The Rise of the Novel: Realism and the Realistic Novel

-The Rise of the Novel.

- Realism and the Realistic Novel.

-The characteristics of the Realistic Novel.

-The definition of The novel, prose, and the middle class.

-Techniques of Realism in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

- Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

-Text analysis: Robinson Crusoe.

-Literary concepts.

1. The Rise of the Novel:

The eighteenth-century(18th) is marked by the appearance of semi anti-romance

novels.(Realistic novels):

1.The rise of the novel coincides with the rise of the middle classes in Western Europe.

2.Advances in the technology of printing.

3.Brought books and pamphlets to populations excluded from education working-class men and

women of all classes.

4.Authors became free agents in the literary marketplace.

5.Reflecting the values of a middle-class readership.

6. This emergence of the novel and/or realism in literature has been attributed to the

rising middle classes, development of the printing press, individualism etc., which were

analogous to the development of the culture of Enlightenment( Age of Reason).

1
 2. Realism and the Realistic Novel

Realism is an aesthetic mode which broke with the classical demands of art to show life

as it should be in order to show life "as it is." The work of realist art tends to eschew the elevated

subject matter of tragedy in favour of the quotidian; the average, the commonplace, the

middle classes and their daily struggles with the mean verities of everyday existence--these are

the typical subject matters of realism. Realism is intended to present a true picture of life at a

given time and place.

For example,

1. The attempt, however, to render life as it is, to use language as a kind of undistorting

mirror of, or perfectly transparent window to, the "real". Realism in this simplified

sense must assume a one-to-one relationship between the signifier (the word, "tree" for

example) and the thing it represents (the actual arboreal object typically found in

forests). that is to say, realism has been used to denote ways of presenting or capturing

the lives of people in fiction which is so evocative that it seems quite lifelike.

2. realism has been used as a period concept to denote particularly those fictive techniques

which were used by nineteenth century novelists to consciously depict the lives of

ordinary, common, poor or socially marginalized people in their novels.

3.The characteristics of the Realistic Novel

1. The use of an omniscient narrator who gives us access to a character's thoughts, feelings
and motivations.
2. Synonymous with veracity

3. Denial of fictionality.

4. Particularity of description.

5. Photographic" attention to detail (verisimilitude).

6. Rejection of fabulous imaginings and idealism of romances.

2
 7. Focus on middle-class protagonists.

8. Familiarity: Novels portray everyday existence and common people.

9. The hero or heroine leaves home for a real or metaphoric journey due to some form of

loss or discontent.

4.The definition of The novel:

A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, "new") is an extended, generally

fictional narrative in prose.

5.The definition of Prose:

Prose is a form of language that has no formal metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of

speech, and ordinary grammatical structure rather than rhythmic structure, such as in the case of

traditional poetry. Normal every day speech is spoken in prose and most people think and write

in prose form. Prose comprises of full grammatical sentences which consist of paragraphs.

6.The Middle Class:

bourgeoisie a social stratum(class) that is not clearly defined but is positioned between the lower
and upper classes. It consists of businesspeople, professional people, etc. it is marked by
bourgeois values. ( lower class, upper class, working class).

7.Techniques of Realism in Robinson Crusoe page 23:

Daniel Defoe is one of the pioneers that wrote novel, beside Samuel Rhicardson and

Henry Fielding, in the Rhetoric of Fiction (1977:41) Wayne C. booth quotes Ian Watt’s

statement by saying, “Properly speaking, the novel begins only when Defoe and Rhicardson

discover how to give their characters sufficient particularity and autonomy to make them

3
seem like real people”(30). the concept of realism is highly depicted in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson

Crusoe. The realistic elements are covered in the characters, plot and setting.

Daniel Defoe’s biography:

Daniel Foe was born into a lower-middle class family in London in 1660 (he
later added the French-sounding "De" to his last name to sound higher-class). After some time as
a merchant, during which he traveled throughout Europe, he became known for writing political
pamphlets in the 1680s and 1690s. In the early 1700s, he was imprisoned for some of his more
controversial political writings. Defoe published Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and following it with
a number of other novels, including Moll Flanders. Defoe's realistic novels gained widespread
popularity among the newly emerging middle-class readership of England and were foundational
in the development of the novel as a literary form.

3. Historical Context of Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe's journey takes place in the context of 17th-century European

imperialism and colonialism(British and French colonialism) Defoe was likely inspired or
influenced by the real-life adventures of Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk was a Scottish man who
survived for four years stranded on an island in the south Pacific. His amazing story of survival
spread widely after hereturned to Europe in 1711 (not long before Defoe published Robinson
Crusoe).

The Characters’ Analysis

Crusoe’s: The main character of the story, is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to
travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a
primitive land. The novel essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result
of this isolation.
Xury: a friend/servant of Crusoe's, he also escapes from the Moors. who is dedicated to
Crusoe.

4
.
Friday: another friend/servant of Cursors, he spends a number of years on the island with
the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protégé,
a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men.
Crusoe’s Realism:( page 25):
James Berkley (1961) affirms that realism is intended to present a true picture of life at a
given time and place, which are strongly present in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Indeed, Robinson
Crusoe, Friday, and the island they were residing in has been given real characteristics, and while
reading we could live the moment presented by the protagonists as if we were there too.
Geography:
The places that Crusoe has traveled to have been described through the use of a
special diction that made it much more real than it appears. the story appears so real that we may
consider it as a documentary over the world, as we may find exact latitudes that gives the
location of places:“... About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made
an observation as well as he could, and found that he was in about eleven degrees north
latitude, but that he was twenty-two degrees of longitude difference west from cape St.
Augustino, so that he found he was gotten upon the coast Guinea...” (36).
As shown in the quote above, the exact places and their geographical position is given in
details while they were in the sea, which is rarely demonstrated in fiction-novels.
In many situations, the island was given a description that seems to be taken from the real
existing world. when Robinson Crusoe described the Island, he did not know in the beginning if
it was an island or a continent stating: “I fairly described land, whether an island or continent
I could not tell; but it lay very high, extending to the west southwest” (96). Another
description given by Robinson Crusoe, and is perhaps the closest to real world: “I could not tell
what part of the world this might be, otherwise than that I knew it must be part of
America, as I concluded by all my observations, must be near the Spanish dominions, and
perhaps was all inhabited by savages” (96).

5
 Time:
The first hint about time was shown in beginning. Giving the date and the place of birth
of a character made Robinson Crusoe seem a real person: Crusoe was born in the year 1632, in
the city of York. He got stranded on the desolate island on the 30th September 1659. He left the
island on the 19th December 1686, after a stay of 28 years, two months, and nineteen days and
the like.
A great example of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe that shows time as if it was real is found in
chapter ten: The Journal. “May 10.11.12.13.14.Went everyday to the wreck, and got a great
deal of pieces of timber and boards, or plank, and two or three hundredweight of iron.”
(75).
This quote is an example driven from real life, to note everything and to write every event in
exact time, which demonstrates that Robinson Crusoe was aware of time there on that island,
though he took only a calendar to help him locate the instant moment. An issue that seemed very
important, time is the perfect indicator towards reality.
The Journal: “September 30, 1659. I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked
during a dreadful story in the offing….” (61)

“… but as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I changed my course, and steered
directly south and by east” (19).
“I made such sail that I believe by the next day at three o’clock in the afternoon” (20). And
June 21.Very ill, freighted almost to death with apprehension of my sad condition, to be
sick and no help prayed to God for the first time since the storm off of hull” (76).
Robinson Crusoe is as much the story of a man’s psychological development and spiritual
progress as a tale of adventure in the physical sense.
Crusoe’s Ownership and Colonialism:
Crusoe's father argues that best to have neither extreme wealth nor be in dire poverty.
Crusoe must deny his father's advice in order to follow his own wandering Inclination,“...l went
on Board in an evil Hour, the 1st of Sept. 1659, being the same Day eight Year that I went
from my Father and Mother at Hull, in order to act the Rebel to their Authority, and the
Fool to my own interest”(36).

6
 Robinson Crusoe is very interested in commerce, trade, and the accumulation of wealth.
After all, the whole reason that Crusoe is on the ocean in the first place is to take part in trade.
He makes money in Africa and also in the sugar plantations he buys in Brazil. On their way to
Guinea, the voyage ends with shipwreck; and Crusoe is the only person saved and swept away on
an island; which metaphorically implies his being specially appointed as the master of a new
colony to be civilized. For the first strategic steps of colonizing; the Master starts with ‘exploring
the land’:“As for the dwelling he resolves to build ‘a tent upon the earth’ and a ‘cave in the
earth, where he would secure his ‘health’ by ‘fresh water,’ shelter ‘from the heat of the
sun.’ ‘A view to the sea’ would be the third urgent position for the dweller”(50).

Defoe depicts Crusoe's island as a microcosm of European society. Crusoe's European

values and education are evident: he colonizes the island by building houses. His successful
development on the island parallels that of the British Empire around the eighteenth century. A
passage on page 241 shows Crusoe's amazing skill throughout the novel to claim ownership of
things. He sells his fellow slave Xury to the Portuguese captain, and he takes Friday as his
servant immediately after meeting him. Most extraordinarily, he views the island as "my own
mere property" (Crusoe 241) over which he has "an undoubted right of dominion." (Crusoe
241). He takes the position of the when he says, to "my people" (Crusoe 241).
The basic ideological argument for the Master is ‚ “to set the good against the Evil”
(57) of which “the Island of Despair” (60) as Crusoe names it, and its probable inhabitants
represent the potential ‘evil’ and the colonizer is the authority and practitioner of ‘the good’
(57).
He becomes the ‘King of a peopled is-land,’ where he feels ‘the whole Country is his own
Property;’
“My People were perfectly subjected: I was absolute Lord and Law-giver; they all owed
their Lives to me, and were ready to lay down their Lives, if there had been Occasion of it,
for me. It was remarkable too, we had but three Subjects, and they were of three different
Religions. My Man Friday was a Protestant, his Father was a Pa-gan and a Cannibal, and
the Spaniard was a Papist: However, I allowed Liberty of Conscience throughout my
Dominions” (203)
Crusoe’s Slavery and Racism:

7
 After a safe voyage to the Brazils, he sells his cargo, the boat and his slave-boy Xury to
the captain; he says, “I let the Captain have him". (30) making a good amount of money for
future investments; “a stock of 220 Pieces of Eight” (30/31). Crusoe may be reluctant to sell
Xury into slavery, but Crusoe clearly does not regard Xury as his equal.
One day Crusoe is “ exceedingly surprised with the print of a man’s naked foot on
the shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand.”(130) Then he questions the situation:
Master makes his mind up ‚ “to get a Savage into (my) his Possession;” (168) an aim quite fit
with the strategic mind of a colonizer; the aim is not to save a life, but possess it:“ if I had them
so as to make them entirely Slaves to me, to do whatever I should direct them, and to
prevent their being able at any time to do me any Hurt. It was a great while, that I pleased
myself with this affair,” (169) He does not make an attempt to capture or catch; but the slave
comes to him while escaping from a fatal cannibalistic practice.
They start communication with sign language. Master’s first lesson is to assure his
mastership; as soon the slave makes ‚ “all the signs” to assure him ‚of “subjection, servitude,
and submission imaginable,” and lets him believe ‚ “how he would serve” him ‚ “as long as
he lived,” in a short time, Crusoe and the slave start speaking, and the his first attempt is to give
a name to his slave, without any attempt of learning his real name. The slave is named ‘Friday’‚
the day Master saves his life.‛ That particular name, ‘Friday,’ has a historical allusion and
reminds a social statue between Master and slave. So Crusoe reports: “I called him so for the
Memory of the Time.‛ ‚I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that
was to be my Name; I likewise taught him to say, Yes, and No, and to know the Meaning of
them” (174).
Friday’s incommunicable story holds the idea of slavery. Friday, the slave or the
colonized hero in Foe, lacks his tongue to tell what the reader is curious to hear; as losing one’s
tongue seems to be the proof of losing one’s identity, language, history and culture.(Africans
are portrayed lacking language as they communicate using sounds like animals). Crusoe,
The King of his island, is obliged to lead a life that would be difficult without his slave, Friday’s
assistance.
“ they told me, that they had a mind to fit out a Ship to go to Guinea, that they had all
Plantations as well as I, and were straitened for nothing so much as Servants; that as it was
a Trade that could not be carried on, because they could not publicly sell the Negroes when

8
they came home, so they desired to make but one Voyage, to bring the Negroes on Shoar
privately, and divide them among their own Plantations. (35)
Crusoe calls his slave, “my Man Friday” who accompanies his Master ‚very honestly in all
these ramblings,‛ and proves “a most faithful servant upon all occasions” (235) Crusoe is fully
contented with his achievements on the Island.

Crusoe’s Spirituality:
Believing God is punishing him for leaving his home and family, Robinson Crusoe
laments his state on the island and finally feels true regret and repentance for his past mistakes.
He sets off for the first experience on the sea “I consulted neither Father or Mother any more,
nor so much as sent them Word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without
asking God’s Blessing, or my Father’s, without any Consideration of Circumstances or
Consequences, and in an ill Hour, God knows”(9).
The first trip ends up with the lesson that ‚ “if God spares his life this time, he will never get
onto a Ship again” (9). The ship sinks, and the crew including himself, are ‚ “saved with a boat
with hard labor” (13).
His sense of spirituality grows as he becomes close to the natural changes of the island: “that if
God sent any Ship in Sight, I might not lose any Advantage for my Deliverance”(51).
“ after I saw Barley grow there, in a Climate which I know was not proper for Corn, and
especially that I knew not how it came there, it startled me strangely, and I began to
suggest, that God had miraculously caused this Grain to grow without any Help of Seed
sown, and that it was so directed purely for my Sustenance, on that wild miserable Place. I
saw near it still all along by the Side of the Rock, some other straggling Stalks, which
proved to be Stalks of Rice”(67).
Crusoe goes on with his religious mission; as an inevitable responsibility commanded by the
‘Bibles’; transported from his civilized Native Country. After teaching Friday(the black slave)
the norms of social statue, the Master wants to “bring his companion to the true Knowledge of
Religion, and of the Christian Doctrine” (186).
“That he might know Christ Jesus, to know whom is Life eternal. The Savage was now a
good Christian, a much better than I; though I have reason to hope, and bless God for it,
that we were equally penitent, and com-forted restored Penitents”(186).

9
 Literary Concepts:
Colonialism:
The origin of the word ‘colony’ goes back to the Latin word ‘colonus,’ which was used in
‘Middle French’ and ‘Middle English’ to denote ‘a country or an area under full or partial
political control of another country’. The Latin word ‘colonus’ is an equivalent of today’s
‘colonialism’ having affinities with the ideas of occupation and invasion, and even exploitation.
Slavery:
The condition in which one person is owned as property by another and is under the owner's
control, especially in involuntary servitude. An example of slavery is the ownership of blacks by
the whites.

10
 Works Cited

Agesta, Satria Nova. "An Analysis Of Realism Found In Daniel Defoe’s Novel Robinson

Crusoe." Diss.

Barlık, Memet Metin. "COLONIZING ‘THE OTHER’: ROBINSON CRUSOE AND FOE."

Hasan, Mariwan N. "The eighteenth century and the rise of the English novel." International

Journal of Literature and Arts 3.2 (2015): 18.

Korichi, Chahba A. Sense of Realism in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Diss. 2016.

Wolfreys, Julian. Key Concepts in Literary Theory. Edinburgh university press, 2013.

11