(Map)

(Background the place where Daniel Defoe)

(Daniel Defoe Biography)

(PLOT)

Theme

The theme of the story is survival.

Self-Reliance

Robinson Crusoe is at its core a story of adventure, and true to its nature the hero must rely upon his
wits and courage to survive. Throughout the novel readers see this theme in action. Robinson
Crusoe chooses the right moment to escape from his slave master and thinks quickly to push the Moor
accompanying him on the boat overboard. He demonstrates self-reliance in building his plantation in
Brazil. And most clearly and indefatigably, he uses his self-reliance to survive on the island. Defoe goes
to extraordinary lengths to tell how Crusoe sorts through the goods on the wrecked ship to find just
what he needs to survive and how he builds his rafts to bring it all ashore. It describes how he builds his
castle for both comfort and defense. Crusoe has few materials available to him, but he manages to use
what he does have in creative ways to build a comfortable and safe home on the island.

Civilization

A system of rules and order governs Crusoe's life, even when he is isolated from organized and civil
society. Importantly, his concept of civilization is based on his experience with European culture and
civilization, so he does not recognize that the natives he encounters have civilizations of their own. As a
result, he insists that Friday give up his cannibal ways, wear clothing, and learn to speak English. Readers
are never given a hint that Crusoe makes any effort to learn Friday's language. And remarkably, it seems
Crusoe himself never adopts any of the cultural habits of the natives with which he interacts. Yet the
Spaniards who were cast ashore on Trinidad, and thus at the mercy of the natives, do learn to speak
their language. Friday and the other natives have lived and thrived in the environment that Crusoe has
been cast into for untold thousands of years, and yet he does not adopt any technique that they use
that might be useful for him. It could be noted, however, that Crusoe does at least acknowledge that,
although the natives are cannibals, he finally recognizes that it is ingrained in their culture and that they
do not see it as a sin.

Progress

During his time on the island, Crusoe moves from pure survival in the wild to hunting and farming, which
raises him to a kind of relative prosperity. He makes his own tools and furniture, domesticates animals,
plants crops, and eventually even establishes a small colony on his island as he gathers about him
various groups of castaways and natives. The kind of progress and mobility he is able to achieve was rare
in the England of his day.

Christianity
Crusoe relies on God to take care of him and also fears God's punishment for abandoning his family and
for his lack of faith and gratitude on past occasions. He finds his quality of life improves as his faith in
God becomes stronger, and this motivates him to continue. He begins to believe that God has placed
him on the earth for a reason, and he initially thinks that because he alone (of all the crew and
passengers on the two ships) has survived shipwrecks that God must therefore have some purpose for
him. Later in Chapter 18, as he tries to encourage the English captain to take action to recover his ship,
Crusoe asks, "And where, sir ... is your belief of my being preserved here on purpose to save your life?"

One of the more provocative chapters in the text (Chapter 15) has Crusoe teaching this faith to Friday,
who is a quick study, and soon seems to become as devoted a Christian as Crusoe. But Friday also asks
questions that Crusoe finds difficult to answer. Friday asks, "Why God no kill the devil, so make him no
more do wicked?" Crusoe stumbles over the answer but continues his teaching. In the end he realizes
that in teaching Christianity to Friday, he has become a better and more understanding Christian
himself. However, at the end of the novel he decides against resettling in Brazil, in part because he does
not wish to live among Catholics.

Nature

In Robinson Crusoe, nature is one of the chief actors in guiding the plot. It is nature that blows Crusoe's
ship onto the sand near the island and that casts Crusoe alone of all the men on that ship onto the
shores of the island. It is nature that provides calm seas so Crusoe can salvage all the tools, food, and
other supplies from the wrecked ship. It is nature that wrecks the Spaniard's ship, and later on that
sends the wolves and bear to attack Crusoe's party as they journey to England. It is also nature that
provides all the plenty that Crusoe enjoys on the island, from the goats that nourish him to the parrot
that keeps him company to the seeds that grow and become the source of much of his food during his
years on the island. Crusoe learns during the novel that nature can provide bounty if cultivated—or
destruction, if not treated with caution. Crusoe discovers that even his most diligent work cannot
overcome some of the forces of nature, which he comes to believe strongly over the course of his time
on the island is God's hand at work.

Another source: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crusoe/themes/

Characters

Robinson Crusoe

the main character of the story, he is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of
this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. The novel
essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result of his isolation. He is a
contradictory character; at the same time he is practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness.

Xury

a friend/servant of Crusoe's, he also escapes from the Moors. A simple youth who is dedicated to
Crusoe, he is admirable for his willingness to stand by the narrator. However, he does not think for
himself.
Friday

another friend/servant of Crusoe's, he spends a number of years on the island with the main character,
who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protege, a living example of religious
justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the
European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one.

Crusoe's father

although he appears only briefly in the beginning, he embodies the theme of the merits of Protestant,
middle-class living. It is his teachings from which Crusoe is running, with poor success.

Crusoe's mother

one of the few female figures, she fully supports her husband and will not let Crusoe go on a voyage.

Moorish patron

Crusoe's slave master, he allows for a role reversal of white men as slaves. He apparently is not too
swift, however, in that he basically hands Crusoe an escape opportunity.

Portuguese sea captain

one of the kindest figures in the book, he is an honest man who embodies all the Christian ideals.
Everyone is supposed to admire him for his extreme generosity to the narrator. He almost takes the
place of Crusoe's father.

Spaniard

one of the prisoners saved by Crusoe, it is interesting to note that he is treated with much more respect
in Crusoe's mind than any of the colored peoples with whom Crusoe is in contact.

Captured sea captain

he is an ideal soldier, the intersection between civilized European and savage white man. Crusoe's
support of his fight reveals that the narrator no longer has purely religious motivations.

Widow

she is goodness personified, and keeps Crusoe's money safe for him. She is in some way a foil to his
mother, who does not support him at all.

Savages

the cannibals from across the way, they represent the threat to Crusoe's religious and moral convictions,
as well as his safety. He must conquer them before returning to his own world.

Negroes

they help Xury and Crusoe when they land on their island, and exist in stark contrast to the savages.

Traitorous crew members

they are an example of white men who do not heed God; they are white savages.
Traitorous crew members

they are an example of white men who do not heed God; they are white savages.

POV

The story is written in first person point of view because Robinson Crusoe tell the story from his point of
view and he also narrates the story.

Conflict

Shipwrecked alone, Crusoe struggles against hardship, privation, loneliness, and cannibals in his attempt
to survive on a deserted island.

Crusoe leaves home and travels the world. Bad luck follows.

Everyone always seems to forget that Crusoe had a life before he landed on that dreaded island. When
Crusoe leaves home, though, he has plenty of adventures. He sails to Africa, were he gets captured and
made into a slave. After his escape, he is taken to Brazil, where he makes a living for several years on his
sugar plantation. He always seems to be running into bad luck, repenting, and then sinning again
promptly. This is a pattern Crusoe will follow for a good long while.

Setting

York, England; then London; then Sallee, North Africa; then Brazil; then a deserted island off Trinidad;
then England; then Lisbon; then overland from Spain toward England; then England; and finally the
island again

Moral Values