Monday, February 8, 2010
Roxton and Malone return
In the end of the book The Lost World, John Roxton and Ned Malone are going to return to the plateau. On this adventure they will not have Professor Challenger or Professor Summerlee. With these two scientist absent and only John Roxton and Ned Malone returning how will it affect the expedition using the main points from the two chapters "Science, planetary consciousness, interiors" and "Narrating the anti-conquest." For example will the journey start moving more to the interior of the plateau, will it be a conquest or anti-conquest.
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Well, I think that both Malone and Roxton are more humane and not as aloof as Professors Challenger and Summerlee, so I think the interaction between the inhabitants and the visitors will be less conflictual. However, I think their mere presence involves an element of conquest. For one, they are clearly foreigners in a land where they have no permission to be there, and they have brought destruction trying to reign over the indigenous populations. This characterizes relations between conqueror and conquered. Besides, what is their purpose? Further exploration? Do they want to bring back more creatures? I contend that they very act of bringing the pterodactyl to England was an act of conquest. They removed a being from its environment unwillingly, just so it could be a tourist attraction. The plateau to Malone and Roxton is not a place where beings live their lives: it's an adventure, and they set out to destroy anything that can prevent them from fully indulging in as many explorations as possible. Most likely, they will ignore the ape-men and the Native Americans as non-beings, and will consider them as a backdrop to the plateau. Even in the book, they were not extremely important: the expedition and the travelers were.They can pretend all they want that they are not conquerors, and evade the implications of this fact. but that is just a testament to their moral ambivalence about conquest. Notice how most adventures need an "exotic" place. Exotic does not mean "European", at least traditionally, nor does it mean "civilized.". It means a place where people can go to conquer other peoples and beings without repercussions. They have to go to an exotic place. For some reason, they can't just sit in their backyard and observe nature because that's not quite as thrilling as conquering nature and risking the lives of not only themselves, but others. They are only content with disrupting the order of things, and bending them to their will. They are not passive observers, but intruders.
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ReplyDeleteIn my version of The Lost World II, Malone's and Roxton's second trip to the plateau will be a lot more adventurous and a lot less scientific. Malone and Roxton were the two characters that seem to find the danger and see the broader picture of everything whereas Challenger and Summerlee wanted to study the details of their surrounding environment. So the second book would probably consist of getting to know the plateau better and how it could benefit/help Malone and Roxton.
Roxton, of course, would have to go hunting for new head mounts for his collection whereas Malone would probably go along for the ride and also to search for his 'new' self. I would like to think that the plateau would represent something special to Roxton and Malone. Roxton may see it as a play-pin and Malone would see it as a tool to create a new person. As far as going to the plateau for conquest, I would like to think that Malone and Roxton would be anti-conquerors. They would be there to cause no threat to the Indians but to observe and live among them. However, you know something would have to happen because truthfully, the uneventful pacifists typically don't make for good reading...
I'm not sure which was I would go with this. It wouldn't be a conquest in the sense that I doubt they would go to assert their superiority and dominate every aspect of the plateau. However, I wouldn't label it as an anti-conquest because I believe they would be lively and rowdy, not so much going to observe and catalog everything. Furthermore, Malone senses Roxton would be immensely satisfied to place one of the giant creature's head upon his wall as a trophy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have to say that I think they would go for different reasons. I believe that at the end of the novel, Malone finally found his true self instead of proving himself to Gladys. He would go to be alive, as there is no way he can get the same sense of fulfillment in London. Since he said he wanted to go back as well, his fear of... well, fear, won't allow him to back down. Roxton on the other hand isn't going just to do some wild stuff as his personality craves, but I feel he has acquired a deeper side to himself. Instead of going for the glory of exploring, hes going to be in the wild, where he feels home. In a way I think Malone and Roxton are much similar to each other now.
But, Malone and Roxton cannot go alone. After the confirmed presence of pre-historic everything there, I'm sure it would be hard to go there without being tailed or having a party member going for only personal wealth. While Challenger was right to prohibit explicit directions to Maple White Land, it cannot eliminate the possibility of others going there forever. The type of people spending the time to find it would most assuredly be the conquest type, so I wouldn't doubt it if the story evolved into a conquest versus anti-conquest conflict between the humans.
I don't think that Malone and Roxton would be returning to the plateau for the sake of conquering it. Roxton is a hunter and adventurer, and with the fact that there are diamond mines there it would make sense for him to return. Malone discovered himself on the trip. I think he wishes to return to grow that new character, and to find another girl like Gladys. Just this time he will be able to show he is the adventurous type. The only time i believe that the plateau is in danger of conquest is if others discover the diamond profit, or wish to turn the place into an amusement park. Malone and Roxton are not conquerors, and without the professors the expedition will turn from the science of the plateu to the inhabitants and adventurous on it.
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