Crusoe's Strategies of Economic Survival in Defoe's Novels - Essay Example

number 06 October Flanders and Crusoes Strategies of Economic Survival in Daniel Defoes Novels Daniel Defoes famous work titled as The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York marks the emerging of a new literary genre in the 18th century. Being one of the first English writers to have used the narrative technique typical of the modern literary fiction, Defoe contributes greatly to the advent of such literary form as realistic novel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York touches upon perennial philosophical, existential and theological issues in a brand new way being an ode to true grit and stalwart will of man. Defoes innovative style, which makes him one of the most distinguished novelists of his generation, is refined in his last but one novel titled as The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. In this essay I will focus on how both of the aforementioned novels dwell on different strategies of economic survival, reflect high ideals of the author and expose the mores of the British society in the 18th century. Although an exciting account of the picturesque escapades of the reckless adventurist named Moll Flanders are less popular with readers today as compared to the story of Robinson Crusoe, a great number of critics like Ian Watt claim that this novel tells readers more about survival strategies and unbreakable spirit than any other of Defoes works (Watt 111). Furthermore, the interest to both of the aforementioned novels does not dry out amongst critics and researchers of the English novelistic heritage within the framework of the renowned Age of Enlightenment. Influenced by the revolutionary philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment Age, Daniel Defoe questioned the fairness of the existing social, political and economic structure of the English society. Therefore, the tendencies and dominant views of the Age of Enlightenment set the tone for the novel of Robinson Crusoes life on an isolated island and leave imprint on the story of Moll Flanders that exposes to light how hard it is for ordinary people to get out of poverty without being engaged into criminal life in England of the 18th century. It must be noted that both of the aforementioned novels are a daring attempt of the author to pinpoint some of the most important challenges and burning issues of his generation, allegorically interpret critical ideas of the Enlightenment Age concerning the need for religious tolerance respect of civil liberties, as well as the vital importance of social and economic reforms. At the time being Defoes colorful story about the solitary struggle for survival of a shipwrecked man named Robinson Crusoe is probably as much sought after amongst readers as it used to be shortly after its publication in 1719. Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist of the eponymous novel, was the only survivor after the terrible shipwreck. Forced to live for 28 years all by himself on a deserted island, which he ironically calls an Island of Despair, Robinson Crusoe learns firsthand how to survive by using his own resources and at his own expense when there is no help within reach. Crusoe manages to adjust to an isolated existence on his Island of Despair by using only the materials at hand and things salvaged from his ship. Crusoe spent the first night on the island after the shipwreck on a high twiggy tree. He climbs the tree in order to secure himself from a possible assault of wild predators and poisonous snakes, which is a bright illustration of his practical mind and rational realistic approach to the situation that he unwillingly finds himself in. Since the half-sunken ship has stayed within Crusoes reach for a considerable span of time, he manages to get to the ship and pick up the maximum possible amount of useful stuff that he will use later for the purposes of living arrangements on the isolated island. First of all, he decides to transport all the available food from the ship to the shore. He grabs everything he sees: rice, crackers, cheese, boiled goat etc. Being fully aware that he will need to spend a good deal of time on the island, Crusoe has the forethought to find onboard of the ship and bring to the shore a great variety of other things, such as carpentry tools and swords, clothing and sailcloth, rifles and gunpowder. On the very first day Crusoe decides to explore the entire territory of the island in order to see whether there is any danger from the local fauna, and find anything to eat as he understands that his stock brought from the ship will be sufficient only for a limited time. Thus, he learns that there are some animals on the island that he can hunt for. After that he makes a tent of poles and canvas and build a fence of boxes and chests around it. As time passes he upgrades his dwellings and does his best to maintain comfortable conditions. Robinson Crusoe works most of the time in order to avoid plunging into despair and make his dwellings spacious enough to accommodate him "as a warehouse or magazine, a kitchen, a dining-room, a lodging and a cellar" (Defoe 117). Thus, Crusoe has everything that he needs to survive but gets harder and harder to spend his days alone with no opportunity to communicate to other people. Fortunately, he has managed to get ink and pen from the ship. He decides to express his thoughts and starts writing a diary. Later he encounters a lonely savage, whom he calls Friday and who becomes a faithful friend to Crusoe. All in all, Crusoes thoughtful survival strategy and hard toil helps him to live a decent life far from a civilized society. While Robinson Crusoe relies only on himself in order to survive, Moll Flanders, the protagonist of another Defoes masterpiece, chooses the way of manipulations and fully depends on men in order to ensure wellbeing for herself at the extent of others. She continuously engages herself in an endless string of marriages in hope to guarantee herself a comfortable life. But, for various reasons, all of her marriages get broken up one by one, which makeі Moll a prostitute and later get engaged in criminal pursuits. According to Swaminathan, "Moll Flanders can be read as an alternative conduct manual, one that explores the options available to women in unstable, desperate circumstances" (Swaminathan 186). However, such feature of Moll Flanders character as the stalwart will helps her getting out of a scrape most of the time. Her true grit and the ability to hold down her self-confidence despite any failures have a strong resemblance with the same qualities of Robinson Crusoe, without which he will never survive. Moll Flanders is a controversial figure, whose strategy of survival in this unfair world is quite dubious and exposes her to a lot of hardships and suffering. Her stubborn desire to become wealthy at somebody elses expense corrupts her. On the one hand, she is a good-hearted woman, but on the other hand she can be cynical and even cruel at times. Even when she gets what she needs and has enough money, it is hard for her to resist the temptation to commit a crime, such as stealing for instance, as she enjoys the feeling of getting off with a whole skin and get away unpunished. However, she finally gets into jail and after escaping the death sentence (which was changed for the exile to America) she rethinks her attitude to life. As Moll confesses, "the satisfaction [she] was to make for public mischiefs [she] had done was yet left behind" (Defoe 229). While the story of Moll Flanders, despite its relatively happy ending, serves as a veiled but sharp rebuke to social injustice, gender inequality and various ugly vices of the existing economic system in the 18th-century England, which denies equal opportunities for representatives of all social classes to live a descent law-abiding life, the Robinson Crusoes story is the authors attempt to demonstrate an alternative model of a sustainable development through the example of a shipwrecked man based on his ability to reconcile his principles and ideals with his behavior. Both of the novels show how important it is to rely on ones own resources in order to survive instead of waiting for the outside support, which might not arrive in time. Moll Flanders experience is a bright illustration that living at someone elses expense might be too costly and sometimes can even cost freedom. Works Cited Defoe, Daniel. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. London: Penguin Classics, 2007. Print. Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York. New York: Garden City, 1940. Print. Swaminathan, Srividhya. "Defoes Alternative Conduct Manual: Survival Strategies and Female Networks in Moll Flanders." Eighteenth Century Fiction 15.2 (2003): 185- 206. Print. Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965. Print. Read More