ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe Summary

ROBINSON CRUSOE

by Daniel Defoe

Summary

Robinson Crusoe was born in 1632; his parents are German, and left their hometown of Bremen to settle in Hull, in England. They are middle-class, and Robinson's father strongly suggests a middle-class life for Robinson too, encouraging him to study law. Both of Robinson's brothers are missing: one was killed in battle, and there has been no news about the other since he began a life of travel and adventure. Robinson wants to travel as well, but is dissuaded by his father. In 1651, against his parents' wishes, however, Robinson leaves on a series of ill-fated voy­ages in search of indigenous non-Western peoples with whom he can trade. On one such voyage, Robinson's ship is captured by pirates and he is made personal slave to the pirate king. After two years, he manages to escape with a fellow prisoner, a Moor, Xury, and the two are taken in by a Portuguese trading ship and brought to Brazil. Robin­son becomes quite friendly with the Captain of the ship and sells Xury to him on the con­dition that he would free Xury in ten years (if, the Captain insists, Xury will convert to Protestantism). Robinson sets up a plantation in Bra­zil, growing tobacco, and it quickly begins prospering. Though he could stay and continue to manage his planta­tion, however, Robinson is struck with the urge to go to sea again, and leaves on a voyage that will eventually lead to disaster. The ship encounters a huge storm, and Robinson is the only survivor to reach the shore of a de­serted island. He begins to make a life on the island, and will stay there for 28 years.

He keeps a journal cataloguing his activities, which include building a fort in which to sleep. He is very concerned that he will be discovered, either by indigenous people, or by Europeans, and he does not want to be surprised or caught off guard. He disguises his fort by walls and vegetation, and builds a ladder to get over the bar­ricades. He also begins domesticating wild goats, building them an enclosure in another part of the island. He kills some of them for food, but also milks them and makes cheese and butter. He learns to make earth­enware pots, and even builds a kiln for firing them. He plants grain and barley. He has a pet parrot named Polly, who is the only beast with whom he speaks English for much of the time on the island.

During the course of his stay, he goes to his own shipwrecked boat, as well as to other boats that are wrecked, and takes away their supplies. He eventually comes to live a comfort­able life that con­sists for the most part in tending his flocks, occasionally hunting for food, harvesting and gathering grain, and making things like baskets and pots.

Late in his stay, however, he notices a footprint in the sand on the other side of the island. This makes him extremely nervous. He begins imagining what sort of men might have come to his island. He can't find evidence of where they might have come from, but he is nonetheless in a state of perpetual awareness, going out in the morn­ings to hide and wait for visitors. After some time, however, no-one shows, and Robinson begins to relax again. But just when he settles down, he finds a collection of bones and the remains of a fire on the shore. He immediately understands that they are human bones, and he decides to kill the cannibals if they ever come on the island.

He doesn't see any cannibals, however, for the next year and a half, and in that time he decides that, since they haven't really done him any harm, he can't kill them. Soon after this determination, he spots five canoes full of cannibals landing on shore. They have two prisoners. He watches one of the prisoners run up the shore and escape his three pursuers. When Robinson comes upon the prisoner, he spares his life, even if he realizes that it is likely that this man is also a cannibal. The man, who Robinson begins de­scribing as "my Savage," expresses extreme gratitude, and although they don't speak the same language, Robinson understands that the man will be in­debted to him for the rest of his life. Robinson names the man "Friday," and the two live together on the island for the rest of Robinson's stay there. Robinson teaches Friday some English, and they spend much time debating the virtues of their respective religions. Robinson is determined to make Friday ac­cept Protestantism, however, and teaches him about what he believes to be its superiority over tribal cus­toms. Robinson claims not to own Friday like a slave, but he believes that Friday is under a binding contract to do whatever he wants of him.

Friday and Robinson finally escape from the island when a British trading ship lands on the shore and its sailors mutiny. Robinson welcomes the Captain, and they make a plan to win the ship back together. Robinson has much stored firepower, so they overwhelm the rebel sailors, and in 1687, 28 years after he arrived on the island, they sail off for Europe.

At this point Robinson tries to return to his plantation but finds that he is un­comfortable with a life of luxury, so he decides to return to England. He determines to travel by land because he is afraid of sea. However, en route to England, his party is attacked by a wolf pack, and Robinson is lucky to escape safe and sound. He appears to be settled back in Hull, but the novel closes with Robinson's wanderlust taking hold of him again. He can't stay away from the life of trade, and decides, at last, to return to sea.