Vendredi ou La Vie Sauvage by Michel Tournier
Vendredi ou La Vie Sauvage by Michel Tournier
This is a fabulous, very short masterpiece at 191 pages or just over one hundred depending on the format you use on an ereader, that takes a fresh perspective at Robinson Crusoe, the chef d’oeuvre signed by another master, Daniel Defoe.
The new interpretation is clear from the title, where the paramount significance of Robinson Crusoe gives way to Vendredi, the white man and his culture make place for the rituals, habits and paraphernalia of Friday.
To begin with, we have the same proposition more or less, in Friday as in the novel by Daniel Defoe– you could have trouble remembering what the original Robinson did, this reader could not recall the details of a book read more than twenty years ago…
On the way to Chile, the ship on which Robinson sails encounters a heavy storm that should be of no consequence, given the sturdy, heavy built vessel, but it could have been a hurricane that resulted in the wrecking of the ship and the hero waking up on a deserted island.
The protagonist first explorers the new home, finds some animals, including goats – one of which he kills – the water source, a large cave, woods, a small mountain or hill, territory that he would “civilize”.
Psychology studies have discovered that isolation is twice as dangerous as smoking, reducing the life span of the man or woman who lives away from social contact considerably and we can see the effects in the case of the hero.
After spending about a month on the island, the dog, Tenn that Robinson had on the ship is found again, although it is impossible to know how he had survived alone, never mind why he did not come to his master before…
The protagonist builds various shelters, brings in the barrels of gun powder, weapons, guns, a pistol, provisions, cans, grain that he could recuperate from the wreck, adding to all this clothes that he wears, with pomp and circumstance on Sundays, maintaining the protocol of civilization…well, the western kind anyway.
One day, he finds that he has visitors – even if, Alhamdulillah, they have not seen any trace of him- in the form of members of a tribe, gathered on the beach where they have landed with one of their small boats.
They have a ceremony in which a witch moves around, shouting some insults and accusations, finally selecting a man who is then taken by his companions, his head and limbs severed with a machete, then thrown into a fire made near the assembly…
This ceremonial would be repeated after some months, during which the fearful Robinson built fortifications, wall around his house, buried two barrels of gun powder with detonator in the path of would be invaders, placed his guns armed at strategic points in his defense and stopped making the fires he had used to attract the attention of nearby ships.
At the climax of the second cruel, killing festival, the man indicated by the woman with supposed magic powers stands up, runs away in the direction of Crusoe, who was watching the barbarians from a nearby exploration point, from which he shoots one of the tribesmen running after the escapee.
The fugitive prostrates at the feet of the white man, even take a foot to place on his neck, in gratitude for his salvation, and he becomes the servant of the self-proclaimed governor of the island that had already written a series of laws in that capacity, in spite of being the only inhabitant for quite a few years…
If not altogether a slave, the runaway becomes a servant nevertheless, working in the fields that Robinson had planted with wheat, even rice, difficult as the latter is to cultivate, serving him at meals and in general obeying the rules imposed by the “superior” white master.
One day though, the newly named Friday – because he was saved on that day of the week – is smoking in the cave, from the pipe that Robinson reserves for special occasions given the shortage of tobacco, when he hears the master approaching and in fear, he throws the pipe away so that the white master does not see him involved in a forbidden activity.
In addition, the cave, constructions, defense walls, rocks are blown up in the ensuing explosion caused by the many barrels of gunpowder stored near the tobacco supply – of which Vendredi was unaware.
The poor Tenn, who was already getting old, dies in the disaster, although it is not clear if he dies as a consequence of a heart attack, for his body shows no apparent injury, and he is mourned by both Friday and Robinson.
This is the moment when the old arrangement is finished, the servitude of the young man is finished – it was anyway tolerated as a sign of gratitude for the man who saved him – to be replaced for a while with freedom for both inhabitants of the island, with Vendredi taking a more prominent role.
It is fascinating, mesmerizing for both Crusoe and the reader to learn about the ways in which Friday finds happiness, with simplicity, sometimes naïve games, creating games, competing with… a male goat for…a white female goat, acting in role-play with his co habitant.
The wondrous author has said "Ce n'est plus Robinson qui apprend la civilisation à Vendredi, c'est Vendredi qui apprend la vie sauvage à Robinson",
Vendredi ou La Vie Sauvage is included on the Le Monde 100 Books of the Century list:
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