CULTURE AND INDIVIDUALISM IN DANIEL DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE AND CAMARA LAYE’S THE AFRICAN CHILD

Abstract

In a real sense, the world is made of relations rather than things. The pattern of relations in which 
human beings learn and share together constitutes the culture of any given society. This paper 
points out the communalism of Laye’s culture as against the capitalistic individualism of Defoe’s. 
It argues that although every person is a product of a given culture, his attitude and responses to 
his cultural background may set him apart as a unique individual. From this premise, it further 
argues that while Crusoe resents the stratified social structure, which would exclude him from the 
wealth of the emerging mercantilism of England and ventures out to create conditions for his 
survival as an “emperor”, Laye’s hero on the other hand combines the opportunities of his native 
culture with those of the European culture for his survival. The study points to the spirit of 
adventure in both heroes, the fact of alienation in both heroes, and the fact that in spite of their 
alienation, both heroes are finally reclaimed by their different cultures. This paper examines how 
culture and individualism are negotiated in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Camara Laye's 
The African Child (L'Enfant noir, 1953). While Defoe's novel is often read as a foundational text of 
English individualism and colonial modernity, Laye's autobiographical account stages personal 
development within a communal, ritualized West African cultural environment. By comparing 
narrative voice, representations of selfhood, the role of religion and labour, and the texts' treatments of 
“the other,” this paper argues that both novels articulate distinct models of individual formation that 
reflect their divergent cultural frameworks. The comparison illuminates how literary forms mediate 
cultural values and how the idea of the individual is historically situated rather than universal.