IMAGINING GLOBALISATION: DANIEL DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE AS THE BEGINNING OF GLOBAL INTERCONNECTIONS.
ABSTRACT:
The world is said to be a global village. As such, literature, which is an imagination of life has tried to mirror this global village and portray its interconnections. In this way, this paper demonstrates how Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is an imagination of globalisation and how it serves as the beginning of global interconnections. A general background is provided and a note on globalisation which is the basic word in the topic is given thereafter we examine how Defoe makes an island a microcosm of the globe.
KEY WORDS: Globalisation, interconnections, Robinson Crusoe
INTRODUCTION
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one that has been regarded as the first novel in English literature. This is due to the plausibility and verisimilitude contained in the novel. The fact that the novel is the first novel and the period it was published naturally lend it to making critic observe the novel as a fictional imagination of globalisation. Our aim, in this paper, is to argue that the novel is an imagination of globalisation and serves as the beginning of global interconnection with a main focus on the major character, Robinson Crusoe.
Although, the novel, Robinson Crusoe has received (perhaps too much) critical attention. This may be owing to the fact of critic’s observation that it is the first novel in English literary tradition. Indeed, due the numerous critical attentions this novel has received, it is quite hard for a commentator to pave his way through because like the Greek mask, the novel has received an all-round evaluation especially in the aspect of realism. For instance, Wayne C. Booth explaining when novel truly begins, how it came into being and the propounder of the novel puts that
Properly speaking, the novel begins only when Defoe discovers how to give his characters sufficient peculiarity and anatomy to make them seem like real people. (23)
In the same vein, Mark Smith also suggests:
Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. (98)
Furthermore, in examining the stylistics aspect of the novel, Faussets comments that “With its common hero, pseudo-authentic style, and focus on ideological problems of materialism and individualism, it has been widely seen as the first modern realist novel”(10).
Looking at the character of the protagonist, Ian Watt in The Rise of the Novel approves the representation of Robinson Crusoe as “homo economicus’ this is as a result of his actions resting upon the “orientations of economic individualism under which the primacy of economic motive reigns supreme over all other modes of thought associated with traditional group relationships”(15).
From the foregoing, what we readily observe is that most readings on Robinson Crusoe examine the reason the novel is ascribed the first novel while some analyze the character of the protagonist. Now it is imperative, we explain what globalisation is about.
A NOTE ON GLOBALISATION
The term globalisation has been defined in so many ways. It is a controversial phenomenon with no precise meaning. However, it simply means the interconnectedness of all aspects of the society. In order to portray the complexity of this term, Olawoyin, O.T., posits:
Scholars believe that theorizing the concept of globalisation is very contentious. Many contributors to the debate on globalisation claim to offer a theoretical insight into our understanding of globalisation but there is no single globalisation theory that offers a panacea for understanding all the diverse contexts in which the concept has been used. (111)
As such, Jegede, S.B., observes that the definitions of globalisation can be viewed from two lens: “definitions are viewed to come from above when they are from the perspective of the globalists and from below when they are from the view point of antiglobalists or alterglobalists. He then provides a definition of globalisation as “the process or the degree of interconnectedness among human” (72). In other words, globalisation is the nexus among human and nations.
Also, Andrew Jones defines globalisation as the ‘growing interconnectedness and interrelatedness of the society’, on another hand, Anthony Gidden believes that ‘globalisation can be best understood as a process, which can be identified in almost every dimension of contemporary life’. Of noteworthy is the definition given by Wikipedia.com that globalisation in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global or worldwide one. It can also be a process of blending or homogenization by which people of the world are unified into a single society and function together.
According to Ogundowole, globalisation is equal to subjuganism. He simply puts that:
Globalisation, like subjuganism that brought it forth, is the aggressive imposition of a particular eccentric culture, eccentric value system, element or elements there from, on human civilization and world development process (73)
From this definition, we can assume that Ogundowole sees globalisation as another form of colonization and subjugation. Lastly, Henry Veltmeyer writes that ‘globalisation refers to cross national flows of goods, investment, production and technology’.
From the above, we can see certain things become obvious to us. These things include Interconnectedness of all aspect of the society, subjuganism then cross natural flow of good. And the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global. In this light and for our analysis in this paper, we shall classify globalisation into three classes. They are: political, economical and cultural. Thus, we shall use these three parameters to justify how Robinson Crusoe serves as the beginning of global interconnections.
ROBINSON CRUSOE AS THE BEGINNING OF GLOBAL INTERCONNECTIONS
Just as S.B. Jegede simply puts that “the universality of mankind and the interconnectedness of men irrespective of creed, colour or epoch attest to the fact that the world is a global village” (73). He furthers to say that “episodes in human history such as slavery, colonization etc were parts of the efforts at globalizing” (ibid). In the novel Robinson Crusoe, we can see the theme of slavery and colonization. It is important we are reminded that the island in Robinson Crusoe is a microcosm of the world, therefore, all the events that happened on the island can be related to the real world.
To start with on how slavery and colonization brought about globalisation in the world, Jegede posits that “slavery was a device by the world powers to use global labour to develop their lands” (ibid). This is clearly seen in Robinson Crusoe as the protagonist takes man Friday as his servant immediately he delivers him. Most commentators have observed that Defoe presents an 18th century English man whose mentality is clouded with colonization and imperialism. Thus, this is seen in the character of Robinson Crusoe:
At last, he lays his head flat upon the ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as he had done before; and after this, made all the signs to me of subjection, servitude, and submission (202, emphasis ours)
From this, we can deduce that although Friday makes himself subjected to Crusoe, Crusoe like a normal 18th century man has the colonialist mentality. As such, the question posed to us is why will the first word Crusoe teaches Friday is master? Thus, the fact that Crusoe teaches Friday how to pronounce and know the meaning of master makes it evident that what pervades the mind of Crusoe is enslaving man Friday which is a device he uses in developing the island. Which he later calls “his island” (Crusoe’s island) and not “our island” (Crusoe and Friday)
Another instance of globalisation can be seen on how Robinson Crusoe develops the island. When we talk about globalisation, we must include civilization and development. On getting to the island, Robinson Crusoe was with nothing:
In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box; this was all my provision and this threw me into terrible agonies of mind (51, our emphasis).
Though Crusoe gets to the island with nothing, he turned the island around to a very comfortable place to stay. In fact, he is pleased to revisit his island which he calls “my new colony in the island” (297).
By examining the text from the mimetic angle, that is relating it to the real world and the period the book was published, we cannot help but to dance to the tune of critics like Goodwin who opines that “Crusoe’s interest in crossing boundaries leads to globalisation”. Crusoe states in the opening of the novel that:
My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house education and a country free school generally goes and designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea (8).
The fact that Robinson Crusoe is interested in going to the sea and crossing boundaries which is against the wish of his parent and without considering the hazards show Crusoe is interested in making the world a global village. During his voyage across the world, he mentions different countries across the world including African countries. In fact, on the voyage that marooned him on the island, he wants to go to Africa to capture slaves for the plantations. Crusoe confirms thus:
The same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to the northward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast (45)
To adumbrate this Goodwin observes that “The fact that Crusoe was shipwrecked when on a voyage in search of slaves for a “start-up” plantation of his in Brazil is a parable of globalisation”.
In addition, Crusoe trades with different people outside England. He owns a plantation farm in Brazil: “I made about 220 pieces of eight of all my cargo, and with this stock I went on shore in Brazil” (38). Robinson Crusoe has left Europe to South America to do business. Also, Crusoe makes good remarks about the Spanish merchants he works with even though they are English foes. This prompts Goodwin to say that trade is an effective means of “constraining the dangerous human passions”. Hence, the fact that Crusoe expands his horizons implies globalisation.
CONCLUSION
The novel, Robinson Crusoe as an imaginative work pictured globalisation. As a result of this, this essay has explicated the reasons the novel serves as the beginning of global interconnections. To do this, a general introduction which contains what scholars have observed about Robinson Crusoe then the definitions of globalisation are provided and we then justify how Robinson Crusoe serve as the beginning of global interconnections by examining the events that happen in the novel as a whole and the happenings that surround the publication of novel. Thus, we conclude that Defoe creates a character that is interested in crossing boundaries and as such interested in globalisation.
WORKS CITED
Andrews, Jones, Dictionary of Globalisation. London: Polity, 2000 print
Anthony Giddens, The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity 1990 print
Defoe, Daniel, Robinson Crusoe. London: Rainbow ltd. 1999 print
Jegede S.B, “Africa and the west: Contextualizing the Globalisation of Inequality”. Lagos Notes and records. Lagos: Lagos university press. 2016. print
Joseph Nye: The Globalist, Available on http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.Aspx? Retrieved 05/8/2018 web
Ogundowole E.K. Philosophy and society. Lagos: Correct Counsels Limited. 2004. print
Olawoyin, O.T. “The Possibility of World Order through Globalisation” Essays in History Lagos: University press. 2013
Watt, Ian The Rise of the Novel. Florida: University of California. 2013. Print
Wayne, C. Booth. “Landscape, culture and education in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe”