Robinson

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is a story about the different ways that men cope with reality when hardship comes, but also the tale of Crusoe creating his own reality, rescuing a savage and fashioning his own world out of the untamed wilderness of a desert island. The central themes in the novel are the inter-racial relationship, moralism, and religion, philosophical and social beliefs. This thesis mainly analyze the character of the savage- Friday, a native of an island close to Crusoe’s, is depicted as a savage-a reformed cannibal. Friday is the first person Crusoe introduces into the social order of the island. His name, of course, isn't Friday by birth, but this is the name that Crusoe gives him after saving him from the hands of the cannibals. Probably Friday is the first nonwhite character to be given a realistic, individualized, and humane portrayal in the English novel, Friday has a huge literary and cultural importance. If Crusoe represents the first colonial mind in fiction, then Friday represents not just a Caribbean tribesman, but all the natives of America, Asia, and Africa who would later be oppressed in the age of European imperialism. Aside from his importance to our culture, Friday is a key figure within the context of the novel. In many ways he is the most vibrant character in Robinson Crusoe, much more charismatic and colorful than his master. Indeed, Defoe at times underscores the contrast between Crusoe’s and Friday’s personalities, as when Friday, in his joyful reunion with his father, exhibits far more emotion toward his family than Crusoe. Whereas Crusoe never mentions missing his family or dreams about the happiness of seeing them again, Friday jumps and sings for joy when he meets his father, and this emotional display makes us see what is missing from Crusoe’s stodgy heart. Friday’s expression of loyalty in asking Crusoe to kill him rather than leave him is more heartfelt than anything Crusoe ever says or does. Friday’s sincere questions to Crusoe about the devil, which Crusoe answers only indirectly and hesitantly, leave us wondering whether Crusoe’s knowledge of Christianity is superficial and sketchy in contrast to Friday’s full understanding of his own god. In short, Friday’s exuberance and emotional directness often point out the wooden conventionality of Crusoe’s personality. Despite Friday’s subjugation, however, Crusoe appreciates Friday much more than he would a mere servant. Crusoe does not seem to value intimacy with humans much, but he does say that he loves Friday, which is a remarkable disclosure. It is the only time Crusoe makes such an admission in the novel, since he never expresses love for his parents, brothers, sisters, or even his wife. The mere fact that an Englishman confesses more love for an illiterate Caribbean ex-cannibal than for his own family suggests the appeal of Friday’s personality. Crusoe may bring Friday Christianity and clothing, but Friday brings Crusoe emotional warmth and a vitality of spirit that Crusoe’s own European heart lacks. Doris Lessing gives this story two levels of meaning, one individual, the other social. The individual meaning has to do with Tom’s sexual and social confusion. Tom’s sexual desire conflicts with his insecurity; he resolves the tension by romanticizing the sunbather. First, he fantasizes that she is tender with him. Then he dreams an explicitly erotic scene, imagined in the consumer idiom of the 1960’s. Tom’s imaginary trysts with the sunbather become so real to him that he thinks he knows her. Moreover, he thinks that she surely must see that he intervenes to protect her from Stanley’s crudities. It is all in his head, however, because to the sunbather he is just another ogling worker. The story’s social meaning has to do with the barriers of gender and class that separate the men from the woman. The gender barrier is the more obvious of the two. The woman is physically attractive, but does not respond to the men’s calls, even though they think that she is signaling her availability. This angers and insults the men, for their masculinity is spurned. Their feelings relate to the class barrier between them and the woman. Stanley practices a standard of sexual morality that expects men to monitor and control their wives’ behavior. His view of women reflects the prudery of the British working class. The class barrier also appears in the theme of work. The work that the three men do is physically hard and demanding; their resentment at having to labor in extreme heat is magnified by the privileged nature of the sunbather’s time. Her very presence is a reminder to them that some people do not have to work as hard as others.

Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, however, it is a story about the world in which he lives - a world inimical to ideals and dreams. The allure of new love and distant places mingles with the familiarity of everyday drudgery, with frustrating consequences. Mangan’s sister embodies this mingling, since she is part of the familiar surroundings of the narrator’s street as well as the exotic promise of the bazaar. She is a “brown figure” who both reflects the brown facades of the buildings that line the street and evokes the skin color of romanticized images of Arabia that flood the narrator’s head. The narrator's love for Mangan's sister is simply a desire for change, and much like the Araby bazaar, is just a romanticized element that represents the wishful thinking of the narrator. The narrator arrives at the bazaar only to encounter flowered teacups and English accents, not the freedom of the enchanting East. As the bazaar closes down, he realizes that Mangan’s sister will fail his expectations as well, and that his desire for her is actually only a vain wish for change. The story concludes with the boy experiencing an epiphany, but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love or realizing that he does not need gifts to express his feelings for Mangan’s sister, the narrator simply gives up. Time does not adhere to the narrator’s visions of his relationship. The story presents this frustration as universal: the narrator is nameless, the girl is always “Mangan’s sister” as though she is any girl next door, and the story closes with the narrator imagining himself as a creature.