The writer: Daniel Defoe
Pedro Samuel de Moura Torres
The writer Daniel Defoe was born in
Defoe attended a respected school in Dorking, where he was an excellent
student, but as a Presbyterian, he was forbidden to attend Oxford or Cambridge.
He entered a dissenting institution called Morton’s Academy and considered
becoming a Presbyterian minister. Though he abandoned this plan, his Protestant
values endured throughout his life despite discrimination and persecution, and
these values are expressed in Robinson Crusoe. In 1683, Defoe became a
traveling hosiery salesman. Visiting Holland, France, and Spain on business,
Defoe developed a taste for travel that lasted throughout his life. His fiction
reflects this interest; his characters Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe both
change their lives by voyaging far from their native England. Defoe began
writing fiction late in life, around the age of sixty. He published his first
novel, Robinson Crusoe, in 1719, attracting a large middle-class
readership. Robinson Crusoe was based on the true story of a shipwrecked
seaman named Alexander Selkirk and was passed off as history.
Stylistically, Defoe was a great innovator. Dispensing with the ornate
style associated with the upper classes, Defoe used the simple, direct,
fact-based style of the middle classes, which became the new standard for the
English novel. With Robinson Crusoe’s theme of solitary human existence,
Defoe paved the way for the central modern theme of alienation and isolation.
Defoe died in London on April 24, 1731, of a fatal “lethargy”—an unclear
diagnosis that may refer to a stroke.
Characters
Robinson Crusoe – he is the novel’s protagonist and
narrator. Crusoe begins the novel as a young middle-class man in New York in
search of a career. His father recommends him to study law, but Crusoe wants to
have a life at sea, and his subsequent rebellion and decision to become a
merchant is the starting point for the whole adventure. His feeling of guilt
over his disobedience is present in most part of the story and it shows us how
deep Crusoe’s religious fear and devotion are. Crusoe is firm and cautious in
everything he does, and his perseverance ensures his survival through storms,
enslavement, and a twenty-eight-year isolation on a desert island.
Friday - A twenty-six-year-old Caribbean native and cannibal who
converts to Protestantism under Crusoe’s guidance. Friday becomes Crusoe’s
servant after Crusoe saves his life when Friday is about to be eaten by other
cannibals. Friday never appears to resist or resent his new servitude, and he
may sincerely view it as appropriate compensation for having his life saved.
But whatever Friday’s response may be, his servitude has become a symbol of
imperialist oppression throughout the modern world.
The Portuguese captain - The sea captain who picks up Crusoe
and the slave boy Xury from their boat after they escape from their Moorish kidnapper
and float down the African coast. The Portuguese captain takes Crusoe to Brazil
The Spaniard - One of the men from the Spanish ship
that is wrecked off Crusoe’s island, and whose crew is rescued by the cannibals
and taken to a neighboring island. The Spaniard is condemned to be eaten as a
ritual victim of the cannibals, but Crusoe saves him. In exchange, he becomes a
new servant of Crusoe’s.
Xury - A nonwhite (Arab or black) slave boy only briefly introduced
during the period of Crusoe’s enslavement in Sallee. When Crusoe escapes with
two other slaves in a boat, he forces one to swim to shore but keeps Xury on
board, showing a certain trust toward that boy. Xury never betrays that trust.
Nevertheless, when the Portuguese captain finally picks them up, Crusoe sells
Xury to the captain. Xury’s sale shows us the racist and the feeling of
superiority sometimes apparent in Crusoe’s behavior.
The widow - She Appears very briefly, but on two
separate occasions in the novel, the widow keeps Crusoe’s 200 pounds safe in
England throughout all his thirty-five years of journeying. She returns the
money to Crusoe when he comes back to England and like the Portuguese captain
and Friday, she also reminds us of the goodwill and trustworthiness that which
human can have.
Plot Overview
Robinson
Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is an Englishman from the town of York in the seventeenth century;
he is the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Robinson Crusoe was encouraged
by his father to study law; however Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea. His
family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is
better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. In the beginning, Robinson is
committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and
embarks with a friend on a ship bound for London. When a storm almost provoked
Crusoe`s and his friend`s death, Crusoe`s friend was discouraged from sea
travel, but Robinson Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a
ship leaving London.
This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his
early profits in the care of a friendly widow. Nevertheless, the second voyage is
not that lucky: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is made a
slave to an emperor in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing
expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A
kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and
takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation
owner and soon becomes successful. Crusoe was excited to deal with slave labor
and its economic advantages; he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West
Africa but the ship ends up sank off the coast of Trinidad. He realized that he
is the only survivor of that expedition and seeks shelter and food. He returns
to the wreck´s remains twelve times in order to rescue the guns, powder, food
and other items. Onshore Crusoe finds goats he can graze for meat and he built
himself a shelter. He erects a cross in which he inscribes with the date of his
arrival, September 1, 1659, and makes a notch every day in order never to lose
track of time.
In June 1660, he gets sick and hallucinates that an angel comes to visit
him, warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a
religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier
sins. After recovering, Crusoe makes a survey of the area and discovers that he
is on an island. One day Crusoe is shocked to discover a man’s footprint on the
beach. He first assumes that footprint is the devil’s, then he argues it must
belong to one of the cannibals who live in the region. Later Crusoe catches
sight of thirty cannibals heading for shore with their victims. One of the
victims is killed. Another one, waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly breaks free
and runs toward Crusoe’s dwelling. Crusoe protects him, killing one of the
pursuers and injuring the other, whom the victim finally kills. Well-armed,
Crusoe defeats most of the cannibals onshore. The victim vows total submission
to Crusoe in gratitude for his liberation. Crusoe names him Friday, to
commemorate the day on which his life was saved, and takes him as his servant. Finding
Friday cheerful and intelligent, Crusoe teaches him some English words and some
elementary Christian concepts. Friday, in turn, explains that the cannibals are
divided into distinct nations and that they only eat their enemies. Friday also
informs Crusoe that the cannibals saved the men from the shipwreck Crusoe
witnessed earlier, and that those men, Spaniards, are living nearby. Friday
expresses a longing to return to his people, and Crusoe is upset at the possibility
of losing Friday.
Crusoe and Friday build a boat to visit the cannibals’ land together.
Before they have a chance to leave, they are surprised by the arrival of
twenty-one cannibals in canoes. Friday and Crusoe kill most of the cannibals
and release the European, a Spaniard. Friday is overjoyed to discover that
another of the rescued victims is his father. On December 19, 1686, Crusoe
boards the ship to return to England. There, he finds his family is dead except
his two sisters. He marries, and his wife dies. Crusoe finally departs for the
East Indies as a trader in 1694. He revisits his island, finding that the
Spaniards are governing it well and that it has become a prosperous colony.
Pedro Samuel de Moura Torres
Robinson Crusoe questions
1 - Who
is the author of the novel “Robinson Crusoe”?
( ) F. Scott Fitzgerald (
) George Orwell ( ) Daniel Defoe
2 - Which
kind of novel is it?
3 - In
which year this novel was published?
( ) 1716
( ) 1719 ( ) 1723
4 -
The
main setting of Robinson Crusoe was:
( ) The
Coast of Trinidad ( ) Australia (
) The north of Africa
5 -
The
place of publication was:
( ) Netherlands ( ) Germany (
) England
6 - The main themes
of Robinson Crusoe novel was:
( ) colonialism,
isolation and religion faith
( ) sexual repression, prudish society and
morality
( ) ambition,
honor and power
7 -
What is the
name of Crusoe`s main friend?
( ) Saturday ( )
Friday ( ) Thursday
8 - What would you
do if you passed through the same experience as Crusoe?
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