Robinson Crusoe

Author: Daniel Defoe (English) / Liu Rongyue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Daniel Defoe was an important writer of the 18th-century Enlightenment literature in England. His masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe, is a widely known and highly influential literary classic that embodies a strong spirit of bourgeois enterprising and enlightenment consciousness. This novel was inspired by a real story at the time. In 1704, Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk had a dispute with his captain at sea and was abandoned on an island, where he was rescued four years later. Selkirk did not perform any heroic deeds worth praising on the island. However, the Robinson created by Defoe was a completely new figure, becoming a hero in the eyes of the middle and small bourgeoisie at the time and an idealized image of a rising bourgeois in Western literature. Robinson was born into the middle class, and his father often educated him with the philosophy of contentment, urging him to be satisfied with his current situation and not to go to sea. But the new world overseas, like an irresistible allure, tempted him. He was ambitious and determined to abandon his comfortable and ordinary life to embark on a sea adventure.
On his first voyage, he nearly drowned. On his third voyage, he was captured by pirates and, after escaping, made a fortune in Brazil. Yet he was not discouraged and, after being suggested by others, set sail again, only to be stranded on the island. His 28 years of isolated life on the island could not stop his desire for adventure. This spirit of bold exploration reflects the emerging bourgeoisie's dissatisfaction with the status quo and their desire to expand and dominate the world. The depiction of Robinson's experiences on the island is the essence of the entire book. The author portrays Robinson as a person full of labor enthusiasm. Through his relentless labor and struggle against nature, he demonstrates extraordinary perseverance. As soon as Robinson arrived on the island, after overcoming his initial despair, he immediately engaged in the fight to conquer nature. He took almost everything he could from the stranded ship. With his own hands and wisdom, using the simple tools left on the ship, he overcame countless difficulties and created conditions for his survival. He dug caves, built fences, tamed goats, planted crops, made rafts, baked pottery, ground flour, and baked bread, making his "life quite prosperous." Eventually, he even had his own plantation, pasture, two dwellings, and many pieces of furniture, and even established a lively family that included dogs, cats, sheep, and parrots. He spent a great deal of labor and time on every task, but he never gave up after failing and tried again. It took him nearly half a year to build a raft that could seat 24 people, but to put it into the sea, he had to spend 12 years digging a small river. He had to give up this raft and spend another year building another one. This boundless courage in conquering nature and his tenacious spirit of practical action gave Robinson a great artistic charm. Through this, the author praises the enterprising spirit of the bourgeoisie during the primitive accumulation of capital and emphasizes individual intelligence and perseverance.
Robinson is both a laborer and a capitalist and colonizer, which gives him a nature of exploitation and plunder. His several voyages were aimed at trading slaves in Africa. He intimidated the indigenous people with firearms and the Bible, making "Friday" willingly become his loyal servant. Firearms and the Bible were the dual weapons commonly used by European colonizers against the people in the colonies. Robinson's relentless struggle against nature was not only for survival but also for acquiring wealth and land. Before anyone else appeared on the island, Robinson confidently said, "Everything here is mine." If possible, he wanted to pass it on to his descendants. After "Friday's" father and the Spaniard arrived on the island, he was delighted to think of himself as "like a king" and that "my people completely obey me." Even after returning to England, he went to "inspect" his "territory" and rented out the land on the island to new settlers. Robinson's duality fully reflects the limitations of the author's own time and class. Robinson Crusoe is a successful realist novel. The author uses vivid and realistic details to make the fictional scenes so lifelike that readers feel as if they are present, giving the story a strong sense of realism. The language of the work is simple and lively, with clear and easy-to-understand text. Although it is not entirely mature artistically, it played a positive role in the development of English fiction, and its protagonist, Robinson, also became a famous literary figure in the history of European literature.