September 9, 2013

When our man tells us that he is “a pickpocket, not a burglar” (for both are thieves) and then invokes Defoe, he is performing the time-honored Jesuit tradition of casuistic moral argument (4).  The eponymous character of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe enslaves a native islander, whom he (re)christens- Friday; our enchanter, from his position in history, has learned from his society that child molestation (slavery for Crusoe) is wrong, but on a secluded island, where no society, and hence no laws of men abide, his taking of a young girl, (equal to Crusoe’s enslaving Friday) seems a mere trifle compared to a starved desire (body). To suggest that a sandy scenery for “this”/ “it” could positively, morally (based on contemporary social conventions), affect the enchanter's “coming to terms” is indicative of the man's delusional thought-patterns (3).

The enchanter is quite right when he says the island would be “but a license to grow savage” (4).  For, he does give up his “absolutely invisible method” in exchange for the fateful opportunity at the heart of this novella (4).  However, the remark about the “vicious [circle], with a palm tree at its center” might suggest a moment of lucidity: the enchanter realizes his tangential position on the circle, ineffectual and barred from the arboreal (and Edenic) center.