1. First, it simply claims to be real.

Robinson Crusoe's full title in the first edition is

"The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York,
Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island
on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque;
Having been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but
himself. With an Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates.
Written by Himself." That is, according to Defoe, he didn't write it: Crusoe himself
did. Of course there was no historical Robinson Crusoe, but Defoe, who was a
prolific journalist and political writer as well as an author of fiction, based the text
at least in part on the accounts of the real Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk.
To state the obvious, readers of the time could be relied upon to know that there
was no real Don Quixote and Rabelais's gigantic Pantagruel wasn't stomping
around France.
Second, despite the false claim of its reality, it can be taken as a real story.
Unlike similar works of the time, it stands alone as a text. The chivalric romances
that preceded novels like Robinson Crusoe often had the goal of moral
instruction. Don Quixote, generally considered Europe's first novel, is in part a
satire of the romances and the principles they purport to teach. But Robinson
Crusoe is simply a story about an ordinary, capable, recognizable person doing
things ordinary readers could imagine themselves doing. In that respect, it's
"realistic" in a way its peers were not.

2. As Crusoe returns to his roots, he becomes more and more at one with Nature
and his own nature, until the yearned for contact with a fellow human being,
provokes fear and terror when it appears likely to happen. But, although his own
fear means that his initial treatment of Friday is harsh and cruel, the enslavement
of a fellow human being enables Crusoe to see how depraving and corrupting
such vile practices are, and eventually he and Friday become friends and
comrades, but only when Crusoe realises he must give Friday total and
unconditional freedom.

3. Robinson Crusoe takes place between 1651 and 1694. Throughout the book,
many places are described, some being; England: York, Hull, Yarmouth, London,
Dover, Africa: Guinea and coastal regions to the south, South America: Brazil
and an island off northeast Venezuela, near the mouth of the Orinoco River,
Continental Europe: Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid and other Spanish cities,
Toulouse, Paris, and Calais, France.

4. Robinson Crusoe is the central character around whom the moral lesson centres.
From the beginning, Defoe presents him as an individual endowed with a
capability for moral development because of his natural possession of moral
sensitivity. As events open, he appears as lacking a certain degree of moral
insight and self knowledge, but gradually he gains moral and spiritual re-
awakening and self discovery.
 5. The story begins in the North Yorkshire city of York where Crusoe was born in
1632. Against the wishes of his family he decides to go to sea, but on his first
voyage his ship is caught in a storm off the coast of the English seaside town of
Yarmouth. Next, Crusoe goes to London where he offers his services to a sea
captain.
On the coast of North Africa, pirates invade the ship and sell Crusoe and other
members of the crew as slaves to the nearby North African town of Salee.
Crusoe eventually escapes the town along the African coast to Cape Verda
where he meets a Portuguese sea captain who takes him to Brazil.
In Brazil, Crusoe buys his own tobacco plantation, but with little help to plant and
nurture the tobacco, he decides to travel to Guinea to buy slaves. On his way, his
ship is caught up in a storm, and he ends up the only surviving crew member
stranded on a deserted island.
Crusoe remains on the island until he defeats a group of mutineers and sails
back to England. Having found out that most of his family is dead, he sails to
Lisbon to enquire about his plantations in Brazil. His plantations have earned him
a small fortune and he briefly considers returning to them, but eventually decides
to return to England. On his way back, he stops at the Spanish town of
Pampeluna and the French city of Toulouse.

II. Children’s fiction

Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe as a young man loved to sail to distant lands. His father did not
approve of Robinson as a sailor but let Robinson make his own decisions.

Robinson Crusoe wanted to become a sailor. He went on his first voyage at the age of
nineteen. It was a disastrous journey; there was a heavy storm and the ship was
wrecked. Robinson survived but did not go home. He went to Brazil. There he became a
farmer.

In time, Robinson Crusoe made a lot of money in Brazil. This he re-invested in other
businesses.

One day Robinson Crusoe had to go to Africa on business. On the way, there was
another storm like the one on his first journey. This time the storm was more fierce; his
ship was wrecked and Robinson Crusoe was washed to a lonely, uninhabited island.

Robinson Crusoe explored the island for any sign of human life; there was none. With
great difficulty, Robinson built a home. His expertise in farming helped; he started
growing rice and barley. For meat, he hunted the wild goats. Robinson Crusoe tamed a
few of these goats for milk, from which he learnt to make butter and cheese.
Robinson CrusoeTwenty six years passed in this lonely way for Robinson Crusoe. He
craved for company. One day, he saw footprints on the beach; instead of being happy,
Robinson was scared having been alone all these years. Robinson had made sharp
weapons, which he now carried around for self defence. He also had a gun which he
had preserved and kept since the time he was shipwrecked.

For many days Robinson Crusoe saw nobody, but one evening he saw about a dozen
men. They were eating other humans. They were cannibals from a nearby island. The
cannibals left the island after a few days.

Robinson Crusoe felt safe but he knew the cannibals would come back. One morning
Robinson saw the wreck of a ship. He ran to it and saw that it was a Spanish ship and in
it was a survivor - a middle aged man.

Robinson Crusoe took the man to his hut, gave him some food and water. Once the
man recovered his health, he helped Robinson Crusoe with his work Robinson called
the man Friday as he had been rescued on a Friday.

Friday did not know English but as time went by he learnt a few words, enough for basic
communication. One morning, Robinson Crusoe found friday missing; he suspected that
the cannibals were back and had captured him.

He went in search of Friday and found him just before the cannibals were about to kill
him. He rushed into their midst firing at all the cannibals and killing them. Friday was
safe.

Robinson Crusoe and Friday found the boat of the cannibals. They decided to sail back
to Brazil, where Robinson had left his business. They carried enough food and water
and set sail to Brazil. Robinson Crusoe had spent thirty five years in the island.

Robinson and Friday reached Brazil. Robinson Crusoe got several thousand pounds
from the trustees of his estate. Friday remained with Robinson Crusoe helping him in
his estate.

III. review the movie

The story is well known to everybody, therefore I will not dwell on it. I will say, however,
that it was fun to see how the liberty was taken here, as the movie somewhat fantasizes
about how Daniel Defoe might have come up with the story about Robinson Crusoe.
He's presented with a travel journal of a wayward seaman (Crusoe), and upon reading it
(which is the narrative of the film) decides that he wants to write a book about the whole
thing.
What this does is this allows the filmmakers a little liberty in changing a few dots in the
well-known story of Crusoe. It somewhat protects them from being blamed for any
changes that might have been made, because they can say "look, this is what actually
happened and if you've read otherwise it's because Defoe changed it!"

Which is of course bollocks, as it is Defoe's NOVEL, but it works like a charm here.

It's tough to nail down a flaw here. Sure, with a bit more money & time they could have
done this movie better. And it was weird seeing William Takaga in the guise of Friday
making a few simple errors (like saying 'food' the American-way while Brosnan's been
saying it in Scottish accent all the time, as in 'fu-ud' and not 'food'). But on the whole the
movie worked and you believed it, which is no small feat.

I'd recommend that anybody interested in seeing a movie adaptation of this world-
known novel check this movie out. It's certainly worth seeing, even though it may be far
from breathtaking.