Register to read the introduction…
(p 41)
This goes along with Cromer's justifications as to why Europe is involved with the Orient. He has studied the Orient in length and because of this book knowledge he feels that he knows more of the cultures that Western society places in the Oriental category. He uses this knowledge of "their race, character, culture, history, traditions" in order to govern their lands. Cromer states "knowledge of subject races or Orientals is what makes their management easy." Cromer's actions correlate to Said's quote. He has studied, judged and governed what he calls Orientals, all of which he did in the name of knowledge.
The term Orientalism also means a generalization of all cultures and people Western civilization considers "Oriental" and placing them into one category even though it includes a vast array of people. Said shows this by explaining the concept that there is the West and then there is the Orient. To further explain this he says: Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, West, "us") and the strange (the Orient, the East, "them"). …show more content…
He shows this in a quote in which he explains why it is so easy to control the Orient. He says, "managing them was almost everywhere nearly the same" and "Orientals were almost everywhere were almost nearly the same." If any "Oriental" strayed from his ideas of what it is to be Oriental, he considered them to be defiant and not typical of the norm.
Another idea of his that Orientalism is a concept the West holds in which "the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience." In this definition, Orientalism is simply the opposite of Western ideals. This is related to the above concept in that there is "us" and "them" and since we must always be right and logical then they must be wrong and irrational. It is as if the West is the parent and the Orient is the child that has to be reared in the right direction because they don't know any better. This also has to do with the superiority issue.
This idea is shown through Cromer's words as well. Two quotes perfectly show what Said is trying to get across to the reader. Cromer
This goes along with Cromer's justifications as to why Europe is involved with the Orient. He has studied the Orient in length and because of this book knowledge he feels that he knows more of the cultures that Western society places in the Oriental category. He uses this knowledge of "their race, character, culture, history, traditions" in order to govern their lands. Cromer states "knowledge of subject races or Orientals is what makes their management easy." Cromer's actions correlate to Said's quote. He has studied, judged and governed what he calls Orientals, all of which he did in the name of knowledge.
The term Orientalism also means a generalization of all cultures and people Western civilization considers "Oriental" and placing them into one category even though it includes a vast array of people. Said shows this by explaining the concept that there is the West and then there is the Orient. To further explain this he says: Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, West, "us") and the strange (the Orient, the East, "them"). …show more content…
He shows this in a quote in which he explains why it is so easy to control the Orient. He says, "managing them was almost everywhere nearly the same" and "Orientals were almost everywhere were almost nearly the same." If any "Oriental" strayed from his ideas of what it is to be Oriental, he considered them to be defiant and not typical of the norm.
Another idea of his that Orientalism is a concept the West holds in which "the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience." In this definition, Orientalism is simply the opposite of Western ideals. This is related to the above concept in that there is "us" and "them" and since we must always be right and logical then they must be wrong and irrational. It is as if the West is the parent and the Orient is the child that has to be reared in the right direction because they don't know any better. This also has to do with the superiority issue.
This idea is shown through Cromer's words as well. Two quotes perfectly show what Said is trying to get across to the reader. Cromer