5th International Research Conference on Education ISSN 2298-0180

The role of education according to Robinson Crusoe by D. Defoe and Life of Pi by Y. Martel

Natela Doghonadze
International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia

Abstract

The paper is both a comparative literary analysis of two books separated by almost three centuries and
an effort through fiction to understand what is the goal of learning. Its target readers are literature teachers and
literary critics, on the one hand, and education theorists and all teachers in general. It aims at a conclusion that
ability to learn is a very important part of human nature which makes our life meaningful, whatever
circumstances we are in. Living is learning and not learning is not living.

Key words: education, learning, experience, Humanism, fiction, book, allusion, spirituality, teacher,
allegory, knowledge, skills, values

Education has always been crucial for people – life skills and culture can develop only via education,
and progress cannot be achieved without it. There are – scarce enough – fiction works that deal with education
– about children-parents relations, school and university life, dedicated and innovative teachers. But the books
I would like to analyze in this paper are not like that. However, I deeply believe, they are books about how
education keeps people afloat and helps them survive.

We all know that Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is about a young man seeking sea adventures whose
ship wrecked and who survived on a desert island for two decades or more. Fewer of us know the fantastic book
Life of Pi by a Canadian author of a French-speaking family, born in Spain – Yann Martel. In this book a boy
from India survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean.

At first sight what unites the two books separated by almost three centuries is sea adventure. Both heroes
set at sea (one on his own will, the other – not) and survived without other people’s help in unbelievable
circumstances. But the connection is much deeper and stronger.

Both Robinson Crusoe and Pi Patel are left with minimum survival tools, but among them (so typically
both for Age of Reason and Technological Age) are books: the Bible for Robinson and some instructions,
including an animal training instruction for Pi. Both keep journals to remain Homo Sapiens, not to lose Reason.
Both talk to animals, as, talking, they remain Human. Both respect Nature. During the storm Pi simultaneously
is terrified and admires the powerful Nature (i.e., God), he is just sorry he cannot get the message that God is
sending him. Pi, as a Hindu, a vegetarian, apologizes in front of the fish he has to kill and eat and thanks it for
helping him survive.

It is interesting that animals in Life of Pi have human names (and, as Pi believes, souls). Richard Parker
(the tiger) is simultaneously his enemy, who can eat him any moment and thus keeps him alert, making him

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fight for his life and survival, and his friend, the only alive creature on the boat to communicate with, a friend
in need for whom Pi cares. Pi believes that if Richard Parker dies, so will he (the book contains an ecological
message among many other things as well):

I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me,
but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively, in the same boat. We would live – or die – together…
(Martel, 2003, part 2, chapter 57)

Pi’s father had told him that tiger is a wild animal, but Pi believes he has a soul. This is why he is so
disappointed when – at the moment they are rescued – Richard Parker leaves him without looking back, without
a decent goodbye. However, he still hopes that the tiger has a soul – a little piece of a universal soul that Creator
gave us all.

Both books contain many allusions to the Bible. Crusoe’s own story is very much like the parable of
the prodigal son (physically – eventually returning home and mentally – rethinking his faith). Defoe in his book
quotes the Bible many times, for example in chapter IV - “Call on Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). He very often mentions God (161 times), Lord (12 times), Christ
(14 times), Jesus Christ (6), Jesus (3), Saviour (6) and Providence (59 times), to say nothing of Him (which is
difficult to count).

Life of Pi contains many allusions not only to the Bible, but also to the related Jewish and Islamic
references. Pi’s boat is obviously an allusion to Noah’s Ark. Christ, Virgin Mary, and Holy Spirit are mentioned
many times as well as such personages as Noah, Cain, Doubting Thomas, etc. Pi is a Hindu from birth, then at
fourteen he adds Catholicism to his repertoire; at fifteen he adds Islam. As an Indian, he also naturally mentions
names dealing with Hinduism (Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, etc.). Pi is an educated boy, he knows much
about religions and believes that the Faith is important, it is the main value, not a particular religion (like the
man he admires – Mahatma Gandhi).

Whatever important place does faith occupy in both books, none of them can be called a book dedicated
to religion or a religious book. These books are about Man who has been created by God and whose Teacher is
God. God helps Robinson and Pi not in a magic way, not using His Power, but by teaching them to be morally
strong. Here very adequate are the words of American Baptist Minister and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther
king, Jr: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus
character – that is the goal of true education” (King, 1947).

This is the way Robinson and Pi were raised, this is what life later taught them, this is the way God
helps them survive. Robinson, revising his faith, learned not to lose hope and dignity, to think positively. He
believed God will help him, but he should deserve this help - be optimistic, work hard, and behave humanly: “I
learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I
enjoyed rather than what I wanted” (Defoe, 2010, chapter IX). Pi is also optimistic:

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I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn’t made itself heard in my heart. The voice said,
“I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are.
I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen
every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.
(Martel, 2003, Part 2, chapter 53)

It is not by chance that Robinson Crusoe is mentioned in Life of Pi (part 1, chapters 26 and 32), but
even if it were not, the allusion comes immediately to one’s mind when both heroes find help and inspiration in
the Book, but eventually survive through their own skill and insistence.

In Chapter 15 – “Friday’s education” Robinson Crusoe (or Defoe) writes:

… the knowledge of God, and of the doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down in the
Word of God, so easy to be received and understood, that, as the bare reading the Scripture made me
capable of understanding enough of my duty to carry me directly on to the great work of sincere
repentance for my sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for life and salvation, to a stated reformation in
practice, and obedience to all God’s commands, and this without any teacher or instructor, I mean human;
so the same plain instruction sufficiently served to the enlightening this savage creature, and bringing
him to be such a Christian as I have known few equal to him in my life.

Though both books are incredibly Humanistic and teaching us to believe in (God-given) human ability,
three centuries are three centuries and we can say that the contemporary Robinson (I mean Pi) is more “civilized”
than the Robinson of the XVIII century who treats his Friday simultaneously as a good friend and as a servant,
a savage. The contemporary Robinson (Pi) treats his Friday (Richard Parker, the tiger) as an equal, with his
skills and wishes.

As Life of Pi is a philosophic allegory, a sort of a fairy tale (so unbelievable the events described in it
are), in the last part, when after the survival Pi tells his true story to shipping company agents and they don’t
believe it, to get the insurance, he tells them a realistic story about 4 people who initially survived and were on
the boat, but then the evil ship’s cook (hyena) killed the boy’s Mama (orangutan) and another sailor (zebra),
which provoked Pi to kill the bad man. So readers can also choose which story they find more credible.

Thus, the two books analyzed are books about learning (the word is used 27 times throughout Robinson
Crusoe and 17 times in Life of Pi). And adventures are just a good pretext to learn through experience about
yourself, nature and life, to acquire knowledge, skills, and, what is most important, values. Below find a quote
concerning it from Robinson Crusoe:

Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with
rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far
as house-education and a country free school generally go … My father, a wise and grave man, gave me
serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design…He bade me observe it … sliding
gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter; feeling that they are
happy, and learning by every day’s experience to know it more sensibly. (Chapter 1)

And from Life of Pi:

Experience taught me that it was better to strike when I felt I had a good chance of success than to strike
wildly, for a fish learns from experience too, and rarely falls for the same trap twice. (Chapter 66)

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References:

1. Defo, D. (2010). The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Retrieved January 21, 2015 from
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/521/521-h/521-h.htm

2. King, M.L., Jr. (1947). The Purpose of Education. Morehouse College Student Paper, The Maroon Tiger,
retrieved January 21, 2015 from http://www.mlkonline.net/the-purpose-of-education.html

3. Martel, Y. (2003). Life of Pi. Harcourt, Inc. Orlando, Florida

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