Robinson Crusoe Essay, Research Paper

From the beginning of some life, people make many choices that affect their personal growth and livelihood, choices like what they should wear and/or what they should do. Even the littlest choices that they make could make a big difference in their lives. In the book, Robinson Crusoe retold by Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, while on the island, made many choices, big and small, that affected his personal growth and contributed to why he survived for so long. On the island he made a lot of smart decisions of what to do in order to stay a live. On his second day he made a choice to go back to the ship to explore what was there. He spent a lot of time building his home when he could have done something more important. He also took a risk and helped out a person that he did not know. These were some of many choices that Robinson Crusoe made throughout his many years on the island.

While on a trip off the coast of England, rough winds threw Robinson Crusoe and his crew of sixteen members off course. Right after one of the crew yelled out "land ahoy" the ship hit a rock and went down. Everybody drowned except Robinson Crusoe, who washed up on a nearby island; he was the only survivor. The next morning he realized what had happened and became scared of dying, because without food or clothes he could not survive. Not knowing what to do, he made a small shack and settled on the island for that night. The very next morning he made a choice to build a raft and go out to the broken boat and explore for items he could find. He was hardworking and smart even in a bad situation. His decision to go back to the boat and risk a chance of being killed by sharks changed his life span. It also proved that he was smart. By making smart decision and thinking wisely, it proved that he was a smart man. "I at once found some food, for I was hungry" (15). If he had not gone back to the ship he could have starved to death. Robinson needed food and his choice to get it made him survive for a longer time. Even though Robinson had food and shelter he had nobody there to keep him company. Even in a time like this Robinson needed companionship. "I was very happy to find the ships dog and two cats?" (15) There was another thing that worried Robinson and that was being killed by wild animals or even cannibals. Robinson knew that he needed weapons and some other tools to protect him from being attacked from these wild animals so he went back to the ship and got some items that helped him out for a long time. "I found two good guns, two pistols, a powder horn, a small bag of shots, clothes, food, and other tools to help me" (16).

Robinson was smart enough to anticipate what the conditions on the island were and how to protect himself. Robinson took some time and built a strong home so that a storm wouldn?t knock it down. "I spent a lot of time working on my home so that another storm wouldn?t knock it down" (29). Robinson also had a choice to add more things to his house to make it better and to protect him. "?It took me all day to put up my fence, ?so that no wild animals could attack me?" (31). After all the effort and hard work he put into making his home it paid off because when a storm came he was safe and so was his home. He says, "a storm came by and my pets and I were safe in my home" (52).

Sometimes people make choices, where they risk their lives in order to make their lives and others better. One night Robinson saw a group of cannibals having a feast and there was this one cannibal that didn?t want to join in, so the other cannibals tried to kill him but he ran away so two of the others ran after him, Robinson then killed them both and adopted the other. He called him Friday, the man he saved, because it was Friday when he adopted him. Robinson risked his life in adopting Friday into his life. Instead of leaving him on the island and being killed by hunger or wild animals, he cared for him and raised him and taught him the things he knew. "The next day I took Friday around the island and showed him how to hunt" (90). Also now it would take Robinson less time to complete a task and it would be faster to begin one. Robinson?s smart decision to take in Friday helped him out and now there was a way of getting out of the island and going home. "Friday and I began to make a big boat that would carry us over the sea?" (92). Now that Friday had knowledge of what Robinson knew, their lives changed from this point on "?now with Friday helping, life became more easy." (105)

In our lives we have to make smart decisions in order to get through each day. Sometimes these decisions could affect our personal growth. They could help us or hurt us, but that is the risk we have to take. When Robinson got stuck on the island his choices became limited. Robinson could have left the boat alone and gone exploring the island to see what he could have found, but he was smart enough to know that there were still some supplies on the boat that he could us. Robinson could have also panicked and lost his cool but he took control of this situation and handled it. Robinson could have had killed Friday, but he didn?t and took care of him. This shows that he was a smart, helpful man who made excellent choices to survive and flourish in life, despite his difficult circumstances.