Defoe's Robinson Crusoe - Essay Example

Section/# Crusoe, Biblical Job, and Hubris against the Gods Literary Connection With respect to the literary theme,Robinson Crusoe follows a very basic premise and one that has been used to great effect by writers such as Homer and others long before his time. The idea of “hubris” is first presented to the reader in Chapter 1 in which Robinson Crusoe relates to the reader that his father, his mother, and his friends warned him against the dangers of a sea faring life. However, he disregarded these warnings and chose to pursue it instead.

Later, as he is nearly shipwrecked on his first sea voyage, he is encouraged again to let go of the seafaring way of life and pursue something in the “middle station” (Defoe, 1982) as his father had recommended. However, Robinson Crusoe does not heed these warnings and sets out twice more on the sea. The first of these trips is to Brazil (without incident). The second and fateful trip which ultimately lands him on the desert island is the trade mission he engages upon to Guyana in Chapter 5 (Defoe, 1982).

Once shipwrecked, without any shelter, dwelling, friends, comrades, family, amenities of a comfortable life, or supplies to speak of, Crusoe comes down with a high fever during a monsoon. This parallel to hubris and the utter humiliation of mankind’s best efforts is a direct parallel to the Greek writers nearly two thousand years prior to Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. In this way, Crusoe experiences a Job like conversion and understands his hubris; therefore, he confesses his many sins of this life and sets out to read and study the New Testament with a renewed vigor.

The Modern Connection With the modern connection as it relates to Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, the most obvious connection is to the film Castaway. Although the obvious connection is both works center around individuals who find themselves alone on a desert island, the parallels are far greater. The fact is that the underlying character development of both Castaway and Robinson Crusoe hinges upon the moment immediately following despair, self-loathing, hopelessness, and contemplations of death when the protagonists realize that this is their moment to define what they will do and how they will survive under difficult circumstances.

Robinson Crusoe experiences a high fever accompanied by severe weather and a hallucination in which God speaks to him. On the other hand, Chuck Noland’s epiphany only comes after he opens the “forbidden fruit” of the FedEx packages washed ashore with him and finds useful items that can aid him in his quest for survival. In this way, both characters experience the same life-changing/mood altering epiphanies that work to rescue them from their own despair.The Personal Connection Of particular interest to this author was the skill and level of detail which Daniel Defoe presented with regards to the instrumentation and processes in which Robinson Crusoe engaged no a daily basis.

Where lesser authors would have simply skipped over what they might have deemed too mundane to mention, Defoe spent the time necessary to research primitive survival and presented a believable and detailed account of what island life would be like for an individual in such a situation as Robinson Crusoe. In this way, this tactic gives the story depth and believability.Another highly interesting concept that Defoe puts forward was the extreme doubt that Crusoe placed in Friday. Although this can be understood a multitude of different ways – everything from racism to fear – the truth was more likely the fact that Crusoe had been traumatized as a result of his shipwreck and primitive existence.

So used to relying on only himself, Crusoe was practically unable to accept and/or trust Friday for a very long period of time; even going to far as to with hold vital information from Friday as to the true nature of how things worked so as to provide a level of fear in Friday that Crusoe was in some way magical. This was doubtless done to show the varying ways in which isolation had had an effect on Crusoe’s interpersonal interaction as well as general distrust for anyone other than himself.

His self-reliance, although admirable helped to foster less than admirable personality traits.ReferenceDefoe, D. (1982). Robinson Crusoe. Santiago: Andrés Bello.