Robinson Crusoe
When Robinson Crusoe gets shipwrecked and stranded on a desolate island “I am cast upon a horrible desolate island void of all hope of recovery” p.91, in the Caribbean he first considers it a place of captivity holding him back from his dreams and wishes like a prison, but when he is finally able to leave it some twenty-eight years later to return home to England he yearns to return back to the island. Why? You may ask yourself, read on and I will answer that question. Crusoe grows to enjoy being the ruler of his own world, he also becomes antisocial, and starts to enjoy being alone. When he returns home to England he finds no one waiting for him, and he feels lost.
When Robinson Crusoe gets over the fact that he is probably going to have to stay on the island for a great deal of time, (until he is rescued, or until he dies) he starts building a fortress for shelter and protection from the elements. He plants wheat for food, and explores the island with his gun in hand to look for animals for meat, he also finds goats which he brings a few kids back to a coral that he made so that he can breed them. Crusoe enjoys being at centre stage, as when he has dinners with his parrot, dog, and two cats by his side, he presides over them “like a king.” This superior power over his pets foreshadows his later relationship toward his servant Friday, who was a cannibal that he saved and taught English to and became close to. One of the first words that he taught him was the word “master” witch Crusoe was to be called by. There were no second thoughts of Friday being an equal, he was definitely going to become a servant, who was inferior in rank, power, and respect.
Crusoe likes being able to control his ow...
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... A man so isolated and lonely and so far away from “home” felt lost and empty, but because of his strong character and beliefs he managed to create his own little world of superiority, trust, power and respect. When he returns to England expecting family, friends and happiness, he only realizes that his island he thought of as a prison holding him back from the rest of the world would become his final desired resting place. It is very true that sometimes happiness is right under your nose you just have to look for it and try to make it work. The grass may seem greener on the other side, b7ut that’s not always the case. Crusoe learned this through his journey of events on the island. He grew in character, hope, faith and belief instead of growing in the material ways and found that happiness he was looking for, right under his feet the whole time.
If you were stranded on an island alone, what actions would you take to survive and maintain your sanity? Would your actions be deemed admirable? This predicament faced Robinson Crusoe in the novel appropriately titled, Robinson Crusoe. Set in the mid to late 17th century, Robinson Crusoe, is an epistolary novel following the early life of the main character Robinson Crusoe. What begins as an account of the voyages and business ventures of a rebellious, young man, soon transforms into a twenty-eight year struggle for survival when Crusoe is stranded on a deserted island. While it is unanimously agreed that Crusoe survived his stay on the island, a divergence in opinion occurs when asked whether he was an admirable man by the end of the book. Some readers find his actions and character admirable, while others do not.
Throughout the novel, Christopher McCandless’s character changed over time. Up to McCandless’s death, he wanted to live with the wild and to be away from civilization as far as possible. He changes his mind when he writes “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). His purpose of living in the wild is to live with freedom and do whatever he wishes to do. However, he realizes he was a “refuge in nature” (189) and intended to abandon his solitary life and rejoin the human community. It is assumed that McCandless died a preventable death because of his unpreparedness, but it is now undeniable that his adversity is what caused his mortality. “…McCandless simple had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless sufficient to end his life” (194). Had he not eaten the moldy seeds, he would have remained alive to tell the tale.
The Vietnam War (1954-1975) was known to be the longest conflict in United States history, where over three million men and women were sent to Vietnam to fight for America's cause. The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories about the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War and what each one of the soldiers carried throughout the war. Tim O'Brien explains how each one of the soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War handled the experience in a number of ways. In the novel, The Things They Carried, O'Brien uses the feeling of Isolation to explain the different responses of the soldiers during the war and how each soldier suffered to heal from the traumatic experiences of war.
When Crusoe meets Friday, he is joyous for having found someone he could finally make his slave as he had been previously. Although not fully envious of Robinson Crusoe, Friday is found stuck in between two worlds. One, where he thinks of Robinson as his friend and the other where he wonders why he is being treated as a slave, and not for his own personal benefit. Robinson’s views are purely of self-profit as he describes his dreams: “to think that this was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a Right of Possession” (Defoe 72). This passage explains the belief of Robinson Crusoe in the feudal system and the use of hierarchy to promote bourgeois values upon the populations. The character of Robinson Crusoe then is used in Green Grass, Running Water in a satirical manner when Thought Woman explains to Crusoe that Robinson Crusoe himself would not enjoy his own company as he is seen by the rest of the world as a white supremacist with no place in native land: “But I don’t want to be Friday, says Robinson Crusoe. No point in being Robinson Crusoe all your life, says Thought Woman. It wouldn’t be much fun”(King 295). This proves that Friday was never a true friend to Crusoe when he also states: “[...]it has been difficult not having someone of color
Experiencing isolation can cause the human body to change both physically and mentally in a negative manner. Isolation is defined as the state of being separated or cut off by some sort of obstacle. When someone is isolated from human contact, their mind can cause them to do some unusual things. Whether it’s hallucinating or screaming at nothing, it is still very dangerous. Because Max is stuck in a basement isolated from the real world, Anne Frank misses nature that most of us would take for granted, and Michelle Knight was held captive inside a home for a decade, they all experience isolation in some way.
... in his attempt to run away from himself, he was unable to truly escape Christopher McCandless. And although he was not truly successful in running away from his identity, McCandless appeared to succeed in running away from society and running away from the predictability of what life would bring. Departing from the heavy burdens he found in his society, his life, and the world was the only way McCandless seemed to truly be happy and he did just that. He let go of his worrying and concern and focused on bettering himself by connecting with nature. Eventually, McCandless realized that happiness is only real when it is shared (189) but without running away from society and the people who cared about him, he would not have stumbled upon that realization.
When Crusoe meets Friday, he is joyous for having found someone he could finally make his slave as he had been previously. Although not fully envious of Robinson Crusoe, Friday is found stuck in between two worlds. One, where he thinks of Robinson as his friend and the other where he wonders why he is being treated as a slave, and not for his own personal benefit. Robinson’s views are purely of self-profit as he describes his dreams: “to think that this was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a Right of Possession” (Defoe 72). This passage explains the belief of Robinson Crusoe in the feudal system and the use of hierarchy to promote bourgeois values upon a population. The character of Robinson Crusoe is then used in Green Grass, Running Water in a satirical manner when Thought Woman explains to Crusoe that Robinson Crusoe himself would not enjoy his own company as he is seen as a white supremacist with no place on native land: “But I don’t want to be Friday, says Robinson Crusoe. No point in being Robinson Crusoe all your life, says Thought Woman. It wouldn’t be much fun” (King 295). Furthermore, this remarks insists that Friday was never a true friend to Crusoe when he also states: “it has been difficult not having someone of color around whom I
From the beginning of some life, people make many choices that affect their personal growth and livelihood, choices like what they should wear and/or what they should do. Even the littlest choices that they make could make a big difference in their lives. In the book, Robinson Crusoe retold by Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, while on the island, made many choices, big and small, that affected his personal growth and contributed to why he survived for so long. On the island he made a lot of smart decisions of what to do in order to stay a live. On his second day he made a choice to go back to the ship to explore what was there. He spent a lot of time building his home when he could have done something more important. He also took a risk and helped out a person that he did not know. These were some of many choices that Robinson Crusoe made throughout his many years on the island.
"…Races condemned to 100 years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth." These powerful last words of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude ring true. The book demonstrates through many examples that human beings cannot exist in isolation. People must be interdependent in order for the race to survive.
Daniel Defoe was an extraordinary man. Although he never had the benefit of a university education, he spoke six languages and was able to read even more. His curriculum included having been a government spy, a shopkeeper, and a journalist. As the latter, he was employed by both major parties. Of course, serving two lord is impossible, so after he got into trouble with both of these parties, he turned to writing as another means of living. The first major difference between Defoe's work and most other books dating from this time is that Robinson Crusoe is really entertaining, quite exhilarating and at times even amusing to read. This is in sharp contrast to most contemporary novels which stuck to a Spartan diet of unreality and dullness, their only charm lying in the complete strangeness to anything human. Basically, most stories at the time were chronicles of wonderful, magical events, not even attempting to resemble human life at all. Robinson Crusoe was one of the first few books to have characters with whom a reader could actually identify. Therefore, it was very popular and this idea of recognition of oneself in a character in a book is nowadays only discussed when it fails, implying that it now has become a natural 'recipe' for writing any book.
Daniel Defoe is credited with writing the first long fiction novel in literary history. Drawing from established literary genres such as the guide and providence traditions and the spiritual biography, Defoe endeavored to illustrate the life of a man who "tempted Providence to his ruine (Defoe 13)" and the consequences of such actions. While stranded alone on an island the character of Robinson Crusoe seems to have a religious epiphany about the role of Providence in his life and resolves to live in accordance with God's will. However, Crusoe's internal reflections throughout his narrative and his actions do not correlate, causing the reader to question the validity of this conversion. By examining the plot and the process of psychological change Crusoe undergoes, it becomes apparent that "he experiences and accepts divine control but that control can only be realized in the free context he has himself created (359)." When push comes to shove, Crusoe reverts to human instinct and his own impulses rather than what he perceives to be the will of Providence. Crusoe uses his newfound religion only when convenient and as a means to justify his actions and an acceptable reason for everything unfortunate that happens. When he finally does leave the island and returns to society, Crusoe's faith is tested and fails miserably, with practically no mention of Providence towards the end of the story. At the beginning of the novel, Crusoe introduces himself and establishes that his narrative is a memoir of sorts, and is told while looking through more experienced, wise eyes than when he originally experienced his story. This is important to note, because his discourse is shaded with hindsight and interpreted through a mind that has come to accept Providence's hand in his life. For example, when the Turks capture Crusoe and he is enslaved, he reflects by saying, "now the Hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without Redemption. But alas! This was but a Taste of the Misery I was to go thro' (15)." Because Crusoe is recalling the events from memory, as well as the lack of input from any other characters, his reliability can be questioned as a narrator. An unreliable narrator is one who may be in error in his or her understanding or report of things and who thus leaves readers without the guides needed for making judgements.
As boys grow into men they go through a series of changes, leaving them doubting both themselves and their beliefs. One specific author who explores this is Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe. In this publication, Defoe writes about a man who emerges from a series of catastrophes as a symbol of man’s ability to survive the tests of nature. Because of the many hardships that Defoe encountered throughout his life, writing about a man whose thoughts and internal struggles mirrored his own helps to give the publication a sense of realism. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is a fictional narrative that introduces prose fiction and proposes multiple themes that dabbles on various serious topics, such as religion.
Crusoe accepts the challenge to survive, but not only does he survive, but he also expands and discovers new qualities about himself. In the beginning of his time on the island, Crusoe feels exceedingly secluded. He fears savages and wild beasts on the island, and he stays high up in a tree. Lacking a "weapon to hunt and kill creatures for his sustenance" (Defoe, 47), he is susceptible. Defoe believed that "the nature of man resides in the capacity for improvement in the context of a material world" (Seidel, 59), and this becomes apparent in his novel. The tools that Crusoe possesses from the ship carry out this notion, improving his life on the island dramatically. He progresses quickly, and no longer feels as isolated as he did before on the island. Crusoe uses his tools to build a protective fence and a room inside a cave. He then builds a farm where he raises goats and grows a corn crop. Later, his ambitions take him to the other side of the island where he builds a country home. Also, with the weapons that Crusoe creates, he saves Friday from cannibals, and makes him his servant. Because of his tools, his supply becomes more than sufficient for survival. He comes to learn that if he works with his surroundings instead of wallowing in the fact that he has no longer got what he thinks he needs, he able to find and use everything he needs in order to carry out life.
Overall, Robinson Crusoe’s ship crashing on the island forever changes the ecology, and biodiversity. Robinson colonized the island by introducing invasive species, European crops, and enclosing areas of the island. This colonization would lead to the islands decent in, wildlife habitation, and biodiversity. Although, these concerns would change the ecosystem on the fictional island they are the signs of colonization, and improvement in the lives of the inlands inhabits.
Through realistic literary elements of the novel and the themes of individuality, isolation, society and being content versus being ambitious, readers of Robinson Crusoe can relate to many experiences that Crusoe faced. Crusoe’s story represents the genre of the middle class; it is the narration of middle-class lives with the help of realism elements and prominent themes that reflect on middle-class issues and interests. Crusoe represents mankind in the simplest form, he stands on middle ground no higher or lower than any other. He represents every reader who reads his story; they can substitute him for themselves. His actions are what every reader can picture himself or herself doing, thinking, feeling or even wishing for (Coleridge and Coleridge 188-192)