Robinson Carusoe Essay, Research Paper

Robinson Carusoe is a man touched by wanderlust. He ignores the advice of his father to seek a temperate middle class life and instead chooses to sail the seas. His father steadfastly refuses to give consent to such a thing, and goes so far as to claim that if Crusoe goes to sea God will not bless him. When Crusoe’s earliest voyages seem to bear out this prediction, one almost killing him in a storm and another landing him in slavery, it seems Crusoe should heed his father’s advice and return home. Crusoe pays no mind, however, and ends up the sole survivor of a shipwreck on a deserted island. Through his own ingenuity and by salvaging what he can from the wrecked ship, Crusoe manages to survive.

Soon he begins to make himself tools, domesticate sheep, crow corn and barley, and generally prosper. At first, he curses his fate. But then, coming upon a Bible he saved from the ship, he begins to think more profoundly about religion and Providence, and comes to see his stay on the island as a consequence of his earlier recklessness. Eventually Crusoe discovers that the island is not completely deserted: natives from the mainland occasionally come to the island to perform cannibalistic rites. One day, Crusoe saves a young cannibal from being sacrificed, and the cannibal, in turn, pledges himself to be Crusoe’s loyal servant. Crusoe names the cannibal, Friday, after the day on which he was saved, and teaches him to be a good Christian.

Finally, twenty-eight years after washing ashore, a mutiny takes place on a ship near the island, and the usurped captain and two others are ferried to the island to be abandoned there. Crusoe and Friday intervene on the Captain’s behalf; they win back the ship, the captain’s gratitude, and passage to England. There Crusoe finds wealth, marriage, and a family. Eventually he returns to the seaTo end a long and full life.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a very good example of what life was like back then. To most it was full of sorrow and failure. It had a great plot and I recommend it to everyone who likes old fiction books.