"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated October 27, 1912:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JUNE 11, 2021):
I'll begin this very short thread by admitting that I've never read "Robinson Crusoe" and so I was very unfamiliar with both the characters, plot, and context imported from the novel to this strip. - 1/8
That said, it doesn't really change my interpretation of the strip. I still think it's a largely irredeemable racist mess. - 2/8
"Friday" is a racially caricatured savage (even more so than Impie) whom Nemo assumes cannot speak English (even though he can) and is a Cannibal (even though he isn’t). - 3/8
As I learned, Friday is an escaped prisoner from the island that Crusoe finds himself stranded on in the novel and the two become companions after Crusoe helps and names him. - 4/8
Cannibalism *is* an element of the novel, but (at least as far as I know) Friday isn't implicated in the practice. - 5/8
What follows is manipulation of the source material for a gag founded upon racist assumptions. - 6/8
Maybe someone with more knowledge of the source material can elaborate on some of the nuances here, but I see little beyond a strip that reflected and reinforced structures of racism in the early 20th century. - 7/8
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #361. What's yours? - 8/8