HAPPY FOREVER: Robinson Crusoe by Denial Defoe

Robinson Crusoe by Denial Defoe :

Author	Daniel Defoe
Illustrator	Single engraving by John Clark and john pine after design by unknown artist.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	adventure, historical fiction
Publisher	W. Taylor
Publication date	25 April 1719 (298 years ago)
Followed by	The Farther Adventure of Robinson Crosoe

About author:

BORN

1660

London, England

DIED

April 24, 1731 (aged 71)

London, England

NOTABLE WORKS

MOVEMENT / STYLE

realism

Early life.

Defoe’s father, James Foe, was a hard-working and fairly prosperous tallow chandler (perhaps also, later, a butcher), of Flemish descent. By his middle 30s, Daniel was calling himself “Defoe,” probably reviving a variant of what may have been the original family name. As a Nonconformist, or Dissenter, Foe could not send his son to the University of Oxford or to Cambridge; he sent him instead to the excellent academy at Newington Green kept by the Reverend Charles Morton. There Defoe received an education in many ways better, and certainly broader, than any he would have had at an English university. Morton was an admirable teacher, later becoming first vice president of Harvard College; and the clarity, simplicity, and ease of his style of writing—together with the Bible, the works of John Bunyan, and the pulpit oratory of the day—may have helped to form Defoe’s own literary style.

Robinson Crusoe. /ˌrɒbɪnsən ˈkruːsoʊ/ is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents.

Full Title:

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates.

Plot Overview

Robinson Crusoe is an Englishman from the town of York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Encouraged by his father to study law, Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea instead. His family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend. When a storm causes the near deaths of Crusoe and his friend, the friend is dissuaded from sea travel, but Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a ship leaving London.

This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his early profits in the care of a friendly widow. The second voyage does not prove as fortunate: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved to a potentate in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. Eager for slave labor and its economic advantages, he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but ends up shipwrecked off of the coast of Trinidad.

Crusoe soon learns he is the sole survivor of the expedition and seeks shelter and food for himself. He returns to the wreck’s remains twelve times to salvage guns, powder, food, and other items. Onshore, he finds goats he can graze for meat and builds himself a shelter. He erects a cross that he inscribes with the date of his arrival, September 1, 1659, and makes a notch every day in order never to lose track of time.

He also keeps a journal of his household activities, noting his attempts to make candles, his lucky discovery of sprouting grain, and his construction of a cellar, among other events. In June 1660, he falls ill and hallucinates that an angel visits, warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier sins.

Colonialism in the novel:

Colonization occurred primarily in the late 15th to the 20th century. The justifications for colonialism included Christian missionary work, the profits to be made, the expansion of the power of the metropolis and various religious and political beliefs.

In Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, colonialism is clearly apparent. To put the literary work into its proper context, it should be noted that the story was published in 1719, and England was enjoying the prosperity of the American colonies. England had adopted the stance that "God is on the side of the English" during Queen Elizabeth I's reign (after defeating the Spanish Armada—the strongest naval fleet in the world); this attitude had not diminished. Surely it only increased as the nation's holdings increased, which also included "islands in the West Indies."

Based upon the time in which it was written, Crusoe would have found the benefits of his country's "international policy" in keeping with his own capitalist endeavors. Colonialism is seen in the story after Crusoe leaves the island—for while he is there, he realizes that the things he valued in England, Brazil and on his travels revolved around money.

Difference between Movie& Novel:

Defoe’s novel (1719)	1997 movie
Robinson is enslaved for 24 years (Ch. II).	Robinson is never enslaved.
Robinson experiences a religious conversion, a vision dream in which he is told to repent.	Robinson does not experience a conversion whatsoever.
Friday escapes and Robinson shoots his persecutors, injuring one and resultantly killing the other. Friday kills the injured native.	Robinson kills the natives with a gun and only then can Friday escape.
Friday willingly vows in gratitude to Robinson.	Friday is forcibly chained by Robinson.
Robinson takes Friday as a servant.	Robinson takes Friday as a slave.
Robinson’s attitude toward Friday is loving, monitored and fatherly (Ch. XIV). Friday is loyal to him.	Robinson’s attitude towards Friday is first rude, irritate, and harsh. Friday leaves him because of it.
As Robinson instructs Friday “in the knowledge of the true God”, the native shows himself cheerful and deeply interested. He “listened with great attention, and received with pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us” (Ch. XV).	Robinson fanatically and intolerably preaches to Friday about the Creator. Friday seems rather puzzled and confused by Robinson’s preaching, and he informs from the beginning that he dislikes Robinson’s religion.
Friday concludes the Christian God must be “a greater God than their Benamuckee”, since pagan priests say the cannibal’s god is not supposed to listen in the ground unless they climb to the mountain. Nature assists Robinson’s arguments to evidence to Friday “the necessity of a great First Cause” (Ch. XV).	Friday reacts negatively to Robinson’s idea of God and he conclusively states “I don’t like your God.” He informs he prefers the cannibal’s pagan crocodile god who is said to hear cannibals even in the trees and in the water.
Friday becomes a Christian and ends up accepting Robinson’s lifestyle. Robinson comments: “this savage was now a good Christian, a much better than I” (Ch. XVI).	Robinson ends up accepting Friday’s cultural lifestyle and somehow forsakes his Christianity.
Robinson ponders whether killing natives goes against the principles of his religion. Friday tries to convince Robinson to Christianize and civilize other cannibals in the island, asking him to “teach wild mans be good… tell them know God, pray God, and live new life” (Ch. XVI). Friday shows himself enthusiastic about it. They both end up in England.	Robinson and Friday go against the enemy cannibal tribe. Robinson fanatically appears to believe himself to be superior, he becomes a Lord, a swordman and kind of a warrior against natives. He also fights Friday and, at the end, Friday is murdered on the island.

Plot summary of Robinson Crusoe:

References:

https://www.britannica.com/biography

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ItesR4baTgY

I am also wonder when I found in google that Robinson crusoe is also available in game form and I am happy to play this wonderful game . This are some of the screenshots of the game