An Imposing Culture

In Orientalism, Edward Said asserts “One ought never to assume that the structure of Orientalism is nothing more than a structure of lies or of myths which, were the truth about them to be told, would simply blow away.” (Norton 1995) His sentiment resonates with the complex and interwoven nature of West/East colonialism, but the nature of difference in The Song of Roland is far flimsier. The author constructs the political relationship between the Franks and the Spanish without a language barrier and without misunderstand of the hierarchical structure of vassalage and lordship. The pagan knights are considered equally valiant, and they would easily be integrated into the Frankish political ranks, if only their professed religion were Christianity.

The cultural oversimplifications indicate that while there is clear demarcation of the pagan Other from the Christian, it is an insubstantial barrier to cross. It merely requires a confessional change. It’s significant that the French/Westerners see no insurmountable cultural difference. Their only concern is that the pagans profess their devotion to Christianity. In a sense, the cultural, racial, and geographical differences their opponents present are an illusion, and that the truth of Christianity will eliminate the interrelated structures of difference.

Despite the fact in reality there were major cultural and language barriers between the pagan world (as in the non-Christian world) and the Christian world, the fact that those differences are not highlighted more starkly indicate two assumptions the poets makes throughout The Song of Roland: 1.) The cultural differences are irrelevant or 2.) The difference between Frankish and Spanish will dissipate as soon as the two cultures are joined by a common religion.

While Said is correct in urging his readers not to try to find the lies that hold up the structure of Orient v. Occident, the author of Roland believed the magic bullet for toppling the structure was religion. The desire to overcome such vast cultural differences with religion is representative of the Frankish need for hegemony. The fact that the poet imposes the structures of Frankish society onto a dramatically different culture confirms Said’s notion that “There is in addition the hegemony of European ideas about the Orient, themselves reiterating European superiority over Oriental backwardness, usually overriding the possibility that a more independent, or more skeptical, thinker might have had different views on the matter.” (Norton 1996) For me, the simplistic construction of the Other in Roland indicates the complex nature of political difference.

(As an aside, I wasn't quite sure how to format a footnote in a blog. Since I don't have a works cited page, I'm quoting an excerpt of Said's Orientalism from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W Norton and Company, 2001.)