"The Noble Savage Does Not Exist"

Upon today’s class discussion on Charles Dickens’ “The Noble Savage,” I was very intrigued on some points that my classmates brought up about this piece of work. First of all, the blatant racism and criticism is something that cannot be ignored. The way that Dickens’ describes these people is disgusting and horrifying. He begins his work saying that the idea of a “noble savage” an inaccurate one, and continues to rant about how they are a “prodigious nuisance” and describes them as being “cruel, false, thievish, murderous; addicted more or less to grease, entrails, and beastly customs; a wild animal with the questionable gift of boasting; a conceited, tiresome, bloodthirsty, monotonous humbug.”

Dickens’ refuses to categorize himself as the same species as the indigenous people and is horrified by anyone whose position is anything but a disdainful one towards this group of people. Although Dickens’ tries to convince his audience that he wrote this article to inform rather than to criticize, it made me question the true motives behind this writing. It is almost formatted as a persuasive essay rather than just a lighthearted piece of work. Instead of being a nonbiased reporter, Dickens’ takes it upon himself to share his opinions and reasons to why indigenous people are not really even people. A quote that struck me was when Dickens’ says, “The noble savage sets a king to reign over him, to whom he submits his life and limbs without a murmur or question.” I couldn’t help but ask myself- “is Dickens’ inferring that it is the white man’s right to provide such guidance? Although he criticizes the way that they are so apt to follow a king, he argues that they are not humans and should not even be in existence. However, I would argue that since this would be implausible, Dickens’ is implying that it is the people’s responsibility to tame these wild animals.

This brings about the question of relativity in today’s world, and if this is still a problem that we face in today’s society. As classmates argued back and forth upon the way we may have evolved or may still be the same, it dawned on me that both of these stances are accurate. As a society, I think that we have recognized that it is not socially acceptable to be blatantly racist and unaccepting. Living in such a welcoming state like California, I haven’t really experienced a lot of racism. We seem to categorize people based upon their social status and the amount of money they have. However, when I went to West Virginia I realized that the open arms California has towards every race and type of person isn’t existent everywhere. These experiences lead me to the conclusion that racism as explained in Dickens’ “The Noble Savage” does still exist, but isn’t expressed in the same manner.