64 pages • 2 hours read
Douglas WesterbekeA Short Walk Through a Wide World
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Geopolitical Context: European Colonialism in the 19th Century
The novel highlights many locations that Aubry visits, including several in the colonized spaces of Asia and Africa where European imperial powers have asserted their dominance. Though the novel does not explicitly address the issue of European colonialism, this geopolitical context is vital to the narrative.
For instance, the novel opens in Siam, now Thailand. Though Siam/Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to be colonized by a European power (due to several treaties with France and England), the neighboring countries of Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia were colonized as part of either French Indochina or the British Raj (Frederick, William H. “History of Southeast Asia: Patterns of a Colonial Age.” Britannica, 2018). The French and British (and, to a lesser extent, the Spanish and Dutch) seized control of Southeast Asia and divided it amongst themselves with the justification of Western superiority from 1850 through the 1920s. Aubry therefore fully expects to be understood by either a local or a French/British transplant like herself as she travels through many areas of Asia.
As a white European from an upper-middle-class background, Aubry never questions her (or any European’s) right to be there. Aubry’s blind acceptance of European colonialism only shifts during her stay with the Prince in India. The British Raj—the colonial government—controlled all of India during this time, from 1858 until India and Pakistan successfully declared independence in 1947 (Wolpert, Stanley A. “British Raj.” Britannica, 2024). Aubry witnesses firsthand the British soldiers exerting their control over the Prince, demanding taxes in exchange for protection, presumably from British harassment, in what essentially amounts to a giant, mafia-like protection racket.
Historical Context: Science in the 19th Century
The 19th century and early 20th century gave rise to enormous leaps in scientific discovery that were both fueled by and led to increased reliance on rationalism and technology over romanticism and tradition. In all areas of science, ground-breaking innovations and discoveries shifted foundational understandings of the world and the creation of knowledge itself. This included the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859, James Clerk Maxwell’s discovery of electromagnetism in 1864, and the first version of the periodic table devised by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. This time period also saw great changes in medicine, such as the first use of anesthesia in 1842 and the patent for Aspirin in 1889. This new devotion to science and reason also led to increased certainty that science could rationally explain and quantify every aspect of life given proper knowledge and time. Nothing was beyond science’s reach.
Many characters in the novel demonstrate this prevailing attitude, from the doctors in Europe who compete to cure Aubry to Uzair in Africa. Aubry’s encounter with Uzair particularly underscores the obsessive need to explain the unknown. Though he uses traditional methods like herbal remedies, he is nevertheless a scientist whose faith in a rational explanation is unshakable. This is apparent in his collection of scientific discoveries, from a dinosaur skeleton (first identified by William Buckland in 1824) to a perfect replica of the night sky. Even non-scientists like Vaughan Holcombe believe that there must be a medical explanation for her affliction and are unwilling to accept that some things cannot be explained.
