Kee Chuan Thye’s “We Could **** You Mr. Birch” is a drama set in the 19th century, portraying the days of the Malay Sultanate dilemma and the murder of British Resident, James Wheeler Woodford Birch in Perak. The screenplay revolves around the actors playing multiple characters; jumping in and out their roles from time to time and questioning the validity of the events while rehearsing the play. This study aims to scrutinize the colonial effects during British colonization from a postcolonial perspective. Postcolonialism employed into this text as the characters demonstrate great determination hindering the colonizers and enables the younger generation to experience the struggle and tribulation faced by the locals first hand during the dwell …show more content…
Throughout the story, the colonizers mock the locals on their rational conduct, therefore assuming the locals are barbaric. For example, Birch remarks the locals as “short –sighted hedonists” (Kee, 1998, p. 34) when they refuse to accept the transfer of power to collect taxes but in actual Birch wants to dominate the land. Governor Clarke perceives the natives as irrational because of the local fight over the tin mine in Larut. The British had to step in to solve the problem, thus presuming the locals are nonsensical. He is uncertain that the local is able to solve their problems when he refutes Mantri’s assertion on handling their own problems, “Even the matter of royal succession has not been properly settled” (Kee, 1998, p. 26). On the other hand, Resident Birch believes that he carries the responsibility of reconstructing the natives as he assumes they are uncivilized. Birch’s soliloquy, “We will lead the people to higher levels of achievement, make the land prosper. We must instil order and discipline. We must increase productivity. We must evolve a new breed of people who will be farsighted, innovative, ambitious, and industrious.” (Kee, 1998, p.33) substantiates the colonizers’ strong misjudgement on the …show more content…
The locals have been constantly opposed the British officials ideas and suggestion though they were forced to adhere to the commands. This is seen when the chiefs of Perak refuse the intrusion of British into their political affairs. Mantri refused the help of Governor Clarke appointing Raja Abdullah as the Sultan as the chiefs unanimously believes he is incompetent to be Sultan of Perak. Mantri was firm that they are capable of handling their own affairs because he knew the British’s intention and giving in to the British will further enhance the power of colonizer on their land. Apart from that, Raja Abdullah was forced to sign the proclamation to transfer Perak to the British Resident, Birch. According to Birch, he was hindered from carrying out his duty, thus, breaching the Pangkor Treaty.Sultan Abdullah did not agree to cooperate with British government because his sovereignty will be taken away. Unfortunately, Governor Jervois threatened Sultan Abdullah to replace his place with Raja Yusuf if he refuses to sign the proclamation. In order to redeem themselves from the colonizer, the chiefs collectively agreed to kill Birch as the last resort. Dato Maharajalela, believes killing
The aboriginal tribes didn’t have that. On the other hand both groups had the advantage of knowledge on their side. After the invasions there were wars that caused so many to die but the actual war on Pandora took much less time than fights between the Aboriginals and Europeans. In addition the Europeans took the aboriginal children away from their families while the “sky people” tried to blend in with the Na’vi. Parker Selfridge stated in Avatar, “Look. You 're supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Isn 't that the whole point of your little puppet show? If you walk like them, you talk like them, they 'll trust you. We build them a school, teach them English. But after - how many years - the relations with the indigenous are only getting worse.” This sentence is about the Westerners reaction to the invasion. It is about how the Westerners are trying to blend in. what they want most is the Unobtanium and are prepared to do anything to get it as Selfridge says in this statement : “Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there’s one thing shareholders hate more than bad press -- and that’s a bad quarterly statement.” They are more worried about money rather than the lives of others.
As a matter of fact the language barrier was global. Lepore introduces the book of “King Philip’s War” by beginning with the death of John Sassamon, who had the knowledge and ability to read and write in both languages. Lepore’s notes on Sassamon’s death was led by his literacy of both sides and his faith in it. Lepore tries her best to examine both sides as much as possible, even if the record of history of the colonists weighed heavily than the Indians record of history. “If war is, at least in part, a contest for meaning, can it ever be a fair fight when only one side has access to those perfect instruments of empire, pens, paper, and printing presses?”, asks Lepore. The misconception of judging the opposition by understanding only one side is a huge fault in our American identity. Most Indian’s were illiterate therefore they were unable to create a record of history for us to be knowledgeable of. The American identity may heavily fall to the side of the colonist due to the lack of history on the opposite
As the natives are forced to adapt to the colonizer’s more civilized lifestyle, the rich and
The crown depicted the Indians as intractable, only to find that settlers resorted to violence against the Indians precisely because of their supposed intractability. Indigenous peoples, for their part, fought among themselves and against advancing settlers. All groups sought to “territorialize” their societies to secure themselves against competitors. In the final chapters, Langfur extends and qualifies this complicated story. In the later eighteenth century, settler pressures grew, stressing crown policies and threatening indigenous social orders, until all-out war broke out after 1808. For Langfur this was no Manichean battle between European invaders and indigenous victims. To a dominant narrative of violence he juxtaposes a “parallel history of cooperation” among Europeans, Africans, and Indians, and he concludes that war itself must be understood in terms of “the relationship of cooperative enemies.”
The reader gets a rare and exotic understanding of a totally foreign and ancient culture experiencing the growing pains of colonial expansion during the British domination
Additionally, Royal gives clarification for Native Americans’ positive stereotypes. He explains, “ But this is far from modern concepts of ecology. Native Americans in fact overhunted deer and beaver even before the arrival of the white man, and did not seriously try to preserve the resources in the vicinity of their villages. As a result, the typical woodland village, having exhausted local soil and game, had to move on average every eight to 10 years” (Royal 47). Although the Native Americans did not destroy the environment like Europeans on such a large scale, they are not trying to protect the environment either. This opposes the stereotypes that Native Americans are model ecologists. Royal also examines the inhumane sides of Native American tribes. Royal reveals, “The
In this case, the conquering of land, being very crucial to settlers, is shown in history repetitively to cause tension and war; this situation is not much different. However, in the modern day, Canada is trying to better itself in regards to land claim cases, and have, for the most part, approached newer cases with much more knowledge and understanding. Secondly, the factor of psychology, in this case, is used instead as a term to envision the human reaction to new surroundings. Not excusable in any means, European settlers, as displayed by Columbus, were astounded by this difference in the lifestyle they reacted by self-thought superiority (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 2013). This was wrongly interpreted by many settlers, and sadly many Canadians today, as a stereotyped primitive nature; and thus induced a wrongful superiority within their heads. Modern-day interpretations can show that superiority is still found in our political systems; for example, western countries consistently refer to developing nations as third world countries, this entails that certain societies put themselves above others.
"Their (Natives) present condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies By persuasion and force they have been made to retire from river to river and from mountain to mountain, until some of the tribes have become extinct and others have left but remnants to preserve for a while their once terrible names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by destroying the resources of the savage doom him to
“Here's what you get when the races are diverse. [...] They're different from us, which means they can't be trusted [...] they must be evil”(Pocahontas, 1995). As presented in Razack’s writing, there is a common misconception of white settler innocence. Many Americans are ignorant of the gruesome steps taken in order to claim the land for our country, often because of the single story many have been told all their lives. By creating a more confined and “docile” definition of humanity, European settlers were convinced that indigenous people were untamed savages. This line of thought allows Europeans to believe they are superior and therefore, have more right to land. A similar concept within Sherene Razack's "When Place becomes Race" is the Cartesian subject created by Samuel de Champlain. Champlain felt he was master of the lands he mapped. However, as he became overwhelmed by the land he didn’t know, he considered the land and its inhabitants “chaotic” and “unstable”. Similarly, the Europeans felt the same towards the
The first step in legitimizing the take over of an indigenous person was to make them less human. In Stannard's article
Adapting to new places can be very hard, especially long ago when there was no modern technology. People had to get used to the new setting and environment. There were changes involved, such as materials that were available, food and water, and even a change in people. This meant that there were some challenges that these people had to face, and in order to survive, these people must find solutions to this. It is apparent in the texts, “Settlement: Jamestown and the Founding of America” by James Horn and “A Day on the Trail” by Jerry Miller. In these texts, they both show the similarity of having challenges with the Native Americans, as well as having different solutions to overcome it. The Native Americans were harsh to the people and
During American colonial times, the native peoples of the new world clashed often with the English settlers who encroached upon their lifestyle. Many horror stories and clichés arose about the natives from the settlers. As one might read in Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative, often these disputes would turn to violence. To maintain the process of the extermination of the natives alongside Christian moral beliefs, one of the main tenets of colonial life was the belief that the natives were “savages”; that they were morally and mentally inferior to the English that settled there. As is the case with many societies, certain voices of dissent began to spin. These voices questioned the assertions
When the Governor cannot make the trip to see them, the natives conclude that he must be dead. When this it is seen that this is not the case, the natives call the Governor 'a liar and guilty of that infamy'. On one level, this could be seen as 'native justice' as she calls it. However, it also implies that the natives are limited in their understanding, and possibly suggesting that colonisation is acceptable, moreover necessary for their development.
He wants all social classes to get along and be able to live happily together. The native intellectual wants to erase all the border lines that cause friction between the different social classes in order to release some of the tension and the problems that a colonial world causes. One of the main problems colonization causes is the degradation of humans that can get as serious as calling another human, of lower standards, an animal. By erasing the idea of colonization, the native intellectual can create the authentic group of boundless citizens that he wishes to have.
After living a certain lifestyle for an extended period of time, a sudden change in lifestyle abnormally envelops not only a society as a whole, but the individuals who live in that society. The psychological state of the indigenous people worsens due to the forced ideas of the colonizers mixing with their own, which can cause a rift in their thinking. A decision has to be made eventually; however, the colonizer typically tries his hardest to prevent them from making what he believes is the “wrong” decision. Although the colonizer appears to be helping the indigenous people, his true intentions are all but innocent. Due to their technological disadvantages, the colonizers have an advantage over the indigenous people, causing the previous existing people to feel undermined. Even after the colonizers leave, the colonized people continue to bear the scars left behind by the colonizers, as stated by Hayes who argues that, “Post Colonial Theory recognizes the trauma resulting from the alienation of indigenous people from their own land, even after achieving independence” (Hayes). Colonization leaves behind permanent psychological damage, even long after independence has been obtained.