Jeffson's Eastward

Jeffson’s Eastward travels also provide an example of the Orient being depicted in a formidable light, when he becomes preoccupied with the idea that there may be a sole Chinese survivor of the cloud, an idea which causes him to ‘flush with wrath’ (p. 154), because he deems it as ‘detestable as death’ (p. 154). Although Jeffson at this point claims that he no longer wishes to find any human alive, the fact that he directs his delusions and hostility towards a Chinese man in particular is significant. Jennifer Woodward claims that, having already established himself as the king of the earth, Jeffson’s ‘reaction to the prospect of a Chinese survivor relates directly to fears of usurpation’. While on one level, this is linked to justifiable fears