Babel: The power of language

Babel is a historical fiction, fantasy, and dark academia novel by R.F. Kuang. It follows a group of students attending Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation, called Babel. They study silver-working, a magical art that utilizes the power lost in translation. The main character is Robin, a Chinese orphan, and as the British Empire uses magic to colonize other nations, Robin is stuck between his loyalty to Babel and an anti-imperialist resistance movement. This book explores the relationship between academia, imperialism, and violence. It also criticizes the way Western powers have taken resources and knowledge for their own gain. This book was such an amazing read, definitely a 5/5.

(Book cover of Babel by R.F. Kuang)

One of the things I loved the most about this book was the impact it had on me. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but relate things happening in the book to things going on in our country right now. If I had read Babel a year ago, I don’t think I would have felt so strongly about it. I started this book knowing absolutely nothing about it, other than who the author was. I didn’t know what to expect, which is why I found myself falling into the illusion of Oxford, like the characters. At the start, they fall into this illusion of studying at a great university; they love learning and being a part of an intellectual community, but slowly, this illusion is broken when they learn what the institution represents. Serving Babel means betraying their motherland, their people, themselves.

Although there are larger themes, the one that impacted me the most was losing your native language. Griffin is a character who is taken from China at an early age to study in Oxford. He states that he doesn’t “dream in Chinese.” He lost his native language because after he left China, he had no one to talk to in Chinese, and slowly, English replaced his native language. When I read this part, I had to take a break from reading because of how much I related to his statement. As a child, I grew up with Spanish being my first language; everyone around me spoke it. When I started going to school, everyone spoke English, and I had to adapt and learn English too. What I didn’t realize, though, was that as my English was getting better, my Spanish was getting worse. I stopped dreaming in Spanish. I think many people can relate to this. Language is such an important part of one’s culture and identity, and this book perfectly handled that topic.

Overall, this book is a tragic statement about achieving success through a corrupt system and what one can lose from that system.