Friday as the ‘Other’

Friday as the ‘Other’

Tanni Biswas (191441), S.M Farhan Tanvir (191442), Tasfiya Tasnim MIM (191443), Md. Ashikur
Rahman (191445)
English Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh

To,
Md. Nuruzzaman
Associate Professor

English Discipline,

Khulna University.

Published: November 11, 2020

Abstract: In Robinson Crusoe, Defoe depicts the concept of 'Other' tactically. Robinson and Friday are

the two important characters of this novel. In Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe saves Friday, and tries to teach

him language culture. Though Friday has identity Crusoe gives him new identity. This paper is divided

into many portions. Introduction is the first part where we will know about the background of the novel

Robinson Crusoe, the theory of 'Other' as well as the theory of post- colonialism and about British

tendency . Then we will know the detail about the ' Other', about Robinson Crusoe and Friday, about the

writer of Robinson Crusoe, about Friday as the ' Other', critical analysis and also will know

the conclusion which is the last part in this paper.

Keywords: Robinson Crusoe, ‘the other’, Identity, British tendency.

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

Introduction

Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Both the

novels and the hero have become popular to everyone. The surface of this novel tells only an

adventure story, but a conscious reading of the novel shows that colonialism is technically

presented underneath the storyline where issue such as race, power identity formation and so on

are presented from a colonial perspective. Robinson Crusoe has two important characters. One is

Robinson himself. The other is Friday. These two characters are portrayed in different aspects.

Robinson who is portrayed as colonizer and Friday as the ‘Other’ which is a concept of

colonialism. Edward Said alludes to Robinson Crusoe as "a work whose protagonist is the

founder of a new world, which he rules and reclaims for Christianity and England”

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, England became a super power economically and

militarily. As a result of this England dominated over many colonies in both Asia and Africa. As

we all know, the people from Asia and Africa are not like the English. Their body structure, skin,

hair are different from the people of Asia and Africa. Mainly they are advanced in economically.

These position gave them a chance to think that they are superior. And ‘Other’ is the

consequence of this tendency. May be that’s why E.M. Forster said,

“And Englishmen like posing as gods.”

‘The Other’

‘The Other’ is an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging, as being

different in some fundamental way. Any stranger becomes ‘the Other’. “The Other” is always

seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly. “The other” and “Self” is a pair of

relative concepts. The other is a common term in western post-colonial theory. In post-colonial
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 Friday as the ‘Other’

theory, westerners are often referred to as subjective “self”, while colonial people are referred to

as “colonial others” or directly called ‘Other’. Westerners regard “non-western world” other than

“self” as ‘Other’, and they completely oppose each other. Therefore, the concept of “the other”

actually implicates the ideology of the west. Chinese scholar Zhu Yuande defined the ‘Other’ as:

“The objectified and intentional construction that one independent subject builds on another

independent subject”.

Edward W. Said depicts the term “the Other”. In his book Orientalism, Said analyzes

how East and West are depicted. According to Edward Said, Orient from European perspective

means the image of the other. Colonial representation is one of power and dominance. In

“Orientalism”, Said argues that the representation of East and West is a kind of binary process to

produce unequal relationship between “occident” and “orient.” The definition of the ‘Self’ and

‘Other’ based on calculative representations rather. West/ Self are represented as civilized,

moral, industrious, masculine, active and rational while East/Other as savage, dark, lewd, lazy,

passive, feminine, superstitious and exotic. The feelings of “Otherness ”imposed upon the

colonized people are a process to create inferiority complex. Colonizers behave as master and

this process of subjugation and domination primarily comes from their economic power. A

person can be ‘Other’ in many ways.

‘The Other’ may be someone who is from,

 a different race (White vs. non-White),

 a different nationality (Anglo Saxon vs. Italian),

 a different religion (Protestant vs. Catholic or Christian vs. Jew),

 a different social class (aristocrat vs. serf),

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

 a different political ideology (capitalism vs. communism),

 a different sexual orientation (heterosexual vs. homosexual),

 a different origin (native born vs. immigrant).

Robinson Crusoe and Friday

These are the most prominent character of the novel Robinson Crusoe.

Robinson Crusoe The narrator of the story. Crusoe sets sail at nineteen years of age, despite his father's

demand that he stay at home and be content with his "middle station" in life. Crusoe eventually

establishes a farm in Brazil and realizes he is living the life his father planned for him, but he is half a

world away from England. Crusoe agrees to sail to the Guinea Coast to trade for slaves, but when a

terrible storm blows up, he is marooned on an island, alone. He spends 35 years there, and his time on

the island forms the basis of the novel. One of the best-known characters in world literature, a fictional

English seaman who is shipwrecked on an island for 28 years. The eponymous hero of Daniel Defoe’s

novel Robinson Crusoe (1719–22), he is a self-reliant man who uses his practical intelligence and

resourcefulness to survive on the uninhabited island.

Friday is a notable character of the novel Robinson Crusoe. He was 26 years old, with

straight and strong limbs, tall and well-shaped fellow who bare name Friday which he got for the

memory of a day he was rescued. As Crusoe says,

“In a little time I began to speak to him; and teach him to speak to me: and first, I let him

know his name should be Friday.” (Defoe, 265)

The native who was saved from a certain death by Robinson Crusoe during one of the cannibal

rituals of a local tribe. His hair was long and black but not curled, he had very high forehead and

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

great sparkling sharp eyes. Friday’s appearance was somewhere in between Negro and European,

black but tawny skin, round face and small but not flat nose as most of the Negroes have. Of

course, like all Negroes have, had he fine teeth well set and white as ivory, but oddly enough –

thin lips. To lay his head flat upon ground, close to person’s foot and set other foot upon his head

– this was Friday’s way of showing the servitude and submission. His religion involved the

worship of a mountain god named Benamuckee, officiated over by high priests called

Oowokakee.

He told me, ‘It was one Benamuckee, that lived beyond all;’ he could describe nothing of

this great person, but that he was very old, ‘much older,’ he said, ‘than the sea or land,

than the moon or the stars.’ I asked him then, if this old person had made all things, why

did not all things worship him? He looked very grave, and, with a perfect look of

innocence, said, ‘All things say O to him.’ I asked him if the people who die in his

country went away anywhere? He said, ‘Yes; they all went to Benamuckee.’ Then I asked

him whether those they eat up went thither too. He said, ‘Yes. (Defoe, 278)

Crusoe learned a few of his native words that have been found in a Spanish-Terraba (or Tribe)

dictionary, so Friday may have belonged to that tribe, also called the Naos people. Friday was

cannibal. Crusoe teaches Friday the English language and converts him to Christianity. He

convinces him that cannibalism is wrong.

Writer of Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), who is a writer of the novel Robinson Crusoe, was a very

important adviser in the English government. During his service as a secret agent, he presents

various projects, suggestions and political ideals which are constantly adopted by the
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 Friday as the ‘Other’

government to secure the welfare and prosperity of the English Empire. Defoe was a prolific and

versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works. he wrote books, pamphlets, and

journals—on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the

supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism. Defoe was

born in London in 1660 to a family of Presbyterian Dissenters, and educated at a dissenting

academy in Newington Green. He became a merchant, dealing in different commodities

including hosiery. After expanding into the import-export business for goods such as tobacco and

alcohol, Defoe made some unwise investments and in 1692 declared bankruptcy. He was twice

briefly imprisoned for his debts, negotiating his freedom with the aid of recognizant (guarantors)

and becoming an accountant and investment advisor to the government and private business

owners. During this time he began writing political pamphlets and, later, poetry, such as The

Pacificator (1700), a satirical comment on the literary criticism of the age. The True-Born

Englishman (1701) defends King William III, who was Dutch, against xenophobia with the

reminder that there was no such thing as a purely English person: ‘from a mixture of all kinds

began / That heterogeneous thing, an Englishman’

Friday as the ‘Other’

‘Other’ is a post-colonial word or concept. The people who are not European, called

“Other’, and the people are from Europe, called “Self”. They always think their culture is the

best culture of the world. In the novel, Friday was from Caribbean region and Crusoe was from

London. That’s why he was ‘Other’ to Robinson Crusoe. In this island, when Robinson

discovered Friday he had tried to learn his language and culture.

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

The first and the most obvious point about Friday’s relationship with Crusoe is that

Friday was Crusoe’s subordinate. Friday always called Crusoe “master”, for example. Crusoe

also mentions that their relationship is much like that of “a Child to a Father”. Crusoe’s dominant

relationship to Friday produces a pretty interesting dynamic between the two of them.

Robinson understood him in many things and let him know how very pleased he was

with him. This was something Friday understood before he could speak Robinson` s language.

Still he was a cannibal in his nature, full of lot abhorrence. We can see how the other culture is

suppressed from the very beginning. Robinson cures Friday of his cannibalistic habits and gives

him a new Western name. But the first words he taught him in English were words that one

servant has to know and use. “Colonialism is the cousin of slavery." - Chadwick Boseman

Robinson constructed himself as “self” and changed the indigenous people on the island

to “others”. First, he used his own daily life style to bring the advanced culture of Europe to the

indigenous people on the island to construct “self”. He set the standard time on the island using

the concept of European time. Robinson’s transformation of “Friday” reflected his colonialism

and his image of “Friday”. Robinson first carried out the ideological and cultural colonization.

He not only used force to subdue “Friday”, but also reformed his thinking. He took “Friday” as

the other person. Robinson as a white man, he had strong sense of racial superiority, so he

believed that Indians and blacks were barbarians and they only were slaves of whites. He could

teach these barbarians many things.

The relationship between Crusoe and Friday shows the relationship of master and slave

which produce the myth of colonialism and the colonial relationships. The author represents

Crusoe as a savior; he rescues the infamous Friday, the only native of the story. After saving him

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

from cannibals Crusoe gives him the name “Friday”, who most likely already had a name. It is

such an important symbol that gives surety whether he is a European or not. Also Crusoe

introduces English language as the medium of teaching and learning on the island. Because

language has power more than the use of military violence. This is an important aspect that

colonizers tried to impose their language, their civilized culture upon others lands Orin foreign

societies. Crusoe taught Friday as Prospero taught his own language to Caliban in Shakespeare’s

“The Tempest”. Its true Crusoe shows his humanity by saving Friday’s life from the cannibals

but to give him a new life “Defoe has Friday offer lifelong subjugation or so at least Crusoe

imagines in his confident interpretation of the semiotics of Carib gesture”. After rescuing him

Crusoe orders Friday to call him “Master” and starts to teach him some English words for “yes”

“no”, so that he can convert Friday to a civil Christian “slave.” He teaches him only those words

which are useful for the master-slave relation and helpful to dependence not for protest. At the

moment when Friday calls him “Master” he consciously and unconsciously accepts his colonial

identity and a “political symbol” of racial injustice. White man always represents them as

“Governor/load” and others or black men are their shadow/inferior, no matter even they are in

same position. It clearly expressed when Crusoe and his shipmates are enslaved by the Moors,

yet in the same situation Crusoe still felt superior.

In this way Friday lost his religion faith, lost his identity and lost his own culture. And

Robinson established his own colony in the island.

Critical analysis

The concept of ‘the Other’ is a complex one, and it is hard to pinpoint exactly what it

means. Does it have any meaning at all? The question of who the other is might seem useless,

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

because in some way we are all ‘others’ to someone, and everyone else is ‘Other’ to us. We can

never fully know the other, and even if we strive to do so, “the other” is constantly changing. At

the same time, there can be no “I” without a relation to and a concept of the other.

Conclusion

It is quite clear that Daniel Defoe deals with the issue of colonialism, imperialism and

racialism in his novel of Robinson Crusoe. He tries to depict his ideology. Readers will easily

understand his concept. The author of these novel is to tactically represent the images of “us” vs.

“them” by creating a system of structure that shows that the human world is divided into two

groups- “self” and ‘others’. The novel is an important genre to show how word can change the

meanings and established a new interpretation through representation. In this ideology Friday is

an ‘Other’.

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 Friday as the ‘Other’

Works Cited

Robinson Crusoe. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2020, from

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/robinson-crusoe/character-list

Philosophy Now. “The Concept of the Other from Kant to Lacan | Issue 127.” Philosophy Now, 22 Aug.

2016, philosophynow.org/issues/127/The_Concept_of_the_Other_from_Kant_to_Lacan.

JSTOR: Access Check.” JSTOR, 25 Sept. 2007, www.jstor.org/stable/4405512.

Islam, Sayed Monjorul. “Colonial Representation in Robinson Crusoe, Heart of Darkness and A Passage

to India.” Institutional Repository, 6 June 2013, dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/2579.

Md. Nuruzzaman, and Yeasmin, Farhan. "Friday: The Alter Ego of Ronibson Crusoe." IOSR

Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS(2016): 25. pdf. 1 November

2020. <http://www.iosrjournals.org/>.

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