Abdulhalük EROĞLU

397737

Response Paper-III

Robinson Crusoe: The Story Of a Homo-Economicus

In this critical article, we can see how Robinson is capitalist person. He always thinks for
himself and he just doing things for himself. Also, besides doing all this for himself, he does
everything alone. At the beginning of the article, the author says ‘ Crusoe is a man with a
whole island for a toy; he treks lord-like through his own forests, sail along his own
coasts,, herd his own goats, harvest his own crops and ransacks the ship for plunder. The
island is rough Eden and Crusoe turns this rough Eden into rough England’. "Crusoe
manages to transform a wilderness iııto a one-man state, in whiclı he is both architect and
builder, husband man and housewife, management and labor, commoner and king ." We
can understand from this quotes that Robinson was trying to create a new civilization for
himself from the desolate and desert island.

In another part of the article, the author talks about a disgusting act that Robinson did for his
own benefit and well- being. Robinson was captured by Turkish pirates with the Moroccan
boy. After this event, They were rescued by Xury. In return for this help, Robinson sold the
boy as a slave. ‘After some disastrous voyage, and even after being taken as a captive by
Turks, he never quits the idea of making trade. He easily sells the Moorish boy, Xury to the
captain of the Portuguese ship who saves them. Despite Xury’s help in escaping from the
Turkish Pirates, he sells the boy together with the boat he stole because he simply thinks
that this is trade.’ As we seen in this quote, Robinson thinks of his own benefit and profit For
Robinson, his own interest and benefits are paramount. We can see Robinson’s homo-
economicus characteristic from these events.

There is a another example of Robinson’s homo-economicus characteristic. Ertugrul koc

says: ‘Crusoe is a rationalist. He calculates the advantageous and valuable side of the
situation he is in. Throughout the novel , we see him working out the problems he
encounters. He produces some quick calculations like that of an accountant’s balance, and
makes his decisions in accordance with the results he gets from this balance.’ Based on this
quote , this is how Robinson finds solutions to the events he faced and he always makes thee
decision that is appropriate and beneficial for him

All in all, I completely agree with the thoughts of the author Ertugrul Koc I quoted about the
character of Robinson. When we look at most of the events in the novel, we can see that
Robinson doesn’t care about anything but his own interests and he always makes the right
decisions for himself.