ENGB35H3 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Puritans, Little Women, Treasure Island
ENGB35H3
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
The Colonial Narrative
-> god has ordered the world such that a man like Robinson Crusoe could make it if he
tries - middle class aspect of the book
-> Crusoe as the not the best reader of Robinson Crusoe
-> not the romantic novel - attempts to recreate civilization not escape from it
-> making things that seem natural not necessarily natural
-> words he use -- savages and savagery
-> through the colonial discourse, book is creating middle-class implied child reader
-> this book is a class b/c it is not 100% convinced of that ^ - there are anxieties that
open up other perspectives of the colonial world view
-> prioritizing individual over his ties to the family, etc -- everytime he seems to make an
affective tie w/ someone, he breaks it w/o a thought
-> adventure narrative both celebrates and worries about individualism
-> full force of the anxieties - when we focus on ethnocentrism, reproduction, etc
The Colonial Narrative
-> James Joyce - knew the effects of British colonialism
-> the character as a symbol of british colonialism
-> the true symbol of the british conquest is Robinson Crusoe...the whole anglo-saxon
spirit is in crusoe; the manly independence and the unconscious cruelty; the
persistence; the slow but efficient intelligence; the sexual apathy; the practical;
well-balanced religiousness; the calculating taciturnity” - James Joyce
-> Robinson Crusoe - lack of intimate interests
Colonial myth and mystification; fantasy
-> privatization of empire in the book -
-> the political presented through the person - enough in the novel to work back from
the personal to the political
-> a world in which you don’t view others as human beings - buy and sell ppl
-> “our restless adventurer was soon punished for his incurable discontent…”
-> 1st 3 books - most detail of the others texts
-> e.g. of essay - hermione not giving enough authority as the boys were - argument
-> midterm - good grasp of the book, significant, ironic about the passage
Chapter 3 - pages 27-28
-> “as to my boat…” - only point in the book where he 2nd guesses selling Xury to the
slavery - treats him as a person. There is an affective tie between him and Xury
-> only two affective ties - Crusoe and Xury and Crusoe and Friday
-> the doubt gives you a foothold into criticizing him
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
-> he doesn’t have a moral - after being free he suddenly has more power in this
conversation with the captain -
-> value of Crusoe in this interaction is that he’s on equal terms as the slave seller -
goes from slave to slave seller - there is a hierarchy here
-> crusoe acknowledges that xury is honest and loyal
-> if he turned christian - to crusoe at this point it’s meaningless
-> xury doesn’t have a free choice - but made to seem that way - “i let the captain have
him” - Robinson Crusoe has the agency here “i”
-> Robinson Crusoe - narrator - language does more - author is not necessarily in
control
-> RC -- when he talks about the bargain he calls him boy -- doesn’t use his name --
named here and not here and what does it signify - distance and objectification and
property and entitlement -- he’s gotta distance himself b/c
-> full version of book - he says i wish i had xury to help him -- instrumental
retrospective idea of the relationship --
-> notion of honour -- how do we know if the captain’s going to free him in 10 years?
-> his paranoia stems from the fact that his property and self is always under threat - so
he puts himself first
->
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
> god has ordered the world such that a man like robinson crusoe could make it if he tries - middle class aspect of the book. > crusoe as the not the best reader of robinson crusoe. > not the romantic novel - attempts to recreate civilization not escape from it. > making things that seem natural not necessarily natural. > words he use -- savages and savagery. > through the colonial discourse, book is creating middle-class implied child reader. > this book is a class b/c it is not 100% convinced of that ^ - there are anxieties that open up other perspectives of the colonial world view. > prioritizing individual over his ties to the family, etc -- everytime he seems to make an affective tie w/ someone, he breaks it w/o a thought. > adventure narrative both celebrates and worries about individualism. > full force of the anxieties - when we focus on ethnocentrism, reproduction, etc.
