carefully.
18:46What is being said here?
18:48He says nothing but divine revelation
18:51can form the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
18:55Nothing but a revelation from heaven can
18:58form in the soul. Uh, now what is the
19:01implication? What is this nothing?
19:04He says nothing in he's suggesting that
19:07things like church, things like family,
19:10things like let's say your parents
19:12telling you to be a believer.
19:14None of those will work except a divine
19:17revelation from God himself that can
19:20form the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
19:23So, he's kind of suggesting that people
19:26need to find belief in God through a
19:29kind of a personal religious experience.
19:33So, and now he's going to kind of
19:37literally
19:38indirectly attack these established
19:41traditional churches during this time
19:44time because [clears throat] um
19:46and now this was a time when there was a
19:48lot of ritual associated with the
19:50church. For instance, lots of rites and
19:54services, this
19:56kind of a kind of what do you what you'd
19:59call a routine in terms of church going.
20:03>> [snorts]
20:03>> So, now
20:05this idea that he's suggesting that this
20:08is kind of a delusion, a self-delusion,
20:12that religious experience needs to be
20:14secularized, needs to be found through
20:17contemplation and prayer, and through a
20:20personal reading of the Bible, not
20:23through kind of preaching and
20:26kind of you know being what you'd call
20:29going to church and kind of getting
20:32involved in a kind of a
20:35what you'd call a false sense of
20:37security, a false sense of um kind of
20:41being religious.
20:43So, now he's going to give more weight
20:46to things like prayer, contemplation,
20:49and he's going to suggest that that is
20:52far more
20:54what you'd call worth than kind of
20:58having it passed down through these
21:00institutions. So, there's actually here
21:03an indirect attack on the institution of
21:05priesthood.
21:07Right? This idea that priesthood is
21:10something futile and is actually
21:12suggesting that something like
21:14priesthood can be an obstacle to
21:16discovering God.
21:19Uh
21:19and
21:21now what he's going to do is he's going
21:23to focus on something called penitence.
21:26Now um
21:28Uh
21:29tell me what is penitence? Just think
21:32about it. What is penitence?
21:34It's a very
21:35kind of religious
21:38word, right? It's very associated with
21:40for instance Catholicism as well.
21:43Uh
21:45what does uh
21:47penitence mean? Because there's so much
21:49of penitence in Robinson Crusoe.
21:52Uh penitence is this action of um
21:56I mean feeling bad for what you've done.
21:58Literally this idea of regret.
22:01Right? Or repentance.
22:03Kind of having uh performed
22:06uh bad deeds. But what he's suggesting
22:09here is that um
22:11penitence shouldn't be
22:13um
22:14you know, this action where you would
22:16probably you you'd kind of
22:20you know, go to church and kind of pray
22:23and
22:24kind of began begin to feel uh penitent.
22:27He's suggesting that
22:30uh
22:31solitude can lead to penitence.
22:35Right? Because he's suggesting that
22:37when he's intensely alone is when he
22:40starts to feel really bad about what has
22:43happened and that is what ultimately
22:45leads him to discover God.
22:47Uh so
22:49he's he's kind of suggesting that uh
22:53you know, like once again there's an
22:54attack on
22:56the institution of priesthood in the
22:57sense that I mean uh
23:01Um
23:01there is through this institution
23:05forcing of people to be remorseful,
23:08insisting that people be remorseful for
23:10their actions. It insists on things like
23:13self-reproach.
23:15It kind of forces people into what you'd
23:18call mental anguish for past wrongs. And
23:21he's suggesting that that's not the way
23:22to go. The way to go is where you
23:25yourself
23:26kind of find
23:28a way out. So, there is so much of focus
23:32here on this idea of solitude that um
23:36uh
23:37he himself will now stop running away.
23:42And now we'll kind of in fact have a
23:44self-confrontation.
23:47That is free from a kind of a
23:50punishment. Now, there's nobody to
23:51punish you, just your own
23:54kind of internalization of God.
24:00Let us go to the next slide.
24:05Okay, so I'm going to I hope that was
24:08clear, right? This idea of
24:10kind of an economic individualism
24:12coupled with a religious individualism.
24:15Right? The individual now, without a
24:17mediation
24:19of any other institution, discovers and
24:22embraces God.
24:25Now, let us look at
24:27this idea of capitalism. I think I might
24:29have talked about this. I might be
24:32repetitive, but I want you to kind of um
24:35uh
24:36since this is the first text that we are
24:38doing, I want you to really internalize
24:40how
24:41I unpack a text. Because then it's
24:44easier as you go down with the syllabus
24:47and you we will then talk less and less
24:50about text.
24:51But I I I take more time on this because
24:55then it becomes very clear for you how
24:57to approach a text from different points
25:00of view, different angles, and then see
25:03what this text is all about.
25:06Um okay, now this uh slide will help me
25:09to answer this question. Is um
25:13uh is Crusoe a capitalist and what kind
25:16of a capitalist does he be- become
25:18because it's very important because now
25:19we are going to talk a little bit later
25:21on about Crusoe as an imperialist. So,
25:25it's important that we uh see this
25:27connection between imperialism and
25:30capitalism as well.
25:32Now
25:34uh
25:34uh
25:36as I was earlier telling you uh
25:41Defoe's um sorry, uh yeah, Defoe I could
25:44say Defoe's uh
25:46Defoe's ideas were moralistic and
25:50conservative. Right?
25:53Uh so, let us see how he kind of passes
25:55on these ideas to his protagonist
25:57Crusoe.
25:58Now, Crusoe represents the British
26:01industrialist class, right? Why? Because
26:05he is a representative of a man driven
26:08by colonialist and capitalist motives.
26:11He wants to earn money and he's also
26:14going to engage in slave trade.
26:16Uh I'll talk of that a little later.
26:19Now, Defoe's time or the time period in
26:22which he writes
26:24uh
26:25is symbolic of the rise of capitalism.
26:29Now, what is capitalism?
26:31You should know this by now. Capitalism
26:35is this economic shift in England from a
26:38traditional agriculture-based economy to
26:41an industrial, commercial, and financial
26:44economy.
26:46Now, this uh financial economy had close
26:49links with the colonies.
26:51Right? So, if you were a capitalist,
26:53inevitably you would have indirectly or
26:56directly contributed to colonialism.
26:59That was the irony of that time.
27:02Uh
27:02now, agriculture
27:05was being replaced by capitalism at the
27:08beginning of the 18th century.
27:11Right? Uh once again, all of this is
27:14general knowledge. You should know about
27:15know this by now.
27:18Let me quickly move to the next slide.
27:24Now, uh we need to understand what is
27:27meant by uh a mercantilist because Defoe
27:30himself has said that he is not a
27:32capitalist but a mercantilist. Uh now,
27:36what is the mercantilist? Now, before
27:39the 18th century, you had this system
27:42called the mercantilist system. Where
27:44now, the economy is under state control.
27:49And individual wealth is considered to
27:52be destructing the well-being of the
27:55nation.
27:57So, there are restrictive and protective
28:00state practices. What does that mean?
28:03This idea that
28:05uh the state allows you,
28:08you know, kind of avenues to make money.
28:10So, you can kind of, you know, maybe
28:12invest and make money. But then, the the
28:15state will also have some sense of a
28:18hold on you. It will probably restrict
28:21it. It will have limitations. It will
28:23protect itself. It will not let you
28:27uh have a free hand. It will not let the
28:29individual
28:30um
28:31uh accrue,
28:33you know, like unlimited uh amount of
28:35wealth.
28:37Whereas capitalism is different.
28:40Uh what is capitalism? Capitalism
28:43replaces that
28:45era because capitalism is the era of the
28:48entrepreneur,
28:50who is now driven by self-interest.
28:53There there is really no hold by the
28:56state. Now, what you'd have is suppliers
28:59and consumers in search for the most
29:02profitable bargain for themselves. So,
29:05even if you disadvantage somebody else,
29:07you don't really care. And the state
29:09doesn't care because the state is
29:11getting its revenue.
29:12Uh so, there's a suggestion that
29:14capitalism
29:15um
29:16kind of
29:18uh
29:18takes away the restrictions.
29:21Uh so, what we have actually is um in
29:25Crusoe,
29:26uh I mean, he he has all these
29:27capitalistic skills, right? For getting
29:31um
29:32quickly ahead in the world. Uh later on,
29:35he's obviously going to be punished
29:36punished by because
29:39um
29:40God operates in this novel. Earlier, I
29:43have told you that. As a uh force. What
29:47kind of a force is it? As a kind of a
29:49moral force. So, there is a suggestion
29:51in Crusoe that uh
29:54morality and economy need to go hand in
29:58hand.
29:59Uh so, before we'll have both moral and
30:04uh economic intentions.
30:06All right? So, please keep that in mind.
30:08That is really important, and that's why
30:10I'm trying to repeat this.
30:12Um
30:13uh so, let us see what's going on with
30:15uh Crusoe now. So, the question is
30:22I'm in this next slide here.
30:25Uh the next is uh is Crusoe a
30:27capitalist?
30:30Yes. Why?
30:32Because from the beginning, his quest is
30:35for adventure and profit.
30:38Now, the father represents the
30:41mercantile class.
30:43Why?
30:44Because the father is conservative. I
30:47have already talked about it. He chooses
30:50the middle state of life.
30:52And explicitly tells his son
30:56that
30:57uh
30:59in this middle state you do not focus
31:02too much on
31:03uh
31:04gaining money.
31:07Uh let me actually now go to that place
31:09once again in mind. It's about two pages
31:12into the novel.
31:14Uh
31:16I have already told you this. He says
31:18it's the best to be in the middle of two
31:21extremes. Why? Because you don't need to
31:23have more, you don't need to have less.
31:26Uh and he talks about this idea of
31:29wanting more.
31:31Uh that
31:33uh if you want more, you're going to be
31:36plagued by a uneasiness.
31:39Right? Because to want more, to have
31:41more is to kind of uh
31:45give away or sacrifice
31:47peace of mind.
31:49So, there is a kind of a suggestion that
31:52when you
31:53come to a particular point in life, you
31:55need to stop.
31:57Right? That you should not be desperate.
32:00Uh he he says that you should never rise
32:03too much. That's that's his uh
32:06whole
32:07argument. So, this is mercantile. This
32:10idea of a conservative point of view
32:12where you do not look for gain. You look
32:15for sustenance. You look for
32:17fulfillment, but not through more and
32:20more. So, in
32:22Crusoe's father, there is a rejection of
32:26surplus.
32:27Uh now um
32:30um
32:31what does this word surplus mean? What
32:34is
32:35surplus?
32:37You must have heard this, right?
32:39What does surplus mean?
32:42We talk about it in
32:44in economics, right? We talk of
32:48this idea of consumer surplus, producer
32:52surplus. What does that mean?
32:55What does that mean? This idea it's it
32:58actually means profit.
33:01Uh this idea that you
33:03you you you will sell at a profit. You
33:07will not sell at a loss. And you will
33:10always create more.
33:13Uh so
33:14you you create more than what the
33:16consumers need, right? So this is a kind
33:20of a
33:23uh
33:24early kind of an idea that
33:28theories economic theories started to uh
33:32talk about this idea that now you are
33:34not emphasizing necessity.
33:37Because
33:40when you deal with capitalism, you're
33:41not just dealing with necessity, but now
33:43you're dealing with something more,
33:45whether you can generate more
33:48surplus.
33:50Uh so now you're not just going to be
33:52worried about supply
33:56and demand in in
33:58in terms of kind of satisfaction, but
34:01now what you're going to do is
34:03you're [snorts] going to kind of go
34:04above that demand, right?
34:07Uh so now you will
34:10create maximum and you will kind of put
34:12a maximum price. So I'm not going to go
34:14too much into it. You don't really need
34:16to know all of that, but this idea that
34:20now you focus on profit and that is what
34:24Crusoe does. While the father rejects
34:28surplus, rejects profit, Crusoe focuses
34:32on profit. So, for him everything or
34:35individuals, [clears throat]
34:36whatever he gets, everything he will
34:39source for profit. So, for instance,
34:41when he goes to
34:43uh Brazil, he will uh
34:45kind of use this criteria. Everything
34:48and even
34:49uh
34:50in the island, even uh on the ship,
34:54commodities, tools, all of that uh those
34:57things are going to kind of he Remember,
34:59he sells to a crew everything, but later
35:02on he's going to realize that uh it's
35:04not going to work that way.
35:06So, Crusoe works on a principle of
35:10economic individualism. He cultivates,
35:13he possesses the island, right? And I'm
35:16going to talk a little bit about that
35:17later on in terms of imperialism.
35:21Uh
35:21let me move to the next slide.
35:30What happens? What does he become? Does
35:31he become just a traveler? Or does he
35:34become a commercial traveler?
35:37He becomes a commercial traveler, right?
35:39Because uh
35:41after
35:42I mean, at the beginning traveling was
35:45for some sense of fun, some sense of
35:47breaking through, but later on as he
35:50starts to move and move move further
35:52from one location to another despite
35:55being caught by pirates, all of that,
35:58his chief motive is not to have fun, but
36:01to get profit. And actually his drastic
36:04journey from Brazil
36:07uh
36:07to that, you know, moment of shipwreck
36:10is because of his desire to kind of
36:12profit more.
36:13Uh so,
36:14uh
36:15we see that in Crusoe and even uh when
36:19he is on the island, he develops himself
36:22as a capitalistic enterpriser in the
36:24island.
36:25Right? I mean, later on he's going to
36:27start I told I think I might have
36:29explained this that he has he's going to
36:32people the island. He's going to bring a
36:33community.
36:36So this idea that even slavery under
36:39piracy under pirates does not deter him
36:43from motives.
36:45He's subject to pirates. He and then
36:48they enslave him. And he so it's not
36:51that he doesn't know what it means to be
36:53caught and to be nearly killed. But then
36:56that never kind of interferes in his
36:58agenda to move and to kind of gain more.
37:01So a man who has enterprise and
37:03initiative who gains wealth and power.
37:07But what's interesting is that once
37:09again just the way
37:11Defoe balanced the economic
37:14individualism with a sense of morality.
37:18Just the way Defoe balanced a kind of a
37:20capitalism with the religious morality.
37:23He's also going to now balance it
37:25against colonialism.
37:28There is in this text a very strong idea
37:33that Crusoe gains wealth and power not
37:38just for self-interest
37:40but also for England.
37:43So that's really important for you to
37:46kind of note and I'll talk about that
37:48much
37:49I mean towards the latter part of this
37:51presentation.
37:54Let us go to the next slide.
38:05So how does he balance this? How does he
38:08How does he do this balancing act? How
38:11does he kind of reconcile
38:13two opposing or three opposing kind of
38:18ideas?
38:20As I was earlier telling you when he
38:22gets on to the island, even though he is
38:26even though we argue he's capitalist
38:29capitalistic. We realize that his
38:31passion for accumulation vanishes.
38:35I quote.
38:38All I could make use of was all that was
38:41valuable. The most covetous griping
38:44miser in the world would have been cured
38:46of the vice of covetousness if he had
38:49been in my case. End quote.
38:52I think I talked about this previously,
38:54didn't I?
38:56This idea that he realizes that when he
39:01gets on to the island that
39:03merely kind of
39:06what do you call piling on stuff is
39:10absolutely useless
39:13because while there is a lot of
39:15instances of him being what do you call
39:18avaricious.
39:20him
39:21being eager to gain money even when it
39:25is at human expense. I'll talk about
39:27this idea of Xury later on.
39:32We see that
39:35uh
39:37We see that
39:41Crusoe starts to kind of realize that
39:47finally [snorts]
39:48there is really nothing in this nothing
39:51of value in just merely accumulating. So
39:54his gluttony starts
39:58to become less and less. I'll talk about
40:00this gluttony later on when I'm talking
40:02of Xury.
40:04So um
40:06this is really
40:08interesting because in fact what Defoe
40:11is suggesting is that this is in fact
40:14the British men and women at this time.
40:17>> [clears throat]
40:17>> Because
40:19at this time Great Britain was rising,
40:22not just in terms of trade and industry,
40:25but in terms of imperial power as well.
40:28Uh
40:29so
40:31so they they were kind of moving towards
40:33an industrial revolution. This is the
40:36time when ideas of British imperialism
40:39are being planted, specially in
40:42Great Britain. They they I mean
40:45there's a lot of history here which I
40:47don't have time to go to, but Great
40:49Britain is now becoming
40:52or is coming into being to dominate the
40:55whole world.
40:57Right? So this is the beginning of that.
40:59So in a sense uh
41:03Robinson Crusoe, the text, shows the
41:05beginnings of
41:08uh greed. But then that greed has to be
41:11also combined with religion. Right? Uh
41:15so this idea of a man who also
41:19is greedy about material goods, but then
41:22also uses religion to uh benefit
41:25himself. Right? So materialism plus
41:28uh kind of a religious morality. Uh so
41:32later on, because of this idea of
41:34religion, he realizes that it's really
41:36nothing when it comes to accumulation.
41:38That
41:40greed can be absolutely useless. So what
41:43happens is he becomes a rational man.
41:46And I've given you enough examples, I
41:48need not give you any more, where he
41:50starts to allocate time efficiently
41:53among various activities. Right? In
41:56order to maximize utility. We talked
41:58about it. Even for God he has a
42:01particular time.
42:02Right?
42:04Uh so he towards the end starts to have
42:08this realization, a profound
42:09realization.
42:11Uh I quote,
42:13"But my time or labor was little worth,
42:16and so it was as well employed one way
42:19as another."
42:21Uh,
42:22so now, what does he do? What is being
42:26suggested here?
42:28He will now accumulate for consumption.
42:32So, what he needs, he will grow. What he
42:36wants to eat, he will kill.
42:38Right now, there is no uh
42:41kind of uh rhetoric here or no argument
42:44with regard to um
42:47with regard to uh what you'd call uh
42:51greed or profit or surplus.
42:55Let me get on to the next slide.
43:09So, what we essentially have is that
43:11Crusoe is alone, so his wants now are
43:14limited. And now his wants are what
43:18you'd call fulfilled before he exhausts
43:21his available labor time.
43:24Uh,
43:25so there is really no surplus labor. Uh,
43:28now I hope you understand you understood
43:31this point. Let me kind of quote for
43:34you, then you'd
43:35understand this better.
43:37Uh,
43:38what is he saying? He's saying, I quote,
43:41"I was removed from all the wickedness
43:43of the world here. I had neither the
43:45lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,
43:48or the pride of life. I had nothing to
43:51covet, for I had all that I was now
43:54capable of enjoying. I was lord of the
43:57whole manner, or if I pleased, I might
43:59call myself king or emperor over the
44:02whole country, which I had possession
44:05of. There were no rivals. I had no
44:08competitor.
44:10In quote.
44:11What is being suggested here?
44:14What is the suggestion here in the sense
44:18that um
44:20I mean, what is he saying here? He's
44:24saying that now he's actually saying
44:26that this is a you know uh
44:30a land where now there is no king, no
44:33head of church, no scripture, no
44:36religion. Now there is my conscience and
44:39how I kind of access religion through my
44:40conscience. There is now um
44:44an individual here. But then this idea
44:48that um
44:50uh
44:51now I really don't need to kind of
44:55uh
44:56compete with anybody, right? I don't
44:58need to compete and nor do I have the
45:01lust for anything. What does that mean?
45:03What is being suggested here?
45:05Uh when he's saying that I have no
45:08temptation, right?
45:11Of the flesh or the pride of life,
45:14nothing to covet. So he's kind of
45:16suggesting that he is now free of desire
45:19and temptation.
45:21Uh and he's free of competition.
45:23There is no rival here. He is the lord
45:26of the whole manner and he says I can
45:29even call myself king.
45:32Uh so
45:34there is now a kind of
45:37uh
45:38what you'd call
45:43a kind of
45:46a
45:46free
45:48freedom from
45:50the need to dominate, right? But then we
45:54are going to kind of
45:56argue later on that this is going to be
45:58a little
45:59problematic because while he says he's
46:02free and he doesn't really need to
46:03compete with anybody, we realize that
46:05there is another person later on in the
46:08island that's going to kind of contest
46:10some of these views.
46:11How do we reconcile Robinson Crusoe
46:15becoming free of any kind of greed when
46:18he is going to have this boy
46:21tied to him literally. I mean
46:25metaphorically. Later on literally, I
46:27think he also kind of gets Friday to
46:29stay in a particular place.
46:31So, um
46:33let me get on to the next slide.
46:44Okay, so let me we are going to come to
46:46this very important point in our
46:49analysis and that is imperialism.
46:52Now, let us talk a little bit about
46:55imperialism before we start to figure
46:57out whether Robinson Crusoe is an
46:59imperialist text.
47:01Now, imperialism as you all know is
47:05about expansion. Right? I mean Ceylon or
47:09Sri Lanka, we we too were under imperial
47:12rule.
47:14So, it's really nothing new to us. So,
47:17in the 18th century
47:19in the time of Defoe,
47:22Britain engaged in trade and political
47:24expansionism, right?
47:26>> [snorts]
47:27>> And Britain at that time was a fierce
47:30competitor with a lot of other European
47:33countries
47:34like Germany, France,
47:38and
47:40England or Britain
47:42>> [clears throat]
47:42>> wanted to colonize
47:45these lands. Why? Because they wanted to
47:48get their hands on these new sources of
47:52raw material and also other exotic
47:55commodities such as sugar and spices. I
47:58think I might have talked about this
48:00before.
48:01Now, the period of colonization begins
48:03from the 15th century onwards.
48:06Uh now, imperialism is focused on
48:10uh this idea of resource acquisition and
48:13expansion of territory. So, you don't
48:16just get the land, but you also try to
48:18extract the resources
48:21um around it, right?
48:24Now,
48:26uh let me get on to the next slide.
48:34Now, what is colonialism?
48:37If that is imperialism in the previous
48:39slide, what is colonialism? You need to
48:40know um
48:42both terms. In colonialism,
48:46what you have is
48:48the geographical exploitation
48:51uh
48:52uh
48:53of a colony.
48:56Uh for instance, uh in colonization,
49:00um
49:00uh you will uh have these countries
49:03coming in and extracting natural
49:05resources,
49:06establishing new markets for extension
49:10of their culture,
49:12um and um
49:14kind of taking uh rule. Now, what is the
49:18difference between colonialism and
49:19imperialism?
49:23It's actually simple. For instance, uh
49:26uh
49:27we can say that
49:30uh we were under British colonialism
49:33uh when we were Ceylon in the 19th
49:35century, and now we can say we are under
49:37kind of a American imperialism now. What
49:40does that mean?
49:43This idea that colonialism is a
49:45practice, a kind of a physical practice,
49:48where we are conquered and we are kind
49:51of under dominance, and imperialism is
49:54more the idea driving the practice of
49:57uh practice. So, for instance,
49:59colonialism means the
50:02conquering, the settling on a distant
50:05territory, right? Whereas, imperialism
50:09means a kind of uh
50:12specially now, it could kind of mean an
50:15idea of a what you'd call political and
50:19monetary dominance of a territory. So,
50:22if uh we are uh kind of politically and
50:25monetarily, indirectly or directly,
50:28under America, we see that we say that
50:31uh that is a kind of an imperial hold on
50:33us. Uh which is why now there's a
50:36suggestion that um though
50:39the US is not a kind of a color
50:41colonizing agent, it is certainly a
50:44imperial agent. Uh so, please kind of
50:48keep the difference in mind, right?
50:50Where where uh colonialism refers to the
50:53process of a country
50:56uh being taken
50:58control of.
51:00And imperialism refers to more kind of a
51:03formal or informal dominance of a
51:05country, right? So, they don't have to
51:07be Americans don't have to be in
51:10uh
51:11Sri Lanka to dominate us. They can
51:13dominate us through other modes
51:16um and
51:17means. Uh
51:19so, um now, what do we have here? Uh we
51:23have here colonialism, colonial
51:26ideology, and an imperial ideology as
51:28well, right? Now, British imperialism is
51:31evident in the Brazil plantation.
51:35If you read that very carefully, right?
51:38Uh because, you know, they they uh they
51:40have slaves and all of that, and they
51:42want to go for more slaves.
51:45Uh so, there's there there are these um
51:47kind of plantations uh
51:49going on.
51:51Uh, so there is an imperialism.
51:54Now, Crusoe's final voyage, when I say
51:58final I'm talking of that uh, critical
52:00voyage from Brazil to this island.
52:04That voyage is symbolic. Why? Because at
52:07that point when he takes on that voyage,
52:10he represents this colonialist
52:12mentality.
52:13You know, where they will kind of go uh,
52:16into Africa, get the slaves, come back,
52:19get the slaves to work on the
52:20plantation. So, kind of a colonial
52:23policy where you extract resources and
52:26you create new markets for extension of
52:28your culture.
52:31Uh,
52:32and if we also kind of look at this
52:34novel very carefully, we realize that
52:38um, this novel uh, is very imperialist,
52:42very colonialist. Why? Because
52:45um, in innocent Crusoe becomes a
52:48metaphor for the imperial figure or the
52:52offer the colonizer. And in a sense,
52:55Friday becomes a metaphor for the
52:57colonized.
52:59Um,
53:01so
53:02it's really important for us to figure
53:04out what is going on here. So, if I ask
53:07you a question, to what extent would you
53:09believe
53:10uh,
53:11or to what extent do you believe that
53:13Robinson Crusoe is
53:16uh,
53:16a novel of adventure?
53:20Uh,
53:21or to what extent would you believe that
53:24Robinson Crusoe is merely a allegorical
53:26novel about a man's spiritual journey?
53:30Then those questions are going to be or
53:33your answers are going to be complicated
53:35by
53:37uh, colonialism. Because there is a very
53:39strong colonial dimension to this novel.
53:44Uh now, why do I say this?
53:47Uh now, let's talk a little bit about it
53:49um
53:50through what's going on with Crusoe.
53:53Let me move to the next slide.
54:02Now, we all know that slavery is an
54:05integral part of imperialism and
54:08capitalism.
54:10For uh Robinson Crusoe, the Brazil
54:13plantation is profitable. Actually, it
54:16becomes hugely profitable later on.
54:18After 24 years, when he gets back, he
54:21realizes that he's made a fortune uh off
54:24the plantation.
54:25Uh but, at that point, when he decides
54:28to sail,
54:29um we are told that
54:32uh uh
54:33he needs manpower to fuel its growth.
54:37So, he also needs slaves, and this other
54:39bunch who suggests to him that um he
54:41goes with them. They actually need
54:44slaves more than he does. So, in a
54:47sense, Crusoe sets off to purchase Negro
54:51slaves, right?
54:53Now, remember, I'm using this word Negro
54:56uh because I'm talking about this text
54:58in terms of the
55:00uh
55:01the the the the time, the 16th and 17th
55:05century. But, please um be mindful when
55:08you're using it. Now, we don't use uh
55:10the word Negro now. Actually, I should
55:13not be using it as well, because I'll be
55:15kind of creating a wrong impression. So,
55:17please um
55:19I mean uh
55:20um
55:21be mindful and use the word black. Black
55:23is a better word, because Negro suggests
55:26something
55:27very uh demeaning. I mean, it comes off
55:30this word right? Uh and um
55:33so, kindly do not use it. Uh
55:35so, um so, Crusoe sets off to purchase
55:38these black slaves.
55:40Uh,
55:41now,
55:43I think you all know this very well. The
55:45empire, the British empire,
55:49uh, did not,
55:50kind of,
55:52uh, enforce colonialism and imperialism
55:54just by saying that, um, they needed
55:58economic, uh,
56:00kind of,
56:01uh, growth and advancement. That they
56:03needed slaves for their plantations.
56:05They needed,
56:07uh, resources for, kind of, you know,
56:10getting rich. They never, kind of, used
56:12that kind of, open, um,
56:15uh,
56:16admission. For instance, uh, what I'm
56:17trying to say is that they did not admit
56:19their true intentions.
56:21They did not say that they want to get
56:23rich, that money is their agenda. So,
56:26what they did was they adopted a kind of
56:29a moralistic attitude in order to
56:32maintain control in the colonies.
56:35So, what they did was they created a
56:38kind of a discourse. What is a
56:39discourse?
56:41A discourse is a kind, almost, uh,
56:46what you'd call a set of ideas.
56:49Right? Um,
56:51uh,
56:52a set of ideas that are going to be
56:54inbuilt into the structure of thought of
56:57a,
56:58um, country or of the world as well,
57:00right? So, what imperialism or
57:03colonialism does is it adopts this, um,
57:06discourse, all this ideology of what
57:09you'd call civilization and benevolence.
57:13What does that mean?
57:15What does that mean?
57:18Uh, so, this idea that, uh, you kind of,
57:23um,
57:25uh, consciously,
57:28uh,
57:29do not, uh, divulge your true
57:32intentions, but instead you kind of
57:35suggest that uh
57:37you are saving them
57:39uh
57:40by kind of [clears throat] being
57:42present. So, what you'd call this
57:44dichotomy between the uncivilized and
57:47the civilized.
57:48So, the Europeans or the British
57:51believed that they were
57:53civil. And they kind of internalized
57:57this idea that everybody else outside of
58:01um uh their territory. Uh so, this idea
58:04of the this idea of the colonized that
58:07they [clears throat] were uncivil.
58:09Uh and therefore, this idea that you had
58:12to civilize the
58:14uncivilized world.
58:17So, uh
58:18uh so, they kind of uh
58:21I mean, they kind of came up with all
58:23these theories and I think I'll I'll
58:25talk about that later on. This idea that
58:28uh you know, these other other people
58:31with either black or brown skin
58:34without the perfect European features of
58:36the European man. And what were these
58:38perfect features? They were these you
58:41know, their hair, their noses, their
58:44flat lips, all of that. They suggested
58:46that those kind of represented pure
58:49civil civilized human being.
58:52Uh and they kind of argued that the pure
58:55civilized human being was always
58:57Christian.
58:58And that um
59:00you had to kind of now
59:03uh go and civilize the rest of the world
59:07because uh this idea that one of the
59:11tasks of this civilized man is to
59:13convert
59:15an uncivilized man to a good Christian.
59:18All right. So, this is also called uh
59:23the white man's burden.
59:26Um uh I'm not sure whether I have a
59:28slide here, but this idea that
59:31um the European belief
59:34uh
59:35uh all the European belief that the
59:37Christians have the right to make these
59:40uncivilized men, who they call savages,
59:44uh
59:45into civilized savages.
59:48So, that is uh
59:50uh referred to as the white man's
59:52burden. This burden that the white men
59:55have
59:56uh upon their shoulder to literally
59:59civilize the rest of the world.
1:00:03Uh
1:00:03>> [clears throat]
1:00:03>> so, this is really important in
1:00:05um
1:00:06Robinson Crusoe.
1:00:08Right? And this um
1:00:10uh
1:00:11this intention was used as a cover-up
1:00:15for
1:00:16all their other
1:00:18uh explicit and uh not so explicit
1:00:21intentions.
1:00:24Let me quickly get down to the next
1:00:25slide.
1:00:30As I was earlier telling you, Robinson
1:00:32Crusoe is shipwrecked because of his
1:00:35desire to slave trade.
1:00:39Right?
1:00:40And because [clears throat]
1:00:41he has the gun, I talked about this gun
1:00:44earlier, because he has the advantage of
1:00:47the gun
1:00:49and of ammunition. Remember, he ta-
1:00:52takes all of those off the ship.
1:00:55That gives him a decisive advantage over
1:00:57anybody he meets.
1:01:01So, what is he going to do later on?
1:01:03He's going to use the gun to gain
1:01:06command over nature and over other men.
1:01:12And what's interesting is that he does
1:01:15not consider that when he accumulates,
1:01:19uh he also accumulates human beings.
1:01:23Right? For instance, this man called
1:01:25Xury is really important, the African
1:01:28that he sells into slavery.
1:01:30Uh later on
1:01:33all the
1:01:34all his other indentured servants, and
1:01:37even Friday. Uh he he he does not
1:01:40consider that these people are human
1:01:43beings and that he's violating them
1:01:46through his exploitation.
1:01:48Why? Because he has that kind of a
1:01:52a civilized mental mentality. Now, here
1:01:55I'm using civilized in a very ironic
1:01:57way, because he's a very calculating
1:02:00man.
1:02:01Uh so, this idea that
1:02:04um
1:02:05the white man believes in the cultural
1:02:08difference between him and
1:02:11uh the rest of the world. And he also
1:02:12believes that that linguistic difference
1:02:15is also uh advantage to him. So, he
1:02:18believes that English is the best
1:02:21language, and that everybody else is
1:02:24using inferior forms of
1:02:26uh language.
1:02:28Right? And he also takes upon himself
1:02:30the legitimacy of authority.
1:02:33He believes that he's legitimately
1:02:36uh correct to authorize over another
1:02:39human being, and not just another human
1:02:41being on an even an island.
1:02:44>> [clears throat]
1:02:44>> Right?
1:02:45I think I talked about it earlier. He
1:02:47starts to think, you know, I can even
1:02:49think of myself as the king here.
1:02:51Uh so, [snorts] now he will create
1:02:55a self-image of a man who is superior.
1:02:58Now, this is not just um
1:03:01characteristic of Robinson Crusoe. This
1:03:03is representative of
1:03:05uh
1:03:07every other
1:03:08um
1:03:10colonizer
1:03:11during this time. Right? Every other uh
1:03:16So, at this point in time, the world is
1:03:19created into two groups, one that is
1:03:21civilized and Christian, and the other
1:03:23that is savage. And the other word for
1:03:26savage would be savage/cannibal.
1:03:29And I'll talk about cannibalism later
1:03:31on. I think I have a slide there.
1:03:33Right? So, what's going What What goes
1:03:36on here is that the relationship between
1:03:39Crusoe and Friday The relationship
1:03:41between Crusoe and Friday Those
1:03:44relationships reflect the binary or the
1:03:47oppositional construction of the British
1:03:50and the
1:03:51um
1:03:53colonized, the civilized and the
1:03:55uncivilized.
1:03:57Uh so, it's really important, right?
1:04:00This idea that Crusoe creates a kind of
1:04:04a English identity.
1:04:07And therefore, we can kind of argue that
1:04:10he is this
1:04:12English imperialist.
1:04:14Let us go on to the next slide.
1:04:21Now, I hope you
1:04:24realize this when you were reading the
1:04:26novel.
1:04:27That one of his first desires when he
1:04:30lands on the island I told you, right?
1:04:33He's a man who is very individualistic.
1:04:35He He's very comfortable within with
1:04:38himself.
1:04:40Uh now, he when he immediately lands on
1:04:42the island, one of his initial
1:04:45immediate desires is this desire for
1:04:48fencing and fortification.
1:04:51What does that mean?
1:04:54Why build a fence and a kind of a
1:04:59fortified kind of a fence at that? Why?
1:05:02I mean, even before I've seen another
1:05:04human being, even before I've seen
1:05:06another
1:05:08like a kind of a cannibalistic animal
1:05:11who's out to get me and eat me. Why
1:05:13would I quickly want to create a fence
1:05:15around me and build a fortification?
1:05:18Why would I want to build a fortress?
1:05:21Uh
1:05:22we are told that uh it is only when
1:05:26Crusoe is completely, I quote, fenced
1:05:29and fortified from all the world that he
1:05:33can sleep secure in the night, end
1:05:36quote.
1:05:37What does that mean?
1:05:41What does that mean?
1:05:45What is suggested here even before
1:05:48I mean, he has
1:05:50anyone uh around him. What What is going
1:05:53on? From the very beginning, this idea
1:05:56of uh
1:05:57uh
1:05:58of a
1:06:00of a threat, isn't that so?
1:06:03In the sense that he already indirectly
1:06:07has kind of uh
1:06:09uh
1:06:10uh
1:06:11shown what you'd call a kind of a
1:06:14uh unequal relationship between himself
1:06:17and the other.
1:06:18Right? Already he's trying Already he's
1:06:22not even without seeing anybody around
1:06:25him. He starts to behave, think, and
1:06:28speak separate from any anticipated
1:06:33person or animal that is about to come
1:06:35and get him.
1:06:38So, this is actually a reflection of the
1:06:40kind of what you'd call a European uh
1:06:43attitude or what you also call call a
1:06:47Eurocentric attitude.
1:06:49A A Eurocentric attitude is where you
1:06:53believe in the supremacy of the
1:06:55European, and you believe that everybody
1:06:58else is unequal and inferior.
1:07:01Right? And you believe that it is your
1:07:03existence that matters, not anybody
1:07:07else's existence. So, that is really
1:07:09important. So, from the very beginning,
1:07:11he wants to kind of separate himself
1:07:14from even something
1:07:17that he has not quite seen, that
1:07:19something that is
1:07:21a distance. So, from the very beginning,
1:07:23a man who
1:07:24separates himself, keeps a distance from
1:07:29the others,
1:07:30who wants to kind of isolate himself.
1:07:33So, those are really
1:07:35interesting, right? So, I'll talk a
1:07:38little bit about that later on as well.
1:07:44Let me
1:07:45Yeah, talk a little bit about this
1:07:46discourse of cannibalism.
1:07:50Now, uh
1:07:53after 15 years on the island, I think I
1:07:55talked about it. He sees a print of a
1:07:57naked man's foot on the shore. And in
1:08:01mine, it is 162 in the text.
1:08:05Uh and um
1:08:08let me read that bit for you. I want you
1:08:10to see how he reacts.
1:08:13It happened one day about noon. Going
1:08:16towards my boat, I was exceedingly
1:08:19surprised with the print of a man's
1:08:20naked foot on the shore, which is very
1:08:23plain to be seen in the sand. I stood
1:08:26like one thunderstruck, or as if I had
1:08:29seen an apparition. I listened.
1:08:32I looked around me. I could hear
1:08:34nothing, not see mine, not see anything.
1:08:37I went up to a rising ground to look far
1:08:40further. I went up the shore and down
1:08:42the shore, but it was all one.
1:08:44I could see no other impression but that
1:08:47one.
1:08:48I want I went to it again to see if
1:08:51there were any more and to observe it if
1:08:53it might not be my fancy. But, there was
1:08:56no room for that, for there was exactly
1:08:58the very print of a foot, toes, heel,
1:09:01and every part of a foot.
1:09:04How it came thither I knew not, nor
1:09:06could in the least imagine.
1:09:08But after innumerable flattering
1:09:10thoughts, like a man perfectly confused
1:09:14and out of myself, I came home to my
1:09:17fortification,
1:09:19not feeling, as we say, the ground I
1:09:22went on, but terrified to the last
1:09:24degree, looking behind me at every two
1:09:28or three steps, mistaking every bush and
1:09:31tree, and fancying every stump at a
1:09:34distance to be a man. Nor is it possible
1:09:37to describe how many various shapes a
1:09:41frightened imagination represented
1:09:43things to me in. How many wild ideas
1:09:47were found every moment in my fancy, and
1:09:50what strange, unaccountable whimsies
1:09:53came into my thoughts by the way.
1:09:57When I came to my castle, for so I think
1:10:00I called it ever after this, I fled into
1:10:04it like one pursued, whether I went over
1:10:07by the ladder as first contrived or went
1:10:09in at the hole in the rock, which I
1:10:11called a door, I cannot remember. No,
1:10:15nor could I remember the next morning,
1:10:18for never frightened hare fled to cover
1:10:20or fox to earth with more terror of mind
1:10:23than I to this retreat.
1:10:27End quote.
1:10:29What is going on here?
1:10:32He's going to say I slept none that
1:10:34night. The further I was from the
1:10:36occasion of my fright, the greater my
1:10:38apprehension were.
1:10:41What's going on here?
1:10:43Why is he so afraid?
1:10:47Why is he so afraid? Because even later
1:10:50on, look at what he starts to say. This
1:10:52is just again 163.
1:10:55Sometimes I fancied it must be the devil
1:10:58and reason joining with me upon this
1:11:00supposition for how should any other
1:11:02thing in human shape come into place?
1:11:05There was the vessel that brought them,
1:11:07but marks was there of any other
1:11:09footsteps.
1:11:11How is it possible a man should come
1:11:14then but then to think that Satan should
1:11:17take human shape upon him in such a
1:11:19place where there could be no manner of
1:11:21occasion of it but to leave the print of
1:11:24his foot behind him.
1:11:27End quote.
1:11:30What is going on here?
1:11:32Why does he say, you know, if this could
1:11:34be the devil for all you know, right?
1:11:38And what's interesting is that I mean he
1:11:40doesn't uh
1:11:43I mean he's completely shocked and he
1:11:45doesn't even come out. He compares
1:11:47himself to a
1:11:49um a fox or a hare.
1:11:52Uh he completely feels powerless at that
1:11:54point.
1:11:56Uh but three it is only 3 years later
1:11:58that he again kind of comes to a similar
1:12:00experience.
1:12:03So this is not immediate.
1:12:05Right? It is 3 years later.
1:12:08And now 3 years later he sees bones. And
1:12:14look at what he starts to say. So again
1:12:16in mine it is 173.
1:12:20Uh
1:12:23This is towards the half of the chapter.
1:12:25I don't actually got a number of
1:12:25chapters so it's very difficult for me
1:12:27to guide, but I hope you can find these
1:12:30places when you start studying.
1:12:36Now remember he calls his island um
1:12:40not his island, his little house a
1:12:42castle.
1:12:44I'll come to that later. That's very
1:12:46symbolic, isn't that so?
1:12:49He doesn't say my little dwelling or my
1:12:51little hut, he says my castle.
1:12:54Uh so, it's going to have certain
1:12:56implications.
1:12:59Now, when he starts to see the bones
1:13:01here, what does he immediately assume?
1:13:10Now, what does he say here? I quote.
1:13:17I was perfectly confounded and amazed.
1:13:20Now, is it possible for me to express
1:13:22the horror of my mind at seeing the show
1:13:25spread with skulls, hands, feet, other
1:13:28bones of human bodies.
1:13:31And particularly, I observed a place
1:13:32where there had been a fire made and a
1:13:35circle dug in the earth like a cockpit,
1:13:38where it is supposed the savage wretches
1:13:40had sat down to their inhuman feastings
1:13:43upon the bodies of their fellow
1:13:45creatures.
1:13:47I was so astonished with the sight of
1:13:49these things that I entertained no
1:13:50notion of any danger to myself from it
1:13:53for a long while. All my apprehensions
1:13:55were buried in the thoughts of such a
1:13:57pitch of inhuman hellish brutality and
1:14:01the horror of the degeneracy of human
1:14:04nature.
1:14:07What is he saying there?
1:14:09He's saying that he can't believe that
1:14:11human nature has so degenerated.
1:14:15Uh and what he does is he starts to uh
1:14:18come out and he starts to thank God. And
1:14:21again, he's going to make this
1:14:22distinction between
1:14:24um himself and the rest of these people
1:14:27that he's he's not even seen. He doesn't
1:14:29know what has happened, but he's going
1:14:30to make a lot of assumptions about them.
1:14:36I looked up with the utmost affection of
1:14:38my soul and with a flood of tears in my
1:14:41eyes gave God thanks that I had cast my
1:14:44first lot in a part of the world where I
1:14:46was distinguished from such dreadful
1:14:49creatures as these and that though I had
1:14:52esteemed my present condition very
1:14:54miserable, had yet given me so many
1:14:57comforts in it that I had still more to
1:14:59give thanks for than to complain of. And
1:15:02this above all, that I had even in this
1:15:05miserable condition being comforted with
1:15:08the knowledge of himself and the hope of
1:15:11his blessings. End quote.
1:15:15What is he saying there?
1:15:17He's basically saying, "Oh, thank God
1:15:19that I was born in Europe and that I was
1:15:22not born in a place like this where I
1:15:24would have been this kind of a
1:15:27individual." He's saying, "Oh, thank God
1:15:30that I'm humane, that I'm a human." And
1:15:33then he's immediately going to make this
1:15:35assumption about um cannibalism.
1:15:40Because he says, um "I might be here 18
1:15:43more as entire entire concealed as I was
1:15:46now if I did not discover myself to
1:15:48them, which I had no manner of occasion
1:15:50to do, it being my only business to keep
1:15:53myself entirely concealed where I was
1:15:56unless I found a better sort of creature
1:15:59than cannibals to make myself known to."
1:16:04Yet I entertained such an abhorrence of
1:16:06the savage wretches that I have been
1:16:08speaking of and of the wretched inhuman
1:16:11custom of their devouring and eating one
1:16:13another up that I continued pensive and
1:16:16sad and kept close within my own circle
1:16:19for almost 2 years after this.
1:16:24End quote.
1:16:26What does he do? He's so shocked about
1:16:28the inhuman wretchedness
1:16:31of cannibalism that he says he just
1:16:33didn't venture out to that side of the
1:16:36island for 2 years. Now, remember we are
1:16:37looking at it not just in terms of 2
1:16:39weeks.
1:16:412 years, right? So, that's a long time.
1:16:45Uh
1:16:46So, um
1:16:48So, actually, if you look at this, even
1:16:50if you just go two pages down,
1:16:53you realize that when he suddenly after
1:16:552 years
1:16:57begin looks at them, he he um he wants
1:17:01to really kill them. He calls them
1:17:02savages without even meeting them. So,
1:17:05you can see, right? This discourse of
1:17:07civil civilized and uncivilized
1:17:11is already internalized in him, even
1:17:13though he's all alone for so many years.
1:17:15That is very much in his head.
1:17:18Look at what he says.
1:17:20"But, my invention now run quite another
1:17:23way. For night and day, I could think of
1:17:25nothing but how I might destroy some of
1:17:27those monsters in their cruel, bloody
1:17:31entertainment. And if possible, save the
1:17:34victim they should bring hither to
1:17:36destroy."
1:17:38End quote.
1:17:40Now, what does he say? He talks about
1:17:42their practice of eating somebody or
1:17:46cannibalizing somebody as entertainment
1:17:49without really knowing what's going on.
1:17:52Right? I'm not suggesting that
1:17:53cannibalism is good and we need to kill
1:17:56kill and eat one another. But, what I'm
1:17:58trying to suggest is that Crusoe doesn't
1:18:02uh
1:18:03want to find out about the perspective
1:18:05of the other.
1:18:07In fact, what he's doing is he's ready
1:18:09to believe in cannibalism of
1:18:11non-European people without knowing what
1:18:14is going on. And that is um extremely
1:18:17problematic.
1:18:19Let me get on to the next slide.
1:18:28Now, what is cannibalism?
1:18:31Cannibalism is also, as I was earlier
1:18:34telling you, a discourse.
1:18:36Now, Europeans created a discussion of
1:18:39cannibalism during colonialism.
1:18:43Uh why? Because they wanted to justify
1:18:47imperialism, right? They wanted to
1:18:49justify colonialism. They couldn't just
1:18:51tell um
1:18:54you know, for instance, they couldn't
1:18:55come to Africa and just say, "Hey, you
1:18:57know, we we we just want your land. We
1:18:59want your people to work uh
1:19:02for us as slaves. Um we want uh any
1:19:06other resources that you have." No, you
1:19:08can't kind of acting that way. In
1:19:11colonialism, geographical exploitation
1:19:14has to
1:19:16uh have a justification.
1:19:19Uh a superficial justification, right?
1:19:21They cannot reveal that they are here to
1:19:25extract the natural resources and
1:19:27establish new markets for extension of
1:19:29their culture. They can't do that.
1:19:32Right? So, they've got to have a
1:19:34justification. And how how do they
1:19:36create this justification?
1:19:39Um
1:19:39by creating this discourse of
1:19:42uh
1:19:44cannibalism. And now, when they create
1:19:46this discussion of cannibalism, they
1:19:48need to
1:19:49uh
1:19:50create this idea that
1:19:52uh
1:19:54they are somehow right.
1:19:56That they are correct. And so, uh what
1:19:59you'd call a self-righteous attitude.
1:20:02Right? This idea that what you are doing
1:20:05even though there's resistance, that it
1:20:07is the best uh
1:20:09that you uh want to do for them.
1:20:12Uh so, that's really important.
1:20:15So, therefore, what they do is they
1:20:17create this idea of a cruel cannibal who
1:20:20eats human flesh versus the
1:20:23uh
1:20:24civilized European.
1:20:26But now, there is a suggestion that if
1:20:29Europe Europeans can bring Christianity
1:20:31to the world.
1:20:33They can also make that cruel cannibal
1:20:36into a peaceful savage.
1:20:39So now the native who is earlier
1:20:42demonized can be
1:20:44uh controlled.
1:20:46So that is basically what you have in
1:20:48uh Friday, isn't that so?
1:20:51Now actually one of the first people uh
1:20:54one of the first colonizers to discuss
1:20:56cannibalism was Christopher Columbus.
1:21:00Do you know who Christopher Columbus is?
1:21:04Uh the man who kind of uh who is
1:21:07credited with the discovery of America.
1:21:10Now the irony is that America was
1:21:12already peopled, right? You had all
1:21:14these Native American uh people, but
1:21:16then they said that Columbus discovered
1:21:19America. So then that is the way uh
1:21:22the colonial [clears throat] rhetoric
1:21:23works.
1:21:24Uh now what's interesting is that while
1:21:29colonialism
1:21:31suggests [clears throat]
1:21:32that the non-European is a cruel
1:21:35cannibalistic man,
1:21:37they essentially hide the fact that the
1:21:39colonial enterprise or the colonial
1:21:42project itself is built on violence.
1:21:46For instance, if you don't have guns,
1:21:49how do you establish control? It's
1:21:52precisely the same with
1:21:54uh Crusoe and Friday. Crusoe has the
1:21:58gun. Friday does not have the gun.
1:22:00Therefore, Crusoe establishes control.
1:22:03But then Crusoe gives the impression
1:22:06that he's not wielding violence. So this
1:22:09is how colonialism worked.
1:22:11So they uh tried to conceal the fact
1:22:15that colonization
1:22:17is a violent activity. So instead they
1:22:21erase that and instead suggest that the
1:22:24native is violent. So they literally
1:22:28project the violence that they
1:22:30themselves yield onto the colonized.
1:22:34I hope this is very clear to you because
1:22:36you have already kind of
1:22:38you all know about for instance
1:22:42the Indian colonial enterprise and the
1:22:44Sri Lankan colonial project, how it
1:22:46worked. So, this should be very clear to
1:22:49you, right? Let me get on to the next
1:22:52slide.
1:22:57So, as I was earlier telling you,
1:22:59because he has internalized this
1:23:03rhetoric, his descriptions are very
1:23:05biased. So, we are told that now he
1:23:08doesn't know these men. He says
1:23:11nine naked savages sitting round a small
1:23:14fire.
1:23:18Now, what do you notice here? Why this
1:23:20emphasis on nakedness?
1:23:23Why?
1:23:27Once again to suggest that these
1:23:30the the colonized are the others are the
1:23:32non-Europeans
1:23:34were uncivil, that they did not even
1:23:37wear clothes. Because clothing becomes a
1:23:40practice of civilization. They believe
1:23:43that if you are civilized, you need to
1:23:45kind of clothe yourself.
1:23:47Right? So, once again it indicates
1:23:50the superiority of the European point of
1:23:53view, right? Without really kind of
1:23:56wondering why the native is not clothed.
1:23:59They could have their own cultural
1:24:01reasons for the lack of clothing.
1:24:03Uh
1:24:04And as I was earlier telling you, dreams
1:24:06of killing these savages.
1:24:09So, it's extremely violent.
1:24:12Right?
1:24:14Uh so, there's really nothing
1:24:16civilized about Crusoe's thoughts, even
1:24:20though now at this point he is fully in
1:24:24a communion with God. So now already
1:24:27what
1:24:29what we can argue is that Crusoe's
1:24:31civilizing mission
1:24:33is extremely problematic.
1:24:36Right? Because you can see how he wants
1:24:38to gain power. He wants to take control.
1:24:42Right? And he wants to enslave the
1:24:47cannibals.
1:24:49It's very clear-cut. He wants to
1:24:51establish superiority. Right?
1:24:56But then you realize how violent it is.
1:24:59Now what happens is a lot of people
1:25:02argue that
1:25:04it is run it is it was a really a
1:25:07coincidence that Robinson Crusoe found
1:25:10Friday, his companion.
1:25:12But actually if we read the text very
1:25:14carefully, we realize that
1:25:17here is a man who has an imperial
1:25:19strategy. Like you know, like a
1:25:21strategist thinking of conquering a
1:25:23land. He begins to plan
1:25:27to capture slave.
1:25:30Actually, he calls him a savage. Now he
1:25:34he plans to
1:25:36kind of capture man. Why? Because he
1:25:40actually has a dream. He dreams
1:25:41[clears throat]
1:25:43of an incident where a captured slave
1:25:46runs to him and becomes his servant.
1:25:51And he's actually
1:25:52kind of very excited about that. Now
1:25:54remember, he's a man who didn't want to
1:25:56see anybody.
1:25:58Even though he is absolutely isolated
1:26:01without a human being in sight.
1:26:03So what happens is when he has this
1:26:05dream, he he gets up and he starts to
1:26:08think I quote.
1:26:10I made this conclusion that the only way
1:26:13to go about an attempt for an escape was
1:26:16if possible to get a savage into my
1:26:19possession, and if possible, it should
1:26:22be one of the prisoners. End quote.
1:26:27What is going on?
1:26:30This idea that
1:26:32>> [clears throat]
1:26:33>> he wants to kind of
1:26:37create some kind of a control over
1:26:41this man. He wants to get a man, and
1:26:43he's not just going to let that man
1:26:47free, right? He wants to get a man into
1:26:51my possession.
1:26:53So, this possessive attitude is very
1:26:55important, right? So, it's not that he
1:26:58just wants to get a man and
1:27:00you know, kind of let him free. No,
1:27:02there is already this slave mentality in
1:27:06Crusoe. This need to accumulate men as
1:27:10commodities, not just money.
1:27:13Right? So, that you can clearly see that
1:27:18I mean,
1:27:19Crusoe's colonial inclinations are very
1:27:22well
1:27:23brought out here.
1:27:25Let me get on to the next slide.
1:27:34Now, what does he do? Does he
1:27:35immediately jump into action? Remember,
1:27:38he's a rational man, right? So, what
1:27:41does he do? He weighs the pros and cons
1:27:45of that strategy. He is going to put
1:27:47that strategy to action.
1:27:50What does he say? He says, I quote,
1:27:54"The thoughts of shedding human blood
1:27:56for my deliverance were terrible to me."
1:28:01But then he resolves, I quote, "To get
1:28:04one of those savages into my hands, cost
1:28:07what it would." End quote.
1:28:11Look at the language here.
1:28:14Well, what he's saying he says, "I don't
1:28:16want to kill
1:28:17because you know, I'm already this
1:28:19religious man now.
1:28:22And this would be unthinkable for me. I
1:28:24mean, you know, my punishment would be
1:28:26high. But then he still says, "No, I
1:28:28want to get one of those savages into my
1:28:30hands cost what it would."
1:28:37What are the implications there?
1:28:39This idea of you know, somehow getting
1:28:42my
1:28:43hands on to this
1:28:46this cannibal. Right? So
1:28:48you can see the strong possessive
1:28:51tendency.
1:28:53Right? Uh and not and he has no um
1:28:57intention of treating that slave as a
1:29:00man or that cannibal as a man. His
1:29:04what you call mastering ideas are also
1:29:07very clear. He wants to master that man
1:29:11just the way he wants to master the
1:29:13island. Just the way he wants to master
1:29:16everything around him. So it's really
1:29:18interesting here how it kind of happens.
1:29:21So what does he do? Again, I quote.
1:29:25It came now very warmly upon my thoughts
1:29:28and indeed irresistibly that now was my
1:29:31time to get me a servant and perhaps a
1:29:34companion or assistant.
1:29:38End quote.
1:29:40So very self-explanatory, right?
1:29:43Uh what what does he want?
1:29:47What does he want? He First of all, he
1:29:49doesn't say I want a I want a friend or
1:29:52an assistant. He first says, "I I It's
1:29:54time I got a servant because I'm doing
1:29:56too much of work anyway." And only later
1:29:59on he thinks of companionship. So you
1:30:00can see his first inclination is of
1:30:03dominance.
1:30:05Right? Because a master-servant
1:30:07relationship is an unequal relationship.
1:30:09It is based on a hierarchy. It is based
1:30:11on dominance.
1:30:13So, his eagerness to kind of get hold of
1:30:17a man and assume the role of a master.
1:30:20Remember, he has already assumed the
1:30:21role of a king and a governor.
1:30:25So, now he realizes that just me
1:30:27thinking I'm a king and a governor, that
1:30:29is incomplete if I don't really have
1:30:31anybody to govern, king, and to kind of
1:30:34master, right? Uh so, it's it's very
1:30:39interesting what happens. Let us get on
1:30:41to the next slide.
1:30:51Now, Crusoe is the typical colonialist,
1:30:54right? I have already talked about it.
1:30:57He has established his own colony.
1:31:00He has established his own civilization.
1:31:04Why? Because he knows what kind of
1:31:06planting he can do. He has kind of
1:31:09livestock. Uh all of that
1:31:13uh he has cultivated in a certain way.
1:31:15He's kind of, you know, ruling the
1:31:17island in a certain way. He's kind of
1:31:20keeping an eye on the whole of the
1:31:22island. All of that. So, in a sense, he
1:31:25is the typical colonialist, and he has
1:31:28up to now
1:31:29uh mastered every other
1:31:32uh natural resource around him.
1:31:35Isn't that so? So, he he he's literally
1:31:38his own man here.
1:31:40Um
1:31:41Uh but then, what uh
1:31:44but then, as I was really telling, it is
1:31:46incomplete because he realizes that he
1:31:49is now um
1:31:51I mean, he has mastered his own self as
1:31:53well, right? He's in control. He's this
1:31:56rational, reasonable, practical man,
1:31:58pragmatic man. Now, he extends control
1:32:02over this huge
1:32:04uh land, which is at the beginning very
1:32:07indifferent and hostile. Still is. There
1:32:10is a lot of I mean reference to storms
1:32:13and all of that, and he gets kind of
1:32:14scared and all of that.
1:32:17Remember at the beginning is very diffi-
1:32:20diffi- difficult for him, right? Uh
1:32:24so, there is a suggestion that now just
1:32:28becoming a governor or a colonizer or a
1:32:32lord or a landlord, uh
1:32:36that is somewhat utopian without kind of
1:32:39having somebody to literally dominate
1:32:42over.
1:32:43Uh let me get on to the next slide.
1:32:49So, therefore, there are two people we
1:32:51really need to look at in this um
1:32:54novel. And the first is Xury.
1:32:58Uh Xury is very important. I hope uh you
1:33:01remember where Xury come I mean where we
1:33:04first saw Xury. Uh
1:33:08let me take you to that place.
1:33:13Now, who is Xury?
1:33:15Uh remember he kind of uh I was talking
1:33:18about piracy now um
1:33:21uh his first trip
1:33:23uh on this merchant ship,
1:33:26right? We are so it's very clear then at
1:33:28that point his capitalist motives are
1:33:31very clear. Now, his first trip uh
1:33:34becomes disastrous. Do you remember this
1:33:37incident where uh these pirates these
1:33:40Moorish pirates capture Crusoe's vessel,
1:33:43all right? And he's sold into slavery in
1:33:47uh North Africa.
1:33:49And uh what happens, he and this young
1:33:51slave called Xury, they escape and get
1:33:55away. And they sail to freedom. Uh
1:33:59so they go along they go along this
1:34:00African coast.
1:34:02Uh
1:34:04and Crusoe I think and I and I think
1:34:07they're eventually rescued. Uh and what
1:34:11does Crusoe do? He buys his way to
1:34:14Brazil by
1:34:16selling Xury to
1:34:18the Portuguese captain.
1:34:21Now, Xury is the little boy who
1:34:25uh helped him all along.
1:34:29Uh
1:34:30actually let me find that place where
1:34:32you It's very important that I read that
1:34:34bit.
1:34:36So it's actually page 15 in my text. Uh
1:34:40and there are so many instances when
1:34:43this little boy Xury uh
1:34:46helps
1:34:47uh Crusoe survive.
1:34:49And helps Crusoe escape. Uh let me um
1:34:54read a little bit. Uh "When I had
1:34:56pursued this resolution about 10 days
1:34:58long as I have said, I began to see that
1:35:00the land was inhabited and two or three
1:35:03places as we sailed by, we saw people
1:35:05stand upon the shore to look at us. We
1:35:08could also perceive they were quite
1:35:09black and stark naked. I was once
1:35:12inclined to have gone on shore to them
1:35:14but Xury was my better counselor and
1:35:18said to me, 'No, no, no go.'"
1:35:21Uh end quote. Uh so in fact, Xury is
1:35:25very sharp and Xury helps Crusoe to
1:35:28survive potential danger.
1:35:32But what is interesting is that when
1:35:35finally
1:35:36uh they are kind of
1:35:38uh
1:35:39rescued, right? And actually we find
1:35:41that because of Xury they even get a lot
1:35:43of food to eat on their way.
1:35:45Uh
1:35:47uh and Xury calls him master master. So
1:35:51once again, this idea of a slave master
1:35:54relationship. Um
1:35:56but when finally he is
1:35:59uh about to be sold, we have a kind of a
1:36:02hesitation on the part of Crusoe, but
1:36:05it's very naive. It's
1:36:07It's not naive, I'm sorry. That's the
1:36:09wrong word. It is a lame excuse.
1:36:11Let me read this.
1:36:14As to my boat, it was a very good one,
1:36:16and that he saw and told me he would buy
1:36:18it off me for the ship's use, and asked
1:36:20me when I would have for it.
1:36:22I told him he had been so generous to me
1:36:24in everything that I could not offer to
1:36:25make any price of the boat, but left it
1:36:28entirely to him, upon which he told me
1:36:30he would give me a note to his hand
1:36:33to pay [laughter] me 80 pieces of eight
1:36:35for it at Brazil, and when he came
1:36:37there, if anyone offered to give more,
1:36:39he would make it up.
1:36:40He offered me 60 pieces of eight more
1:36:43for my boy Xury,
1:36:45which I was loath to take, not that I
1:36:47was not willing to let the captain have
1:36:48him, but I was very loath to sell the
1:36:51poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me
1:36:53so faithfully in procuring my own.
1:36:57However, when I let him know my reason,
1:36:59he owned it to be just, and offered me
1:37:02in this medium that he would give the
1:37:04boy an obligation to set him free in 10
1:37:08years if he turned Christian. Upon this,
1:37:11and Xury saying he was willing to go to
1:37:13him, I let the captain have him.
1:37:17End quote.
1:37:19What is going on there?
1:37:21Uh
1:37:22this idea that
1:37:24uh
1:37:26I mean, he hesitates.
1:37:28Uh
1:37:29and uh but then he realized that he does
1:37:33I mean, he he hesitates, but then those
1:37:36are in I mean, his hesitation cannot be
1:37:39um meaningful.
1:37:41Uh because
1:37:43he already acknowledges he's giving up
1:37:46Xury's liberty for his own.
1:37:48Uh
1:37:50but then kind of has this deal with the
1:37:52captain that the captain let Xury free
1:37:55in 10 years, but the irony is that
1:37:58this is a promise that Crusoe has no
1:38:00reason to believe the captain will keep.
1:38:04Right? I mean, how do we know that the
1:38:06captain is going to be benevolent and
1:38:08let the boy go?
1:38:10Right? So, once again, this idea that uh
1:38:14uh
1:38:16uh
1:38:17Crusoe treats Xury as a commodity. Uh as
1:38:23a kind of a source of profit, as private
1:38:27property, unpaid labor, right? And it's
1:38:29so um
1:38:31um
1:38:31sad that because Xury lacks property,
1:38:34Crusoe has property, Xury has nothing.
1:38:38Uh so,
1:38:39I mean, he doesn't really dwell too much
1:38:42on
1:38:43feeling guilty.
1:38:44Uh but then he realized that this
1:38:47mentality this colonial mentality is
1:38:49very strong in
1:38:50uh Robinson Crusoe.
1:38:52Okay, let us move to the next slide.
1:39:01Okay, so let us now come to Friday.
1:39:05Uh and I want to kind of wrap up uh this
1:39:07lecture by analyzing Friday and wrap up
1:39:10this text as well. Uh now, we all know
1:39:13that Friday is um
1:39:15this rescued prisoner, and he's going to
1:39:17have the same kind of uh um treatment
1:39:22uh that he dished out to Xury because
1:39:24remember when
1:39:26when he sells Xury to the Portuguese
1:39:29captain, in fact, Crusoe seems to be
1:39:31more impressed by the benevolence of the
1:39:34captain than
1:39:36uh the fact that he has literally sold
1:39:38this poor boy away. Right? So, this idea
1:39:41of a what you'd call
1:39:43um
1:39:44a a a self validation. He validates
1:39:47himself by thinking, "Oh my god, this
1:39:50captain is a really nice man and he'll
1:39:52look after this boy." Now, this same
1:39:55attitude is going to
1:39:58bear down upon
1:40:00Friday because now when Friday is
1:40:02rescued,
1:40:05in mine it is 208.
1:40:08We realize that
1:40:11this is how
1:40:14he is
1:40:15described.
1:40:20He was a comely handsome fellow,
1:40:22perfectly well made with straight strong
1:40:24limbs, not too large, tall, well shaped
1:40:26and as I reckon, about 26 years of age.
1:40:30He had a very good countenance, not a
1:40:31fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to
1:40:34have something very manly in his face
1:40:36and yet he had all the sweetness and
1:40:38softness of a European in his
1:40:40countenance too, specially when he
1:40:43smiled.
1:40:45His hair was long and black, not curled
1:40:47like wool. His forehead very high and
1:40:49large and a great vivacity and sparkling
1:40:52sharpness in his eyes. The color of his
1:40:54skin was not quite black, but tawny and
1:40:57yet not of an ugly yellow, nauseous
1:41:00tawny as the Brazilians and Virginians
1:41:02and other natives of America, but of a
1:41:05bright kind of done olive color that had
1:41:08in it something very agreeable, though
1:41:10not very easy to describe.
1:41:13End quote. So, he's
1:41:15he's kind of describing
1:41:18Friday, right?
1:41:20Now,
1:41:21what is interesting is that Friday is
1:41:23very cautious and afraid of Crusoe. Now,
1:41:27why? Do you remember how he's rescued?
1:41:31He has a gun, right? And Friday might
1:41:33never have seen the gun. So, obviously
1:41:35he's going to be cautious because you
1:41:36know you know something this man has and
1:41:38you don't really know how it works.
1:41:41Uh so obviously you're going to be
1:41:42really worried about him. Now what's
1:41:45interesting is that from the beginning
1:41:48Crusoe um I mean starts to see
1:41:53uh Friday in the model of a slave as
1:41:57somebody selfless and subservient. Now
1:42:00look at what he says, I quote,
1:42:02"He came nearer and nearer,
1:42:05kneeling down every 10 or 12 steps. At
1:42:09length he came close to me and then he
1:42:11kneeled down again, kissed the ground
1:42:13and laid his head upon the ground and
1:42:15taking me by the foot set my foot upon
1:42:18his head. This it seems was in token of
1:42:21swearing to be my slave forever." End
1:42:25quote.
1:42:26Look at this very carefully.
1:42:28Um what uh what's going on here? He says
1:42:32he comes nearer and nearer, kneels down.
1:42:34Why? Obviously he's scared.
1:42:36Right? He could argue in that way as
1:42:38well. I mean we should I mean that
1:42:40uh if we are going to deviate from
1:42:43Crusoe's perspective
1:42:46and see this in a different way,
1:42:49um what do we notice here about the way
1:42:52he's reading Friday's actions?
1:42:56Uh
1:42:58he's saying he kissed the ground, laid
1:43:00his head upon the ground, taking me by
1:43:02the foot, set my foot upon his head.
1:43:06"This it seems was in token of swearing
1:43:09to be my slave forever."
1:43:12End quote. What is being suggested
1:43:13there?
1:43:15Once again Crusoe is
1:43:18uh
1:43:18exhibiting his imperialistic attitude.
1:43:21He's suggesting that he is superior and
1:43:25that
1:43:26Friday wants to be dominated, that
1:43:29Friday will only pity himself the slave
1:43:33against the master that he recognizes in
1:43:37Crusoe.
1:43:38So, it's very ironic, right? So, Crusoe
1:43:41is
1:43:44extremely impressed by Friday. Friday
1:43:47from the very beginning is represented
1:43:49as the ideal slave.
1:43:52All right. So, remember he was already
1:43:56dreaming of a slave. Why? Because he
1:43:58wanted somebody to
1:44:00kind of, you know, help him increase his
1:44:03profits and if
1:44:05I mean acceptable could also become his
1:44:07friend.
1:44:09Let me get on to the next slide.
1:44:14As we see,
1:44:17when the relationship progresses, we
1:44:19realize that the relationship is
1:44:21unequal.
1:44:22It is also violent. Why?
1:44:25Because how is um
1:44:28Friday [snorts] treated?
1:44:33How is Friday treated? Why do I say he
1:44:35is violent?
1:44:38What does Defoe do? Sorry, what does um
1:44:43um
1:44:44Crusoe do with Friday?
1:44:48How does he treat him?
1:44:52How does he kind of
1:44:56treat Friday?
1:44:58Now, we already realized that he wants
1:45:00to socialize Friday to accept his
1:45:03subordinate position. Right? I think I
1:45:06have already read that. Let me actually
1:45:08see it's 211.
1:45:11He's talking about
1:45:13um
1:45:15um how he's going to treat him. Now,
1:45:17look at what he calls Friday. I was not
1:45:20content with this discovery, but having
1:45:22now more courage, consequently more
1:45:24curiosity, I took my man Friday with me.
1:45:30End quote.
1:45:31What is being suggested?
1:45:34Once again, this idea of my man Friday.
1:45:38So, takes immediately takes on the role
1:45:41of
1:45:42power there, right? Takes the powerful
1:45:44position.
1:45:45>> [snorts]
1:45:45>> Calls him my man. So, there is a
1:45:48suggestion of
1:45:51of Friday being a commodity, him being
1:45:54kind of a possession, right?
1:45:59Now,
1:46:00what should Friday do? Friday must
1:46:03internalize his superiority.
1:46:06Here, when I say his superiority, I'm
1:46:07talking of Crusoe's superiority and his
1:46:10own
1:46:10inferiority.
1:46:12So, what does he do? He educates Friday
1:46:20to a certain system of belief.
1:46:24He kind of creates Friday in a certain
1:46:28way, doesn't he?
1:46:30And what is interesting is that this
1:46:33creation, this education parallels the
1:46:37process of colonization.
1:46:39Why? Because now what Now, what about
1:46:44this word Friday?
1:46:46Is that Friday's actual name or is it
1:46:49something that Crusoe himself decides to
1:46:54kind of attribute to this man?
1:46:57Obviously, it is Crusoe who names him,
1:47:00right? So, he decides to name him. I
1:47:03mean, I'm sure he could have found a way
1:47:06to find out what this man's name was,
1:47:10right? Through some I mean, surely
1:47:12Friday's capable of sound, right? At the
1:47:15moment that they meet. But, then Crusoe
1:47:18makes no effort to find out what
1:47:23Friday's actual name is, right? So, now
1:47:26what he will do is he will not only
1:47:28convert uh Friday to his faith,
1:47:32but he will also I mean, literally name
1:47:36him. And what is this I What's the
1:47:38significance of naming him? Because what
1:47:40does he say? He says I quote, "First I
1:47:44made him know his name should be Friday,
1:47:47which was the day I saved his life. I
1:47:49called him so for the memory of the
1:47:51time.
1:47:52>> [clears throat]
1:47:52>> I likewise taught him to say master, and
1:47:55then let him know that was to be my
1:47:59name."
1:48:01What does that mean?
1:48:03He does not ask the man a name, but
1:48:05gives him a name.
1:48:08And uh
1:48:10in that sense, what does he become? I
1:48:12mean, it's a very uh patriarchal act,
1:48:15right? Usually, I mean, in a patriarchal
1:48:18society, the father gives um
1:48:21a child his name. So,
1:48:25uh so there's a suggestion of uh the
1:48:27creator here. So, Crusoe becomes the
1:48:30creator.
1:48:32And Crusoe becomes almost the father
1:48:35figure, but a father figure not in terms
1:48:37of a benevolence, but more in a very
1:48:39paternalistic,
1:48:41uh condescending way. Right? Uh so, it
1:48:45becomes really interesting. Let me get
1:48:47on to the next um
1:48:49page.
1:48:54What does he do? He gives him Western
1:48:57clothing.
1:48:59He gives him a new diet.
1:49:01He says, "This is what you've got to eat
1:49:03now. Uh you will eat what I eat." So, he
1:49:06doesn't ask him, "What are you used to
1:49:07eating? And maybe we can kind of um have
1:49:11your
1:49:12favorite meal on a certain day." No,
1:49:14nothing of the sort. Keeps him
1:49:16subordinate, keeps him under control.
1:49:19And what is interesting is that keeps um
1:49:23I mean
1:49:24anticipates a threat all the time in the
1:49:27sense that Crusoe is never comfortable
1:49:29with Friday at the beginning. He takes
1:49:31precautions against him.
1:49:34Uh
1:49:35for instance, he doesn't allow him to
1:49:37sleep right next to him. He gives a
1:49:39particular place and he fortifies
1:49:41himself so that in the night if Friday
1:49:44were to attack him, Crusoe would not be
1:49:47in any way threatened. Uh so you can see
1:49:50that he's a typical
1:49:52uh imperialist here, typical colonialist
1:49:55um
1:49:56creates Friday as the enslaved and he
1:49:59becomes the enslaver. Relegates him to a
1:50:03kind of a um
1:50:05uh
1:50:06uh to the role of a of the servant.
1:50:08Um
1:50:09he's also taught duties. Now I quote,
1:50:13"I made it my business to teach him
1:50:15every day. Sorry, everything that was
1:50:17proper to make him useful, handy, and
1:50:20helpful. But specially to make him speak
1:50:22and understand me when I spoke."
1:50:26End quote. [snorts]
1:50:27So this is all self-explanatory. I'm not
1:50:29going to spend too much time on it. You
1:50:31can see, right?
1:50:32He needs to understand me when I speak.
1:50:36Not that I need to understand him when
1:50:38he speaks. So even language is taught so
1:50:42that uh it is advantageous to Crusoe,
1:50:45not that it is going to be mutually
1:50:47beneficial to both.
1:50:49Um
1:50:50uh shows him the power of the gun, but
1:50:54Friday never sees him load the gun.
1:50:57So this is one of the most important
1:50:59points actually in the novel. So Friday
1:51:01remains ignorant of ammunition, doesn't
1:51:04know how the gun explodes.
1:51:07Concludes it's some divine power.
1:51:09So um
1:51:12it's almost like you know, in Sinhalese
1:51:13we call it a guru mushtiya. You know
1:51:15like you you you really do not know the
1:51:17the entire story.
1:51:20Keeps
1:51:21part of it concealed. Actually keeps the
1:51:24most important part concealed.
1:51:27So, kind of retains power over him.
1:51:31Let us get on to the next slide.
1:51:38Now, what happens is it's ironic. Friday
1:51:41is made to be a laborer, not a
1:51:44companion. He will cook, he will bake,
1:51:47he will work in the field. In fact, he
1:51:50works very hard. He's a very cheerful
1:51:53man. He's very willing.
1:51:55But,
1:51:57we realize that Crusoe is very
1:51:59condescending. Earlier I used this word.
1:52:02He's very paternalistic.
1:52:05He states that Friday's I quote
1:52:08affections were tied to me like those of
1:52:11a child to a father. End quote.
1:52:15Now,
1:52:16is he a child? Can we call a 26-year-old
1:52:20man a child?
1:52:22No, right? So, this idea that
1:52:26colonization always treats the colonized
1:52:29as a
1:52:31inferior child, as a child who needs to
1:52:33be educated, who needs to be trained,
1:52:35who needs to be taught. And the same is
1:52:38suggested here.
1:52:40And gradually Friday is Christianized.
1:52:44He is
1:52:46taught the religion and at one point
1:52:49Crusoe says the savage was now a good
1:52:53Christian. So, what happens is
1:52:57with Friday
1:53:00Crusoe is able to build himself as the
1:53:03king, as the monarch, as the
1:53:05imperialist. Before Friday into the
1:53:08island,
1:53:09Crusoe was limited.
1:53:11Crusoe could I mean Crusoe could
1:53:13imaginatively imaginatively occupy those
1:53:16roles, but now Crusoe is the actual
1:53:19physical monarch who has now taken
1:53:23control of um
1:53:25most of the
1:53:27um most of the land and its people.
1:53:30Let me get on to the next slide.
1:53:37So, what happens? Crusoe is able to
1:53:40become the savior. I talked about the
1:53:43white man's burden. Now, he can justify
1:53:45occupying the island because he has
1:53:47saved a man from cannibals.
1:53:50Uh so, now Friday is projected as a
1:53:53dependent, obedient, grateful, devoted
1:53:56slave.
1:53:58Uh a child slave. Right? And because
1:54:02Crusoe defines him like that, it helps
1:54:05to redefine himself because now he goes
1:54:07from a survivor who landed on the island
1:54:10to a master and king of the island.
1:54:15Therefore, now he can reinforce that
1:54:17hierarchy, that dichotomy, or the
1:54:19opposition between the civilized and the
1:54:22ice uncivilized. So, in this novel
1:54:26uh Friday becomes a symbol of the white
1:54:30man's burden.
1:54:32Right? I think I talked about it this
1:54:34European belief that the Anglo-Saxon
1:54:37Christians have a right to make the
1:54:39uncivilized into civilized. Right?
1:54:43So, Friday becomes really important.
1:54:47Uh
1:54:47okay, so let us
1:54:49um
1:54:50now kind of try to wrap this up. So,
1:54:53finally Crusoe becomes
1:54:55uh the emperor in the sense that that he
1:54:59um has so much of wealth, so much of
1:55:02prosperity,
1:55:04he enjoys full economic freedom. And
1:55:06look at what he says.
1:55:09Uh I I think I already talked about it,
1:55:11right? At one point, when he's about to
1:55:14be
1:55:15I mean rescued, and when he goes back
1:55:17home,
1:55:19he does not give up his colonial
1:55:21inclination. Right? Why? Because um
1:55:25even when he leaves his remote island,
1:55:29he realizes that he needs to people the
1:55:32island. So, I think he
1:55:34uh
1:55:35he um
1:55:37I mean
1:55:38he sets up
1:55:40literally a community in his island by
1:55:43kind of, you know, importing women and
1:55:46kind of creating families for people who
1:55:48are already left there. And I think I
1:55:50know I need not repeat, you know who is
1:55:52already left in the island.
1:55:55Um
1:55:57Now, look at what he says towards the
1:55:58end of the novel.
1:56:00"My island was now peopled, and I
1:56:02thought myself very rich in subjects.
1:56:05And it was a merry reflection which I
1:56:07frequently made, how like a king I
1:56:09looked. First of all, the whole country
1:56:11was my own property, so that I had an
1:56:13undoubted right of dominion. Secondly,
1:56:16my people were perfectly subjected. I
1:56:19was absolute lord and lawgiver. They all
1:56:22owed their lives to me, and were ready
1:56:25to lay down their lives if there had
1:56:27been occasion of it for me. It was
1:56:30remarkable, too. We had but three
1:56:32subjects, and they were of three
1:56:34different religions. My man Friday was a
1:56:37Protestant, his father was a pagan and a
1:56:40cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist.
1:56:43However, I allowed liberty of conscience
1:56:47throughout my dominions."
1:56:50End quote.
1:56:53Uh this is very important. I want you to
1:56:56analyze this very carefully. You can see
1:57:00that
1:57:01um his imperialist, capitalist identity
1:57:04is very clear here. Uh I mean, his all
1:57:08his ambitions are clearly laid out. And
1:57:10actually, at this point when he's making
1:57:12this um
1:57:13reference, he's referring to the fact
1:57:15that there are only three people. So,
1:57:17this is not towards the end of the
1:57:18novel.
1:57:19Uh this is soon after he has rescued um
1:57:22Friday's father as well.
1:57:24Uh so, um
1:57:26um this is important. And let me get on
1:57:29to the next slide to show you what he's
1:57:31doing in here.
1:57:36What does he do?
1:57:38He declares himself as king.
1:57:42He declares himself as a leader of the
1:57:44land with military force.
1:57:47He declares European supremacy. Why? Why
1:57:51European supremacy? Because now he has a
1:57:53Spaniard in the island.
1:57:56Uh so, this idea that the Englishman can
1:58:00rule over Spaniards and other
1:58:02colonialist nations. So, once again,
1:58:04this idea that his supremacy is coupled
1:58:07to the British supremacy.
1:58:11Then, he's also going to think of this
1:58:14idea of mutiny on the ship. He's He He
1:58:19says
1:58:20uh
1:58:21uh later on, I think uh
1:58:24uh he says that
1:58:25uh
1:58:26if there is a kind of a
1:58:29governor in the island, uh he says, I
1:58:32quote, "And trust to the governor's
1:58:35mercy, by which he meant me, for they
1:58:38all called me governor."
1:58:41End quote. Now, what's he suggesting
1:58:43here? This is the final
1:58:45um bunch of men that he meets.
1:58:48And he's suggesting that even these men,
1:58:51in fact, uh
1:58:54uh uh uh uh uh of acknowledge me as the
1:58:58governor of this island. So, in fact,
1:59:02this idea that now he has turned
1:59:06this territory
1:59:09to a kind of a colony.
1:59:12It is no longer just a land. Now, it is
1:59:14a colony.
1:59:15He is an imperialist who behaves like
1:59:20a man who owns empires, even though it's
1:59:23just about 10 or 12, because he's going
1:59:25to call those people his subjects.
1:59:28Right?
1:59:29So,
1:59:30now it's extremely interesting, and we
1:59:34all know, right, that he is the
1:59:37colonizer. Why? Because the colonizer
1:59:39usually discovers new lands, and the
1:59:41colonizer takes control of that of those
1:59:43lands.
1:59:44So, he becomes the typical colonizer,
1:59:47and he is now going to imagine Imagine
1:59:50he's going to kind of
1:59:52gloat in the fact that everyone else
1:59:55acknowledges his authority.
1:59:59So, that's really important.
2:00:03Let me get on to the next slide.
2:00:11Isn't
2:00:12this ironic? I think this is the last
2:00:15two of my final slides. Why is it
2:00:18ironic? Because
2:00:20uh Friday um
2:00:23is a uh
2:00:26kind of is still his slave, right? But,
2:00:30what is ironic is that Friday reveals to
2:00:33us the reader that he has equal
2:00:36intellectual capacity as Crusoe.
2:00:39So,
2:00:40that is also ironic. And also, this
2:00:42other irony is that despite Crusoe's
2:00:45spiritual awakening, he never questions
2:00:48the morality of owning slaves.
2:00:51Uh so
2:00:53Uh
2:00:54so what he does is he projects himself
2:00:56as an ideal master.
2:00:58Uh but then even though he is a
2:01:01benevolent master and even though he
2:01:02takes Crusoe later on, he still
2:01:05maintains the position of the master,
2:01:08which is why Friday, I mean, he's
2:01:10projected as willing Friday. In fact,
2:01:12say says, "You teach wild mans be good
2:01:15sober tame mans."
2:01:18Uh so those are very problematic
2:01:20aspects. Uh so why does Defoe
2:01:24kind of create this situation where
2:01:27Robinson Crusoe
2:01:29uh literally becomes um this man who
2:01:32controls uh not just other people, but
2:01:35other territories and
2:01:37literally defines himself as king,
2:01:40master, and lord. Why? Why does Defoe
2:01:43end with this rhetoric of ownership?
2:01:46Uh
2:01:47and this rhetoric of what you call
2:01:49dominion. I hope I think you already
2:01:51know the word because that word was even
2:01:53used in reference to Ceylon.
2:01:55Why does he kind of um end in this way?
2:01:59Why? Because
2:02:01though Daniel Defoe was a reformer, he
2:02:04was not an abolitionist. He's What is an
2:02:06abolitionist? Abolitionist is a man who
2:02:10um argues against slavery.
2:02:13Uh so even though Defoe criticizes the
2:02:16cruelties of slavery, he accepted
2:02:19slavery as a necessary existence for
2:02:22British trade and for British empire. Uh
2:02:25so he was a vocal supporter of foreign
2:02:28trade. He was a believer in the
2:02:29mercantilist idea that England needed
2:02:32foreign colonies, which is why we are
2:02:36we we we kind of end up with a man who
2:02:39has a sense of morality who who finally
2:02:43controls his economic impulses but who
2:02:45finally fails to control his imperialist
2:02:50impulses. Right? So, we kind of see a
2:02:53contradiction there in
2:02:56Daniel Defoe's text. Okay, so I end this
2:03:00discussion.
2:03:03Thank you very much.

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