Ghist Paper 2

Mike Pumphrey
10/25/14 GHIST 102 MWF 11:15

Wole Soyinka would react negatively to the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright and author and has written a lot of pieces about racial oppression. Wole Soyinka would react negatively to Robinson Crusoe because it promotes European superiority, exemplifies oppressing Africans and Native Americans, and lacks evidence that shows that African culture did not need European involvement to complete it or interpret it. Wole Soyinka would also have disapproved of Crusoe’s treatment of Friday. Crusoe teaches English to Friday, who was a Native American, and converts him to Christianity. He tells him cannibalism and wrong and shows him how to do things the “European” way. Wole Soyinka would disapprove of this because he believes cultures do not need European involvement and this also shows how Europeans felt superior to all other beings.

Robinson Crusoe captures the true spirit of European Imperialism. During this period, Europeans viewed themselves as very self-reliant and felt that they were superior to all other cultures. They felt that since they were so advanced in technology, specifically military technology, that they had a right to go around to Africa, enslave their people, and create colonies. Death and the Kings Horsemen shows how that when European cultures and African culture came together there could sometimes be some clashes. For example, when the British Colonial district officer Pilking found about the ritual suicide about to take place he arrests Elesin to try to stop it from happening. Wole Soyinka makes it clear in the text that this European involvement was very unnecessary. This view of unnecessary European involvement would make Wole Soyinka disapprove of Crusoe’s urge to become a sailor and help European merchants travel the world and create new markets.

Wole Soyinka would also disapprove of Crusoe’s treatment of Friday. Crusoe saved Friday from his captors and in return Friday agreed to be help Crusoe better his island life. Their relationship was very much a master servant relationship. Wole Soyinka would not approve of this. Wole Soyinka was very outspoken against oppression. Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in the 1980s and dedicated his speech to Nelson Mandela and spoke about the atrocities of apartheid and other oppressions he experienced in Africa. Crusoe taught Friday English and then converted him to Christianity. Wole Soyinka would not have approved of this because it resembled oppression. Wole Soyinka would also not have approved of this because Crusoe interfered with Fridays right to enjoy his culture. Wole Soyinka was very clear in the text that he did not appreciate it when Europeans involved themselves in other cultures and prevented the practicing of certain aspects of a culture. Crusoe did this by preventing Friday from eating the man Crusoe had killed to save Friday. Although it was wrong to eat another man in Europe, it was a custom of Friday’s tribe. This is similar to how it was a custom for the kings horsemen to kill himself along with his king to ease his passage into the next world. Soyinka thought it was very important to prevent European imperialism and materialism from penetrating African cultures.

Wole Soyinka would also not like Robinson Crusoe because it demonstrates Europeans inability to understand other cultures and shows how Europeans only thought of themselves. On one of Crusoe’s earlier voyages pirates seized his ship and he was enslaved. Crusoe managed to escape his captors with another boy and a Portuguese captain picked them up. Crusoe sold the boy to the Portuguese captain demonstrating his inability to think about any body but himself. Crusoe took the money he earned from the sale and established himself as a plantation owner in Brazil. Crusoe’s actions are a prime example of European imperialism. These actions would have made Wole Soyinka very sad and would have made him not like the book. Wole Soyinka hated oppression and was very outspoken on the fair and humane treatment of everybody.

Robinson Crusoe was is a novel that encapsulates the European drive to explore and conquer new worlds. It also demonstrates the damage that can occur when two cultures come in contact. Wole Soyinka demonstrated the damage that can occur when two cultures come in contact as well and was not pleased when one culture prevented another culture from practicing its customs. This is why he would react negatively to the novel Robinson Crusoe.