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Robinson Crusoe
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Robinson Crusoe (beg.) by Daniel Defoe - Group Read (hosted by Erich)
I am enjoying the illustrations a lot, Erich, thank you so much for them! I particularly liked the quirky figures on the ship (sorry, I know these things have a name ;)).I am amazed by Robinson's presence of mind! After the first outburst, he's acting as if according to a plan... Now that most people have read 'RC' at some point, probably everybody has some vague idea of what they would do in a similar situation; but in a pre-RC world, how would he have the wisdom to think, for example, of all the tools he might need?..
Nice illustrations again Erich! It gives some nice visuals to the reading experience. I am noting our young protagonist's resourcefulness and his having to figure out things through trial and error. It feels like this will be a continual learning experience for him.
Robinson Crusoe's survival skills were impressive considering he wasn't in the military where he might have received some formal training. It helped that he was young and strong since some of the provisions were heavy. He was also very lucky that the ship hadn't broken up so he was able to get some essentials from the ship. Probably most people who have read the book have asked themselves what they would have done in the same situation, and it keeps us turning the pages!Great illustrations again, Erich!
I am impressed at the items Robinson carried from the ship. They were heavy and he managed them well. He has strength.His skills seem impressive, too. I imagine he learned a few skills on his plantation, but it was never made clear how much manual labor he did there.
The fence he put up was rather ingenious, being designed for the materials he had on hand.
I enjoyed reading how Robinson managed on the first few days and am impressed that he found a homebase where he can find protection.
Erich, thanks for the illustrations.In "Crusoe and the Planters", Robinson really fits in well with the crowd. I'm assuming he's the one wearing sandals. It's strange footwear for a plantation worker/owner. That may be the one item that differentiates him from the Brazil-born planters. Perhaps the sandals are to show the reader that he almost fits into the Brazils but not quite?
"We hastened our destruction with our own hands" shows an ominous scene. Those waves are high and the boat is small & laden with the crew.
Great comments, everyone. I agree with you that Robinson has great presence of mind and many of the skills he needs to survive. Earlier, the narrator regretted that on one voyage he shipped as a gentleman rather than as a common sailor because he missed an opportunity to learn useful skills. Although he often looks back on his life and laments the results of his decisions, it seems like the hard and uncertain life he has led has prepared him for this new challenge.I also ask myself what I would do and whether I would have the strength and courage to survive such an ordeal. The physical difficulty is compounded by the fact that he is completely alone and beyond rescue.
Summary of (Chapter 7)
After fencing in the area in front of the cave, Robinson transported all of his belongings over the fence, built a sturdy tent out of sail canvas, and hung up a hammock. Over the next several days, he enlarged the cave into a cellar by removing soil and stones, which he then used to reinforce the fence to his enclosure.
On one occasion during his first days on the island, there was a heavy storm with thunder and lightning. Robinson realized that keeping all of his gunpowder in a single place exposed it to the chance of catching fire and exploding. Were that to happen, he would be left without the means of hunting and defense if not killed outright. To minimize that danger, he divided the gunpowder into more than a hundred small parcels and placed them in separate protected locations. This work took more than two weeks as he had to construct bags and boxes to hold the powder.
Fortunately for Robinson, there were goats on the island; however, they were extremely wary and difficult to approach. Robinson discovered that if he came at them from above he could get close enough to kill one, and t he first goat he killed was a mother with a young kid. He hoped to raise the kid but found that it would not eat, so he was forced to kill it as well.
Robinson was often despondent about his situation. He knew that his boat had been blown far from the normal shipping lanes and that it was unlikely that anyone would rescue him. The narrator explains that “I had great Reason to consider it as a Determination of Heaven, that in this desolate Place, and in this desolate Manner I should end my Life.”
At other times, he reflected that he was extremely lucky to be alive and on the island. His companions had not survived the storm, and he had the necessities of life. It was only by an almost impossible chance that the wreck had been pushed closer to shore and that he had been able to retrieve supplies. Had he been cast onto the island without any of his cargo, his situation would be dire indeed. The narrator reflects that “All Evils are to be consider’d with the Good that is in them” and that “I had a tolerable View of subsisting without any Want as long as I liv’d.”
Sunday is a break day, and we will read the next section on Monday.
Robinson is getting a feel for his situation and how to deal with it. I suppose, he's going through the "bargaining" part of accepting his fate with the comparisons of good and bad. He's waffling between depression about the situation and hope about the situation. Meanwhile, he continues to secure his base and make it as comfortable for himself as possible.
I was distressed that he killed a mama goat. He could have been more careful of which goat he aimed for. Also, that is a lot of meat for him to have around without spoiling. Such a shame. Of course, that's looking at it from modern eyes and not the eyes of the time this was written.
While it's interesting go see how Robinson is settling himself in his new situation, I'm looking forward to when he explores the island more and finding out about his longer survival.
Petra wrote: "I suppose, he's going through the "bargaining" part of accepting his fate with the comparisons of good and bad."I really like your idea of looking at Robinson through the lens of the Seven Stages of Grief! I'll paste in a visual here for that:
According to that model, if he is at the bargaining stage he has yet to experience true despair.
It strikes me that Robinson is probably more prepared for his situation that most people of our time would be. For example, he is able to calculate his latitude and already knows how to live without things like electricity and refrigeration.
Summary of (Chapter 8)
After several days, Robinson realized that he would quickly lose track of time, so he began the habit of cutting a notch on a post every day to keep count of the days.
Along with the other items from the ship, Robinson brought away many practical objects such as pens and ink as well as two cats and a dog which had been on board. Even though he was fortunate enough to have many resources from the ship, the ink was limited, and he did not have farm tools such as shovels that would have been very useful.
Because he lacked many tools, all of the work that Robinson did took an extremely long time to accomplish. Jobs such as cutting and driving in posts for the enclosure, for example, were very tedious and difficult.
Reflecting on his situation, Robinson decided to make a list of “the Comforts I enjoy’d, against the Miseries I suffer’d.” He was alone but alive, solitary but not starving, lacked but also didn’t need clothing, was defenseless but not threatened, was cut off from support but had many resources. The author concludes that “there was scarce any Condition in the World so miserable, but there was something Negative or something Positive to be thankful for in it.”
Having gone through this exercise, Robinson felt more accepting of the situation and able to focus on improving it. To address the clutter in his enclosure, he set to work enlarging the cave and organizing his supplies on shelves. He also added an entrance to the side of the cave from outside the enclosure and constructed a table and chair.
Even though he had few skills related to carpentry or his other needs, Robinson managed to create many of the objects that he desired. The narrator observes that “as Reason is the Substance and Original of the Mathematicks, so by stating and squaring every thing by Reason, and by making the most rational Judgment of things, every Many may be in time Master of every mechanick Art.”
In these last 2 chapters, RC has gone through a gamut of emotions regarding his situation or condition as he calls it. He is angry at first wondering why he is being punished having not, in his mind, been overly disobedient. He believes Providence from heaven is being cruel to him. And yet, after much thought and reproving of himself he writes the list of evil and good that he makes, RC comes to reckon that he is really in a better position than he originally believed. He realizes the provisions he has were placed for him by God - the boat being there allowing him to retrieve valuable supplies that will enable him to sustain life. He has a gun, ammunition, supplies to make furniture, even pens and writing paper and 3 Bibles to read. His bitterness has disappeared and he has become a man willing to live and able to make a place and a home no matter how hard it is. His effort and his time is all he has and he has shown that he is going to put it toward making life habitable with what he has been provided.
Erich C wrote: "It strikes me that Robinson is probably more prepared for his situation that most people of our time would be."So much so that it seems unrealistic, so I went to read about Robinson's supposed prototype, Alexander Selkirk.
Wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand...
It's an interesting story!
I was shocked that he actually returned to buccaneering after his island experience.
And... 'most literary scholars now accept that he was just one of many survival narratives that Defoe knew about'.
So it seems that people were more prepared for this kind of situation, at least those who went to sea (though it's hard to believe anybody can be prepared for this).
Lori wrote: "His bitterness has disappeared and he has become a man willing to live and able to make a place and a home no matter how hard it is. His effort and his time is all he has and he has shown that he is going to put it toward making life habitable with what he has been provided."It brings up a big question: What gives life its meaning? Is it comforts, companionship, power? In society, Robinson might not think to even ask the question, but when he is completely on his own he must.
Plateresca wrote: "So much so that it seems unrealistic, so I went to read about Robinson's supposed prototype, Alexander Selkirk.Wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexand...
It's an interesting story!"
Thanks for sharing that, Plateresca!
Summary of (Chapter 9)
(Crusoe’s Journal, from September 30, 1659 to April 30, 1660)
Robinson records the events from his shipwreck on what he calls the Island of Despair: his initial hopeless circumstances, the discovery of the ship, securing supplies, the upset raft, and the construction and organization of the enclosure. He details his daily routine in good weather, which included two or three hours of hunting and exploration, a daytime work period, an afternoon nap, and an evening work session. He describes building a table and chair, dividing his gunpowder, creating a spade out of extremely hard wood, expanding his cave, fencing his enclosure, and building a ladder.
On one occasion, part of the ceiling of his cave collapsed, which was not only dangerous but took many days to repair. Another day, he captured a goat and managed to tame it, so it gave him the idea to breed his own goats so that he would not need to hunt them once his powder and shot were exhausted.
Although Robrinson was able to accomplish many things with few tools, he lacked several conveniences, such as a water cask and candles. He also had no grain, as it had all been eaten by rats aboard the ship.
As he was going through his things, he discovered a small bag that had held poultry feed, and he spilled out the dust and remainders so that he could reuse the bag. It happened that there were some overlooked grains in the bag, and they sprouted when it rained. Although until that time Robinson had had “very few Notions of Religion in my Head, or had entertain’d any Sense of any Thing that had befallen me, otherwise than as a Chance,” this event made him question whether God had worked a miracle.Soon he realized that the grain had grown from the chaff he had discarded and was not as miraculous as he had thought, but the narrator comments that “I ought to have been as thankful for so strange and unforeseen Providence, as if it had been miraculous; for it was really the Work of Providence as to me, that should order or appoint that 10 or 12 Grains of Corn should remain unspoil’d, (when the Rats had destroy’d all the rest,) as if it had been dropt from Heaven.”
One day in spring, Robinson was surprised by an enormous earthquake that caved in part of his enclosure. He fled terrified and endured several violent aftershocks outside of the enclosure. This was followed by a hurricane that forced him back into his shelter.
After the earthquake, Robinson considered how to make a safer habitation, since another strong quake could bring the hill down on his tent. He planned to stay where he was until he could construct a fence around a new piece of ground. Meanwhile, the biscuits he had salvaged from the ship began to run low.
Erich C wrote: "LINKS TO READING SECTIONS: (ongoing)Preface and (Chapter 1)"I was born in the Year 1632..." to "...I can give no Consent to it." (10 paragraphs)(Chapter 2) "It was not till almost a Year after t..."
While I officially marked the start about two weeks ago, I am today starting the full reading. Thank You! While I always look forward to this group, I approach your materials astounded by all you've provided, Erich. I will be following but most likely not responding because I tend to be a bit late to the initial posts. What a fun readng this will be!
Erich C wrote: "It brings up a big question: What gives life its meaning?"Well, Robinson wanted adventures, didn't he? Even after his escape from slavery... And this is an adventure.
On the other hand, thinking strategically, this might not be that different from starting an estate in Brazil. He has land, he has limited resources, and he has time and his skills. What's lacking here is human company, and he does say he misses it. On the other hand, we never knew that he had any particular friends in Brazil, or a love life.
I am enjoying the journal, and even the parts that overlap with what we've already read: I think it adds realism, and makes Robinson more human.What I don't understand is this: what does he really think about his prospects here? I mean, has he accepted the thought that he might be here for life? I think it would be natural to hope to be saved. Even the Wiki article on Selkirk says he 'scanned the ocean daily for rescue' — I am sure that's what I would be doing! But so far, he hasn't mentioned thinking about the chances of a ship passing the island.
What do you think about the nitty-gritty details?
I am sorry Robinson doesn't explain how exactly he managed to drive his stakes into the (mountainous?) soil; I know from experience it's far from easy.
Then, seeds. How come he didn't think about planting them in the first place, being a planter himself?
When he thought that, after all, his seeds sprouting up was not much a miracle, I said to myself, 'Well, you try planting something here and see how many things can go wrong with seedlings'. In the following sentences, he goes on to talk about all the things that went wrong afterwards %)
Robinson just can't find a time to rest. Shortly after he's finished setitng up his new home, an earthquake destroys some of it and makes him uncertain again. No rest for either body or mind. He's making great strides in such things as planting a crop and taming animals. He is thinking ahead for when the supplies from the ship run out. He's resourceful, for sure.
Plateresca, I'm sure I'd be checking the horizon for ships, at least, at first. After awhile of not spying any, I would probably ...not give up on the idea.... have the activity move into the background. At this point in the story, I think I'd be checking the sea every day for a ship.
Jan wrote: "While I officially marked the start about two weeks ago, I am today starting the full reading."It's so nice to have you join us, Jan!
Plateresca wrote: "Has he accepted the thought that he might be here for life?"Robinson knows that his ship blew far from the more frequented shipping lanes before the shipwreck, so there is little hope for him to see a ship, even though he continues to look during the first weeks of his residence on the island.
I remember reading a comment that a prisoner of war had made about the people who ended up surviving the ordeal. It was not the people with an optimistic view hoping to be rescued but those who accepted their position and managed to keep a sense of purpose.
The "miracle" of the seeds is that he didn't even realize that there were viable grains in the little bag. He also didn't have a sense yet of the seasonal changes on the island, so it was also fortuitous that they fell to the ground at just the right time.
Petra wrote: "He's making great strides in such things as planting a crop and taming animals. He is thinking ahead for when the supplies from the ship run out. He's resourceful, for sure."This is the type of situation that forces a person to be resourceful and focused. Any failure could mean his death!
Plateresca commented on the shift to the journal and the repetition in this section. I've been thinking about why Defoe chose to go about his story this way. He could have begun the book with the journal, but instead he begins with a narrative. Many of the events in the journal repeat incidents from earlier in the text, but then Defoe has Robinson skip over details about the wall.
Today is a break day, and we will discuss the next section on Thursday.
Erich C wrote: "I remember reading a comment that a prisoner of war had made about the people who ended up surviving the ordeal."Viktor Frankl :)
I thought about this in the context of Robinson, too.
I don't think hoping to be rescued would be reasonable; but I often find that people hope against hope, myself and others, too. I find it strange that so far, Robinson has not talked about this possibility or impossibility.
I think the journal adds credibility to an extent. Maybe the repetitions make the book look less like fiction?
That said, I was surprised at the offhand mention of the cats and dog! Now we've already commented on his attitude to animals, but R. C. has talked so much about his various tools, that his forgetting to mention those animals seems, to me, rather as if the author decided to add them at the last moment and didn't bother to edit the previous pages.
Erich C wrote: "The Hero’s JourneyIn the first pages, Defoe signals that Robinson Crusoe is embarking on a quest or Hero’s Journey. Here is an illustration that summarizes the basic elements of the Hero’s Journe..."
A Hero's Journey: what a fitting choice for this young man who is dismayed by practical commands and persuasions from his parents. He is drawn to adventures and the vast, unpredicatable waters that can take him anywhere. Thank You!
Defoe as narrative innovatorfrom John Richetti in The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe
Defoe's fiction is traditionally labeled "realistic." But realism is a slippery notion. Once we move beyond basic biological circumstances, "reality" manifests itself as a historically variable entity that can be defined only tentatively according to prevailing philosophical, social, economic, and technological conditions. [...]
Defoe's narratives certainly offer accounts of the lives of ordinary people, some of them socially marginal or even criminal, [...b]ut the rendering of the particulars of experience, especially human biological facts, is not where his "realistic" originality lies. Defoe's "realism" as a novelist comes in his vivid evocation of individuals as they examine the conditions of their existence and explore what it means to be a person in particularized social and historical circumstances. Looking back on their lives, his characters discover the nature of their particular reality. They reveal how they adapted to their circumstances, how they modified actuality as they encountered it and constructed personal versions of "reality," all the while let it be said avoiding solipsism of the sort that Cervantes' Don Quixote exemplifies.[...]
Defoe's clear-eyed fictions are novelistic precisely because their narrators evoke a shifting social and historical field of opportunity (and danger) rather than a hierarchical and settled order. Experience in such fiction thereby shapes or even determines identity and personality for better or worse. In dramatizing the exploratory and improvisatory careers of their characters, Defoe's narratives are part of a trend that undermines traditional status divisions and highlights individual actors who tend to move through those divisions rather than within them, who may be said to acquire identity instead of having it thrust upon them. Defoe's narratives dwell upon the material aspects of the world as it is experienced by characters conscious of their own unsettled and developing individuality, very much within a social and moral order but never entirely contained or fully explained by it.
Summary of (Chapter 10)
(Crusoe’s Journal continued, from May 1 to July 4, 1660)
Robinson discovered that the earthquake had shifted the wreck and exposed parts of it that had been unreachable before. As a result, a variety of objects floated to shore daily. He resolved to strip the wreck of as much as he could before it broke up completely. He spent several days retrieving beams and iron from the ship as well as sheet lead which he would be able to use for bullets.
After he had stripped the wreck, Robinson came down with a fever and was ill in bed for several days. He was extremely weak and scarcely able to eat or drink because of his weakness. During his illness, he “Pray’d to God again, but was light-headed, and when I was not, I was so ignorant, that I knew not what to say; only I lay and cry’d, Lord look upon me, Lord pity me, Lord have Mercy upon me.”
When he fell asleep, Robinson had a dream in which a terrifying apparition appeared and told him that “Seeing all these Things have not brought thee to Repentance, now thou shalt die.” Waking from the dream, Robinson began to awaken to a knowledge of God as well. He realized that he had not recognized the hand of God in his life, feeling neither “the Fear of God in Danger” or “Thankfulness to God in Deliverances.” Robinson explains that “Conscience that had slept so long, begun to awake, and I began to reproach my self with my past Life, in which I had so evidently, by uncommon Wickedness, provok’d the Justice of God to lay me under uncommon Strokes, and to deal with me in so vindictive a Manner.”
Robinson reflected on the truth of the words his father had said: “That if I did take this foolish Step, God would not bless me, and I would have Leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his Counsel, when there might be none to assist in my Recovery.” He recognized the justice of the punishment he had received for ignoring that advice. Although he had little religious training, he managed to pray to God fervently and from his heart.
With the birth of his religious consciousness, Robinson thought through the meaning of his fate as a castaway: God governs all and knows all, so God has chosen Robinson to be on the island; God is just but unknowable, so Robinson’s fate must be just even if it cannot be understood.
As a treatment for his illness, Robinson dosed himself with tobacco and rum, and he also began to read one of his bibles. The verses he read helped him understand that God did have the power to deliver him from the island, so it strengthened his faith. For the first time, he kneeled and prayed to God before he slept.
Awakening, Robinson felt much improved. He continued to contemplate God’s power and to hope for deliverance from the island. However, he reflected that he had just been delivered from an illness, “God had deliver’d me, but I had not glorify’d him; that is to say, I had not own’d and been thankful for that as a Deliverance, and how cou’d I expect greater Deliverance?”
Soon, Robinson began to read the Bible regularly and seriously. His notion of “deliverance” began to change, and he started to accept his imprisonment on the island as a just consequence of a sinful life. He felt true repentance, and he prayed for “Deliverance from the Load of Guilt that bore down all my Comfort.” The narrator comments that “I add this Part here, to hint at whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a much greater Blessing than Deliverance from Affliction.”
Jan wrote: "Erich C wrote: "A Hero's Journey: what a fitting choice for this young man who is dismayed by practical commands and persuasions from his parents."Robinson already admitted that he could have attained the level of success he had in Brazil without the danger and struggle if he had followed his father's advice. Now, on the island, he must struggle to meet even the most basic needs!
Plateresca wrote: "I think the journal adds credibility to an extent. Maybe the repetitions make the book look less like fiction?"I think it does as well! Also, the lists of objects and detailed descriptions of the tedious work sound authentic.
Erich C wrote: "Jan wrote: "Erich C wrote: "A Hero's Journey: what a fitting choice for this young man who is dismayed by practical commands and persuasions from his parents."Robinson already admitted that he co..."
Your comment makes me rethink Robinson Crusoe's motivation. Perhaps he himself did not realize what he was seeking; he simply knew he was not yet satisfied in the first chapters. As I listen to this novel, I'm struck by Crusoe's coming-of-conscience when growing into a man. As weeks turn to months then to years, he poses moral questions and speculations. He also grows in gratitude and personal responsibility. I take this to be a social call to action, not one young man alone. Well, that is how I see this now -- far from the mere surface-level adventure I enjoyed decades ago.
Do you see Dickens influenced by Dafoe's socio-political commentary? I enjoy the different "heroes" on their journeys who not only observe society but actively receive punishments or rewards from others. We cheer on these heroes -- aha, but are we putting ourselves in their places?
Well, back to the story and to your comments.
Thank you for all your leadership here!
Jan
It's interesting how some people will thank God for being alive if they have a bad accident or health problem since things could be worse. Other people will curse God for giving them their problems. We see Robinson Crusoe thanking God for saving him and allowing him to obtain so many lifesaving objects from the wrecked ship. It takes a health crisis for this self-reliant, self-centered man to think about how much worse his situation could be, and see the hand of God in his rescue. He realizes that he could have lived a better life.RC has no one to talk to, so his communication with God and reading of the Bible will probably make him feel less alone as well as having religious aspects.
Connie wrote: "It's interesting how some people will thank God for being alive if they have a bad accident or health problem since things could be worse. Other people will curse God for giving them their problems..."Those are great points. Robinson seems to be an optimist about his situation, and his relationship with God is strengthening as he doesn't see it as a burden but looks at ways he can be resourceful until he figures out other things. I forgot to chime in awhile back, but it seemed like chapter 6 was a sort of turning point spiritually for him when he tries praying and begins his journey with God.
'The fit held me seven hours' — can he really be that sure? I understand he judges by the position of the Sun and he's an experienced sailor, but this is impressive for somebody who's very sick.'[M]y rebellious behaviour against my father, or my present sins which were great' — which great present sins, do you think, does he mean?
'I begun to be very easy' — this is surprising right after 'this dreadful place', and, indeed, maybe Robinson is half delirious at this point, but this brings us back to the discussion about what could be the things he misses most now, I mean, which of the comforts//pleasures//experiences that are unavailable to him now meant most to him.
I know this is somewhat ahistorical, but it strikes me that Robinson gets into an altered state and has spiritual revelations; indeed, people sometimes do things like self-isolation or food deprivation to get into this state and to receive these revelations. Tobacco, too, might have a place in such ceremonies.
Lori remembered how Gabriel Betteredge used 'RC' for a kind of divination by the book; and in this chapter, Robinson himself does something similar.
'[T]he impossibility of my deliverance': OK, now he's finally said this, I'm satisfied %)
Erich C wrote: "Jan wrote: "Erich C wrote: "Now, on the island, he must struggle to meet even the most basic needs!"Do you think a part of him actually enjoys this, that adventurous part that didn't let him settle in Brazil?
Erich, thank you for the quote on Defoe's realism; this is interesting and something to keep in mind while reading 'RC'.
Just in case, this is the book Erich and I are remembering: Man's Search for Meaning.
Jan, speaking about Dickens in the context of the latest chapter, I thought Dickens was (also) fascinated by dreams and the revelations that come in them. I think we can be certain that Defoe influenced Dickens.
When RC was sick, he was feverish and didn't have water to hydrate. His high fevers were intensified by lack of food and water, and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Fever dreams and hallucinations may have been the result. This was the first time during his ordeal that RC really felt out of control of the situation since he arrived on the island. He usually can find his way out of any bad situation. His illness and emotional needs may have led to his religious experience. It may help him, especially if he believes in a kind, forgiving God.
I definitely think Franky is right, that we are seeing the beginning of RC’s spiritual journey. I think Defoe, being a Presbyterian would have understood that faith begins with repentance and in order for repentance to occur, one must see themselves as a broken sinner in need of redemption. The illness and near death experience (can we call it that?) brought him to his lowest point so far. In order for him to realize his need for faith, he has been brought to a place where he can see that turning to God is the only way. He is grappling already with questions of whether it is worth all of his efforts to make a life - shelter, finding food, comforts if he is able to like a chair and table. Ultimately, though, he is going to have to decide what is worth living for? So far, he has chased money, possessions and self-worth and not found success as he was captured and put into slavery in Africa. When he escapes, he makes another attempt at farming success but then is tempted by another voyage and is shipwrecked. So far, he doesn’t have a great streak with personal and selfish gains in his life. He’s now got lots of time to figure out what life is really worth living for.
Jan wrote: "Your comment makes me rethink Robinson Crusoe's motivation. Perhaps he himself did not realize what he was seeking; he simply knew he was not yet satisfied in the first chapters."That's a very good point! In the beginning, he doesn't seem to have a specific goal. He tells us that "my Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts" and that "I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea." He wanted adventure, and specifically adventure at sea; his father's advice about following a middle course assumes that Robinson is seeking his fortune, but at first he has no reason to go other than his "wandring Inclination."
Many of us are noticing the strong spiritual turn that the narrative is taking. Particularly in the last chapter, Robinson developed from self-centered to God-centered prayer. I like the way Franky put it: he no longer sees his relationship with God as a burden.As Connie pointed out, the pattern up to now has been that a crisis or a rescue prompts RC to prayer and devotion, but it quickly fades away once he is comfortable again. His illness brought him very low, but was it low enough for him to maintain his gratitude now that he is well again? As Lori commented, his ventures have mainly been failures up to now, and he must "figure out what life is really worth living for."
Plateresca and Connie make the point that RC's religious visions were probably influenced by illness and fasting as well as by the entheogenic effects of tobacco and rum. Many (most?) religions include periods of fasting to build self-discipline and gratitude, but an altered physiology also makes a believer more prone to heightened religious experiences.
Psalm 50Robinson opens his bible "casually" and lands on Psalm 50:
1 The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Summary of (Chapter 11)
As Robinson recovered from his illness and gained strength, he continued to read the Bible and pray during the first half of July. It being summer, he was concerned about the coming monsoon rains, which he found detrimental to his health.
It had been ten months since Robinson was marooned on the island, and he had seen no sign of humans. He decided to make a detailed exploration of the island, beginning with the stream where he had landed his rafts. He discovered flat grassy areas as well as wild tobacco, aloes, and sugar cane. Continuing further on, he found melons and grapes, which he learned to dry for raisins.
Cresting a hill, Robinson came across a vale with a small stream, where “the country appear’d so fresh, so green, so flourishing, every thing being in a constant Verdure, or Flourish of Spring, that it looked like a planted Garden.” Whereas before he had viewed the island only as a place of affliction from which he craved deliverance, this sight gave him “a secret Kind of Pleasure” to think that he was “King and Lord” of such a lovely place. In the vale, he discovered wild cocoa, orange, lemon, and citron trees that he might domesticate in the future.
Robinson decided to bring away grapes, limes, and lemons in order to prepare for the coming rainy season. Arriving at his enclosure, though, he found that the grapes he had brought with him were so delicate that they had broken and been ruined during the journey. When he returned to the vale the next day, moreover, the piles of grapes that he had gathered there were eaten or trodden on. To solve this dilemma, Robinson hung bunches of grapes on tree branches in the vale so that they could dry there before he carried them away.
During his exploration, Robinson had learned that other parts of the island were much more fertile and contained many more resources than where he had situated his home. He briefly contemplated moving to “that pleasant fruitful Part of the Island,” but then he realized that staying near the coast made it “at least possible that something might happen to my Advantage [...] yet to enclose my self among the Hills and Woods, in the Center of the Island, was to anticipate my Bondage.” Therefore, he did not remove to the new area completely but did build a “Country-House” there protected by a strong fence.
Robinson retrieved his now dried raisins just before the monsoon rains came on in early August. It rained daily, and he was mostly housebound until mid-October. During this time, one of his female cats which had been missing reappeared, bringing kittens. Robinson relates that, in time, he had so many cats that “I was forc’d to kill them like Vermine, or wild Beasts, and to drive them from my House as much as possible."
Robinson Crusoe as spiritual autobiographyfrom Leopold Damrosch, Jr. in Critical Essays on Daniel Defoe:
The affinities of Robinson Crusoe with the Puritan tradition are unmistakable: it draws on the genres of spiritual autobiography and allegory, and Crusoe's religious conversion is presented as the central event. But this primal novel, in the end, stands as a remarkable instance of a work that gets away from its author, and gives expression to attitudes that seem to lie far from his conscious intention. Defoe sets out to dramatize the conversion of the Puritan self, and he ends by celebrating a solitude that exalts autonomy instead of submission. He undertakes to show the dividedness of a sinner, and ends by projecting a hero so massively self-enclosed that almost nothing of his inner life is revealed. He proposes a naturalistic account of real life in a real world, and ends by creating an immortal triumph of wish-fulfillment. To some extent, of course, Defoe must have been aware of these ambiguities, which are summed up when Crusoe calls the island "my reign, or my captivity, which you please." But it is unlikely that he saw how deep the gulf was that divided the two poles of his story, the Augustinian theme of alienation and the romance theme of gratification.
[...]
In a Puritan view the normal course of nature is simply the sum total of an ongoing chain of special providences, for as a modern expositor of Calvin puts it, "Bread is not the natural product of the earth. In order that the earth may provide the wheat from which it is made, God must intervene, ceaselessly and ever anew, in the 'order of nature,' must send the rain and dew, must cause the sun to rise every morning." [(R. Stauffer 1978)] In the eighteenth century, however, there was an increasing tendency to define providence as the general order of things rather than as a series of specific interventions. Wesley bitterly remarked that "The doctrine of a particular providence is absolutely out of fashion in England - and any but a particular providence is no providence at all." One purpose of Robinson Crusoe is to vindicate God's omnipotence by showing the folly of making such a distinction. [...]
In keeping with this message the narrative contains many scriptural allusions, which are often left tacit for the reader to detect and ponder. The sprouting wheat, for instance, recalls a central doctrine of the Gospels: "Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:24). Crusoe's life recapitulates that of everyman, a fictional equivalent of what Samuel Clarke recommended in the study of history: "By setting before us what hath been, it promonisheth us of what will be again; sith the self-same fable is acted over again in the world, the persons only are changed that act it." Like other Puritans Crusoe has to grope toward the meaning of the types embodied in his own biography.
Summary of (Chapter 11 cont.)
During the second half of August, monsoon rains kept Robinson inside, where he worked on enlarging the cave. He eventually created a passage that led outside his enclosure; it made him feel vulnerable to have such an entrance, but he had not seen any dangerous animals on the island.
September the thirtieth was “the unhappy Anniversary of my Landing.” To mark the occasion, he fasted and prayed for the whole day. From this time, Robinson also observed the sabbath.
During his time on the island, Robinson believed that he had developed a sense of the seasonal weather patterns, so he decided to plant some of the grain that he had saved. However, he misjudged the timing for sowing the grain, and none of the seeds sprouted during the dry season that followed the monsoon rains. Fortunately, he had reserved some of his seed, and he planted his crop successfully in February, prior to the rains in spring. As a result, he increased his stock of grain and also learned the proper time to plant it.
In November, Robinson visited the “Bower” he had built in the center of the island, and he discovered that the stakes he had used for the fence had rooted and made a beautiful living shady hedge. He was so pleased that he created a similar hedge around his enclosure near the beach.
Robinson perceived that the year was divided into four alternating rainy and dry seasons. With this knowledge, he was better able to anticipate the rainy season and increase his stock of provisions before it came so that he was not forced to leave his shelter in search of food.
He spent his time during the wet months completing tasks and creating useful objects. He had wanted to create a basket for some time, but the twigs near his enclosure were too brittle for the purpose. It occurred to him that branches from the trees with which he had built his hedges may be supple and strong enough to use for baskets, so he cut and dried them. As a boy, he had observed a local basket-maker, so he had a good understanding of basket-weaving and was able to make several baskets.
Other resources that Robinson lacked were sufficient water-tight containers and a pot for boiling things.
During the summer, he made an expedition to the other side of the island. As he crested the hill above his “Country-House,” he saw land 15 or 20 leagues (45-60 nautical miles) away. Although Robinson longed to go there and thought it could be part of the Spanish Empire, he recognized that it could also be “all Inhabited by [cannibalistic] Savages, where if I should have landed, I had been in a worse Condition than I was now.” Therefore, he “acquiesced in the Dispositions of Providence, which I began now to own, and to believe, order’d every Thing for the best.”
Robinson found that the other side of the island was far pleasanter than the one where he had landed, with open grassy fields and woods filled with parrots. He was able to capture one young parrot, which he later taught to speak.
There was also a type of hare inhabiting that side of the island, but Robinson felt satisfied that he did not need to kill them for food. The narrator explains that “tho’ my Case was deplorable enough, yet I had great Cause for Thankfulness, that I was not driven to any Extremities for Food, but rather Plenty, even to Dainties.”
When he reached the seashore on the other side of the island, Robinson was surprised to find that there were many turtles and fowls there. That side of the island was truly a land of plenty; even so, he did not consider moving his habitation, which he had come to think of as “Home.”
Robinson followed the coastline for several miles and then planted a pole in the ground to mark his turnaround point. He resolved to do the same from his enclosure toward the east until he found the pole and completed his exploration.
On his return journey, Robinson lost his way and lost some days, but finally he arrived back to the enclosure.
Illustrations for Chapters 7-11
Felling trees for planks
Edward Henry Wehnert, 1862
Crusoe discovers Goats on the island
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
The kid followed me
Wal Paget, 1891
I wanted nothing that he could fetch me
Wal Paget, 1891
Crusoe Writing his journal
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Crusoe discovers the Barley
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
I was surprised and perfectly astonished
Wal Paget, 1891
The Wreck
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Crusoe finds a Turtle
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Crusoe's dream
Edward Henry Wehnert, 1862
Crusoe Ill - Reading the Bible
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Broiled it on the coals
Wal Paget, 1891
Crusoe in his Bower
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Crusoe Sowing Corn
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
I sowed my grain
Wal Paget, 1891
Robinson Crusoe at work in his cave
Thomas Stothard, 1782
Crusoe Making Baskets
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
I went up the creek first
Wal Paget, 1891
I descended a little on the side of that delicious valley
Wal Paget, 1891
I knocked it down with a stick
Wal Paget, 1891
Crusoe teaches his Parrot to talk
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
Emile, or On Education (other topics)The Moonstone (other topics)
Gulliver’s Travels (other topics)
Concrete Island (other topics)
Robinson Crusoe (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert Louis Stevenson (other topics)J.G. Ballard (other topics)
J.M. Coetzee (other topics)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (other topics)
J.M.G. Le Clézio (other topics)
More...
Crusoe and the Planters
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
Looking over the charts
Wal Paget, 1891
We hastened our destruction with our own hands
Wal Paget, 1891
Robinson Crusoe shipwrecked, and clinging to a rock
Thomas Stothard, 1782
Crusoe saved on the island
Edward Henry Wehnert, 1862
I was now landed
Wal Paget, 1891
I fell fast asleep
Wal Paget, 1891
I espied a small piece of rope
Wal Paget, 1891
Crusoe loading his raft
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863
A confused screaming and crying
Wal Paget, 1891
Crusoe makes a little Tent with a Sail
Unknown artist; published in Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863