Summary Chapter 8

Summary
The longer Robinson Crusoe lives on the island, the more he explores it, going beyond the
valley and discovering more land. Crusoe tries to figure out what kind of land it is and where
the island is located, assuming that “it must be part of America, and *…+ must be near the
Spanish dominions, and perhaps was all inhabited by savages” (Defoe 139), so he decides he
is better off staying on his own uninhabited island since there might be cannibals living on
the other one. Crusoe captures a parrot, gives him the name Poll and teaches him to speak.
He also captures a young goat and brings it to his bower to make it tame. He now has
enough food to feed and domesticate some animals. “Leadenhall market could not have
furnished a table better than I” (Defoe 141).
Crusoe celebrates the second anniversary of his landing on the island in the same manner as
the first one. He thanks God for the food and tools he has found which make his life more
comfortable. With his crops doing well, Crusoe thinks about being able to bake bread one
day when the crop is even larger and ponders how he will mill the grain by developing
utensils that will help him. He protects it from goats and birds and is able to plant more,
albeit it is not enough to eat yet.

Analysis
Crusoe mentions in chapter eight that he is “reduced to a mere state of nature *…+ and was
made more sensible of it every hour” (Defoe 151). It is true that he becomes increasingly
aware of the tools and work it takes to make even just a loaf of bread, for example. He sees
himself closer to nature now than probably ever before, but he also still holds tightly onto
civilization, building machines and tools and living his life in his old comfortable ways to the
best of his ability. He domesticates animals and grows crops, has furniture and even keeps
pets. Despite getting used to living in nature, Crusoe prefers civilization.
Keeping animals is a sort of replacement for the companionship of humans for Crusoe. He
lacks company and help from other people, and also misses talking to someone. Therefore,
when he captures the parrot, he immediately grows attached to it and teaches it to talk so
he has someone he can talk to. He also ends up keeping the goat as a pet.

His basic need for human interaction does not make him seek out the land he spots from his
island. He states it is due to him being afraid that it is occupied by savages, cannibals. But he
has had no fear of the pirates and little fear of the African natives before, so the real reason
might be that he is getting used to his life on the island and thinks it is the best place he can
live in and that providence has made him land on this island and not somewhere more
dangerous.