"A Matter of Profit: Post-colonial Criticism in Writing"

Recently, I finished reading a book by an author named Hilari Bell. Her books are always in different genres of fantasy, but always make me think about it rather than blindly rushing through. Her characters have motivations, her settings are practical, and her ideas are well presented and encourage readers to look deeper at issues.

One such example that I picked up was in the book A Matter of Profit. This is the story of a military son on a foreign world that is being colonized by humans, but is filled with friendly alien life. Slightly reminiscent of Star Wars, the story takes place in a desert-covered planet. The young male protagonist comes from the "ruler" group, a group of humans who have "taken over" the planet and begun colonization (slightly). In his search to find a possible murderer, Ahvren encounters a race called the T'Chin, a group of giant intelligent insect-like people. He meets and slowly makes friends with a T'Chin information broker, and slowly they grow closer.

While the main story progresses, the T'Chin broker and Ahvren continue to have conversations about the philosophy of their races and their personal beliefs. Ahvren explains how his race has a survive-and-dominate philosophy, while the T'Chin explains how they are unconcerned except for profit. He slowly explains how commerce is not just commerce itself to them, but a way of connecting to others. To them, money is more than currency; it is something traded between friends, enemies, or even unknowing allies in order for mutual gain.

While their philosophies are very different, Ahvren slowly converts to the T'Chin way of thinking after seeing how brutal his race can be. He finally truly questions the T'Chin, wanting to find out why they are unafraid of being colonized and possibly going extinct due to human interference. The T'Chin shows Ahvren a set of old ruins, and explains how the T'Chin survive: they adapt. They had been conquered hundreds of times before, and each time they were not wiped out: instead, other races joined them and their cities, and the traditions melded to effect each other. The scholar explains how rather than be afraid for the T'Chin, Ahvren should be afraid of his own race, which will slowly wipe themselves out due to their inability to accept other possible traditions into their own.

This entire story builds on the ideas of "the popular" vs. "the other", adapt-or-die, and Marxist philosophies. However, it also shows that while the conquered races are subdued, their cultures refuse to die: indeed, they shine brighter in contrast, and borrow or copy the bits of other traditions that fit their own. To me, this could be an obvious reference to the British imperialistic rule over India; while the Indians are truly subdued and ruled by the British, their spirits refuse to die, they incorporate the beneficial traditions of their conquerors into their own (such as how Ghandi became a lawyer or how the councils and committees came into existence from British organization), and they finally overpower their controllers by their own devices (the committees such as the Indian League finally won Indian Independence from Britain). Overall, the book illustrates to me how even under such powerful opposition the social traditions of societies continue to survive and flourish, and how subservience does not equal being dominated.

The different levels of this book help to explain many different issues, and it is worth reading, whether to see these post-colonial references or just for the enjoyment of reading a good book.