ANG BAGONG ROBINSON

Submitted by:
Enriquez, Karen
Yee, Maria Ysabella

I. PERSONALITIES BEHIND ANG BAGONG ROBINSON

1. Daniel Defoe
 The writer of Robinson Crusoe

2. Alexander Selkirk
 The person who is said to have inspired Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

3. Joachim Heinrich Campe

 Writer of the German adaptation of Robinson Crusoe called “Robinson der Jüngere” which is considered the first German
book intended for children because it contains moral edification and propagates religion and its value.

4. Tomas Iriarte
 Translated Campe’s Robinson de Jüngere into Spanish with the title “El Nuevo Robinson.”

5. Joaquin Tuason
 Translated the 1842 Spanish version of Robinson de Jüngere into Tagalog (Ang Bagon Robinson, Historiang Nagtuturo
nang Mabuting Caugalian, na Ginauang Tanungan).

II. ANG BAGONG ROBINSON

Ang Bagong Robinson is a book intended for children. It teaches good conduct and spreads the significance of religion.

1. PROFILE

Author: Joachim Heinrich Campe

Translator: Joaquin Tuason
Type of Work: Novel
Genre: Story of Adventure, Novel of Isolation
Language: Tagalog
Publisher: Dominican Colegio de Santo Tomas
Purpose: To provide innocent entertainment and moral instruction.

2. KEY INFORMATION

Summary:
Campe’s 17-year-old hero from the German city of Hamburg, named “Robinson”, is the last surviving son of his parents after
one brother died in a war and another of disease. Against the wishes of his parents, who spoil him due to their fondness for
him, he decides to set out to sea in order to seek his fortune. Various untoward incidents intervene, purportedly to teach him a
lesson for disobeying his parents, until he finds himself the lone survivor of a shipwreck on a remote island in the Caribbean
where he struggled against the hardship of isolation, loneliness, and nature all without the help of any present-day tools to aid
him. With only his wits, perseverance and faith in God, he slowly built a semblance of a life on the island where he saves a man
named Friday from savages who then becomes his companion until such time that they were able to find the means to sail
back to his home.

Themes:
 The ambivalence of mastery.
 The necessity of repentance.
 The importance of self-awareness.
 The importance of respect.

Symbols:
 Umbrella (first actual creation)
 Clothes made from animal skin (symbolizes the hardship he went through),
 Poll the Parrot/Llamas (symbolizes his desire for companionship and its value)
 Spaniel (symbolizes the importance of loyalty that he learned from Friday).
 3. THREE PERIODS
Campe’s Robinson de Jungere was described as a “miniature history of human development.”

1. ALONE AND DESTITUTE OF ANY TOOLS/INSTRUMENT.

 Robinson had to make use of his hands and wit.
 Its intention is to show how helpless a man is in state of solitude and how much reflection and persevering efforts
contributes to the improvement of our condition.

2. GIVEN A COMPANION.
 He helped an Indian from a neighboring island from cannibals.
 Robinson then learned how to be sociable and mature. (Friday, though much more civilized than those that wished to
devour his flesh, is still essentially savage and Robinson had to learn how to deal with him.)
 Its intention is to show how much a man’s situation may be bettered by taking a single step to society, thus showing
how important it is.

3. GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE TOOLS AND ARTICLES NECESSARY TO MEET COMMON LIFE.
 A European vessel was shipwrecked near his island.
 To show young readers how to value things that they are accustomed to.
 This also provided him safety from the savages and what essentially led to his escape from the island to his home
where he found his mother dead but was reunited with his father.

4. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
a. His trust in God during hardships.
b. Appreciation of his parents and his regret in disobeying them.
c. Friday’s conversion.
d. Respect towards religion.
e. Journey home
 On Crusoe’s journey home, Thursday (Friday’s father whom he loved dearly) died, his two llamas that he
brought with him also died, the ship capsized and he lost all his possessions (including the gold that he
found in the island) leaving him with only the umbrella that he made, his clothing made from animal
skin, Polly the Parrot, his Spaniel (whom he found in the shipwrecked vessel that provided him with
tools) and of course, his Man Friday. (refer to II.2 Symbols of this written report)

“Nothing indeed can be better calculated to please the imagination at that calm period of life, when, if our wants are satisfied, and our actions
unrestrained, we look no further for happiness.”

-Rousseau (about The New Robinson Crusoe)