Robinson Crusoe

The two men set out to sea, and drop anchor off an unknown coast. Robinson is deeply apprehensive about the foreignness of this land, and describes passing a night filled with ominous noises coming from wild creatures. Robinson’s account of the animals of this land converges with his fear that it also harbors indigenous peoples, and this is one of the novel’s first lengthy amalgamations of wild animals with non-Westerners, whom he refers to as “savages.�? When they land and search for water, however, Robinson and Xury find the coast uninhabited by men. There are plenty of beasts, though, and Robinson shoots a lion, which they skin and take with them, for Robinson is becoming savvy about the possibilities for trade, and believes that the lion skin may come in handy.
The duo can find no people, though, and at this point they want to for their provisions are running low. Robinson is hoping to meet with other European trading ships, and they scan the coastline for inhabitants as they travel. When Robinson spots some Africans, he attempts to strike up an exchange with them, indicating by sign language that he and Xury are looking for food. When the Africans bring the food, Robinson worries initially that he has nothing to trade for it, but just then two leopards appear on the scene, affording Robinson the opportunity to repay the natives by shooting one and scaring the other away. This rescue sets the scene for a more extended trade between Robinson and the Africans, and he receives more food and earthenware vessels.
After eleven more days of travel, Xury spots another ship, one that Robinson identifies as Portuguese, and they set off after it. The two quickly board the friendly ship, and the Captain offers to put Robinson up for nothing in exchange. The Captain, does, however, want to buy Xury off of Robinson, who, incidentally, had not owned Xury to begin with. Robinson is hesitant at first, since he has come to value liberty after his own time as a pirate slave. But the Captain promises to give Xury his liberty in ten years on the condition that he accepts Christianity, so Robinson accedes. The ship heads for Brazil, and on arrival Robinson buys a plantation and sets up home there for two years, eventually becoming a tobacco farmer in conjunction with his neighbor, a British-born Portuguese named Wells. Robinson is not entirely satisfied with this new life, of course, since he realizes that he is now approaching the middle-class status that his father had urged him towards earlier. He is a comfortable landowner, but begins to feel confused. If he’s gone through all the hardship at sea just to end up where his father wanted him to be all along, what use was it?
His friend the Portuguese Captain offers Robinson a deal: he will procure Robinson’s holdings — whatever money and possessions he has — from London on his next visit there. When he receives his things, Robinson immediately sells them, for British goods are more valuable in Brazil. With the money, he buys a slave and a servant. Robinson is becoming very wealthy, and yet he is still drawn to a life of adventure. He begins telling his neighbors about the thrill of trading with indigenous peoples. Robinson emphasizes particularly the opportunities such trade provides to procure gold at an incredibly cheap rate, since non-Westerners do not value gold in the way the Europeans do, and are willing, Robinson explains, to accept trinkets such as shells and beads in exchange for gold. Robinson also mentions the possibility of buying slaves in Guinea. He is careful to explain to the reader that ordinarily slave-buying is only possible through the assent of the Kings of Spain, which makes it a very rare and expensive enterprise. The neighbors are especially interested in this. When they propose to Robinson that he come along and assist them in buying slaves, he hesitates only to ruminate on the fact that to leave his prosperous plantation now would be to court financial disaster. As a born adventurer, however, and as someone who dances dangerously close to self-destruction, he agrees to the trip.

Shipwrecked

Unsurprisingly, the group meets with a ferocious hurricane almost immediately after they set sail. The ship is thrown desperately off course, and they are forced to land wherever they can find a coastline. Making towards land in a lifeboat, the group is swallowed by a huge wave. Fortuitously, and only after he is tossed violently for some time, Robinson is washed up on shore. Night is coming on, and he is of course panicked, since he has no clothes save the wet ones he’s got on, no comrades (they all seem to be dead), no food, and no provisions of any kind. He is at the mercy of the elements, as well as any wild animals that come upon him. He sleeps in a tree, hoping that that will shelter him from any attack.
In the morning, Robinson finds that his ship has moved during the night, and is now stuck on a large rock. He manages to swim out to it and raids the ship for food and water. He then begins to think of building a raft to carry his booty to shore. Robinson’s description of building the raft is rather detailed, and part of the reason for this is in order to explain the surprising turn of events in Robinson’s thoughts about value. Whereas the trip itself is premised on his money-hungry desires — his urges for more gold and cheap slaves — during the building of the raft he realizes that the wood he’s found is worth more to him than any amount of gold would be. You can’t float on gold.
Robinson takes ammunition, guns, swords, water and food with him on shore. After landing — no small task considering he has no rudder to guide him or oars to propel him — he begins to seek a place to set up camp. Upon exploration of the landscape, Robinson is more dejected than ever: he is on an island. And what’s more, it’s barren. He decides to return to the ship several more times to gather supplies like tools, clothes, a hammock and a spare sail. He is also pleased to discover a vast supply of bread.
After he’s finished emptying the ship of its useful contents, Robinson builds a tent — another enterprise that is described in great detail. He even provides himself with a door. He brings his provisions inside, including the gunpowder, which he carefully separates into bags and stashes inside his dwelling, which he now refers to as his cave. Only after he explains how he is able to produce this makeshift home for himself, does Robinson describe his state of mind. He’s preoccupied, he tells us, with the conviction that he will end his days on the island — a thought that produces tears when he thinks about it. Robinson also muses on the cruelty of a divine force that would abandon him so helplessly, leaving him in such a desolate, impossible state. He finds it hard to be thankful that his life is saved. Nevertheless, Robinson always falls short of total misery when he reminds himself that the other ten sailors perished in the sea. When he considers that he alone was spared this death, and furthermore that he was able to retain much of the ship’s provisions, Robinson feels fortunate.

The Pros and Cons of Stranding

Robinson next lists things which are less obvious necessities — less obvious, that is, than the saving of his life, and the making of shelter — such as the tools he uses for keeping track of time, carving such information into a post, and cutting a notch for every day he spends on the island. He also tells us that a dog and two cats have survived the shipwreck, and cohabit the island with him. He finds pen, ink, and paper, and explains that he is interested in writing down his experiences on the island – not to leave to any spawn he may produce, for he feels sure that he is unlikely to have any heirs, but in order to give vent to the thoughts that besiege him during the day. He has no outlet, no other human beings to distract him or converse with him. He turns to writing instead. He lists the pros and cons of his situation, referring to them as the evils and the goods of his life on the island. Among the evils, he lists:

The impossibility of his recovery.
His isolation.
His lack of sufficient clothes.
His relative lack of defense against wild beasts.
His lack of another person to speak with .

Among the goods are the following:

The fact that he is alive.
The possibility that if he was saved by divine providence from the shipwreck, he may be saved from the island by divine providence as well.
That he is not starving.
That he has not seen any menacing wild beasts yet.
The fact that he was able to get supplies from the ship.

Robinson uses the list as an example for the reader that anything negative, such as his shipwreck, can also contain positive elements in it. Sufficiently cheered, Robinson sets about learning how to build things that he previously did not know how to construct, such as a chair and a table. He reflects happily that any man can learn mechanical skills, given the opportunity. He also begins to keep a journal, which he then reproduces for the reader. We should note also that Robinson reconstructs the journal as if he’d been keeping it from the beginning of his stranding, when, in fact, he has not.

THE JOURNAL

September 30, 1659
He is shipwrecked.

Oct. 1
He discovers the ship’s proximity.

Oct. 1-24
He pillages the ship.

Oct. 25
It rains and the ship breaks into pieces.

Oct. 26
He searches for a place to pitch his tent

Oct. 26-30
He sets up his tent and stores his provisions inside.

Oct. 31
He kills a goat for food

Nov. 1
He spends the first night in the tent on a hammock

Nov. 4
He begins to set a schedule for himself.

Nov. 5
He kills a wild cat and preserves her skin.

Nov. 6
He makes his table

Nov. 7-12
He makes his chair.

Nov. 14-16
He makes boxes for storage

Nov. 17
He begins to dig in the rock behind his tent to make more storage room.

Nov. 18
He tries, and fails, to make a wheelbarrow.

Nov. 23
For the next 18 days, he widens and deepens his cave so that it forms a warehouse area, a kitchen, a dining-room, and a cellar. (Note that the cave is distinct from his sleeping area, which he refers to as his tent).

Dec. 10
A large amount of dirt falls in from the roof of the cave.

Dec. 11
He is busy trying to fix the cave’s ceiling.

Dec. 17-20
He begins to furnish his house and fashion a dresser. He makes another table.

Dec. 27
He kills a goat and injures another which he brings home and patches up. He begins to entertain the thought of breeding tame animals.

Jan 3
He works on building a wall to protect his living area, like a fort. He is satisfied that if visitors come to the island, they would not be able to recognize his fortification as a dwelling.