No Noble Savage

The excerpt that stood out to me the most from "Contexts: Britain, Empire, and a Wider World" was Charles Dickens, "The Noble Savage," Household Words. Dickens rejects Rousseau's philosophy of the "Noble Savage" and tries to justify his opinion with experiences and a limited scope of "savages." Rousseau believed that natural man was not confined by societal boundaries and  ignorant to greed, competition, and ego. 

Dickens doesn't just reject this philosophy but goes farther towards declaring their inferiority. "I call him a savage, and I call a savage a something highly desirable to be civilised off the face of the earth" (988). Dickens cruel view surprised me; he was liberal and working towards better class equality. If he felt this way its easy to see how deep racial tensions cut in the Victorian era. Its easy to look back and pick apart others morals after-the-fact but this excerpt has definitely changed the way I view Dickens. The empathy expressed in his work is slightly tainted with the knowledge that it starts and stops with white circumstance. These excerpts helped me understand the difference of opinions and views in the Victorian period.

Dickens is very degrading, he describes savages as "a wild animal with the questionable gift of boasting; a conceited, tiresome, bloodthirsty, monotonous humbug" (988). His language paints a picture of uncivilized killers whom are just as likely to kill you as say hello. To develop his argument Dickens uses a couple different examples of how uncivilized "they" really are. He also name drops and tries to align his argument with other respected scholars. Throughout the excerpt he continues to use the "noble savage" or "noble strangers" with a hint of irony. He is showing them in his light and then using Rousseau's term to show the opposite of opinions.

I understand that during the Victorian Era this was a common view, but the language and arguments used are repulsive to me. Dickens personal bias is clouding his logic. He continually puts words in their mouths to progress his cause; "When the noble savage finds himself a little unwell, and mentions the circumstance to his friends, it is immediately perceived that he is under the influence of witchcraft" (990). Its lines like this throughout that are hard to let Dickens off the hook. He talks in absolutes while furthering a us vs them mentality. Not only is he sure of the noble savages' friends' perception but also that it happens immediately? The turmoil amongst opinion and race is understandable with the changing of the slave trade earlier in the century but it was hard to work through these excerpts with a present-day lens.