Essay on Robinson Crusoe

ID Number: 1037250.01
May 3, 2022
Daniel Defoe’s novel titled Robinson Crusoe, follows the story of a shipwrecked man

who is deserted on an island for thirty-five years and because of it, matures in his faith

towards God. During his youth, Robinson Crusoe views Providence as a restrictive

authority that disallows him to live out his desires. Despite his parent’s pleadings, Crusoe

rebels and goes out to sea. After finding himself alone on a deserted island, his hardships

allow him to understand the role of Providence in his life. Over time, Crusoe becomes

aware that Providence is God’s compassionate protection plan from unknown dangers to

his creatures and not a form of punishment. He acknowledges his flawed past perception

of God and now sees Him as his preserver throughout his difficult times. As Crusoe

matures in age, so does his faith in God. Robinson Crusoe journeys in his attitude toward

Divine Providence from a rebellion against what he perceives as a disinterested authority

early on, to an initial repentance and conversion through the vision-dream, and finally, to

an active and mature faith in a loving God, Who protects and guides all things, by the end

of his stay on the island.

Early on in his life, Robinson Crusoe already has a negative bias towards Providence

and sees it as a punishable authority, rather than a life-sustaining one. The story begins as

Crusoe recalls his arguments with his parents as they plead with him to rethink his

decision to go to sea. Knowing that life on sea is dangerous and uncontrollable, Crusoe’s

parents try to persuade him by saying he is safer on land and can live a simple life.

Crusoe remembers his father telling him, “if I did take this foolish step, God would not
 bless me”1. Crusoe resents this as he sees it as God’s authoritarian nature harshly

stopping him from fulfilling his desires. Despite his parents' efforts, Crusoe quickly and

quietly boards a ship in September of 1651 without any goodbye. On the ship, a violent

storm makes Crusoe “most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in mind” (5) as he

believes that this is God’s way of punishing him for his disobedience. This brings him to

quickly repent as he promises to return home immediately and never go to sea again.

However, when the storm subsides and Crusoe is safe on land, the promise is forgotten as

Crusoe drowns his repentance by drinking with other sailors. After another sea voyage,

Crusoe experiences the pain of seeing the ship sink and debates whether to continue on

sea or go home. Even his comrade’s father urges him to return home or else he will live

miserably. However, Crusoe’s pride disallows him to return as he is not prepared for the

shame and judgment he will receive from his family and neighbors when he arrives

home. Thus, Crusoe begins another sea voyage to the Coast of Africa that leads him to be

captured and forced to work as a slave. Once more, Crusoe is filled with repentance and

believes that God is punishing him and it is His will for him to return home. After two

years, Crusoe is able to escape from slavery, yet this still does not stop his ambition and

he falls back into rebellion. He lives in Brazil where he takes a break from sailing and

starts a sugar cane plantation. However a couple of years later, Crusoe is offered a chance

to sail again, and this begins his fateful trip to the deserted island. After a terrible storm,

Crusoe is washed up on the shore with no companion and a few belongings. He is

horrified to know that he is the only surviving member of the crew. Crusoe sees on the

coast the remains of the ship, and is able to save some food and tools for him to use. His

1 Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (New York, New York: Bantam Books, 1981), pg. 3. All subsequent references will
be taken from this text.
false belief towards Providence in the beginning of the story is based on his own

perception without taking into account all times he has been saved. This is confirmed as

Crusoe expresses, “why Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures and render

them so absolutely miserable…so entirely depressed that it could hardly be rational to be

thankful for such a life” (57). Then, Crusoe begins to realize that there are still blessings

in his circumstances, which is his life and how God provided him with resources so he

can sustain himself. Thus, his difficult circumstances in the island allow him to reflect

deeper and see how God has shown him mercy in this time.

After being in the island for some time, Crusoe develops a severe fever in which he

experiences a vision-dream that changes his hostile attitude towards Providence to a

repentant one. In his vision-dream, a mysterious figure descends from a dark cloud with a

bright flame of fire and speaks to Crusoe in a terrible voice saying, “Seeing all these

things have not brought thee to repentance, now shalt die” (80). Immediately after,

Crusoe is so terrified that he begins to reflect on his past life and realizes that he has

greatly sinned against God and his family and deserves to be punished. Crusoe describes

himself to be “wicked and profane to the last degree” (81). Thus, this begins the

formative change in Crusoe’s view towards Providence as he recalls the times God has

saved him from his various expeditions in Africa, being eaten by wild creatures in the

island, and from drowning alongside his crewmates. Crusoe begins to see that Providence

is not a punishable force, rather a “distinguishing goodness” (82) that preserves him.

After his reflection, Crusoe expresses his heart and feelings in his first prayer which asks

the Lord for help in his great distress. Crusoe continues to put in effort to better his
relationship with God as he now dedicates time to read Scripture everyday. Furthermore,

Crusoe observes his one-year anniversary on the island by keeping the Sabbath.

However, there are still times where Crusoe’s weakness in his faith still shows like when

he catches himself blaming Providence for his misery or complains about his

circumstances. After seeing a man’s footprint on the sand, Crusoe is petrified and

forgets all his prior confidence in God as he goes into hiding for his survival. Once

Crusoe gets over this fear, Crusoe further explores the island and sees human bones, and

later sees cannibals approaching the island with their victims. This sight angers Crusoe as

he wants to kill these savages for their sins and believes his reason is justified. However,

Crusoe remembers that it is not his place to judge the savages, as they are only practicing

these cannibalistic rituals because of how their culture is. Thus, Crusoe decides to be

merciful and compassionate as they are still God’s creatures and thanks God for his

mercy that he is safe from the danger of these savages. Later on, Crusoe saves one of the

victims and names him Friday, to commemorate the day he is saved. Crusoe teaches

Friday Christian concepts about the one true God and more English vocabulary. Friday

surprises Crusoe with his receptive and cheerful attitude toward learning, a stark contrast

to how Crusoe had acted in the beginning. This impacts Crusoe since even if Friday’s

past religion is of pagan beliefs, it did not stop him from being interested and curious

about the Scripture. Over time, Crusoe and Friday become great companions as Friday

proves himself to be useful and sincere in his journey in learning about God and his

questions make Crusoe reflect deeper. As the story progresses, Crusoe saves Friday’s

father and a Spaniard who both are prisoners to the cannibals. Seeing the heartfelt

reunion between Friday and his father as they share a loving embrace, moves Crusoe to
see the beauty and importance of human relationships and makes him reflect on his

relationship with the Father too. Crusoe’s developing view on Providence allows him to

have the capacity to be compassionate and confident in God’s will and this further

improves his connection to God.

The possibility of Crusoe escaping the island increases when he, alongside his

companions and visitors devise a plan to escape the island. Crusoe meets with an English

captain who arrives with some others, and explains how the crew mutinied against their

captain. The English captain is emotional as he sees Crusoe as an angel who Providence

has sent to save him. Crusoe then plans to capture the ship with the mutineers and the

team has made Crusoe as their leader and he sees this as Providence’s way of granting

him his escape from the island. They begin their plan to recapture the ship and Crusoe

makes it clear to kill as few men as possible since he is “unwilling to hazard the killing

any of our own men” (246). The team succeeds in their plan and Crusoe is filled with

great joy when he learns the ship is ready to take him back to England. Crusoe shows

compassion and charity towards the dangerous mutineers that instead of killing them,

they are to be left on the island. Crusoe teaches them how he survived on the island all

those years and gives them supplies to sustain them. Crusoe’s relationship with Divine

Providence has grown into a matured, developed, charitable, and compassionate one and

because of it he is able to show mercy and compassion towards his companions and

mutineers. Crusoe begins to see that Providence is on his side since the beginning and has

allowed all the events in his life to happen so that he can finally reach this point of mature

faith.
 Robinson Crusoe changes his once pessimistic view of Providence as a impersonal

force early in his life because of his father’s refusal for him to fulfill his desires, to a

progressive repentance and change in his views inspired by the vision-dream, and finally

to a confident and mature spiritual connection with God as he finally understands how

Providence works in his life. With his renewed faith, he has the capacity to be

compassionate towards Friday, Friday’s father, the Spaniard, and the English captain.

Crusoe now views Providence as the reason for his protection and a loving hand who

guided him through his most difficult times. Even after leaving the island, Crusoe does

not forget the spiritual journey he has been on and continues to live his life trusting and

praising God’s name.