A perfectly transformed subject and the national imagination.

Mansfield park contains several references, both explicit and implicit to the idea of colonization and seems to have an underlying theme of a form of national domesticity in a large imperial holding. From this theme of colonization comes the perfect subject, that is Fanny who continues to develop within the colonial framework, with ideals necessary for the continuity of a particular colony.

Fanny comes to Mansfield as a 10 year old blank slate and develops her morality through the ways of Edmund. In some sense she comes to portray a sort of Christian morality that is important in gauging how the colonized subject becomes representative of a national idea of morality. For instance Fanny's immediate agreement with Edmund regarding Mary Crawford's 'somewhat' improper behaviour in the choice of words for her uncle and her disapproval of rehearsing 'Lovers Vows', show her to be an instrument in judging morality. Apart from this, Fanny appears to have been transformed completely in terms of her general mannerism and behaviour as well, in terms of her gaining more knowledge etc. Here the contrasting features of someone who is colonized and someone who is not are shown through her visit to Portsmouth. She arrives at Portsmouth only to be completely startled at the miserable and disgusting air of the place, showing how someone who is colonized is perhaps in a far better position economically as well as better off  in terms of civility. Not only is her behaviour analogous to that of a colonized being, but the general features of Portsmouth as having an unordered, lawless character are reflective of how such a place is outside the boundaries of a 'national imagination'.      

Other screaming evidence that reminds me of Fanny actually playing the double role of a colonized subject is that of her relationship with Thomas Bertram who in this case plays the role of the colonizer. More specifically the peculiarly possessive response Thomas Bertram has to her rejection of Henry's proposal, highlights how the colonizers operate such as to impose their own ideas onto the colonized completely, right down to their very personal decisions. In this way the idea of a microscopic-household related domesticity translates into a sort of national domesticity that may be applied for the case of a colonized-colonizer relationship.

Hence, in some way the point Said makes regarding how the colonized benefits from the process itself makes sense when analysing Fanny's own character development. However, once the relationship between Fanny and Sir Bertram is analysed, to me the process of colonization only appears a breach upon a degree of personal freedom that every individual must be entitled too.