babel, or the necessity of violence

“…there is no such thing as humane colonization.”

out of the multitudes of books that i have read, this book is probably my favorite of all time. a masterful novel, babel systematically and scathingly attacks major societal issues, including imperialism, racism, and oppression, all through the lens of translation and linguistics.

translation is what fuels so much, including communication, advancements, and the book’s silver working magic system. so what happens when the act of translation is benefitting colonialsim and atrocities? what responsibility does one bear when translation serves the aims of the empire and is turned into a weapon that is used against the very countries that many of the translators are from? their work is turned against their culture, home, and identity.

‘How strange,’ said Ramy. ‘To love the stuff and the language, but to hate the country.’

our narrator robin swift was brought from china to london by professor lowell to be trained in latin, ancient greek, and mandarin in preparation for the day that robin will join oxford university’s famed royal institute of translation: babel. not only is babel the global center of translation, it’s the most prominent silver-working institute, which is the novel’s magic system. when words are translated, meaning is always lost. silver working is the art of manifesting that lost meaning inscribed on silver bars in order to turn it into tangible power.

this has made britain’s power unparalleled and dangerous. the combination of the silver-working and the in-depth language research has been the driving force behind the colonization and slow destruction of culture and knowledge. as britain’s power grows by essentially taking from other countries and cultures, robin and his fellow translators need to decide between their roots and heritage and their future as prized translators.

‘That’s just what translation is, I think. That’s all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they’re trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.’

babel deals with a multitude of issues: colonialism, etymology, translation, racism, and identity in a place who’s very ideals reject you. although babel takes place in a fantasy historical time, its messages are strikingly true in our own reality, perhaps even more so. colonization is essentially theft. the british empire took everything from words to traditions to ideas and weaponized them against the very country that they came from. this is just as true for robin and its other translators. they were taken from their own homelands, then taught to help build and advance the british empire, harming their own countries in the process.

there’s something about this book that just had me in a chokehold. in the days after finishing it, i wouldn’t go more than an hour without thinking about it, wondering, pondering. less than a month after finishing it, i started planning my reread and annotation. i ranted about it to anyone who would listen, recommended it to everyone i knew, and thought about it endlessly.

this book taught me so, so many important lessons. It taught me how often people rationalize, look past, or keep their head down about awful things as long as they aren’t directly affected. claims such as “i’m just neutral,” or “i don’t support that, but i won’t speak out or do anything to stop that,” can be just as (if not more) than the actions themselves. neutrality is a privilege that not that many people can afford. there’s one character who uses past issues and indignancies as a reason to not acknowledge or speak out about what other problems their friends are dealing with, thus reducing the significance of the other’s experiences. and by turning a blind eye, it inevitably ended up helping to increase the transgressions and destruction caused by the british empire.

‘English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods.’

one incredibly important aspect of this book is the extremely complex decisions that robin and his friends need to make. they can remain loyal and enjoy the benefits and sense of power that they’d normally be denied, and try to ignore the suffering that their work is causing. or they can follow their morals and speak up for what is right. it’s far harder to rebel against a system that is benefitting you, even slightly, and the reprieve from bigotry that they got due to their position complicated their feelings even further. additionally, most of the conflicts and struggles happen off-page and in places that don’t directly confront them, making it easier for them to just turn a blind eye. the idea that you are separate from conflicts and therefore immune to them is incredibly apparent in real life. so many people are extremely apathetic to conflicts that are happening oceans away, without understanding how connected we all are. i have come to the same conclusion as robin: if you are aware and do nothing, you are complicit. if you are aware and fight, you are brave.

they are aware of the part they play in evils and violence started by the empire, and it creates a inner conflict between the easier path and doing what they know is right. although they eventually choose to fight for those who have been continuously trodden upon by those in power, there is such a facinating an realistic inner conflict.

‘translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture,’ - anthony burgess

translation is used in Babel is an attempt to infiltrate, exploit, and colonize culture because language unlocks a culture. kuang examines issues of colonialism through translation and shows the way language is manipulated to hinder rebellion and benefit those in power. what’s so fascinating about language, particularly the language of colonizing countries, is that it borrows, steals, and colonizes language itself. language itself (and the access to it) is inherently political. it is complex, and it shows so much about the history of a place and people.

“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?”

language is so much more than just a communication tool. words hold an astonishing amount of power, and language is undoubtedly a keystone of history, culture, and politics. translation is a highly underappreciated and extremely difficult art. every time words are converted between languages, they lose some of their original association, meaning, and depth. translating is highly complex, and even the best translation will result in a loss of meaning. translation is described as a betrayal because the repeated changing of the original will eventually result in harm to the original, which is quite similar to what happens with colonialism.

babel is in part a breakdown of the necessity of violence. it’s easy to say that nothing is solved by brute force that could not have been solved by diplomacy, but will an oppressor ever be able to sacrifice their pride and greed? at what point does a line need to be crossed, a transition from peaceful activism to the threat of destruction, of harm towards the powerful? though peace is ideal, true change often relies on violence, outrage, and upheaval. there are times when violence is the only possible catalyst for necessary change. nothing is ever black and white in a revolution.

“Power did not lie in the tip of a pen. Power did not work against its own interests. Power could only be brought to heel by acts of defiance it could not ignore. With brute, unflinching force. With violence.”

kuang does a striking and exemplary job criticizing colonialism, poverty gaps, racism, and nationalism while also showing the depth and dangerof internalized biases, prejudices, fear, and misplaced loyalty that has been ingrained in those of privilege since birth. the cultures, politics, news, and government are all conditioning us to fear (and yes, act out towards) the “others”. although these actions are despicable, they are realistic and did a phenomenal job highlighting how ingrained this is in us. no matter how sympathetic they seem, deep down, privileged people do not want to lose their privilege.

one of the most striking aspects of babel was its stark portrayal of the costs of power. for a system to run of this magnitude and be so beneficial for those in power, it must also be quietly devastating to those who are already oppressed and impoverished. everything has a dark side, and the magic system is no exception to this rule. the way that the magic and its effects are incorporated feels entirely plausible, as this is what has historically happened with every single major resource. magic is just another thing to be extracted from the poor by the powerful. the devestation worsens as the greed strengthens.

‘This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it.’

since reading it, I’ve been able to notice similar refusal to speak out and the flawed idea of neutrality regarding current and past atrocities. babel was my first wake-up call on neutrality. staying quiet isn’t neutral; it’s siding with the oppressor that benefits from your silence. kuang’s writing and examples made the harm feel far more intimate and real as opposed to far-off and abstract. it quite literally changed the way that i view the world, different concepts, events, and actions. it was both interesting and absolutely heartbreaking to learn how the extraction of language was slowly but surely destroying entire cultures and heritages. the british empire saw diversity as a tool to be taken and then used, not something to be shared, appreciated, and learned from. it’s incredibly sad how many of these issues remain to this day.

a brutal attack against colonialism, including the rippling effects across continents and cultures, and a true tour de force. beautifully heartbreaking, informative, and perspective-changing novel, babel is one to be read and remembered.

“You have such a great fear of freedom, brother. It's shackling you. You've identified so hard with the colonizer, you think any threat to them is a threat to you. When are you going to realize you can't be one of them?”