Robinson Crusoe

“The middle station of life was calculated for all kind of vertues [sic] and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the hand-maids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly tho’ the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrass’d with the labours [sic] of the hands or of the head, not sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, or harrast [sic] with perplex’d circumstances, which rob the soul of peace, and the body of rest; not enrag’d with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but in easy circumstances sliding gently thro’ the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living.”

Here, Crusoe recounts his father’s advice to follow the middle station in life in order to find peace and happiness. It’s these teachings Crusoe’s father uses in the hope of taming the young Crusoe’s ambitious, adventurous, seafaring mind. Crusoe’s father tells his son that experience has taught mankind these lessons. And it’s these teachings that Crusoe forsakes pages later, when Crusoe departs on his first journey, against his parents’ wishes.

“I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; and in this agony of mind, I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I liv’d; that I would take his advice […] I would, like a true repenting Prodigal, go home to my father.”

On his first journey, Crusoe experiences a severe storm that throws the ship around, causing Crusoe to beg for his life and promise to abandon any ideas of life as a sailor, should he survive. The boat wrecks and Crusoe does survive, but he does not return home. Despite his promises, Crusoe continues his journeys; later, he will see his actions as selfish and greedy, and vow to change his ways again, though it can be argued that he, again, does not.

“Young man, says he, you ought never to go to sea any more, you ought to take this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man. Why, sir, said I, will you go to sea no more? That is another case, said he, it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this voyage for a trial, you see what a taste of Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist; perhaps this is all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the Ship of Tarshish […] If you do not go back, where ever you go, you will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father’s words are fulfilled upon you.”

Here, Defoe foreshadows Crusoe’s troubles. The speaker is the captain of the first ship Crusoe sails form England on, which wrecks on the first day at sea. The captain, who is the father of the friend who persuades Crusoe to journey, suggests it’s Crusoe’s fate that caused the ship to wreck. The captain cautions Crusoe from further travels, suggesting Crusoe’s fate is to always meet troubles on the sea. Note also the Biblical references, which continue throughout the novel.

“At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly over-whelmed; and now I look’d back upon my father’s prophetick [sic] discourse to me, that I should be miserable, and have none to relieve me, which I thought was now so effectually brought to pass, that it could not be worse; that now the hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption. But alas! this was but a taste of the misery I was to go thro’ [sic].”

Crusoe laments at how fast he goes from being a merchant to a slave, when the second boat he joins is overtaken by pirates, and Crusoe is taken to Morocco. Note here how the hand of Heaven takes on a role similar to fate. This idea of fate, and providence, becomes a major theme. Note also the back and forth evidenced by Crusoe’s mind. In times of despair, Crusoe comments that he should have listened to his father. This demonstrates the back-and-forth element of Defoe’s narrative strategy, which creates good or at least adequate circumstances for Crusoe that quickly flip the other way, creating narrative tension and driving the narrative forward.

“In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box, this was all my provision, and this threw me into terrible agonies of the mind, that for a while I run about like a mad-man.”

After escaping slavery in Morocco, and being saved by a ship en route to Brazil, Crusoe finds himself stranded with almost no provisions. This quote marks the beginning of Crusoe’s twenty-eight ears cast away on an island.

“I got on board the ship, as before, and prepar’d a second raft, and having had experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but yet I brought away several things very useful to me; as first, in carpenter’s stores I found two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a great skrew-jack [sic], a dozen or two of hatchets, and above all, that most useful thing call’d a grindstone; all these I secur’d together, with several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or three iron crows, and two barrels of musquet-bullets [sic], seven musquets [sic], and another fowling-piece.”

Here, Crusoe discovers that providence strands the ship, which he and fellow sailors abandoned in a storm, on a rock. After much effort, Crusoe swims to the ship and from the ship’s timber builds a raft to sail salvaged provisions to the shore. The time and attention given to the description of even the smallest items illustrates how for the now-marooned Crusoe, any and all provisions have the potential to be the difference between surviving and perishing on the island.

“Why were not they sav’d and you lost? Why were you singled out? Is it better to be here or there, and then I pointed to the sea? All evils are to be consider’d with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.”

After first being driven by a violent storm and cast away on the island, Crusoe’s condition is dismal. Crusoe begins to examine his situation with philosophical rhetoric. He believes heaven’s providence allowed him to be saved, and for the other men drown. This marks a moment when Crusoe’s thinking shifts towards optimism, and a greater fate, while creating a structural pattern in the novel. At many points, Crusoe returns to his inner explorations, defining and defending his actions by perceiving the circumstances to be the result of providence.

“It is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my thoughts on this occasion; I had hitherto acted upon no religious foundation at all, indeed I had very few notions of religion in my head, or had entertain’d any sense of any thing that had befallen me, otherwise than as a chance, or as we lightly say, what pleases God; without so much as enquiring into the end of Providence in these things, or his order in governing events in the world: But after I saw barley grow there, in a climate which I know was not proper for corn, and especially that I knew not how it came there, that God had miraculously caus’d this grain to grow without any help of seed sown, and that it was so directly purely for my sustenance on that wild miserable place.”

Here marks one of the first times Crusoe begins to define his circumstances as results due to the actions of God’s providence. The fact that corn grew at this moment, in a location it usually does not, strikes Crusoe as divine intervention. This quote demonstrates the chain of thinking Crusoe applies to actions around him. Throughout the novel, Crusoe perceives events to have occurred due to divine intervention. This is also illustrates Crusoe’s own naiveté about the natural world.

“As soon as I saw but a prospect of living, and that I should not starve and perish for hunger, all the sense of my affliction wore off, and I begun to be very easy, apply’d my self to the works proper for my preservation and supply, and was far enough from being afflicted at my condition, as a judgment from Heaven, or as the hand of God against me; these were thoughts which very seldom enter’d into my head. The growing up of the corn […] had at first little influence upon me, and began to affect me with seriousness, as long as I thought it had something miraculous in it, but as soon as ever that part of the thought was remov’d, all the impression which was rais’d from it, wore off.”

The more Crusoe works with his own hands to develop his home and grow corn and rice, the less he thinks about God, or God’s hand in anything. Note the back and forth game in Crusoe’s mind, in which he praises God’s providence and pages later casts doubt on the very same subject.

“What is this earth and sea of which I have seen so much, whence is it produced, and what am I, and all the other creatures, wild and tame, human and brutal, whence are we? Sure we are all made by some secret power, who form’d earth and sea, the air and sky; and who is that? Then it follow’d most naturally, It is God that has made it all: Well, but then it came on strangely, if God has made all these things, He guides and governs them all, and all things that concern them; for the power that could make all things, must certainly have power to guide and direct them.”

Two pages after Crusoe comments how far his mind gets from thoughts of God, Crusoe deepens his own inner explorations, which move along through logical arguments, point by counterpoint. If God created everything, then all things act under God’s direction, Crusoe thinks. He begins to investigate what he’d done to end up on the island. On the next page, Crusoe laments his wicked life and choices, deciding he deserves such a fate for his past sins. Crusoe calms down only when, “directed by Heaven no doubt” (67),he finds cured tobacco in a chest. Next, he reads the Bible.

“When it was growing and grown, I have observ’d already how many things I wanted, to fence it, secure it, mow or reap it, cure and carry it home, thrash, part of its from the chaff, and save it. Then I wanted a mill to grind it, sieves to dress it, yeast and salt to make it into bread, and an oven to bake it, and yet all these things I did without.”

This quote, from a little more than two years after Crusoe becomes stranded, further characterizes Crusoe’s way of thinking, which seems to mirror a logical chain of man’s needs progressing from the state of nature into the state of domesticity. As soon as Crusoe satisfies one need (the want of food), another need surfaces (a means to cook the corn). Still, Crusoe’s needs and wants remain simple and connected to nature in a way far different than his wants and needs as a plantation owner in Brazil who sets out for Guinea to obtain slaves. Cast away on the island, Crusoe returns to an almost primal state, which Defoe explores, and can be interpreted as a symbol of humankind’s evolution from the state of nature.

“All our discontents about what we want, appeared to me, to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”

As Crusoe continues his inner explorations, he often concludes with aphorisms, like this one. On numerous occasions Crusoe justifies his circumstances by reasoning that his situation is the result of God’s providence. This allows Crusoe to let things be as they will, at least for some time. Living on his own simple terms, Crusoe begins to think he’s happier on the solitary island than he could be anywhere in society. More than three years into being cast away, Crusoe deepens his study of scripture, commenting that discontents cannot enjoy comfortably the gifts of God.

“In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions and reflections, it came into my thought one day, that all this might be a meer [sic] chimera of my own; and that this foot might be the print of my own foot, when I came on shore from my boat.”

Here, just past the book’s halfway point, Crusoe spots a footprint along the shore of what Crusoe thought was an uninhabited island. It’s the first sign of another human in eighteen years. On a surface level, seeing the footprint confirms Crusoe’s deepest fears: that cannibals visit the island, as he had previously found a beach littered with human bones. For days, fear drives Crusoe’s actions as he weaponizes his habitation and every day takes up a lookout post on top of the hill overlooking the shore. That Defoe has Crusoe say that the footprint might be Crusoe’s own symbolizes can be seen as a subtle nod toward Crusoe’s terror of his own past actions, such as engaging in the slave trade.

“What authority or call I had, to pretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminal, whom Heaven had thought fit for so many ages to suffer unpunish’d, to go on, and to be, as it were, the executioners of his judgments one upon another […] How do I know what God himself judges in this particular case.”

This quote demonstrates a typical logical argument Crusoe poses to himself in his journal, in which the concept of God’s providence is used to justify behavior. In this case, Crusoe comments on his own thoughts about cannibalism. If God has allowed it for so long, Crusoe reasons, who is Crusoe to doubt God’s direction. Crusoe relies on this logic to explain his circumstances, and ease his psychological burden, throughout the novel. But here, Crusoe is examining why he has no right to attack and murder the cannibals unprovoked. A few pages later, Crusoe concludes that only if he had a more clear call from Heaven to act in defense of his life would he attack and murder a cannibal.

“How frequently, in the course of our lives, the evil which in itself we seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen into, is the most dreadful to us, is often times the very means or door of our deliverance, by which alone we can be rais’d again from the affliction we are fallen into.”

Crusoe continues to expound upon his concept of providence. After a lengthy inner exploration about why he cannot judge the cannibals for their actions, despite the great fear their practices produce in him, Crusoe makes this optimistic comment. He says that often a good result is nearer than one thinks, when they are lost for a way out. This quote foreshadows Crusoe’s saving of Friday from being killed and eaten by the cannibal tribe Crusoe chances to observe over a year later. Saving Friday marks the beginning of Crusoe’s departure from the island.

“Pulling out my perspective glass, which I had taken on purpose, I laid me down flat on my belly, on the ground, and began to look for the place; I presently found there was no less than nine naked savages, sitting round a small fire they made, not to warm them; for they had no need of that, the weather being extreme hot; but as I suppos’d, to dress some of their barbarous diet, of human flesh, which they had brought with them, whether alive or dead I don’t know.”

While Crusoe already knows cannibals bring prisoners to the island, this marks the first time Crusoe observes cannibals eating flesh. It also marks the first time in over twenty years Crusoe has seen another human being.

“I have been, in all my circumstances, a memento to those who are touch’d with the general plague of mankind, whence, for ought I know, one half of their miseries flow; I mean, that of not being satisfy’d with the station wherein God and Nature hath plac’d them, for not to look back upon my primitive condition, and the excellent advice of my father, the opposition to which, was, as I may call it, my ORIGINAL SIN.”

Here, Crusoe refers to his own story, and journey, as one that represents humankind’s journey from a state of nature into a state filled with more needs and wants. Crusoe laments the state of being that always wants more, and is unsatisfied with its original place. Crusoe says his first sin was ignoring his father’s advice, which sought to have Crusoe follow the middle station in life.

“I had more wealth indeed than I had before, but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use for it, than the Indians of Peru, before the Spaniards came there.”

This brief quote evidences Crusoe’s change in how he perceives money. Earlier in his life, Crusoe went to Guinea and chased after material resources. The reason Crusoe sails on the ship towards Africa that wrecks, leaving him cast away, is because slave labor would allow Crusoe to earn incredible amounts of money faster on his plantation in Brazil. Now, living close to the state of nature, with his basic needs, plus some, accounted for, and feeling like lord of his own manner, the gold Crusoe salvages from a wrecked ship means little to him. On this island, Crusoe has no need for material wealth at all.

“At length he came close to me, and then he kneel’d down again, kiss’d the ground, and laid his head upon the ground, taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever.”

This quote illustrates the moment when Friday demonstrates his extreme thanks to Crusoe, who, moments earlier, shot dead the man in pursuit of Friday. Friday’s immediate submission is the type of behavior that causes Crusoe to think of his race as superior to Friday’s.

“But, says he again, if God much strong, much might as the Devil, why God no kill the Devil, so make him no more do wicked?”

Here, Friday shows his own intelligence and curiosity. This moment occurs as Crusoe teaches Friday about the Christian God and the Devil. Friday cuts right to the heart of a possible flaw in the story of good and evil. This moment suggests Friday is not as submissive and savage as Crusoe first believed. Evidence of Friday’s high level of intelligence comes again a few pages later, when, accepting at least in word Crusoe’s explanation, Friday says: “so you, I, Devil, all wicked, all preserve, repent, God pardon all” (160).

“My grief set lighter upon me, my habitation grew comfortable to me beyond measure; and when I reflected that in this solitary life, which I had been confin’d to, I had not only been mov’d myself to look up to Heaven, and to seek to the hand that had brought me there; but was now to be made an instrument under Providence to save the life, and for ought I knew, the soul of a poor savage, and bring him to the true knowledge of religion, and of the Christian doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus […] When I reflected upon all these things, a secret joy ran through every part of my soul, and I frequently rejoyc’d that ever I was brought to this place, which I had so often thought the most dreadful of all afflictions that could possibly have befallen me.”

Here, Crusoe finds an optimistic outcome in his devastating circumstances. Crusoe reflects upon the joy he experiences, knowing he has the chance to save a man’s soul. Crusoe believes that God’s providence creates this moment for Crusoe’s deliverance. This quote also further characterizes Crusoe’s feelings of superiority over Friday, and can be viewed as a microcosm of the larger missionary drive of Anglo Christians to save the souls of non-Christians around the world.

“I told him with freedom, I fear’d mostly their treachery and ill use of me, if I put my life in their hands; for that gratitude was no inherent virtue in the nature of man; nor did men always square their dealings by the obligations they had receiv’d, so much as they did by the advantages they expected. I told him, it would be very hard, that I should be the instrument of their deliverance, and they should afterwards make me their prisoner in New Spain […] And that I had rather be deliver’d up to the savages, and be devour’d alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be carry’d into the Inquisition.”

This quote captures Crusoe’s notion to send the Spaniard he saves from cannibals back to Friday’s main island, with the hopes the Spaniard can bring the other sixteen Spaniards stranded there back to Crusoe’s island, and together, they can attempt to return to Europe. Note how clear Crusoe is about the wants of his own fate and his wish to have nothing to do with the Inquisition. This suggests a subtle amount of hypocrisy in the Christian world, as Crusoe, a Protestant at this time, shows his disdain for the Spanish Christian administration responsible for so much slavery in the Americas.

“Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger which are sometimes given him, when he may think there is no possibility of its being real. That such hints and notices are given us, I believe few that have made any observations of things can deny; that they are certain discoveries of an invisible world, and a converse of spirits, we cannot doubt, and if the tendency of them seems to be to warn us of danger, why should we not suppose they are from some friendly agent, whether supreme, or inferior and subordinate, is not the question; and that they are given for our good?”

In the final quarter of the book, Crusoe continues his comments concerning providence. Here, Crusoe further assures himself that in each moment exists a positive outcome, designed solely for the individual’s benefit and possible deliverance. Crusoe refers to the conscience here as much as he does to the will of God. It’s a testament to his faith in providence that after so many years into his being cast away, Crusoe still thinks this way. The quote also foreshadows the subsequent arrival of an English ship, whose captain Crusoe saves from the men who mutinied against the captain.