Comparing Daniel Defoe and Robinson Crusoe

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Recommended: Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe novel story and analysis

“He told me I might judge happiness of this state by this one thing, viz. that this was the state of life which all other people envied, that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequences of being born to great things, and wish’d they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and they great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this as the just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty or riches” (Defoe 2). This is a part of the lecture Robinson’s father had given when he tried to keep him from a life of sailing. But when your parents give you a lecture or advice, do you always listen? Sometimes you’ll disobey and follow your own path. Defoe did, and so did his fictional character Robinson Crusoe. Like this, Robinson and Defoe are alike in several ways. Defoe was inspired to write Robinson Crusoe by his living conditions, income, some of their troubles, and their writing.

Both Daniel Defoe and Robinson Crusoe’s living conditions varied throughout their lives. These gentlemen were both born in England defoe in London, and Crusoe in York. However Defoe was a real human being and actually went through some of the troubles that Crusoe faced. At an early age both Defoe and Crusoe had to rely on their parents for support. They both lived in an average, middle sized home. In the middle of their lives Defoe was living in a small horrid house. At the same time Crusoe was living in an extremely small hut in the middle of nowhere on a deserted island. Later in Defoe’s life he gained his feet, he was no longer struggling, and once again had a very nice, middle classed home. Later in Crusoe’s life he got off of the island, and lived at a plantation for a little bit. He then so...

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... evidence, but it has not been proven.

In conclusion, there were many ways Daniel Defoe expressed his own life experiences in Robinson Crusoe, but the comparisons that showed the most were their income, their living conditions, their troubles and even their writing. There were other similarities, but these were the most broad and comparable. The book Robinson Crusoe is like Daniel Defoe writing about himself but in another life as another person. All of the events may not have been exactly the same, but the message behind them remained the same. All in all, Robinson Crusoe and Daniel Defoe were very different people, with similar lives. You can always tell a lot about a person by what and the way they write. Sometimes, you just have to read between the lines.

Works Cited

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003. Print.

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