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Our work isn't possible without your support. Digital subscription includes: Unlimited access to CSMonitor. The Monitor Daily email. No advertising. Cancel anytime. As a novel Robinson Crusoe is not the easiest to read, three hundred years separate us, their world and ours will never connect too much has passed for that, however we are the same species with faults and all human. The well known story shows survival is the ultimate prize for the vast majority of creatures called people of the Earth.
A lone and lonely man shipwrecked by an intense storm in a hostile foreign environment, far away from his own land in fearful existence as any normal being would b As a novel Robinson Crusoe is not the easiest to read, three hundred years separate us, their world and ours will never connect too much has passed for that, however we are the same species with faults and all human.
A lone and lonely man shipwrecked by an intense storm in a hostile foreign environment, far away from his own land in fearful existence as any normal being would be, living from day to day escaping and hiding from cannibals.. A nearby island they come, feasting on captured rival tribes these natives of the Caribbean Sea of the late 's never could imagine what will occur in the future here while eating in their banquet and devouring the victims , the creamy-white sands don't stay that color.
Today millions of tourists travel to the gorgeous beaches as the Sun's bright rays shine on these happy men and women from cold places seeking relaxation. On the other hand Mr. Crusoe complains of being soaked by the rains Until Friday shows up his parrot with a limited vocabulary and spicy dialogue I'm sure, being a gentleman the narrator fails to bring to light and you can't consider his other pets the cats , dogs and especially the numerous goats they communicate very little except for dinner let me be very clear on this they eat, not Mr.
Some of the best action scenes are not on the isle but off the island either a long distant from shore or the Atlantic, Arabs of North Africa kidnap the sailor making him a slave but ships sink, pirates are greedy, and while digging for useful items on his beach still the tide flows in, hanging to a piece of wood which was once a ship, yet finding rum has its compensations The battle with hungry wolves in the mountains of northern Spain is the best Dislike or enjoy View all 10 comments.
Feb 19, Molly rated it liked it. Spoiler alert Robinson Crusoe was a total douchebag. If anyone deserved to get stuck on an island for 28 years, it was this guy. His story begins with his dying father pleading with him to stay at home, but the teenage Crusoe won't have it. He wants to be a sailor, he swears that he's meant to be a sailor, he totally loves the sea - even though he's never been on a boat.
So, against his family's wishes he runs off to a buddy's ship. And guess what? He hates it. He's sick all the time, the boat Spoiler alert He's sick all the time, the boat is super rocky, there are too many waves - then, they crash.
It's the worst. Somehow, he survives. Once on land he gets drunk with some of his friends and is all like, maybe I was wrong about the sea, maybe it's actually great. So, after a night of binge drinking with the sailors, Crusoe forgets that he hated the sea and vowed never to go to sea again. So, like the idiot that he is, he gets on another boat. The minute he's on this other boat he's captured by pirates and he's forced to become a slave.
Once again, asking for it. So, after a few years of slavery he escapes on a tiny boat. Not this guy. He escapes on this tiny boat with a guy who is now HIS slave and after making HIS slave kill some huge, dangerous lions - so Crusoe could have a blanket to lay on what's the slave sleeping on?
Crusoe sells his slave to them and ends up in Brazil. He starts a farm and is doing pretty well, on land, mind you. Of course, old dickish Crusoe forgets how lucky he's been to make it this far, and decides it's time for another voyage.
Because he's a lazy prick and wants some free slaves to run his farm. So, he sets off for Africa, and gets what's coming to him. If only it ended there. After about 24 years on this island he saves this kid, who he names Friday, from being cannibalized. This is the first person he has spoken to in 24 years. And what does he do with him?
All he has is time! What do you need a slave for? After a mess of shit, involving more cannibals, some Spaniards and some mutineers - Crusoe and poor Friday make it to civilization. His time off the island is summed up in this paragraph, "In the meantime, I in part settled myself here; for, first of all, I married, and that not either to my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three children, two sons and one daughter; but my wife dying, and my nephew coming home with good success from a voyage to Spain, my inclination to go abroad, and his importunity, prevailed, and engaged me to go in his ship as a private trader to the East Indies; this was in the year He gets married, has some kids and when the wife starts to die he decides it's time to leave!
Ring any bells? Dad is dying, time to be a sailor. Same deal. If all that isn't proof enough this guy was a total douche, he drowns a TON of kittens on HIS island, so many he lost count. View all 14 comments. Around the year , Alexander Selkirk, a 28 years old Scottish privateer was marooned, at his request, on a desert island off the coast of Chile.
He managed to survive there for about five years until he was rescued and brought back to England. The young man died a few years later on a voyage to Africa, but his story as a castaway became a legend. Supposedly, Robinson Crusoe is one of the first modern novels written in English. To be sure, this book soon became a significant landmark in English literature, translated into almost as many languages as the Harry Potter series.
The story is told in the form of a journal, but with considerable after-the-fact knowledge of the events and with many tangents along the way. The first few the Salee pirates and last few chapters the crossing of the Pyrenees are a bit off-topic. When Robinson finally meets Friday, the noble savage, he also realises that, although casual cannibals are an abomination before the Lord, a man in the state of nature is genuinely good and has an innate intuition of Christian theology.
Indeed, Robinson, on his own, has been fruitful and has multiplied! View all 4 comments. Apr 16, Duane rated it really liked it Shelves: english-calssics , rated-books , reviewed-books , guardian Many consider this the first English novel. It was published in , and the setting was around But the amazing thing about this novel is that it's timeless.
Being stranded on a deserted island would be much the same today as it was years ago. The 18th century writing style is a negative for most kids today I would think. Dec 29, Monsieurboule rated it it was amazing. I'm surprised and amazed and dismayed by the ex post facto muy-contempo correct-nosity readings below Gee whillikers, kids, uhm, here's one of the great social and, perhaps even more, spiritual documents of Western Civ, and it's a ripping read that declared ongoing archetypes, and it's getting dissed for Which of us won't end up wishing for at least that when our tombstone gets knocked over?
View all 5 comments. It is hard to estimate the literary and cultural impact of Robinson Crusoe. First published in , this is certainly the benchmark upon which most all castaway stories have been judged since.
No magicians or witches here, and no Calaban lurking in the shadows, this is all about everyman Robin taking care of business on an island that may have been present day Tobago. Having never read the novel before, I still fel It is hard to estimate the literary and cultural impact of Robinson Crusoe. Having never read the novel before, I still felt like I knew the story, simply because of all the references to it that exist in various media.
What is not generally known is the quality and style of writing and the very illuminating before and after chapters, particularly his dangerous travails in seventeenth century France, that had more than its share of wild trails and snarling beasts. This is also an introspective work, with a loner of more than twenty years having plenty of time on his hands to consider social, economic, political, philosophical and theological mysteries. A book everyone should read.
Robinson Crusoe was the first book I had read by myself — I was absolutely entranced, I had no smallest idea that books could be so hypnotizing. Strange may it seem but most of all I enjoyed reading the lists of the items Robinson was salvaging from the wrecked ship. There were two very good fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols. These I secured first, with some powder-horns and a small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I knew ther Robinson Crusoe was the first book I had read by myself — I was absolutely entranced, I had no smallest idea that books could be so hypnotizing.
I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those two I got to my raft with the arms. And I followed Robinson step by step participating in all his adventures and misadventures. But somehow after Robinson Crusoe had found his man Friday the charms started dissipating… His solitude and lonely existence in the wilderness were much more enchanting.
And although I was literally stunned by this novel I never had a desire to reread it. Robinson Crusoe is a timeless memorial to the human willpower and invincible will to live. I'm so happy this nightmare is over! I only trudged through to the end because it's a classic.
Look at me, yes me, I'm Robinson Crusoe and I'm stuck here on this Island and I'm going to tell you all about it, down to the minutest detail Since I'm on this Island all by myself for pages long, you'll have to put up with every wisp of internal monolog too, that's right. And I'm going to be scared and worried until I figure out each obstacle - even though you'll hope for tension and excitement about the state of my imagined dangers, there's really nothing to worry about.
I'm a genius, yes, because even though I was stuck here at a young age all by myself, and even though I hardly knew a thing about the world beforehand, I'm going to figure out farming, goat herding, carpentry, sewing, weaponry, tool making, boat building and so many other skills, and I'm going to be an expert in each one of them.
Ok ok, you've put up with all of this right? Now I'm going to reward you with a bit of action here and there for the last pages, but mind you, I'm never in real danger and I'll always be the victor and supreme ruler of my Island, AND I'll thank Providence after each victory. Basically, I'm blessed and everyone I'm in touch with will have good fortune and will give me in return nothing but good fortune, no one will ever cheat me, lie to me, betray me, hurt me or do any evil unto me.
There you are, everything works out, smooth sailing all the way, the end. View all 26 comments. Alright, well I am going to respond to those who think that the only way you could not enjoy this book is if you are looking back from a privileged 21st century point of view and judging the actions of our less socially conscious ancestors.
I read this book as a part of my 18th century literature class, so I have been reading a lot of novels written around the same time and with a number of the same themes. I have been able to enjoy many of them despite some uncomfortable and shocking moments of Alright, well I am going to respond to those who think that the only way you could not enjoy this book is if you are looking back from a privileged 21st century point of view and judging the actions of our less socially conscious ancestors.
I have been able to enjoy many of them despite some uncomfortable and shocking moments of racism and superior Christian colonialist sentiment, though the religious rhetoric in Robinson Crusoe was admittedly far beyond that of any of the other books I've read in this course and very difficult to swallow as a result.
The reason I did not enjoy Robinson Crusoe is that nothing in this novel made me care for or invest in any element of it. The main character is psychologically flat and completely lacking in complexity, seeming to suffer absolutely no ill effects from being completely alone for 25 years or so. The drama is contrived and not suspenseful. As I don't really care for the main character, I don't really care if he were to be eaten by pagan cannibals. The over detail, while perhaps a comment on the plodding, relentlessly boring life of an isolated islander, could be eliminated entirely.
I do not need to know how much bread someone ate on a particular day or how to make clay pots. The plot left absolute GAPING holes in it's wake, which I do realize is a symptom of lack of editing and the cost of paper at the time, but it still made it difficult to enjoy parts of the novel. Those are some of the reasons that I personally did not enjoy this novel. I do not disagree with it's status as a classic because it was an important novel in it's time and obviously provides an excellent commentary on British attitudes of the 18th century.
I simply did not enjoy it, but that does not diminish it's importance. I think that to accuse people of not enjoying the novel because of a lack of understanding of the time in which this was written is an oversimplification and I will remind you that many people writing these reviews, such as myself, enjoy other novels written in the same period despite their cringeworthy racist or zealous moments.
There are two main ways I could view Robinson Crusoe - firstly, as a reader who reads for enjoyment and entertainment, and secondly, as someone offering a more critical analysis of historical attitudes.
To be honest, though, the book doesn't fare too well under either microscope. As a novel for enjoyment, it's about the titular character being shipwrecked on an island many believe to be based on Tobago, near Trinidad. There's a whole lot of survival skills going on but a modern reader will likely have read more compelling accounts of survival and Crusoe finds himself facing native cannibals and captives. The style is distant and emotionless, only marginally more readable than Swift's Gulliver's Travels , but that is largely due to the more simplistic narrative.
The parts where Crusoe turns to his knowledge of European agriculture to survive are particularly tedious for any reader not interested in production theory, trade and economics. Looking at this book through the eyes of history, it's something of an advocate for colonialism and European superiority. Crusoe arrives on this island and quickly attempts to adjust it to his own expectations of civilization, even to the point of wanting the prisoners as slaves. It should also be pointed out that Crusoe is shipwrecked during a voyage to acquire African slaves.
He survives by using his European knowledge, adapting very little, killing off natives, and embracing Christianity. Crusoe is the intelligent European and the natives, including his one friend - Friday, are savages. He becomes a "king" figure of this "colony" and the conclusion appears to be that he brings civilization to these backward peoples.
Perhaps interesting as a view of European mentality in the 18th century, but frankly quite nauseating to sit through today. View all 9 comments. Jul 13, Francisco rated it it was amazing. Now and then it's good to go back and read a book written three hundred years or so ago. The mind-shift necessary you need to make to enjoy the book keeps your brain limber, cleans the mental attic of the literary clutter that has accumulated- that a book needs to be fast-paced, that the dialogue needs to be witty and revealing, that long descriptions are boring.
So you read a book that doesn't meet any of the standards someone has told you a good book should meet and you still enjoy it because Now and then it's good to go back and read a book written three hundred years or so ago. So you read a book that doesn't meet any of the standards someone has told you a good book should meet and you still enjoy it because somehow you allowed yourself to enter and accept the author's and the book's world.
I say this because I think Robinson Crusoe is a book that doesn't quite transcend its time, like say Don Quixote, a book that is both of its time but also magically contemporary.
Robinson Crusoe's world is the world of 18th century England, a world where a person's highest achievement is the use of reason to make life more comfortable. Crusoe's challenge is twofold. Externally, he needs to use his reason to survive.
Internally, he must use his reason to conquer fear and despair. This account of Robinson Crusoe's internal journey was an unexpected pleasure.
It is a journey that we can all identify with - the journey from anger at our hardship to resignation and acceptance to tranquillity and peace to end finally in gratitude for life itself, despite the hardship, which is as good a way as any to define joy. Crusoe is aided in this journey by the Bible he rescued and by prayer, but really the mental transformation is more the result of reason, of the ability of Crusoe to direct his thoughts, through constant practice, in one particular direction and away from another.
Defoe's gods are, when all is said and done, reason and will. There were a lot of things about this book that I would "fix" if I were an editor and this came across my desk in I would throw in some kind of sexual desire or sexual fantasies of some kind of which there are unrealistically none in this book.
I would have Defoe admire trees and plants and animals a little more for their beauty and less for their potential use as shelter or food.
Of course Friday would be treated as an equal to Crusoe and not as a servant. But this book was written in and not It belongs there so when you read it let yourself go, surrender yourself to that time and those thoughts and enjoy and take simply what the book gives. Sep 09, Kristen rated it really liked it. I know, I know Robinson Crusoe is a book full of cultural relativism and unconscious cruelty. He's an imperialist bastard. I was born in the year , in the city of York, of a good family, tho' not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who first settled at Hull.
I am cast upon a horrible desolate Island, void of all hope of Recovery. But I am alive, and not drown'd as all my Ship'd Company was. It happen'd one day about noon going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surpriz'd with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand.
I stood like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an apparition; I listen'd, I look'd round me, I could hear nothing, nor see any thing; I went up to a rising ground to look farther; I went up the shore and down the shore, but it was all one; I could see no other impression but that one. As might be expected, Daniel Defoe's classic castaway adventure has been adapted into many films and television shows. But probably not as many as you might expect. More often the The biggest mystery about Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe may be why it is so well known, so fondly remembered, so enshrined in our culture.
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