A Different Mirror

A recurring them in Takaki’s book is the representation of ethnic minority groups by those in positions of power. Takaki uses Shakespeare’s play The Tempest to describe early constructions of racial difference—a construction that transpired in early 17th-century England and took form in colonial America. As Takaki writes:

Indeed, The Tempest can be approached as a fascinating tale that served as a masquerade for the creation of a new society in America. Seen in this light, the play invites us to view English expansion not only as imperialism, but also as a defining moment in the making of an English-American identity based on race (28).

Initially, the English framed their encounters with new and “strange” populations as a clash between “civilization” and “savagery.” They used this model to justify their oppression of the Irish in Ireland and then to dispossess indigenous peoples of their lands in America. Takaki describes Prospero and Caliban, two characters in The Tempest, who personify traits of civilization (the English) and savagery (“the Other”). Whereas Prospero is educated and refined and conquers new lands through divine right, Caliban is barbaric, demonic, and treacherous. Most of all, Caliban is “what English men and women in America thought they were not, and, more important—what they must not become” (42).