NAME : RICHARD RAY

NIM : 321810118
CLASS : A Afternoon

Robinson Crusoe vs Gulliver’s Travel

In the books Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels, the characters are portrayed as
resemble characters, being capable of clear thought during tense and troubled times. Also, they
are both related to shipwreck, but they are able to go on. This quality posses within Robinson
Crusoe and Gulliver as a result of the author’s background and knowledge.

Defoe and Swift lived in the colonization era and their audience was interested in these
voyages to unknown lands, but these two authors show different points of view. First, Robinson
Crusoe is written in the form of an autobiography, and seem to be a true story; on the contrary,
Gulliver's Travels is almost a fantasy tale. In “Robinson Crusoe" the relationship between a
"civilized" man, Robinson, and a savage, Friday, is still a masterslave relationship: Friday is a
"good savage", but remains wild and linked to the tolerance of his master, that represent a
colonizer of that time. Friday gradually leaves his culture to identify himself with Robinson's
culture. Gulliver is instead interested in the variety of worlds and cultures with which he comes
into contact; he is not a proud colonizer, he observes, respects, and adapts himself to the habits
and customs of the peoples visited. Defoe's work represents bourgeois attitudes and values, while
Swift's work is associated with a satire of English society of the time and of human nature.

The conclusion is both Gulliver and Robinson are changing characters. At first, they could
not see the hidden details of life. But through solitude, trauma, conquest, and failure have allowed
both characters to realize the achievements, failures, and stupidity of mankind. Being able to
rationalize from experience and calculation is a quality of a soldier.