Babel Themes

Babel presents a fantastical take on 19th-century British colonialism: in the novel, silver bars inscribed with words in two languages that don’t directly translate can create magic. The novel highlights that racism forms the foundation of England’s efforts of colonization. The English government, and the people of England, treat non-White people around the world, but especially in China and India, inhumanely because they see people of color as less worthy of consideration than White people…

In Babel, the idea that language is power is literally true: using silver bars inscribed with a pair of translated words, people are able to magically increase fishing yields, perform upkeep on bridges, and even kill others. But though protagonist Robin begins his time at Oxford hearing that translation is a way to bridge divides, he quickly comes to see that translation and the silver bars are perhaps the most important tool the British…

Throughout the novel, Robin struggles with the question of whether it is morally permissible to use violence to combat colonialist oppression perpetrated by the British Empire. When Robin first meets his half-brother, Griffin, he is put off by Griffin’s willingness to use violence to advance the Hermes Society’s fight against the British empire. Robin even temporarily quits the Hermes Society when Griffin asks to use Robin’s room as a hiding place for explosives. At…

In addition to looking at how colonialism and imperialism function on a grand scale, Babel also explores how individual citizens end up propping up exploitative systems simply by being apathetic about their  consequences. As Robin often remarks, the English public in the novel is willing to overlook the brutality and immorality of their country’s extractive colonialist practices as long as they (English citizens) are able to enjoy the conveniences that colonialism affords them, including goods…