The Sign of the Four

Tonga, Jonathan Small’s Andamanese accomplice, is less a fully realized character with his own personality or motivations, than a symbol of the exotic and monstrous other. The various descriptions of Tonga from Watson and Small are filled with offensive racist stereotypes that betray the characters’ (and likely the author’s) racist views. This is evident in Watson’s description of Tonga as a “savage, distorted creature” who “grinned and chattered at us with half animal fury” (105). Similarly, Small calls Tonga a “hell-hound” and describes him as bloodthirsty to a degree that even Small, himself a murderer, finds disturbing. These descriptions reinforce the theme of Criminality, Monstrosity, and Fear of the Other.

Tonga symbolizes this “other” more clearly than any character in the story, though all the Indian characters (including the servants and Small’s other accomplices) are also included. Tonga is barely seen as human by the British characters, and is rather viewed as an animal who follows Small’s orders like a loyal dog, and whose murderous impulses are the result of a deeply ingrained violent nature. That these racist attitudes were accepted as “fact” by much of the British population does not excuse them but does demonstrate the way the British Empire sought to dehumanize different races and cultures, particularly in Africa and Asia, thereby justifying their violent and exploitative colonial practices.