Research Paper on "Robinson Crusoe Daniel Dafoe's 1719 Novel"

Research Paper 5 pages (1520 words) Sources: 9

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Dafoe's 1719 novel "Robinson Crusoe" generated a lot of attention from the moment when it was first issued and until the present day. The book was a success both when considering the finances and the popularity that it gathered through the years. Many individuals consider "Robinson Crusoe" to be the first authentic novel dealing with the topic of adventure. The novel is basically a fiction account told in first-person by the central character and relates to how he uses his ingeniousness to overcome his bad luck. Dafoe most probably inspired from events having happened during the colonial period when he wrote the book, given that one can easily find many colonial and post-colonial elements throughout the novel. "Not surprisingly, contemporary readers commonly regard Defoe's novel as the prototypical colonial novel (1) of the eighteenth century, if not in all of English literature"(Mcinelly). The way that Defoe narrates regarding the natives that Crusoe comes across makes it obvious that the writer was severely influenced by his contemporaries and by the fact that he considered some nations that interacted with Europeans to be inferior savages.

The novel opens up showing Crusoe as an idealistic young individual as he embarks on a journey that ends catastrophically for him. From the very first part of the book, the reader becomes acquainted with Crusoe's position (and with the writer's general opinion) regarding Africans and the continent of Africa as a whole. From their perspective, Africa was "the truly Barbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were sure to surround us with their canoes and destroy us; where we could not go on shore but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more merciless savages of human kind" (Defoe, 22). As they interact with the continent, Crusoe and Xury, his companion, reveal their discriminatory attitude and their obsession with wild animals, as they shoot a lion for not actual purpose. The fact that Crusoe decides to open a slave plantation and that he eventually gives Xury away contributes to the belief that the central character is unable to appreciate the importance of freedom when it relates to non-white individuals. Attracted at the opportunity to open a profitable enterprise, Crusoe rapidly gets involved in the slave plantation business in hope that he will experience the same success as European planters in Brazil. It is because of his interest in buying more "Negroes" for his slave plantation in Brazil that he comes to be stranded on an island as a result of encountering a storm that kills every person onboard except for him.

Upon seeing the neighboring tribes, Crusoe comes to the conclusion that he has to intervene and rescue some of their slaves. He is also interested in putting an end to their monstrosities, even with the fact that he actually knows little about them and the reasons for which they act. It is most probably because of ignorant colonists that numerous individuals came to express their interest in opening up plantations sustained by slave life. White entrepreneurs felt that it was essential for them to take Africans away from their lands and into plantations, as this was apparently a process that civilized these savage individuals.

Christopher Columbus' journey into the American Continent and other similar colonial experiences played an important role in providing the general public with an image representing new civilizations that the Europeans came across. Numerous Europeans came to consider that their past, their skin color, and their knowledge made them superior and justified their behavior toward the peoples that they interacted with. This is reflected by Crusoe's enthusiasm regarding the moment when he considers freeing some of the captives meant to be killed by the savage tribes that inhabit his island. He does not just think about the fact that he would free an individual from captivity, as he is excited about how he will profit from the enterprise. He does not want to befriend the person he saves, as he actually wants to enslave him or her, thinking that this would not be immoral or unjustified. Friday, Crusoe's slave, puts across his faithful attitude toward his savior, making it clear that Defoe was concerned about having matters appear perfectly natural, with Friday actually wanting to be a slave because he knows that this is for his own good. As he starts to teach Christianity to Friday, Crusoe gradually becomes appreciative toward the religion, apparently demonstrating that religion and slavery go hand in hand.

Defoe probably wanted to emphasis how people can become better Christians by being slave owners. It is not about teaching Friday religious laws, as it is really about enslaving other humans and about how this can assist an individual greatly. Even with the fact that the Bible and Christianity as a whole promotes the belief that people should not be enslaved, writers like Defoe and pro-colonial individuals in general made it possible for people to see matters differently. The masses were persuaded to believe that Europeans helped other nations by enslaving them, as only by doing this were they enabled to teach them in regard to religion. It is very likely that many individuals who read Defoe's book at the time when it was first published came to get actively engaged in the slave plantation business, hoping that they too would become rich as a result of such an experience. Considering that it is customary for many children to become fans of this book, it is even more disturbing to consider the individuals that grew up thinking that slavery was right and that one can become successful by becoming a planter. The fact that "Robinson Crusoe" came to be interpreted as children's literature made it increasingly difficult for it to receive the attention it deserved from a colonial point-of-view. Many people failed to understand the subtleties related to Crusoe's adventures and came to believe that it was only meant to be appealing to children or to individuals interested in light reading. However, similarly to Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," the novel put across important aspects of the colonization period and details showing how some colonists were inclined to consider that the people that they came across were inferior simply because they did not live by the same standards promoted in Europe.

In spite of the fact that Defoe associates slavery with Christianity and promotes the belief that both concepts are right, it appears that he is not really appreciative toward religion, considering that priests, churches, and Christian practices rarely appear throughout the book. This is probably a result of the fact that most colonists were connected to Catholicism, making it difficult for a devoted Protestant individual to write in regard to Catholicism's experiences. Even more importantly, Crusoe appears to have lost his appreciation toward religion when he leaves the island.

Authority plays an important role in Crusoe's development, considering that he gradually comes to consider that it is perfectly natural for him to assume leadership positions when he interacts with other people that he interacts with. At the moment when he interacts with Friday, he takes on a totalitarian position and decides that he is responsible for controlling the island. This attitude becomes even clearer when he is presented with the mutineers and the ship's captain. He becomes the island governor and the person in charge of resolving matters by punishing the mutineers. "By the end of his adventures, Crusoe is not only forced to acknowledge political authority and to compromise his behavior accordingly, but he is also forced to impersonate the figure of that authority on the island (by becoming "governour") in order to survive" (Donoghue).

The fact that he wants to establish his role on the island by relating to politics appears to be a mere attempt to get in control of his life.… READ MORE

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