-^-for posterity-^-

teaching people about daniel defoe is quite a challenge.

providence and god’s calling are dealt with throughout the book. if you’re teaching it you can’t avoid it. i’m trying to have them critically examine various themes from the book and one of those themes is that god punishes people for sinning and rewards them for obedience.

the class had some interesting responses to this theme. some of the students whole-heartedly agreed and said that, yes, god does punish people when they do wrong and reward people when they are good. this, of course, is not the same god that defoe understood. his god was a semi-puritan god; definitely a ‘christian’ god. i’m also trying to develop their independent critical thought so i challenge them. how do you know that god punishes people and rewards people? one of the students cited hitler as a good example. hitler did bad things and, in the end, he was punished by committing suicide. god directly intervened. another student cited a man who’s on trial here for murder, nam cam. he said that this man was just receiving his punishment from god. a girl thought that god didn’t punish people directly at all. she thought that people had worked out their own system of punishment. one example she gave was that, if i taught poorly, i would be chastised by my boss.

i asked them if they could think of any bad people who have lived relatively good lives. they could think of a few but were sure that god, in some way, punished them.

another cultural problem i’m having with the book is explaining the “white man’s burden”. the idea that it was god-given task of the europeans to civilize the rest of the world (even if it meant shoving it down native population’s throats). i can most easily see the theme in robinson crusoe’s relationship with his servant, man friday. he never bothers to learn anything about his culture, he never bothers to learn his language or his religion, he only teaches. he feels that it’s his obligation to show him the puritan god. he wonders why god hasn’t shown god’s self to these native populations and, in one passage, mulls over the idea that it was because of their sin.

i’d imagine it’s tough trying to explain the colonizer’s perspective to people whose grandparents can still clearly remember french colonialism so, i basically skipped it over. it’s hard not to feel like a colonizer yourself. i stand in front of class explaining these ancient british works and teaching to them in my own language. i’m not sharing culture, i’m, in some ways, shoving it down their throats. in some ways things haven’t changed: english is the international language and, if someone wants to be successful, they must spend the time to learn it. i’m helping to perpetuate the cycle.

i’m trying to learn the language and am adamant about learning as much about the culture as possible. well, i know where my motivations lie and i’m not too worried. i wonder if some of the original colonizers felt similarly.