For Wednesday: Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp.150-200 (approx).
Only ONE question this time:
Discuss the relationship between Crusoe and Friday, which is one of the most unique (and possibly troubling) in English literature. Many critics have discussed these pages, and several authors have written their own books from Friday's perspective--or, in one case, about another castaway on the island who observed both Crusoe and Friday (Coetzee's Foe). How are we supposed to read/appreciate this relationship? Is it a master and his slave? A father and his son? A teacher and student? A friendship of equals? Is Defoe trying to show genuine humanity in Crusoe's relationship with another man, and not just a man, but a Carib Islander? Where do darker elements creep in for a 21st century reader? Would these elements be visible, do you think, to readers of Defoe's own time? Was Defoe, himself, aware of them? What clues do we have in the text about how to interpret their relationship? Consider lines such as this one, on page 154: "and I began really to love the Creature; and on his Side, I believe he lov'd me more than it was possible for him ever to love any Thing before."
- Rocky Moore
ReplyDeleteFor starters lets just start off with the fact that Crusoe just saved this man from being ripped open and roasted alive by the cannibals that had kept him captive in the first place. No matter what language you speak, you would know that your life is in the hands of this man that just saved you because if it wasn't for him you would have been in the most excruciating pain that you couldn't imagine. Now fathom being in Fridays shoes. Here is a man with white skin that you probably have never seen before with guns and a whole bunch of other stuff that just took out these other two men chasing after you. He most like felt that he would be a lot safer with Crusoe than alone. That's just the beginning though.
They seem to have a father son relationship though I will not deny that Crusoe seems to treat Friday as a lesser being but how can he not see it this way, I mean I couldn't blame him. There is evidence of this on page 150 where Crusoe clothes Friday, then even speaks of the relationship as father son. "for never man had a more faithful, loving, sincere Servant, than Friday was to me; without Passions, Sullenness or Designs, perfectly oblig'd and engag'd; his very Affections were ty'd to me, like those of a Child to a Father; and I dare say, he would have sacrific'd his Life for the saving mine upon any occasion whatsoever; the many Testimonies he gave me of this, put it out of doubt, and soon convinc'd me, that I needed to use no Precautions as to my Safety of his Account". (151) Though this doesn't necessarily display no dark elements here because as we all know colonization of these peoples was not a peaceful matter by no means and this is how the relationships between the native peoples and the Europeans were, this is nonetheless a different relationship altogether that in my eyes has some human meaningfulness as far as people that may care for one another. I think you have to take into consideration the context in which Friday was saved by Crusoe.
Great responses...there is humanity and depth here, and yet, Crusoe seems to do away with him (at least narratively speaking) once he finds Europeans. It's hard to tell how deeply this relationship affects him, though it's also clear he learns a lot from Friday.
DeleteAs a reader, I read their relationship as that of master and servant, not necessarily slave. I think Friday contributes more love to the relationship. That is not to say that Crusoe doesn’t cherish Friday, but that he makes him do much of the physical labor and almost seems to take advantage of Friday’s kind disposition. It struck me as a sweet relationship, but far from equal. I think the modern day reader might be quick to label this as a horrible example of slavery and racism, but I think that Crusoe view’s himself as master because he was there first, “more civilized” and “more Christian” rather than his skill color is superior. So maybe it is more that he thinks his culture is superior. I think because of how well Friday takes to Crusoe’s culture that I might cause the reader then to question the relationship and how fair it is. The most glaring clue we have that, though Crusoe loves Friday, he still views him as subservient is the fact that he puts the Spaniard in charge of Friday and Friday’s father. He barely knew the Spaniard and Friday was essentially family! I think the fact that he uses the word “creature” is another big tip off that he doesn’t view Friday as equal. Ok, I’m starting to convince myself that Crusoe is a racist now…but I don’t want to believe it!
ReplyDeleteHa, he IS racist, in the sense that anyone of that time was, particularly someone who wasn't educated (traditionally speaking). Crusoe has all the normal biases of a common member of his society from the "middle state." It's amazing that he learns to see Friday as a human and an (almost) equal, even though the term "Creature" remains. However, he does accompany Crusoe back to Europe, and Crusoe does hire another servant to take his place, so does that suggest they're traveling as friends? Brothers? Hmm...
DeleteThere are two aspects to consider, in my opinion, when evaluating the relationship between Crusoe and Friday. There's the father-son dynamic and the master-slave dynamic. There are sections of the story that lean in both directions. On page 152 he says, "But to return to my New Companion; I was greatly delighted with him, and made it my Business to teach him every Thing,". If it ended there this statement would definitely seem like a sincere father-son moment, but Crusoe goes on to say"that was proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful" (Defoe 152). The last part of this statement makes it clear that he would only he teaching Friday these things for his own sake, which is where I think the master-slave relationship is present. Slavery wasn't seen as a bad thing at this time; therefore, Defoe's humanity wouldn't have been questioned as it is now. Another thing I found interesting was Crusoe's lengthy description of Friday's physical self. He seems to really highlight the things about him that look European, while basically insulting every ethnicity that is any color but white. I guess this is just another sign of the times, but I found it repulsive.
ReplyDeleteYes, he wants to both apologize for taking Friday so seriously and rehabilitate/educate him. Clearly, he doesn't see Friday as a "savage" and wants to treat him as an equal, but his entire society and education is against this. The question is, does he triumph over his own biases...or does Friday merely assume second class status?
DeleteAshley Bean
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth on this issue. On one hand, Friday admires and almost worships Crusoe, and treats him as a father or mentor. He only wants to please Crusoe because he saved his life. He is fascinated by Crusoe and his ways, such with the gun. Crusoe seems to love Friday as well, but especially in the quote, he refers to him as "creature." This rings all sorts of bells with me, and it has never set right for me. He goes on and on about saving this person and, yes, taking advantage of that for his servitude. Then Crusoe tries to make him as civilized as possible, again while making him do most of the work. He wants to teach him about God and Christianity, when he doesn't follow it fully himself. I would say it is more of a teacher/mentor relationship because of Crusoe's treatment of Friday overall. The relationship never quite adds up to me though. I don't think it is a race issue, I just think Crusoe would take advantage of anything and anyone.
Great point--he would and does take advantage of anyone, using them for his own gain (as he does with the Spaniard, the English captain, etc.). in this sense, Friday is no different. However, Friday clearly assumes an almost equal footing with him at times, and Crusoe doesn't entirely cover this up--indeed, even admits it at one point. So the question is, when they return to England, what kind of relationship will they have? Or when he returns to Brazil--is Friday with him?
DeleteKelsey Tiger
ReplyDeleteI think Crusoe and Friday's relationship begins as more of a master and slave type of relationship. He wants sort of like a go to man and makes Friday do things for him. The first word he taught Friday was "Master". As their relationship progresses, I think it is more like a teacher/student relationship though. While Crusoe tries to teach him civilization and about Christianity, Crusoe also learns from Friday. He becomes to realize that he doesn't know as much as he thought he did about his faith and Friday forces him to explore what he actually knows. So as this relationship progresses I think they both play the teacher/student role and invest time in each other to help transmit knowledge and understanding.
Yes, it's exciting in that it changes from something conventional to something unexpected. He could have easily simply 'trained' Friday to be a house pet and left it at that. But he becomes so much more, and even if their relationship doesn't end with complete equality, Crusoe has done more than anyone else at his time...and Defoe was clearly aware of that.
Delete1. I have mixed emotions about how I feel about Crusoe and Friday's relationship. I feel as though in the beginning, it is a teacher-mentor relationship. He tries to teach Friday of certain things and Friday is soaking it all in. I also feel in some ways that Crusoe sees Friday as his property, he calls him "my man" at first I thought of this as sentimental but the more I read I feel as though he may mean that he actually has ownership over him. Friday looks up to Crusoe and would do anything to please him. When Crusoe tells Friday that he can go back to his people, Friday insists that Crusoe go with him or otherwise kill him. I'm not sure if this is out of love and admiration or out of simple fear of what Crusoe may do to Friday, even though Crusoe has no plan to hurt Friday.
ReplyDeleteYes, he never relinquishes his ownership over Friday, and he gets very possessive/jealous when Friday wants to be with his father or return to his home. I think it's a testament to Crusoe that he can overcome his bias of "other" people to see Friday as human, though he still wants to own and control property--and Friday, to some extent, IS his property (Crusoe continues to own slaves, after all).
DeleteShelby Pletcher
ReplyDelete1) There's a true story I read about in a book called Beyond the Gates of Splendor where a boy's father was killed on a remote island in Ecuador by a man in the island's unreached tribe. Long long story short, the boy grew up to forgive this man for murdering his father and they became good friends and the man actually ended up becoming like a father figure to the boy. On a much more shallow scale, this is what the relationship between Crusoe and Friday reflected to me. It's like this clashing of worlds, cultures and classes as Crusoe decides to take Friday under his wing as what he would call a uneducated, innocent baby who needed to be taught how to act like a civilized, educated man of society. I think Crusoe is deeply surprised to realize that he's learning much more from Friday than he is from Crusoe. Unlike the swarm of redemption found in Beyond the Gates of Splendor though, Crusoe, while his views on lower classes and cultures are constantly challenged, he doesn't seem to release his tight grip on pride long enough to truly appreciate Friday for who he is. However, simply in terms of analyzing WHY Defoe would write about this in this first place, I think he was attempting to depict to his century's readers a different take on their profound racism. It's almost as if he's allowing the truth to dazzled gradually. Letting it hang in their faces for long enough that we begin to care for Friday and question, at least in his time, why we would care for him to begin with. I think Defoe is trying to open a discussion and an ultimate cultural mortification of racism. But...maybe that's just me being too positive! (:
Yes, I agree with your analysis of this relationship entirely: Defoe either didn't want to, or didn't think his readers would buy a complete friendship between the two, but he does show a pretty audacious transformation of Crusoe in this passage. He wants to be a teacher, but realizes he has little to teach...this should be a religious revelation for him, showing him how God's beauty and knowledge is all around him, but he doesn't quite make this connection. However, it's still a forward-thinking and complex moment in the text, and for me, the moment that redeems the book from merely being too much of a historical anachronism supporting slavery, etc.
DeleteAimee Elmore
ReplyDeleteI think the relationship between Crusoe and Friday is more of a teacher and student relationship. But Crusoe is not always the teacher. Friday is always challenging Crusoe’s faith. He is making Crusoe go back and learn so he can answer Friday’s question. Friday may not be a teacher in the original sense because he is not actually teaching Crusoe, but he is making Crusoe think. Crusoe is teaching Friday everything he knows. He is teaching Friday how to be “civil.” He is teaching him all these thing because if he is found then he wants to seem better than he actually is. He will be able to show everyone that he was able to change a “savage” as he would say.
Yes, he clearly wants yet another tame animal--like his parrot, Poll. However, he is show as quite inept and unable to teach a fellow human being. This is pretty miraculous, since it admits that a "savage" is full of humanity, intelligence, and morality.
DeleteI'm so torn on how to view this.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, it is very clearly slave/master. The very first word Crusoe teaches him is "master", he is constantly taking advantage of him, and feels almost responsible for him in an "I need to civilize you and teach you the ways of the world" sort of way. Crusoe clearly views himself as being far superior to Friday.
However, they begin to develop what could only be defined as a friendship. They have discussions about religion in which Crusoe is comfortable enough to admit "I don't know." You wouldn't do that to someone that you are "better than", you would make up an answer, or tell them they were not intelligent enough to understand, or have them go look it up themselves, something. Also, Crusoe becomes almost possessive of Friday. He wants him to love him more than he loves anything else in the world, and becomes extremely jealous when that doesn't turn out to necessarily be the case.
So I honestly don't know. It seems like it might have at one time been master/slave, but over time developed into something closer to friendship. However, I don't think it ever would have been anything other than servitude of Crusoe weren't stranded on an island desperate for human contact...
Great points...the relationship deepens from what was initially only going to be one of mastery. Friday is a well-drawn character despite his limited role in the book, and quickly upstages Crusoe. He never becomes an equal with Crusoe, of course, but he is no longer a servant/slave, either. I would still like to know what happens to Friday once they return to England, and if they go to Brazil together (does he sell Friday the way he sold Xury?!).
DeleteI believe that the relationship between Crusoe and Friday in many ways is an illustration of the relationship between the European colonials and the native "savages." In the beginning we see a total display of elitism as to the perspective Crusoe has over Friday. Crusoe is comfortable being the "master" position of the master-slave relationship that is present. Crusoe sees Friday as an innocent child-like being that can be civilized by Crusoe and his European culture. They both learn from each other and eventually realize that they do in fact have similarities and maybe Crusoe doesn't have all the answers as he once thought. The friendship between the two emerges and they start to see each other as equals with Crusoe still slightly ahead of Friday. Because of the times in which Defoe is writing, lots of taboo qualities that exist today would not be seen as so harsh therefore I can appreciate the historical context and window into the social environment of the 18th Century.
ReplyDeleteDevin Martinez
Yes, Crusoe doesn't see Friday as a complete equal, if only because his society wouldn't have tolerated such eccentric conduct. I actually wonder if he removes Friday from the narrative more or less to protect him, so the readers don't see how close they truly are. Indeed, the only time we see him off the island is where he's clowning around with the bear, acting like somewhat childish. However, you might also contrast this with how "savage" the Europeans are acting as they fight the wolves--howling and screaming and shooting everything in sight. Friday must have wondered what kind of insane world he left his island for!
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