ROBINSON CRUSOE

DANIEL DEFOE
WRITER: DANIEL DEFOE
STORY: ROBINSON CRUSOE

 Full title: The life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York,
Mariner
 Type of work: Novel
 Genre: Adventure, historical fiction
 Based on Defoe's suspected inspiration for Robinson Crusoe is thought to be Scottish
sailor, Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on the uninhabited island of Más a Tierra
 Published: 25 April 1719 (300 years ago)

The story is about a seaman, who was shipwrecked on a desert island and spent twenty -
eight years living there alone but finally triumphed over his state of isolation.

SUMMARY
Robinson Crusoe is a person who loves adventures. Unfortunately, after a shipwreck, he had
to live alone in a deserted island. During lonely years, he had to grow plants, raise animals and
make friends with wild animals. More years pass and Crusoe discovers native cannibals, who
occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners.
At first, he plans to kill them for committing an abomination but later realizes he has no right to
do so, as the cannibals do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of obtaining one or two
servants by freeing some prisoners; when a prisoner escapes, Crusoe helps him, naming his
new companion "Friday".
Crusoe then teaches him English and gives him some clothes. Then, Crusoe and Friday
discover the tokens of the triumphant feast.

QUESTIONS
1. Who is the young fellow the writer is describing?
Answer: Friday
2. What does the term “perfectly-well made” refer to? (line 1)
Answer: Perfect appearance of Friday
3. List the words used in par.2 showing the submissive behavior of the fellow?
Answer:
 Lay (He lays his head flat upon the ground) – line 17
 Subjection – line 18
 Servitude – line 18
 Submission – line 18
 Serve – line 20
4. Give a modern equivalent for “to get some further intelligence of them?
Answer: To get more information about them
5. Why does the young fellow seem not to feel horror at the scene?
Answer: He was a slave. He saw the horror scene every day, so he got used to that.
6. What had just happened on the island?
Answer: A triumphant feast with human bones, dyed ground by blood, great pieces of flesh,
half – eaten, mangled and scorched.
Choose the correct answer:
1. When was the Age of Enlightenment in Britain?
A. 1619 – 1789c
B. 1689 – 1978
C. 1689 – 1798
D. 1869 – 1879
2. During the Age of Enlightenment, Britain became powerful and wealthy thanks to …
A. the growth of its industries
B. the growth of its trade
C. its proletariat
D. a & b are correct
3. Who were against the interference of the British monarchy in politics?
A. The Whigs 
B. The Tories
C. The Jacobites
D. The feudal lords
4. What is the Age of Enlightenment often referred to?
A. the Age of Philosophy
B. the Age of Reason
C. the Age of Wars
D. the Age of Light

True or False
1. Daniel Defoe was born in 1660 in London.
2. He was a successful businessman.
3. To be a political pamphleteer, he was once put into prison for slander. 
4. His masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe, is one of the most widely read and influential
novels of all times.
5. He died in 1713.
6. He published Robinson Crusoe in 1719. 
7. He also wrote other novels such as Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack, Captain Singleton,
Journal of the Plague Year, Roxana. 
8. Daniel Defoe was not a prolific journalist and author.

Answer the questions

Question 1: Who is Robinson Crusoe?
 Robinson Crusoe is a man who is stranded on a deserted island for 28 years.
 With the supplies he's able to salvage from the wrecked ship, Robinson Crusoe
eventually builds a fort and then creates for himself a kingdom by taming animals,
gathering fruits, growing crops, and hunting.
Question 2: What does his father encourage him to do?
 To become a lawyer
Question 3: What is Robinson’s desire?
 Going on sea voyages
Question 4: Where does he leave for in the first voyage and who goes with him?
 He runs away with a friend and secures free passage to London.
Question 5: What happens to him and his companion in the first trip?
 rough weather.
 The ship is forced to land at Yarmouth.
  When Crusoe's friend learns the circumstances under which he left his family, he
becomes angry and tells him that he should have never come to the sea.
 They part, and Crusoe makes his way to London via land. He thinks briefly about going
home, but cannot stand to be humiliated.
Question 6: What happens to him in the second voyage?
 He manages to find another voyage headed to Guiana.
 Once there, he wants to become a trader.
 On the way, the ship is attacked by Turkish pirates, who bring the crew and passengers
into the Moorish port of Sallee.
 Robinson is made a slave.
Question 7: Why does Crusoe come to Brazil, and what does he do there? What happens
next?
 An opportunity is presented when he is sent out with two Moorish youths to go fishing.
 Soon they see that black people live there. These natives are very friendly to Crusoe
and Xury.
 At one point, the two see a Portuguese ship in the distance. They manage to paddle
after it and get the attention of those on board.
 The captain is kind and says he will bring them to Brazil.
 In the new country, Robinson observes that much wealth comes from plantations.
 He resolves to buy one for himself. After a few years, he has some partners, and they
are all doing very well financially.
 Although he knows he has enough money, Crusoe decides to make the voyage.
 A terrible shipwreck occurs and Robinson is the only survivor.
 He manages to make it to the shore of an island.
Question 8: How can Crusoe survive on the isolated island?
 Robinson remains on the island for twenty-seven years.
 He recreates his English life, building homes, necessities, learning how to cook, raise
goats and crops.
 He is at first very miserable, but embraces religion as a balm for his unhappiness. He is
able to convince himself that he lives a much better life here than he did in Europe--
much more simple, much less wicked.
Questions 9 and 10: Is Crusoe on the island alone? Who is Friday?
 He sees a footprint, and later observes cannibalistic savages eating prisoners.
 They don't live on the island; they come in canoes from a mainland not too far away.
 Robinson is filled with outrage, and resolves to save the prisoners the next time these
savages appear.
 Some years later they return. Using his guns, Crusoe scares them away and saves a
young savage whom he names Friday.
Question 11: Beside Friday, who are the other two people that Crusoe saves from the
cannibals?
 Then, another ship of savages arrives with three prisoners.
 Together Crusoe and Friday are able to save two of them. One is a Spaniard; the other
is Friday's father. 
Question 12: On what date does Crusoe board the ship to return to England?
On December 19, 1686 Crusoe boards the ship to return to his homeland England.
Question 13: What happens at the end of the story?
 A boat of European men comes ashore. There are three prisoners.
  Robinson says he will help them as long as they leave the authority of the island in his
hands, and as long as they promise to take Friday and himself to England for free.
 The agreement is made.
 Friday and Robinson are taken to England.
 Even though Crusoe has been gone thirty-five years, he finds that his plantations have
done well and he is very wealthy.
 He gives money to the Portuguese captain and the widow who were so kind to him. He
returns to the English countryside and settles there, marrying and having three children.
 When his wife dies, he once more goes to the sea.

b. List of characters:
Robinson Crusoe -  The novel’s protagonist and narrator
Friday -  A twenty-six-year-old Caribbean native and cannibal who converts to
Protestantism under Crusoe’s tutelage
The Portuguese captain -  The sea captain who picks up Crusoe and the slave boy Xury
from their boat after they escape from their Moorish captors and float down the African
coast
The Spaniard -  One of the men from the Spanish ship that is wrecked off Crusoe’s island,
and whose crew is rescued by the cannibals and taken to a neighboring island
Xury -  A nonwhite (Arab or black) slave boy only briefly introduced during the period of
Crusoe’s enslavement in Sallee

 Themes:
- Survival
- Covetousness
- Spiritual growth
- The value of self-sufficiency and hard work
- Colonialism (the relationship between Crusoe & Friday = the relationship between
British empire & indigenous people)
- Fear
- Money (essential in the civilised world but worthless in the world of the isolated island)

Summary
Robinson Crusoe is an English man from the town of York who is the youngest son of a
merchant of German origin. His parents wish him to study law and would like to see him as a
great lawyer but Crusoe has some other plan. He shows his wish to go to sea, but his family,
especially his father is against his wish. His father tries to convince him to give up his dream to
go to sea but Crusoe is determined.
He sets out his sea voyage to London with his friend. At the mean time Crusoe and his
friend have narrow escape in the storm. Because of this his friend refuses to go further and
returns home, but Crusoe still goes on so as to become a sea merchant. The trip is successful
in terms of finance and he plans another voyage, leaving his earning in the care of a friendly
widow. At this time his ship is seized by Moorish pirates and he is made a slave in the North
African town of Sallee. One day while fishing, he and another slave named Xury escape and
sail down to the African coast. One Portuguese captain helps them: he buys Xury from Crusoe
and takes him to Brazil.  In Brazil he starts plantation and earns a good fortune from it.
Knowing the economic advantage of slave trade, he goes to West Africa but unfortunately got
shipwrecked.
 After shipwrecked, he notices that he is the only survivor of shipwreck and other crew
members of the ship are all drowned. He finds himself on an uninhabited island where he
spends twenty eight years adopting the isolated island. Crusoe salvages as much as he can
from the wrecked ship. He builds a home and strong forts for secure living. He ploughs the
land, grows corn and rice and rears goats. He keeps a journal of his each and every activity.
Not to lose the track of time he starts making a scratch every day since his arrival on the
island.
On December 19, 1686 Crusoe boards the ship to return to his homeland England. There
he finds his all family members have died except two sisters. The widow has kept his money
safe. Knowing that his plantation in Brazil has been in great profit he sells them and earns a
very good fortune. He donates some portion to good widow and his two sisters. Being so
restless he considers returning to Brazil, but the thought of being a Catholic prevents him to
go. He marries and his wife dies. Crusoe finally goes to East Indies as a trader and revisits the
island where he finds the Spaniards are governing the island properly and it has become
prosperous colony.
His peaceful stay in the island is disturbed by savages who are ready to kill one captive.
Crusoe feels he must save the captive, with some effort he rescues the captive and names
him Friday because he is rescued on Friday. He educates him and converts him into
Christianity. Now Crusoe has a friend to talk and share. After some time the cannibals again
come with some captives whom again Crusoe rescues. One is a Spaniard and the other turns
out to be Friday’s father. With the information given by the Spaniard they all set out to save
other sixteen Spaniard who have been marooned.
After eight days, they see the sight of the English ship approaching the island. Crusoe is
suspicious. Friday and Crusoe watch that eleven men held three captives onshore in a boat.
Nine of them start to explore the island and two of them stay there to guard the captives.
Friday and Crusoe overpower the guards and release the captives, one of them is a captain of
a ship which has been taken in a mutiny. Crusoe and Friday shout from different places so as
to confuse them and make them tire running from here to there. Eventually they confront the
mutineers, telling them that all may escape with their lives except the ringleader. The men
surrender. Crusoe and the captain pretend that the island is imperial territory and the governor
has saved their lives in order to send them all to England to face justice. Keeping five men as
hostage, Crusoe sends the other men out to seize the ship.