From human to animal

Are someone's personal experiences enough to change him/her? This may not be the case with everyone but it is certainly what will happen with a man who was born in the city of York in 1632: Robinson Crusoe, the main character from Daniel Defoe's: Life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe. He was the third brother of a family from which he received "a competent share of learning" (2) but he would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea. Since this was clearly his biggest ambition, he did everything he could to make it to sea. After a while he noticed he wasn't getting any support from his family so at the age of 19, (in 1651) he boarded a ship and embarked on his first voyage. In his first few trips, he went through a big storm and slavery for two years. Some people would call those epiphanies; revelations that demonstrated that the sea was just not the place for him. Because of these revelations he settled down -- like what most met grown would do -- in Brazil. There, he was the proud owner of his own plantation and a friend to his neighbors who had plantations as well. His friends would pay close attention to him when he spoke of his adventures especially when it was related to negroes. After a day of his tale telling,

some merchants visited Crusoe. They told him of a plan they had of traveling to Guinea and acquiring some negroes they would later use to grow their businesses.To this, Crusoe agreed. The trip to Guinea began on September 1, 1659. Shortly after, the crew encountered a storm which drove the ship towards land braking the rudder. After, the waves dispersed the crew and shoved Crusoe onto the shore of the uncanny island. In his first few days alone in that island, he made a few trips back and forth from the land to the wrecked ship and recovered as many provisions as he could cary. Later on, he started building a "fortress" for him to sleep in and protect himself and his belongings from weather and animals. This solved his problem in the shelter area but, what could he do to eat? Thankfully, he discovered some wild goats in the island which kept him full of flesh. After having to go through and do all of the things previously mentioned just to survive, Crusoe was, without a doubt, a different man. Meaning, how he acted, and what he thought of were things that changed within his persona. For example, when he escaped from his master after two years of slavery, he took with him a boy named Xury. Xury helped Crusoe in his day-to-day

activities such as hunting. In that time, he grew very fond of the young man but after they boarded a Portuguese ship that would take them both to Brazil, Crusoe acted superciliously instead of altruistic and sold Xury to the ship's captain. This clearly shows how changed since, at first he kept the boy and gave him a chance but later on he only thought of himself and was very willing to sell him and use the money himself in Brazil. Crusoe's sense of religion was also developed strongly. It is seen when his first reaction about reaching dry land is "to look up and thank God that my life was saved in case where in here was some minutes before scarce any room to hope" (53). In short words, Robinson Crusoe will be a different man when he returns to England. You may ask, what kind of man? There is no actual correct answer if one doesn't finish the book but, just predicting the outcome, he will have reverted to savagery. This is obviously caused by everything he went through in his, approximately, 34 years of adventure. Having to kill to eat, surviving on anything you can find, being alone for more than just a few days can definitely make a person sort of loose their humanity and what that word stands for (such as morals and values) along the way. Because of this, Robinson Crusoe is a classic. Nowadays, society

should take Crusoe as an example and role model to remind us to always try to be better people and as Albert Einstein once said, "Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value".