Okay, I am halfway through the book.
When we look at Friday as a language learner, I think, what makes us think he doesn't have a whole lot of other issues going on? How do we know that he's not autistic? ID? He's not deaf. That's all I know.
We are supposed to look at Friday in terms of communicating, and in what ways he does so. Do you think Friday every knew his first language in this version of the tale? Could his inability to communicate be the result of the Critical Period Hypothesis? What is his choice in his silence?
I just don't know...
5 comments:
In response to your question,"What is his choice yet?":
He doesn't have a tongue, does he? How CAN he talk?
I've just begun reading and my first observation was this:
Susan B. perceives him as an "imbecile" because he doesn't speak. I think I've observed this before that people perceive those who are less proficient in their language as less intelligent. Hence the stigma surrounding language learners.
I've experienced it first-hand. :)
Rowena, could you say more about Critical period theory? If it is about the need for a silent period to absorb language data, Friday had been with Crusoe for some 15 (?) years before Susan showed up. That's some time!
The farther I am into the book (3/4 by now), the deeper my conviction that Friday simply has no need or desire to communicate. He is self-sufficient to a degree unimaginable to most of us. I'm also thinking of hermits who retreated into the desert to spend their days in silence.
He can't be deaf, because Crusoe managed to teach him a few words (e.g.firewood). Autistic? Hm...ADHD? :)
In any case, as Susan remarks on p.87 in my book," On the sorrows of Friday... a story entire of itself might be built.."
Silence is magnetic, like fire. Provokes so many thoughts. It seems to me, that musing on the reasons for Friday's silence, Susan herself becomes more outspoken, more verbal, more reflective. His silence brings out her eloquence.
I guess Friday communicates with us through Susan.
What do you think?
I don't know, Vera, because I don't know how old Friday was he came to be a castaway. The Critical Period Theory is that there is a certain time frame, in which children are able to learn a language, and after that time, they can never internalize grammar structures and such. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Period_Hypothesis has additional information.
I don't think that Friday communicates through Susan, but as I said, I am having a really hard time with this book. I wanted to know how old Friday was, did he even know his first language? He doesn't seem to make any effort at all to communicate, even using gestures or signs, which I find odd. I know that those are cultural, but it's true what you said, that he seemed to have no desire to communicate. Then again, I'm not sure he was ever given one, until the end of the story, and even then she was completely impatient and didn't want to teach him or wait for the language to develop.
Hm...Interesting.
Maybe Friday does NOT have command of his mother tongue. That would explain his difficulty with English. However, there is more than difficulty, there is the absence of the want to learn or, more precisely, to communicate.
Well, we'll never know for sure, anyway.:) We can guess all we want.
It is very intriguing.
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