Robinson Crusoe

By Daniel Defoe

The classic tale of shipwrecked adventure, Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel "Robinson Crusoe" is the fictional autobiography of its title character. When cast ashore upon a tropical island, Robinson Crusoe must use his survival skills to find food and shelter and evade the native cannibals. A captivating tale of action and adventure, based in part on the real life adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived more than four years on an island in the Pacific, "Robinson Crusoe" is regarded by some as the first novel of the English language.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781596252752

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English author, journalist, merchant and secret agent. His career in business was varied, with substantial success countered by enough debt to warrant his arrest. Political pamphleteering also landed Defoe in prison but, in a novelistic turn of events, an Earl helped free him on the condition that he become an intelligence agent. The author wrote widely on many topics, including politics, travel, and proper manners, but his novels, especially Robinson Crusoe, remain his best remembered work.

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ROBINSON CRUSOE

BY DANIEL DEFOE

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3015-3

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59625-275-2

This edition copyright © 2011

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CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ROBINSON CRUSOE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DANIEL DEFOE

Daniel Defoe has the distinction of writing one of the earliest novels in English literature and also of creating one of the most contradictory heroes, Robinson Crusoe. From the beginning of the novel, Crusoe betrays an alarming tendency to vacillate between extremes of religious conviction and godlessness, humanity and callousness, dedicated industry and restlessness. One moment, he is sincerely affected by his father's representations to him to stay home rather than go to sea and the next moment, he is plotting to run away from his family. When he is shipwrecked and scrounging for provisions on the ship, he finds money and at first bemoans its uselessness, saying O drug!..what art thou good for? (Robinson Crusoe) but in the same breath, he decides to take it with him. He accidentally kills a she-goat with a dependent kid and says that his event grieved me heartily (Robinson Crusoe). In the same paragraph, we find that he has killed, eaten and forgotten the kid and is instead congratulating himself on making the meat last so long.

Like his fictional hero, Defoe himself has been accused, in life, of taking the most convenient path as opposed to the morally right one. Being involved in politics, he would pledge his allegiance to whichever party was in power, causing his fellow author, Joseph Addison, to call him a false, shuffling, prevaricating rascal (qtd. in Pancoast). In addition to an ambiguous political stance, however, Defoe's life carried a whiff of disrespectability, because of his various investments which led him into debts amounting to £17,000, which adds up to more than a million in present-day currency. It's impossible to know whether Defoe was merely unfortunate in financial matters or whether he was actually unscrupulous. It is evident that his contemporaries believed the latter for they leveled many charges against him, the truth of which can no longer be discerned. Thomas Keymer refers to these when he writes, Defoe's notoriety as a seditious libeler and literary mercenary was not alleviated by sporadic allegations of other crimes and misdemeanors, from smuggling, fraud and horse-stealing to the cuckoldry of a personal friend (xiii-xiv). We may puzzle over his ethical stance but the one thing that cannot be disputed is that Defoe was a colorful personality.

Defoe was born around the year 1660 (sourcebooks tend to vary the date between 1659 and 1661) in St. Giles, Cripplegate, a neighborhood of London that was destroyed completely in the second World War. His original name was Daniel Foe which he changed to Defoe in his thirties, largely because it sounded more upper crust, although he might have been returning to a version of his family's original name. His father was James Foe, a tallow chandler (a term which might seem baffling to modern readers but essentially refers to a seller of candles, an important office in a time before electric lights) and later, possibly, a butcher. Defoe had an exciting childhood, for he survived the Great Plague of London which hit when he was around five and the Great Fire of London which occurred when he was about six. Later in life, he wrote a book called A Journal of the Plague Year which describes this horrific pestilence in great detail. Although this work has some fictional elements, it is thought to be historically accurate and based on the diaries left behind by Defoe's uncle Henry Foe.

Defoe's parents were Nonconformists or Dissenters, a religious group that had broken away from the Church of England and that opposed state interference in religious matters. As the name suggests, Nonconformists or Dissenters formed a minority; they were barely tolerated and often oppressed. As a result, Defoe's father couldn't send him to Oxford or Cambridge; instead, Defoe was educated at a special academy for Dissenters at Newington Green, run by Charles Morton who later became the first vice-president of Harvard College. Defoe's father wanted him to become a Dissenting minister but Defoe decided that he would prefer to be a tradesman. Over time, he dealt in hosiery, woolen goods and wine in addition to running a brick and tile manufactory and trying to make perfume. He wasn't always successful in his ventures and is often quoted as saying,

No man has tasted differing fortunes more,

And thirteen times I have been rich and poor; (qtd. in Pancoast).

Despite his failure as a merchant and the heavy debts he incurred, Defoe's economic views have been commented on by many critics including Karl Marx who analyzed Robinson Crusoe in his seminal work Capital. According to Marx, Crusoe's experiences on the deserted island go to show that labor is more important than capital, for Crusoe has only meager supplies to work with and manages to satisfy all this needs by dint of hard work.

After setting himself up in trade, Defoe married Mary Tuffley in 1684; she was the daughter of another Dissenting merchant, with a dowry of £3,700, a sum that might have saved a more prudent man from bankruptcy. Not that much is known about her, except that she and Defoe had eight children of whom six survived. A year after the marriage, Defoe started to get into political hot water, for he joined the Monmouth rebellion, an attempt to overthrow the Catholic king, James II, by the Duke of Monmouth who was a Protestant. Monmouth was defeated and executed but Defoe managed to get a pardon. However, his political ardor was far from quenched and when William of Orange, also a Protestant, came to the throne in 1688, Defoe became an ardent supporter and pamphleteer for the king. There were those who opposed the king on account of his foreign birth in the Netherlands, but Defoe refuted them by writing a poem called The True-Born Englishman which made him very popular. In this poem, he argued that all Englishmen are of mixed ancestry, making hypocrites out of those who opposed William of Orange on the basis of his lineage.

In 1702, however, with the death of William of Orange, Defoe's luck ran out as the throne went to Queen Anne, who favored the Anglican church and detested Catholics as well as Dissenters. The animosity against Dissenters being rekindled, Defoe decided to write one of his most notorious pieces called The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. This was a satirical piece in which he wrote from the point of view of the Churchmen who opposed Dissenters and spelled out, without equivocation, a bigoted and vicious way of dealing with Dissenters. As this piece was published anonymously, it was not immediately perceived that the author was himself a Dissenter and both, High Churchmen and Dissenters, thought that this was a seriously written argument. When it was revealed that the pamphlet was a parody, Churchmen were naturally incensed but Dissenters felt like they had also been deceived and both groups condemned Defoe. He was arrested and sentenced to the pillory (a form of punishment similar to the stocks in which a wooden frame encircles the prisoner's head and hands, holding him still in a bent position such that people could witness his humiliation and throw rotten foodstuffs at him). However, before the sentence could be carried out, Defoe wrote and published his Hymn to the Pillory and it is said that the popularity of this poem caused people to throw flowers at him rather than pelting him with spoiled food. After the pillory, Defoe spent two years in Newgate prison, causing his brick and tile business to go down the drain.

From prison, Defoe appealed to Robert Harley, a politician, to help set him free and agreed to become a pamphleteer and intelligence agent in return. Harley was affiliated with the Tories who remained in power until the death of Queen Anne and were then replaced by the Whigs. Defoe changed his alliances along with whichever party was in power and ended up working for both sides. During this politically tumultuous time, he also started a periodical called the Review which he wrote singlehandedly for a period of nine years. The Review was, at first, a weekly but later became thrice-weekly; it discussed current events in England and Europe but also expatiated upon religion, trade, manners, morals etc.

Thus, after spending most of his life writing mostly non-fiction and some poetry, Defoe decided, at around the age of sixty, to write a novel. It is generally assumed that the character of Robinson Crusoe borrows much from the real-life adventures of one Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who was stranded on the island of Más a Tierra in the south Pacific after a quarrel with his captain. He stayed there for four years after which he was rescued and brought back to England where the account of his adventures was published. Like Crusoe, Selkirk strove to keep up his spirits in isolation and made the best use of the equipment available to him for survival. When Robinson Crusoe was published, it was an unabashedly commercial undertaking which made no effort to appeal to the elite segments of society. This might be the reason why its reputation did not, at first, survive its author's demise in 1731. However, there was a resurgence of interest in Defoe's works in the second half of the eighteenth century when several critics, including, notably, Sir Walter Scott and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, presented their commentary.

Since then, Robinson Crusoe has been interpreted in many ways. First and foremost, it is an adventure story in which a man marooned on an island must battle nature to continue to live. However, it also has economic implications because when resources are scarce, one must use them sparingly as well as cunningly. Politically as well, we see the development of a small society centered around Crusoe on the island, of which he designates himself the king. The development of social relations in human history is alluded to in the master/servant bond that springs up between Crusoe and Friday. In one of his moments of moral obtuseness, Crusoe teaches Friday the word master even before teaching him the words yes and no. Given Crusoe's mastery over the island and some of its inhabitants, a colonial reading seems particularly apt and is echoed in the words of James Joyce who said, The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence, the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity (24-25).

The next few years were very productive ones for Defoe; he wrote Captain Singleton and Memoirs of a Cavalier in 1720, Moll Flanders in 1722 and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress in 1724. Captain Singleton, like Robinson Crusoe, is an adventure story in which the protagonist journeys through Africa and becomes a pirate in the Indian Ocean. Despite the exciting premise, this novel doesn't lend itself to the same variety of interpretations as its predecessor, although Defoe's economic views are apparent in both. Colonel Jack is the story of the ups and downs of an orphan who wants to be a gentleman; as such, it presages works like Dickens' Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. The story of Moll Flanders can be summed up in its full title: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, etc. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums. Both, Moll Flanders and Roxana are considered, to some extent, feminist narratives, for these women tend to use the men they sleep with for their own purposes and the natural bias of their characters is towards freedom.

Being one of the first novelists, Defoe's influence on posterity has been immense. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, published seven years after Robinson Crusoe was a re-writing of this story from Swift's satirical point of view; whereas Crusoe tries to establish his dominion wherever he goes, Gulliver frequently finds himself helpless to effect any change. Rousseau's Émile turns to Crusoe for a self-sufficient role model and Wilkie Collins' character Gabriel Betteredge, from The Moonstone, takes Robinson Crusoe as his bible. In 1957, Michel Tournier wrote his version of the adventure story, entitled Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique in which Robinson chooses to remain on the island even when he's given the chance to escape. Most notably, J. M. Coetzee wrote Foe in 1986 and was later awarded the Nobel Prize. In Foe, the situation is recast from the point of view of Susan Barton, a castaway who lands on the same island as Crusoe and Friday and later brings the story to Defoe's attention but is frustrated by Defoe's handling of the material. All in all, Defoe's masterpiece has excited both admiration and rebuttals over the years, making him a great deal more than the fellow who was pilloried, I have forgot his name (qtd. in Pancoast) as Jonathan Swift so disingenuously called him.

Ruhi Jiwani, 2011

SOURCES

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Illus. H. M. Brock. Project Gutenberg. 6 April 2010. Seeley, Service & Co., 1919. Web. 24 August 2011.

Joyce, James. Daniel Defoe. Buffalo Studies. Trans. & Ed. Joseph Prescott. Buffalo: State U of New York P, 1964. Print.

Keymer, Thomas. Introduction. Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe. New York: Oxford U P, 2007. vii-xxxix. Print.

Pancoast, Henry S. Daniel Defoe. An Introduction to English Literature. 3rd ed. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. 6 May 2007. Henry Holt & Co., 1907. Web. 24 August 2011.

ROBINSON CRUSOE

I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called—nay we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe; and so my companions always called me.

I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother knew what became of me.

Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.

My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering inclination, I had for leaving father's house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the 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 consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances, sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's experience to know it more sensibly,

After this he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which nature, and the station of life I was born in, seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had just been recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world, it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it; and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me any encouragement to go away; and to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I should have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic, though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself—I say, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed: and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke off the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.

I was sincerely affected with this discourse, and, indeed, who could be otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father's desire. But alas! a few days wore it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father's further importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I did not act quite so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted; but I took my mother at a time when I thought her a little more pleasant than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did I should never serve out my time, but I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad, if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more; and I would promise, by a double diligence, to recover the time that I had lost.

This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after the discourse I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and I should never have it to say that my mother was willing when my father was not.

Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet I heard afterwards that she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after showing a great concern at it, said to her, with a sigh, That boy might be happy if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that ever was born: I can give no consent to it.

It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business, and frequently expostulated with my father and mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to. But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement at that time; but, I say, being there, and one of my companions being about to sail to London in his father's ship, and prompting me to go with them with the common allurement of seafaring men, that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God's blessing or my father's, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the first of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner; and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father's house, and abandoning my duty. All the good counsels of my parents, my father's tears and my mother's entreaties, came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since, reproached me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father.

All this while the storm increased, and the sea went very high, though nothing like what I have seen many times since; no, nor what I saw a few days after; but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known anything of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought it did, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; in this agony of mind, I made many vows and resolutions that if it would please God to spare my life in this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more. Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.

These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm lasted, and indeed some time after; but the next day the wind was abated, and the sea calmer, and I began to be a little inured to it; however, I was very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having little or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.

I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful, looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little a time after. And now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had enticed me away, comes to me; Well, Bob, says he, clapping me upon the shoulder, how do you do after it? I warrant you were frightened, wa'n't you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind? A capful d'you call it? said I; 'twas a terrible storm. A storm, you fool you, replies he; do you call that a storm? why, it was nothing at all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you're but a fresh-water sailor, Bob. Come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we'll forget all that; d'ye see what charming weather 'tis now? To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way of all sailors; the punch was made and I was made half drunk with it: and in that one night's wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, all my resolutions for the future. In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress. I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection; and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes; but I shook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper, and applying myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of those fits—for so I called them; and I had in five or six days got as complete a victory over conscience as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with it could desire. But I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse; for if I would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both the danger and the mercy of.

The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind having been contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm. Here we were obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary—viz. at south-west—for seven or eight days, during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came into the same Roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.

We had not, however, rid here so long but we should have tided it up the river, but that the wind blew too fresh, and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard. However, the Roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground- tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day, in the morning, the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts, and make everything snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible. By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet-anchor, so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the bitter end.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he went in and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say, several times, Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we shall be all undone! and the like. During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper: I could ill resume the first penitence which I had so apparently trampled upon and hardened myself against: I thought the bitterness of death had been past, and that this would be nothing like the first; but when the master himself came by me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully frighted. I got up out of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw: the sea ran mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us; two ships that rode near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep laden; and our men cried out that a ship which rode about a mile ahead of us was foundered. Two more ships, being driven from their anchors, were run out of the Roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their spritsail out before the wind.

Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do; but the boatswain protesting to him that if he did not the ship would founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-mast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut that away also, and make a clear deck.

Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little. But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me into such a condition that I can by no words describe it. But the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never seen a worse. We had a good ship, but she was deep laden, and wallowed in the sea, so that the seamen every now and then cried out she would founder. It was my advantage in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder till I inquired. However, the storm was so violent that I saw, what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down to see cried out we had sprung a leak; another said there was four feet water in the hold. Then all hands were called to the pump. At that word, my heart, as I thought, died within me: and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin. However, the men roused me, and told me that I, that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went to the pump, and worked very heartily. While this was doing the master, seeing some light colliers, who, not able to ride out the storm were obliged to slip and run away to sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing what they meant, thought the ship had broken, or some dreadful thing happened. In a word, I was so surprised that I fell down in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another man stepped up to the pump, and

Reviews for Robinson Crusoe

[haloedrain · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This should have been a book I really liked, but the overbearing narrative voice ruined it. And I say this as someone who has been reading and enjoying a lot of books with opinionated narrators lately.

Generally, when I read a novel I expect it to have a degree of personal growth (unless a lack of growth is the point of the story) and narrative tension. And this story *should* have had both of those. Certainly, the protagonist finds God and humility over the course of the novel, but the narration spends the entire book lamenting that he didn't trust to providence, etc., etc. (at length, every few pages, so you don't miss it...) that the personality he had at the beginning is totally absent, overridden by who he becomes by the end. And the way it's written it just seams so *easy* for him to survive--certainly, he must have had problems, but those are mostly glossed over, he has a whole ship full of stuff, and he routinely points out how something he did early on would be useful later, so when the problem does come up you already know it's solved.

And if the protagonist barely has a personality, no one else has any personality at all. And you might think, well, yeah, he spends the whole book alone on an island--but no! Quite a bit of the book isn't on the island, or otherwise there are other people around. But they just waft on and off-stage with no real effect. Friday is more of a person than anyone else, but he's such a caricature that I feel like he hardly counts. Oh, and the narrator mentions that he got married and had three kids and his wife died, all in one sentence, and goes on with the narration like nothing remarkable happened, and did these people mean nothing to you?

Ugh. And even though he keeps belaboring the religious lesson over and over, it isn't even a good sermon, because good rhetoric has roots in good story and personal development.

Anyway, I think what I'm saying here is you'd be better off spending your time reading a wilderness survival manual while singing Amazing Grace over and over again.

[karenduff · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

What I learned from this book is that not every book that is called a classic earns that title.If this hadn't been on my Feb bookshelf then I wouldn't have finished it.

I know this is regarded as the first english language novel but that doesn't excuse the fact that it is badly written.

Robinson Crusoe is a complete and utter idiot, he never learns from his mistakes and never takes advice from anybody. Maybe it's just me but if the very first ship you are on sinks perhaps you should take it as a sign, but not him off he goes again and ends up as a slave. He escapes and is rescued by a too good to be true captain and makes a good life for himself in Brazil, but even then that is not enough. So when some of his friends decide they want more slaves he is selected to make the trip to buy them and of course being Robinson the ship is struck by a hurricane while in the Carribean. Sounds bad so far doesn't it and it only gets worse.

I know that I shouldn't complain about the attitude towards slavery in the book as it was a different time period and it is historically accurate but I just found it really hard to stomach, in fact it made me wish that Friday had been a cannibal.

I have read this book before but I was about ten and you don't really pick up on the racism and all the other things that are wrong with this book at that age. Then you just think about the adventure of being on a desert island. The reason I read this again is because a few weeks ago I was having dinner with my Mum and she was watching what I thought was I very bad adaptation. Turns out it was the source material that was the problem and based on that there was no way you could ever make a good version.

[flydodofly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favourite as a child

[donagiles · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Much talk to tell a story, gets boreing , sometimes temped to skip. Which I am loath to do as I figure something has to be interesting soon and then would miss only thing making the read worth while. But this guy is a suffer to read.

[cheapregrets · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being banished from civilization because of what it seemed to be a curse, Robinson tried to build everything again in a very distant little world, the island. His path to the freedom is described in this book in which Robinson tell us his completely accidented life.
When you think that solitude is the worst enemy... think again. Maybe the island is not as uninhabited as it seems.
Tales of land and sea danger. Reflections about the man being away of his civilization. Madness and sanity.

[alcracka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Robinson Crusoe, a suicidal businessman with sociopathic tendencies, obsessively tries to recreate society when he's shipwrecked. He grows increasingly paranoid; by the time he finally reunites with another human, he's murderously insane.

[jguidry-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

When I started this book, I was expecting a story about survival. I expected to hear about wild adventures and man vs. nature. I got a little of that. But, mostly I got a whiny narrator who complained bitterly about how lonely he was and how he wanted a companion. Turns out, he really just wanted a servant. I couldn't get into the story at all, I didn't like the main character (not even enough to feel a little sorry for him) and I really wasn't impressed by the ending. This was a slight disappointment for me.

[trasfavoritepastime · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

To say I hated this book is probably the understatement of the century. In fact, I'm only halfway through the book after six years! I just can't seem to bring myself to buckle down and finish it mainly because the main character is a whiny pompous ass who is just plain dislikeable. I should probably donate this book, but there is still this little part of me that insists on finishing it, although that will most likely never happen.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The legend of Robinson Crusoe and his Man Friday are elaborated in the novel and one can understand the appeal. The audiobook is also nicely done.

[becalee · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Terrible classic. Don't bother.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Zeer onderhoudend, zelfs na 3 eeuwen. Verrassende spirituele link: vergelijking met Job (beschouwingen over de voorzienigheid). Uniek thema: de nobele wilde, zelfs de kannibalen.

[scaryguy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Timeless classic!

[seraphinac.b4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In "Robinson Crusoe", Robinson disobeys his father's wishes and goes with the sea. The boat is shipwrecked and he is the only one who survives. He makes a home on an island, which is surprisingly beast free. Robinson raises goats for meat and company. He also goes out frequently to get grapes for raisins. Cannibals from another island capture a merchant ship and come over to his island for the sacrifice. Robinson is able to rescue the sailors and get them to take him back to a real home. This book was very descriptive. The plot was somewhat predictable. I would recommend this book. This book seems like someone actually wrote this on an island. It was very real. Some places in the book were boring because everyday did not have action. Overall, I would not like to read this book again.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I don't remember reading this book, though it's obvious I have -- the spine is bent, and I'm the only one who's ever owned it. It obviously left no impression on me. It might be something I'd pick up in the future and try again.

[borhap-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i so longed for my own deserted island after reading this

[nialle-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Started rereading this as a refresher before I pick up Foe - and wow, is it a different book now. When I was a kid, I read this at the crux between my nautical fiction craze and my self-sufficiency craze, so naturally the seagoing and the invention with which Crusoe builds his encampment interested me most. This time around, though, I'm fascinated by his descriptions of living with and without fear of different varieties, and by what is middle-class and middle-aged about those fears. Very different. Hm.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't think I really needed to read this book. After all the plot line is pretty well known and the survival story of being stuck on a desert island has been repeated in many other books as well as used multiple times in Hollywood blockbusters. And somehow I was under the impression that when Crusoe discovers another human being on this island the phrase 'Thank God it's Friday' was uttered and became a standard phrase to express the end of a long week as well as a chain restaurant (that last part I don't think is true, or at least I missed the line when reading the book).

But this book is definitely worth reading. It is the original castaway story and I found it easy to read, very exciting, and was surprised to realize that many of my assumptions about the story were wrong. I loved the ingenuity that Crusoe employed in surviving from capturing and taming wild goats to devising methods of shelter. But the biggest surprise was the inner dialog and philosophy scattered throughout the book. Crusoe was one of the earliest practitioners of keeping a gratitude journal. Rather than moaning and complaining about being stuck on an island and the only survivor, he was grateful for the few good things he had.

The book definitely exhibits some pretty strong racial prejudices. Although it would not be acceptable today, it seemed to reflect the time that it was written.

Surprisingly good book to read!

[pamici_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Started out quite interesting - then made the mistake of reading the historical basis for the story before finishing (Selkirk's Island). With the illusion shattered, I couldn't get back to the adventure with any gusto. :(

[stevetempo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four stars on the strength of it's historical/classical significance...I read an abbreviated version as a young boy....enjoyed it much then...I thank I liked the adventure story of a very competent person...in this reading Defoe's religious themes were more in site...took a long time to get through.

[britt84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really love this novel; just read it for the third time and very much enjoyed reading it again.The tale of Robinson Crusoe, who needs to survive on an island after having been shipwrecked, is a story that is familiar to most of us. Defoe's story is gripping, imaginative, and shows a great sense for detail and description. The book is written from Crusoe's point of view and uses a simple type of language, which fits very well with the story.Though I am not a religious person myself and find Crusoe's religious thoughts a bit much at times, I guess this type of ideas about the omnipotence of God and the role of providence in our lives were common in the early 18th century, and I never found it too annoying. I think many modern readers will profit from considering his ideas. Though I do not necessarily feel we should give thanks to God for everything, I do think it is true that many people are very preoccupied with what they lack, in stead of being happy with the things they have. Crusoe teaches us that it is important to be happy with what we have, and to be grateful for those things, because our situation could easily have been worse.

[katttsu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is very terrific!!!I cannot imagine that I live alone in island for many years.If I were him, I would want to die because of terror, loneliness, andanxiety.I was moved by friendship between them.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fictional autobiography of Robinson Kreutznaer, or Crusoe as he is better known, tells the story of a young man who wouldn't listen to his father and left home for the life of adventure. He was forewarned by his father and others that he should not go to sea or it would be his peril. Robinson doesn't listen and ends up a castaway on a remote island near Trinidad. The first part is Robinson's efforts to create his castle. The second part involves fear of others, cannibals and gathering of slaves and subjects. I enjoyed the first part of the book, the mastery of survival on an island where he finds himself completely alone. Crusoe starts out feeling sorry that he didn't listen to his father, then he begins to see God's providence in his survival and the mastery of the environment lead Crusoe to have a better attitude. The second part of the novel, where Crusoe begins to be fearful of cannibals deprives him of the peaceful life he had created. He has thoughts of killing the others and then of capturing others to be his slave. In the second part there is fear and there is the unfair mastery over other people. It certainly is a look at the imperialism and colonization by the British. There is a strong theme of repentence. The moral is that it is not enough to give God credit for the miracles or even to pray but Crusoe must repent of his wretched state and acknowledge his dependence on God.
Some thoughts of the book include the exactness of measuring and counting. The focus on eating or being eaten. When Crusoe finds the footprint he immediately becomes negative again. He is fearful and no longer trusts God. One could make a point of racism in this book written in 1719 but also I think it reflects the time and I think books should be judged by when they were written not by our superiority in the present. In fact I think this superiority that is often taken on isn't much better than racism of the past. It's still a value judgment. I actually think Defoe might have been making a political statement against imperialism, colonization and unfair treatment of others.
I enjoyed this adventure tale but liked the first part better than the second. I listened to an audio read by Simon Vance who did a good job of narration. The strong Christian theme reflected Defoe's Puritan beliefs.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've been on a bit of a classic novel kick lately and this book may be the end of it for a little while. It was not bad, but there was a lot of potential in this novel that was left undeveloped. Robinson Crusoe is a story most know, the tale of a man stranded on a deserted island for years. While a fascinating story, I found Robinson Crusoe's interactions with the natives who sometime visited the island the most frustrating part of the tale. True to European stereotypes, these natives are cannibals. Furthermore, after rescuing one of their intended victims, a man who becomes his servant Friday, Robinson Crusoe proceeds to convert this man to Christianity. All in all, this classic novel tells one a great deal about the prejudices of the time it was written in.

[thesmellofbooks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What an aggravating book. Chilling in its blithe acceptance of slavery and exploitation for personal gain, though of course this is not out of sync with the times in which it was written. Even put in context, though, it is hard to sympathize with this character beyond an admiration for his industry and compassion for anyone who is suffering, no matter how morally afflicted a fellow he may be. The racism is thick and irksome, from his descriptions of skin tone outward, and his "improvements" on the "savage" he saves and then dominates are of the sort justifiably decried in countless modern books on slavery, racism, and colonization.It is also astonishingly boring. I have a higher level of patience than most for characters noodling around doing nothing much of interest in order to set the scene, but egads. I am gobsmacked that this book is still published and recommended for children. It must be seriously rewritten in their versions. Yikes.

[gbill_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Published in 1719 and certainly a classic adventure story, but its inconsistencies don’t stand up to much scrutiny, and it isn’t particularly well written. The main inspiration for the tale was the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who had been left for four years on an uninhabited island after arguing with his captain, then rescued, and his story told in 1712. Defoe expanded on this of course, among other things stranding Crusoe for 28 years, and having him meet ‘Friday’, an aboriginal who he then (ugh) made a servant and converted to the ‘True God’. Friday is not treated as a person, he’s more like other ‘material’ Crusoe finds, but this was par for the course at this time in history.Aside from the adventure story, Defoe was exploring man’s nature and his reaction to adversity, topics larger than the story itself. In one scene, Crusoe lists ‘evil’ aspects to his condition (‘I am cast upon a horrible desolate island, void of all hope of recovery’), and corresponding good aspects (‘But I am alive, and not drown’d as all my ship’s company was’). I don’t think there was anything particularly insightful here, though the struggle for survival and events like finding the footprint are iconic and lasting images.Quotes:On accepting fate:“I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them; because they see and covet something that He has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”And:“These reflections made me very sensible of the goodness of Providence to me, and very thankful for my present condition, with all its hardships and misfortunes; and this part also I cannot but recommend to the reflection of those who are apt in their misery to say, “Is there any affliction like mine!” Let them consider how much worse the cases of some people are, and their case might have been, if Providence had thought fit.”On money:“He told me that it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortune on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labor and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind.”On religion:“I had rather be delivered up to the savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition.”On youth:“...how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed for the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.”

[santhony_35 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. This was the third novel I’ve completed (the first two being A Tale of Two Cities and Around the World in 80 Days) and like the first two, the reader did not detract from the experience, and was in fact quite good.Robinson Crusoe was written in the 17th century by Daniel DeFoe and is one of the oldest novels written in the English language. Despite this, it is not difficult to read (or listen to) in the least. While there are a few affectations and instances of unfamiliar “period” language and references, I never found this to be a problem.The story is well known; an English mariner becomes shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island for many years, ultimately joined by his man Friday (a local native). The novel however, begins far sooner and spends some time detailing Crusoe’s early life and adventures. A good 75% of the story, however, takes place on the island, located off the coast of South America near the mouth of the Orinoco River.Luckily, Crusoe is not completely without provisions or means of survival and the “eight and twenty” years he spends on the island are filled with his ingenuity and seemingly never ending industry in making his abode not only livable but comfortably so. This is very much a period piece with religion playing a not insignificant role, though not overbearingly so. It is, more than anything, quite entertaining and even enlightening. I must confess being somewhat pleasantly surprised that such an old work played so well in current times.

[crashmyparty · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For what was supposed to be the classic shipwreck story I couldn't help but be disappointed by Robinson Crusoe. It may have been the language of the time, but I found the story to be slow and frankly a little boring. It seemed to be a lot of lists of things that Crusoe was doing or accumulating or learning. And for someone who spent so long alone on an island, I would have thought that he would have gone at least a little bit crazy! 

[la2bkk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is obviously a must read for any fan of classic literature.Defoe's writing style is generally quite user friendly given he wrote in the early 1700s. On one level, Robinson Crusoe is a compelling story about what one man must do to survive without the most basic of necessities. It is a testament to the human spirit in the face of adversity. On another level, the book concerns a common man's coming to religion and learning to appreciate what really in matters in life.My only reservation is that the final few chapters seemed out of character with the majority of the book, and in my opinion were unnecessary to the story.

[morryb_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a tale of redemption and a man learning to become thankful under the most trying of circumstance. After not heeding the advice of his father or other warning, Robinson Crusoe is stranded on a deserted Island. After struggles in setting up a home, he becomes violently ill and for the first time calls out to God for help. It is form this point that Crusoe realizes that while he may be stranded that the others have gone to their grave. He also realized that God is a God of grace, and that is while he is still alive. Later as he encounters Friday he realized that one of his primary purposes is to spread the gospel to Friday. As he teaches Friday his own faith continues to grow and become deeper. The inner struggles are what make the tale and have made it a favorite among many such as Teddy Roosevelt and John Adams. While I am not in the same category as these men, it certainly remains a favorite of mine through many years.

[lyzadanger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This pillar of Western literature, considered by many to be the first English novel, left me ambivalent and uncomfortable. Its antiquated mores clash with modern perspective, but not just because of quaint antiquity: Defoe's Puritanical self-assuredness and cultural ignorance (resulting in subjugation) seem ominous in light of present-day conflicts.Is it a fun read? Sure, most of the time. Defoe's meticulous discussions of castaway lifestyle are captivating, if telescoped (a few paragraphs often represent years of island isolation for Crusoe). But because this is a masterful work, and does carry with it a serious message, passages about literal survival are interrupted by multi-page religious epiphanies as Crusoe faces his eternal survival. Crusoe's is a colonial white man's world. There is not a single real female character in the entire story. Anyone not European is a savage, meant for enslavement. Defoe's proud intolerance is not uncommon for the time, but paralleled with his relatively unsmiling Puritan tenets, it can feel downright grim. What is left unanswered for me is whether Defoe was aware of this hubris, whether it's a trick on the reader that Crusoe is so blithely superior, that I'm the fool for not understanding that he was winking the whole time.