A Different Mirror

A Different Mirror

by

Ronald Takaki

Caliban is a character in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. He is indigenous to the island upon which Prospero and the other characters are washed up, and is exploited during Prospero’s attempt at colonization. Takaki argues that Caliban is a racial “Other” who could metaphorically represent many of the ethnic groups discussed in A Different Mirror.

Caliban Quotes in A Different Mirror

The A Different Mirror quotes below are all either spoken by Caliban or refer to Caliban. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Unity vs. Division Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 2: The “Tempest” in the Wilderness Quotes

This demonization of Indians served complicated ends. The enemy was not only external but also internal. To the Puritans, the Indians were like Caliban, a "born devil": they had failed to control their appetites, to create boundaries separating mind from body. They represented what English men and women in America thought they were not, and, more important—what they must not become. As exiles living in the wilderness far from “civilization,” the Puritans used their negative images of Indians to delineate the moral requirements they had set up for themselves.

Related Characters: Ronald Takaki (speaker), Caliban
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Different Mirror LitChart as a printable PDF.
A Different Mirror PDF

Caliban Quotes in A Different Mirror

The A Different Mirror quotes below are all either spoken by Caliban or refer to Caliban. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Unity vs. Division Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 2: The “Tempest” in the Wilderness Quotes

This demonization of Indians served complicated ends. The enemy was not only external but also internal. To the Puritans, the Indians were like Caliban, a "born devil": they had failed to control their appetites, to create boundaries separating mind from body. They represented what English men and women in America thought they were not, and, more important—what they must not become. As exiles living in the wilderness far from “civilization,” the Puritans used their negative images of Indians to delineate the moral requirements they had set up for themselves.

Related Characters: Ronald Takaki (speaker), Caliban
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis: