Abstract
The paper presents a comparative study of Syed Waliullah’s Tree Without Roots (1967) and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), examining the formation of colonialist identity and the gradual transmutation of Majeed and Crusoe into colonizing figures within their respective territories. It investigates the similarities and dissimilarities in their colonial approaches, influenced by their discrete linguistic, religious, topographical and socio-cultural contexts. It explores Western and Eastern forms of colonialism to gain a better understanding of how concepts like religion, wealth and power reinforce colonial enterprises. The study critically examines the interpretative framework that gives the tripartite motivations of colonialism, namely the imposition of religious ideologies on the colonized (‘God’), the systematic endeavor for economic extraction (‘Gold’) and the imperialistic pursuit of political hegemony and status (‘Glory’). It also addresses the multidimensional effects of colonialism on both the colonizers and the colonized, particularly the shifts in social structures, legislation, administration and regional power dynamics. The study offers a distinct insight into postcolonial studies by appraising how the colonial groundwork of ‘God, Gold and Glory’ extends beyond European imperial settings and operates across diverse geological, cultural and historical contexts. Methodologically, the paper uses a comparative thematic and character-based analysis of the selected primary texts and draws upon the theory of postcolonialism to reveal the direct and indirect manifestations of colonial ideology. The novelty of this study lies in its innovative recontextualization of the ‘God, Gold and Glory’ paradigm by connecting Eastern and Western narratives, representing how colonialist identity formation transcends Eurocentric imperial margins.
Keywords: God, Gold, Glory, Comparative Study, Postcolonialism.