Colonialism In Robert Sheckley's The Native Problem

Colonialism in The Native Problem In Robert Sheckley’s The Native Problem, Darko Suvin’s definition of cognition and estrangement can be used to explore contemporary ideologies about colonialism. Sheckley examines the effects of colonialism projected into a futuristic setting and aspects of colonialism are both changed and unchanged in different ways. In the story, colonialism is both successfully and unsuccessfully reimagined in ways that allow readers to reflect on contemporary ideas about colonialism. Sheckley’s use of irony also allows for a deeper exploration of the devices colonialism uses in order to oppress and deindividualized its victims. Darko Suvin, in his article Estrangement and Cognition, explains that “modern SF...discusses primarily the political, psychological, and anthropological use and effect of knowledge, of philosophy of science, and the becoming of failure of new realities” (Suvin, 15). The story fails to reimagine a narrative about European colonialism of Native Americans as defined in modern society. Instead of focusing on a true native, the story completely flips this notion and focuses on a man named Edward Danton …show more content…
Suvin explains that “aliens-utopians, monsters, or simply differing strangers-are a mirror” and that “the mirror is not only a reflecting one, it is also a transforming one” (Suvin, 5). In the story’s case, the mirror of the alien other is the misfit Danton, and yet the mirror is transformed through the fact that Danton is not actually a figure of otherness for readers at all as he is easier to identify with than not. The story also questions what it means to be an outsider in a rapidly expanding universe. In this way, Sheckley places contemporary readers in the position of Danton, which both estranges readers and transforms the mirror reflection of their familiar