The Instrumentalization of the Cannibal in Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe"

Daria Poklad

• Verlag: GRIN Verlag
• Auflage: 1
• Jahr: 2017
• Thema: Literatur
• Thema: Englische Literaturkritik
• eBook-ISBN:
  9783668391734

Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) revolves around the Englishman Robinson Crusoe, who, after suffering shipwreck in a storm strands on a deserted island as the sole survivor of an expedition. After twenty-four of his total twenty-eight years on the island he discovers that native cannibals occasionally visit the island in order to kill and eat their captives. When Crusoe rescues one of them the captive is grateful and stays with Crusoe as his servant. Crusoe names him Friday after the day of their first encounter and teaches him the English language and eventually converts him to Christianity. "Robinson Crusoe" is considered a classic which has been issued in at least 700 editions and translated into several languages. The story has been made into several movies. I want to argue, that the motif of the cannibal is instrumentalized in the novel in order to justify the conquering and civilizing of savage natives by the dominant Western world. By depicting dreadful cannibalistic acts and evoking horror and revulsion the subjects of colonialism are intended to be dehumanized. I will begin the seminar paper with a contextual chapter on cannibalism by presenting the definition and origin of the term 'cannibal', as well as the existence of cannibalism in literature by giving various examples from classic epic to contemporary novels. Then, I will focus on Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and illustrate the protagonist's constant fear of being eaten. In a next step, I will focus on Crusoe's encounters with the cannibals and in a further step on his meeting of Friday and his representation of the latter. Before drawing the conclusion, I will analyze the relationship between Crusoe and Friday.