Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

Robin goes to his classes and tutorials as he mulls what Griffin told him. During a lecture, Playfair tells the class that a silversmith distorts translations deliberately to create functioning match-pairs, allowing the silversmith to “defy a curse laid by God” (108) that destroyed the original (Adamic) language shared by all. When Robin asks if translation can lead to harmony between all people, Playfair takes him to mean that achieving this harmony is “the project of empire” (108). In his Chinese tutorial with Professor Chakravarti, Robin realizes that the professor is using him to learn more about how Chinese works. Robin learns he has no ability to discuss his own language in linguistic terms. Robin also attends a boring class led by Professor Margaret Craft, a female professor who refuses to acknowledge that she might be an inspiration for Letty and Victoire.

During a Saturday visit with Lovell and Ms. Piper, Robin asserts himself in conversation with Lovell. They argue about the implications of silversmithing. Lovell tells Robin that English may be the closest thing to an Adamic language now because of Great Britain’s power. Every empire had a time when its language was the dominant one. In their world, this dominance paradoxically makes Western languages and cultures like French so well-known that translators will run out of linguistic distortions to create working match-pairs. Babel is thus focused on mining East Asian languages for Great Britain.

For now, Great Britain has almost all the silver in the world because they charge high prices for goods made with silver. Robin sees this as unjust, hoarding behavior. When he points out that Lovell was wrong not to use his silver to save Robin’s mother, Lovell replies that she was nothing but a woman. This cruel comment ends the conversation because Sterling Jones, a successful translator and Babel graduate, enters. Afterward, Robin signals to Griffin that he will join Hermes.

Robin grows closer to the members of his cohort. Ramy, Robin, Victoire, and Letty do have arguments sometimes, though. Ramy and Letty constantly argue over the British Raj (British rule over India). Letty believes the Raj brought civilization to India, but Ramy believes it was a brutal repression of his country.

Robin also begins working for the Hermes Society. Griffin communicates with Robin by leaving messages on his windowsill. Robin’s initial task is to open the door to Babel, which recognizes him because his blood is stored in the tower. Robin is sure over the coming days that the authorities will catch him, but nothing happens. Soon, he no longer feels nervous about his missions.

His life is consumed with studying and dealing with the other scholars’ disdain, who believe his cohort members are taking up the places of more deserving, white, male candidates. Robin feels so close to the other three that he considers telling him that he is in Hermes. Robin feels split in two: He is convinced of how “unjust were the foundations of [Babel’s] fortunes,” so he keeps “dancing on the edges of two worlds” by helping Hermes (132). He swore to keep Hermes a secret, so he decides to say nothing to the other three.

Robin grows accustomed to life at Oxford and helping Hermes steal silver. Still, he and his group of friends are so different from other students that they never get invited to parties. That changes when a group of gentleman-scholars—affluent students who are at the top of the hierarchy because their families pay full tuition—invite Robin to a party. He goes and is not impressed with the gentleman-scholars, who are condescending and mostly drunk. Robin realizes they are cozying up to him because he will likely be a silversmith one day.

When Robin returns, Letty is furious with him. She explains her anger: Her brother was a gentleman-scholar and her family’s heir. He didn’t appreciate the privilege he had—tutors, money, and admission to Oxford. Letty was the one with a gift for languages, but she was forced to eavesdrop on her brother’s tutorials to learn. On his last visit home, her brother was on the verge of expulsion for drinking and failing classes. Letty lectured him about his ingratitude and told him it would be best if he never came home. He told Letty she was just jealous. He didn’t return home; a carriage ran him down as he lay in the street. Robin apologizes for going to the party and upsetting Letty.

In another lecture with Playfair, the professor prods his students to consider whether it is possible to give a completely faithful translation. He tells the students that “[t]ranslation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes” (153). As such, one can only conclude that translation is always “an act of betrayal” (153). Robin feels guilt both for helping Hermes and for being in Babel.

Robin learns even more about translation, silver, and his friends. From Professor Playfair, he learns different methods of infusing silver with power. Playfair tells them that the word “translation” must never be used in silversmithing. “Translation” can’t translate itself well enough to the other part of the pair, so any potential magic it produces creates a never-ending cycle that causes the silver to explode. The silver scrap it produces won’t work for silversmithing ever again, and any other silver it touches also becomes useless. Playfair also tells his students that silversmithing and products built with silver are priced arbitrarily. A good part of Babel’s funding comes from the maintenance of silver works and goods that have intentionally limited lifespans. The towns and users of these products are thus dependent on translators.

Robin grows even closer to his friends. As they enter their second year, they spend much of their time bonding and helping each other get through the crushing academic workload. They celebrate their friendship by getting a daguerreotype—a photo developed using silver—after Babel helps the inventor figure out how to make the process work. Robin doesn’t like the photo because it distorts who each person really is by freezing them in a moment in time. Letty likes it because she believes it is a true rendering of the four of them together.

Robin finally gets to meet Griffin face-to-face again. Griffin looks ragged and cold. Griffin tells Robin about the circulation of silver. Most silver in Europe was extracted using enslaved labor in the Americas. Silver accumulated in Europe—mostly in Great Britain—as these countries built their empires using industry and translators. Now, silver is flowing to and staying in China because Great Britain pays for Chinese products with silver but has nothing China wants. Great Britain will need more silver as a result. The empire can either get it through increasingly brutal “coercive extraction” (176) or face collapse. Griffin believes Hermes can hurry that collapse along by getting silver out to colonized countries fighting against oppression. Robin has missed this obvious outcome because his education at Babel has trained him to miss it.

Robin accepts what Griffin says. After that, Robin steals items rather than just opening doors. Robin has misgivings after he sees the protective wards (defensive spells created with silver bars) on Babel severely wound a thief. Robin tells Griffin that these newer wards are dangerous, but Griffin brushes off his concerns and tells him the location of a safe house in case he does get caught. Robin is handing stolen goods off to Hermes members one day when a new ward that shoots intruders goes off and wounds him. The Hermes members get away, but Robin doesn’t. He has to play it cool when Playfair comes to check on the alarm. Robin sews up a deep wound on his arm by himself. He cannot contact Griffin, so he feels alone.

The second year of school and preparation for the third year are grueling. The friendships among Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty fray under this stress. Victoire and Letty fall out over Letty’s callous response to Victoire’s stress over her third-year project. Victoire’s faculty advisor wants her to translate what are likely sacred Vodou (a Haitian religion that is frequently misrepresented by others) texts in order to make match-pairs. Letty tells Victoire she isn’t really Haitian—she’s a “civilized” Frenchwoman—so she doesn’t understand why Victoire is upset. Her insensitivity and implicit racism damage her relationship with Victoire. Letty also gets into arguments with Ramy for similar reasons.

Anthony Ribben dies on his senior research trip to Barbados. Although all four friends are shocked, Babel barely acknowledges his death. Robin realizes translators are indispensable to the empire, but individual translators are expendable, “only vessels for the languages they spoke” (201). Letty obsesses about Anthony’s expendability in a way that Robin finds “performatively righteous” (202). Letty dwells on the fact that Anthony was an enslaved boy who only got his freedom because Babel purchased him.

Robin’s third year at Babel is even harder than the second. He worries about keeping up when he watches the expulsion of a fourth-year student who didn’t pass his exams. In the public expulsion ceremony, Playfair crushes the student’s vial of blood, and two fourth-years throw the student out. The world outside is also unsettled and begins to encroach on the insular Babel campus. Luddites (anti-technology activists) protest the use of silver-enhanced manufacturing, which has put many out of work. There are attacks on the school, including vandalism. Protestors regularly gather in front of the school. Radical newspapers characterize Babel as a threat to the economy because of its role in silversmithing. Robin sees an out-of-work man and his family waiting around the corner from Lovell’s house. He feels guilty. Griffin asks Robin to smuggle out materials despite the heightened security brought on by the protests. Robin refuses to help any longer. Griffin says Robin is a sell-out—“lost,[…]a ship adrift, searching for familiar shores” even though “there is no homeland” to which he can return (219).