--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What's a colony without its dusky…" description: "\"“What's a colony without its dusky natives? Where's the fun if they're all going to die off? Just a big chunk of desert, no more maids, no field-hands,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c65/thomas-pynchon-533_cheap-labor_what-s-a-colony-without-its-dusky-native_1590932.jpg" --- # What's a colony without its dusky natives? Where's the fun… ![“What's a colony without its dusky natives? Where's the fun if they're all going to die off? Just a big chunk of desert, no more maids, no field-hands, no laborers for the construction or the mining--wait, wait a minute there, yes it's Karl Marx, that sly old racist skipping away with his teeth…” quote by Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c65/thomas-pynchon-533_cheap-labor_what-s-a-colony-without-its-dusky-native_1590932.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c65/thomas-pynchon-533_cheap-labor_what-s-a-colony-without-its-dusky-native_1590932.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c65/thomas-pynchon-533_cheap-labor_what-s-a-colony-without-its-dusky-native_1590932.jpg) > ““What's a colony without its dusky natives? Where's the fun if they're all going to die off? Just a big chunk of desert, no more maids, no field-hands, no laborers for the construction or the mining--wait, wait a minute there, yes it's Karl Marx, that sly old racist skipping away with his teeth together and his eyebrows up trying to make believe it's nothing but Cheap Labor and Overseas Markets... Oh, no. Colonies are much, much more. Colonies are the outhouses of the European soul, where a fellow can let his pants down and relax, enjoy the smell of his own shit. Where he can fall on his slender prey roaring as loud as he feels like, and guzzle her blood with open joy. Eh? Where he can just wallow and rut and let himself go in a softness, a receptive darkness of limbs, of hair as woolly as the hair on his own forbidden genitals. Where the poppy, and the cannabis and coca grow full and green, and not to the colors and style of death, as do ergot and agaric, the blight and fungus native to Europe. Christian Europe was always death, Karl, death and repression. Out and down in the colonies, life can be indulged, life and sensuality in all its forms, with no harm done to the Metropolis, nothing to soil those cathedrals, white marble statues, noble thoughts... No word ever gets back. The silences down here are vast enough to absorb all behavior, no matter how dirty, how animal it gets…”” [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Colonies are portrayed as grotesque extensions of European exploitation, where moral decay is hidden behind exoticism and indulgence. **In simple terms:** Colonies reveal Europe's moral corruption. Key Takeaway Recognize hidden exploitation in romanticized narratives. Themes colonialism exploitation morality decadence Mood critical reflective Type analysis literary When to use this quote - historical analysis - literary critique - political discourse Key Concepts Racial othering economic extraction cultural decay Questions to Reflect On - What does the metaphor of “outhouses of the European soul” suggest? - How does exoticism conceal oppression? A Different Perspective Romanticizing colonies masks their brutality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cheap labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cheap-labor/) [Colonial-society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonial-society-34784/) [Colonialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonialism/) [Colonies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colonies/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/karl-marx/) [Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marx/) [Oh Colonies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oh-colonies-6030469/) [Repression Colonies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/repression-colonies-6030468/) ## Related quotes > [“Australian History: … does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/australian-history-does-not-read-like-history-but-like-the-most/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [ “The chief care of the legislators \[in the colonies of New England\] was the maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in the community:… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/the-chief-care-of-the-legislators-in-the-colonies-of-new-england-was/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [“Colonies are the outhouses of the European soul, where a fellow can let his pants down and relax, enjoy the smell of his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/colonies-are-the-outhouses-of-the-european-soul-where-a-fellow-can/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“You remember those twin statues of the Buddha that I told you about? 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Just a big chunk of desert, no more maids, no field-hands, no laborers for the construction or the mining--wait, wait a minute there, yes it's Karl Marx, that sly old racist skipping away with his teeth together and his eyebrows up trying to make believe it's nothing but Cheap Labor and Overseas Markets... Oh, no. Colonies are much, much more. Colonies are the outhouses of the European soul, where a fellow can let his pants down and relax, enjoy the smell of his own shit. Where he can fall on his slender prey roaring as loud as he feels like, and guzzle her blood with open joy. Eh? Where he can just wallow and rut and let himself go in a softness, a receptive darkness of limbs, of hair as woolly as the hair on his own forbidden genitals. Where the poppy, and the cannabis and coca grow full and green, and not to the colors and style of death, as do ergot and agaric, the blight and fungus native to Europe. Christian Europe was always death, Karl, death and repression. 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