“Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe

Review #79

As far as we know this was the first novel ever written, (1719). Daniel Defoe is said to have based “Robinson Crusoe” on the true adventures of Alexander Selkirk (who spent four or five years on an island in the South Pacific) and on accounts of other castaways of the time.

The first-person narrative begins with the universal quest: the young man in Britain, torn between his safe home and his hunger for adventure, breaks away from his loving father and sails away into the unknown. After a series of harrowing escapes, he's shipwrecked on a desert island. The narrative shows how his intelligence and education help him survive for more than 30 years, and how he uses technology, including guns and tools salvaged from the ship. He sets up home, reads the Bible, finds a parrot as a pet, (a dog and 2 cats survive the wreck with him) and even devises a calendar to keep track of time. Then one day he finds a human footprint: was it someone who could save him and take him back to civilization? Or was it a “savage” who landed here?

When some "savages" arrive in several canoes, he uses his guns to get rid of them, and he rescues one of their captives, a handsome fellow with very dark skin. Delighted to have a companion at last, Crusoe names the newcomer Friday (since Crusoe saved him on Friday). (I wonder why he had to name a grown man. Didn’t he already have a name?) Crusoe teaches "my man Friday" to speak English, fire a gun, carve a canoe, and clothe his nakedness, and they live happily together. Later they rescue a white man and Friday's father from a group of "savages," and, eventually, they all return to their homes. The survival adventure is still enthralling.

I read this book as a child and decided to read it again. As a child it was a book of adventure. As an adult, it is, also, something else! An adventure, yes, but this time I found… racism and slavery indicative of that era… man finding religion but, keeping the racism…and…comedy. Read it again and see what you think. ;)

I discovered a new audio medium at the library. This book was on "Playaway". It is a credit card sized audio book. You plug in earphones and put the device in a pocket. Then, you are free to go anywhere you like while listening to the book! It's wonderful...try it! They are very expensive to buy, so check with your library. You supply the earphones.