Victorian Era Race Ideas: Charles Dickens "The Noble Savage"

Charles Dickens, in his excerpt "The Noble Savage", uses some brutal rhetorical moves to classify what he believes to be a savage, and how they are nothing close to "noble". He comes right out and says it in the beginning: that he does not believe in Rousseau's idea that those with less civility are somehow more noble than those who live in a modernized world. He uses a lot of language to demonize these people - "howling, stamping, stabbing", etc., to bring to light that he doesn't even really see them as human beings. It's tempting rhetoric; much of it appeals to logic, and Dickens has always been known for his strong use of logos.

I had to keep in mind while I was reading it that these were actual people that he was referring to. He made plenty of excellent points; some more biting than others. One I found to be most compelling was the reference he made to another opinion held on the matter by Leclerc; that the savage was a "sulky tyrant" (p 988) to his women and that it was no wonder their numbers were dwindling. I have read many stories of witch hunts and other ways that women have been mistreated in almost every society of uncivilized groups, and when you hear some of these stories, it is incredibly easy to give in to the rhetoric of savage groups being sub-human.

Overall, I think that Dickens takes a tricky stance here, though he does it with grace. He uses some derogatory terms that I feel made him seem unnecessarily barbarous himself (kaffirs, etc), and that, in the end, weakened his stance for me. I understand that in his time it was more acceptable to use such terms, but such hateful language leads me to believe his position is more of bitter bias, rather than actual logic, which it appears to be on the surface.