Colonial impact in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

Abstract

Using postcolonial theory as an analytical framework, this thesis examines the colonial impact that is portrayed in two important pieces of eighteenth-century literature, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. The study explores how these well-known books reflect and challenge the dominant colonial ideals in the authors’ day. The first part of the study looks at how power dynamics and relationships are portrayed in Robinson Crusoe, breaking down the system of authority that develops between Crusoe and the native characters, particularly Friday. The thesis also analyzes how Crusoe’s behaviors and attitudes reflect the colonial views using a postcolonial perspective. The thesis then turns to Gulliver’s Travels and analyzes the satirical devices used by Swift to criticize different facets of colonization. It reveals the complex ways Swift exposes the cruel impacts of colonial ambition on both the “colonized” and “colonizer” by utilizing the postcolonial theory. Throughout Gulliver’s interactions with other nations, Swift’s criticism of imperialistic aspirations, cultural relativism, and the random nature of conflicts over colonies is dissected. Moreover, this thesis explores how the writers’ views on colonialism were shaped by the historical setting, which was characterized by chaos in politics, colonial expansion, and economic changes. The analysis additionally looks at how the novels represent the shifting moral standards, hopes for the economy, and views on other cultures in British society over the eighteenth century. By offering an in-depth investigation of how Defoe and Swift used their stories to confront and question the dominant colonial ideas of their times, this thesis develops the study of the colonial influence in literature