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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Babel, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonization and Racism
Language, Translation, and Power
Race, Gender, and Intersectionality
Violence and Nonviolence
Complicity
Summary
Analysis
Professor Lovell takes the group to a civilian ship that will bring them back to England. Ramy and Robin will stay with the sailors, while Letty and Victoire will share a room with another woman on board. As Ramy, Robin, Victoire, and Letty are talking on the ship, Professor Lovell comes to the room and asks to speak with Robin. When the two are alone, Professor Lovell asks Robin again what he did. He says that the value of the opium burned was over 2 million pounds, and now the company is responsible for that money. Robin says he didn’t do anything, and that Commissioner Lin’s mind was already made up.
Robin says that he didn’t say anything to Commissioner Lin and that Commissioner Lin had already made up his mind to burn the confiscated opium. That may be true, but Robin also told Commissioner Lin that the British companies and Mr. Baylis didn’t see Chinese people as fully human. By telling Commissioner Lin that, Robin rebelled against the British Empire by advocating for the humanity of Chinese people in the face of profound racism.
Themes
Professor Lovell asks Robin to be honest, and Robin snaps that he will be. He says that the opium business of Jardine & Matheson disgusts him, and he wants nothing to do with it. He says that they’re poisoning people and ruining their lives. Professor Lovell says he’s surprised that Robin can be so ungrateful. Robin says Lovell didn’t help Robin for Robin’s sake. Instead, Professor Lovell wanted a student who was fluent in Mandarin. Robin then asks Lovell who his (Robin’s) mother was to him. Lovell refers to Robin’s mother using a racist slur. Robin realizes that he’ll never be human in his father’s eyes. To be human in Lovell’s eyes, Robin thinks, one has to be a White man.
Robin’s confrontation with Lovell shows that Lovell has never been motivated by goodwill or compassion in his dealings with Robin. Instead, it seems that he fathered Robin explicitly to supply Babel with a student fluent in Mandarin. In other words, in Lovell’s eyes, Robin’s sole purpose has always been to work for Babel, thereby simultaneously enriching Lovell and the British Empire. Notably, Robin adds that to be human in Lovell’s eyes, he would have to be both a man and White, revealing how Lovell’s racism and sexism shape and distort his view of the world.
Themes
Robin calls Professor Lovell a monster. Lovell says that they’ll talk all this over when they return to Babel. Robin grows furious. He tells Lovell to say his (Robin’s) mother’s name. He becomes increasingly enraged. At this point, Robin isn’t sure exactly what happens. He thinks that maybe he is acting in self-defense, but he’s not entirely sure. Lovell reaches into his pocket, and Robin mimics him. In his pocket, Robin finds the silver bar that Griffin used to kill Evie, which Lovell had given him. He takes out the bar and presses it against Lovell as he says the match-pair. Lovell’s chest bursts open, and he dies. Robin kneels at his side and says, “Father?” Ramy, Victoire, and Letty come into the room, saying that they heard yelling. Then, they see Lovell’s dead body. They are all shocked. Ramy kneels and says a prayer. Then he says, “What now?”
This passage represents a major turning point in the novel, namely because Robin kills his father. That’s a momentous event that will indelibly change Robin for the rest of his life. Thematically, Robin killing Lovell also shows that Robin is willing to commit violence. In this case, Robin felt unable to stand by and endure Lovell’s racism and abuse. In essence, Robin’s decision to kill Lovell can be interpreted as a decision to no longer remain complicit in the wrongs that Lovell and Babel habitually commit(ted). The novel will then explore the question of whether violence is ever morally permissible when confronting and fighting against injustice.
Themes
