In Pantomime, Derek Walcott's characters imagine a pantomime version of Robinson Crusoe, an eighteenth-century novel about a British man who survives various trials while pursuing the life of a seafarer. The book is widely considered the first English novel.
Published in 1719, Daniel Defoe's novel is narrated by Robinson Crusoe, a man who rejects a legal career in England only to encounter shipwrecks, pirates, and enslavement while pursuing a life on the seas. After finding his way to attain ownership of a plantation in Brazil, Crusoe becomes shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela while on a journey to purchase slaves in Africa. For over two decades, Crusoe lives alone on his "Island of Despair," subsisting on hunting, grape and rice crops, and wild goats. It is here that Crusoe comes across Carib (people indigenous to the Caribbean) cannibals who visit the island to kill and eat prisoners from warring tribes. Crusoe helps one of the Caribs escape and then makes the grateful man his servant. Crusoe dubs him "Friday" after the day of the week his rescue takes place. When Friday suggests cannibalizing the men Crusoe killed while rescuing him, Crusoe convinces Friday of the wrongs of cannibalism. He also converts Friday to Christianity and teaches him English. When Crusoe returns to England four years later, Friday accompanies him.
The relationship between Crusoe and Friday—often referred to by Crusoe as "my man Friday"—brought about the terms "man Friday" and "girl Friday" to refer to an assistant, follower, or servant. However, Crusoe's Westernization of Friday has been criticized as unrealistic and racist.
