Seminar 5

Robinson Crusoe: Englishman with a yearning to go to sea and conduct trade.

Crusoe is an intelligent, curious, independent, hard-working, and risk-taking man
who undergoes a spiritual awakening on the island on which he is marooned. He
never loses his desire to travel and even returns later to the island on which he
spent nearly three decades. Crusoe is a capitalist who believes in middle-class
values.

Crusoe's Father: Immigrant from Bremen, Germany, who conducts a profitable

business in Hull, England, and moves to York. (His family name is Kreutznaer but
the English corrupt it into Crusoe. The entire family then uses that name.) Mr.
Crusoe urges his son to become a lawyer and lead a respectable, middle-class life.

Crusoe's Mother: Woman from a family named Robinson who married her
husband after he moved to York. She strongly supports her husband's view that
Robinson Crusoe should become a lawyer.

First Captain (London-bound ship): Father of Crusoe's friend. After the friend
invites Crusoe to sail to London on his father's ship, Crusoe accepts the offer. In a
raging storm, the ship sinks but all aboard get safely to shore. Then the captain
tells Crusoe that he should never again go to sea but instead should return home.
The captain thinks Crusoe is a Jonah, someone who brings bad luck.

Second Captain (Guinea-bound ship): Captain who likes Crusoe and agrees to
take him to Guinea, Africa.

Third Captain: Captain of a ship on which Crusoe makes a return trip to Guinea.

Xury: Young Moor from North Africa who helps Crusoe escape slavery.

Fourth Captain (Ship to Brazil): Kindly Portuguese captain who takes Crusoe
aboard off the coast of Africa and takes him to Brazil.

Owner of Sugar Plantation: In Brazil, Crusoe lodges with this man and learns
agriculture from him.

Wells: Englishman who is a business partner of Crusoe in Brazil.

Negro Slave, European Servant: Crusoe buys them and sets them to work on his
tobacco plantation in Brazil.

Widow: Honest woman in London who safeguards Crusoe's profits from his
enterprises. She was the wife of the Second Captain, who died shortly after
returning to London.
Three Merchants and Planters: In Brazil, they persuade Crusoe to accompany
them on a trip to Guinea to buy slaves. Crusoe is to act as the trader.

Friday: Young savage whom Crusoe rescues from cannibals. In gratitude, Friday
becomes Crusoe's friend.

Friday's Father: Crusoe and Friday rescue him from cannibals.

Spaniard: Crusoe and Friday rescue him from cannibals.

Fifth Captain (Ship to England From Crusoe's Island): Captain of an English ship.
Mutineers depose him, then take him bound to Crusoe's island. Crusoe helps him
overthrow the mutineers, then returns to England on the captain's ship.

Mutineers: Rebels against the fifth captain.

Two Loyal Crewmen: They stand by the fifth captain during the mutiny.

Crusoe's Two Nephews: Sons of one of his brothers. In 1694, Crusoe

accompanies one of his nephews to the East Indies.

Crusoe's Wife: Crusoe marries her after he returns to England from his adventures.
She dies a few years later.

Children of Crusoe: Two sons and one daughter.

Benamuckee: Name of Friday's God. Friday becomes a Christian after Crusoe

instructs him in the faith.

Savages, Slaves, Natives of Various Lands

2. Recount the biography and literary carcer of DANIEL DEFOE. Make the
timeline of DEFOE'S life and works

Early Life

Daniel Foe, born circa 1660, was the son of James Foe, a London butcher. Daniel
later changed his name to Daniel Defoe, wanting to sound more gentlemanly.

Defoe graduated from an academy at Newington Green, run by the Reverend

Charles Morton. Not long after, in 1683, he went into business, having given up an
earlier intent on becoming a dissenting minister. He traveled often, selling such
goods as wine and wool, but was rarely out of debt. He went bankrupt in 1692
(paying his debts for nearly a decade thereafter), and by 1703, decided to leave the
business industry altogether.
Acclaimed Writer

Having always been interested in politics, Defoe published his first literary piece,
a political pamphlet, in 1683. He continued to write political works, working as a
journalist, until the early 1700s. Many of Defoe's works during this period targeted
support for King William III, also known as "William Henry of Orange." Some of
his most popular works include The True-Born Englishman, which shed light on
racial prejudice in England following attacks on William for being a foreigner; and
the Review, a periodical that was published from 1704 to 1713, during the reign of
Queen Anne, King William II's successor. Political opponents of Defoe's
repeatedly had him imprisoned for his writing in 1713.

Defoe took a new literary path in 1719, around the age of 59, when he published
Robinson Crusoe, a fiction novel based on several short essays that he had
composed over the years. A handful of novels followed soon after—often with
rogues and criminals as lead characters—including Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack,
Captain Singleton, Journal of the Plague Year and his last major fiction piece,
Roxana (1724).

3.The similaties and differences between the novel and the true story of
Alexander Selkirk

Defoe probably based part of Robinson Crusoe on the real-life experiences of

Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who at his own request was put ashore on an
uninhabited island after a quarrel with his captain and stayed there.

The life of Robinson Crusoe in the novel of the same name by Defoe was more
colorful and eventful. After many years of solitude, the hermit managed to make a
friend for himself, which did not happen with Selkirk. Alexander did not meet the
bloodthirsty Indians-cannibals, as described in the book, although he almost
became a victim of the Spaniards, who, having landed on the island, arranged a
uniform hunt for him. Many researchers note that, despite the similarity of certain
episodes of Defoe's novel to the story of the Scottish sailor, they were too different
people, and it is unlikely that Selkirk could become the prototype of Robinson.

Defoe's island had a tropical location in the Caribbean, near the mouth of the
Orinoco river off Venezuela, while Selkirk's was in the Pacific, some 400 miles off
the coast of Chile, a much more temperate area. Selkirk's adventures took place in
the early 18th century while Crusoe's were set in the mid-1600s.

4. The major themes:

 Adventure: Life As A Perilous Journey

 Robinson Crusoe has committed many adventures in his life. And most of them
were very dangerous.

At first, he decides to run away from home because he wants to become a sailor
and have a life full of adventures. He succeeded.

Eventually, after a stormy voyage, his ship crashed during a storm. But he goes to
sea again. This voyage also ends in disaster, as the ship is captured by the pirates
of Sale, and Crusoe is enslaved by the Moors. Fortunately, he was the only one
who survived and he found himself on a desert island.

Thanks to hard work, he turned the wild island into his own fortress with his
farm. He built a reliable house, furniture, a rapid, tamed wild animals, made
utensils, learned to grow and bake bread.

Another adventure happens with Robinson. He stumbles upon a wild tribe of

cannibals. He rescues a captured savage who was about to be eaten. He teaches the
native English and calls it Friday because he saved him on this day of the week. He
eventually gets a friend.

And with the help of his ingenuity and intelligence, Robinson was able to save
the lives of a group of sailors who were attacked.

Robinson had many dangerous adventures, and deserved to return home alive.

In my opinion, he not only survived in a dangerous situation, but learned many

lessons, that is, he became a master of his life.

Robinson with his life, attitude to it, actions showed boundless diligence, great
optimism and endless desire to live.

 Impartance of religion

Daniel Defoe's novel is, at its core, the spiritual autobiography of one man:
Robinson Crusoe, mariner of York. He is first rebellious, then atones for his sins,
and then converts himself and others to Christianity. We begin the novel with
Crusoe's rebellion: defiance of his father's plan for him, an act that is framed as
going against the authority of God himself. Crusoe then suffers the vicissitudes of
fate – a series of misfortunes that land him on the deserted island. Once there, he
finally atones for his sins and undergoes a serious religious conversion. The novel
then becomes a collection of religious observations. We see Crusoe turn into a
teacher, as he converts Friday upon meeting the guy.
 Besides the redemptive structure of Robinson Crusoe, we can see many Biblical
themes developed in the novel. For example, Crusoe's own story is very much like
the parable of the parable of the prodigal son. The character of Crusoe is also
pretty similar to such Biblical figures as Jonah (the one who was swallowed by a
whale/giant fish) or Job (the guy who loses everything and everyone he loves) who
have their faith tested through many trials and a tremendous amount of suffering.

This book suggests that religion is the foundational force is a person's life.

While religion is an important part of life, this book suggests that we should be
tolerant of other religions and cultures.

 Freedom and Slavery

 Colonialism and Capitalism

In Robinson Crusoe representation of colonialism is clearly reflected through the

relationship between the colonized and colonizer, representation of a colonized
land and people, and representation of colonialism from the viewpoint of trade,
commerce and buildings empire.

The theme of colonialism is apparent throughout Robinson Crusoe. It is

particularly evident when the narrator asserts his "undoubted right of dominion"
over the island and describes its other inhabitants as his subjects.

 Self-reliance

Robinson Crusoe is at its core a story of adventure, and true to its nature the hero
must rely upon his wits and courage to survive. Throughout the novel readers see
this theme in action. Robinson Crusoe chooses the right moment to escape from his
slave master and thinks quickly to push the Moor accompanying him on the boat
overboard. He demonstrates self-reliance in building his plantation in Brazil. And
most clearly and indefatigably, he uses his self-reliance to survive on the island.
Defoe goes to extraordinary lengths to tell how Crusoe sorts through the goods on
the wrecked ship to find just what he needs to survive and how he builds his rafts
to bring it all ashore. It describes how he builds his castle for both comfort and
defense. Crusoe has few materials available to him, but he manages to use what he
does have in creative ways to build a comfortable and safe home on the island.

 Loneliness and solitude

In the three centuries since Crusoe's appearance, he has become an icon of

solitude, his 28-year sojourn on an uninhabited Caribbean island the most
influential depiction of loneliness in Western literature. Many writers before Defoe
had pondered the solitary life, but none had portrayed it in such vivid detail.

As Robinson Crusoe survives on his island and adapts very well to his
surroundings he becomes lonely and wishes for some companionship. During his
stay on the island Crusoe trains a parrot to speak to him just so he can hear another
voice, even though it is just a repetition of his own words. Since he has an
enormous amount of time on his hands, he takes the time to learn his scriptures
well and become a companion to the Lord. If he was not stuck on the island by
himself, he would have most likely forgotten about his religion as he did in the
beginning of the novel. When Crusoe takes his first voyage on sea he is met with a
great storm. During this storm he promises God that he will go home to his father
if he survives. Once the storm stops and his fears are over, Crusoe abandons the
promise that he made to the Lord.

5. Character sketch of Robinson

Robinson is the protagonist and the narrator of the novel. He is individualistic,

self-reliant, and adventurous. He continually discounts the good advice and
warnings of his parents and others, and boldly seeks to make his own life by going
to sea.

The credibility of the story of Robinson Crusoe by Defoe springs from the focus on
Crusoe the man himself. Crusoe’s rebellion against his father’s middle class
dreams, his restlessness, the tremendous urge in him to move on, to gain more
profits leads him to a life of isolation and solitude.

Even in the midst of tremendous distress he not only survives physically on the
island by means of a resourcefulness and cunning (which at times seems almost
improbable) but also moves beyond the destructive effects of isolation and
establishes himself as a master of the island with everything (himself and his
environment) under his control. However, throughout his period of isolation a
spirituality of a strong nature and the belief on Providence helped him struggle
with self-assurance on the one hand and utter hopelessness on the other hand.

Just as Providence led him to his isolated state, it also gave him a tremendous
courage to turn disasters into meaningful turning points and Crusoe is ultimately
able to find meaning in flux, hold back his own potential hysteria, and shape his
own character. The utilitarian methods he employs to make the island and its
environment suitable for living makes him a self-determined Defoe protagonist
whose attempts at establishing ‘culture’ in nature are rewarding. Crusoe displays
this very stability and possessiveness upon himself and his island when he
encountered society.

Providence guides him to a servant-companion thereby ending his period of

absolute solitude and leading to an increase in his political power. He is a true
colonialist at heart who knows perfectly well to rule, to exploit and to assert. The
arrival of the mutineers gives a tremendous boost to Crusoe’s political career on
the island as he now rescues the three castaways from the ship, thus playing the
role of Providence (himself) in their lives.