Daniel Defoe of Mans Salvation - Essay Example

Daniel Defoe was able to exemplify the idea of man's salvation and the image of man as homo economicus. He was able to reconcile the two aspects by proving that these were inclusive aspects which can co-exist with each other. Crusoe is a careful note-taker whenever numbers and quantities are involved. He does not simply tell us that his hedge encloses a large space, but informs us with a surveyor's precision that the space is "150 yards in length, and 100 yards in breadth." He tells us not simply that he spends a long time making his canoe in Chapter XVI, but that it takes precisely twenty days to cut off the tree and fourteen to remove the branches. It is not just an immense tree, but is "five foot ten inches in diameter at the lower part . . . and four foot eleven inches diameter at the end of twenty-two foot." Furthermore, time is measured with similar exactitude, as Crusoe's journal shows. We may often wonder why Crusoe feels it useful to record that it did not rain on December 26, but for him the necessity of counting out each day is never questioned. "As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my Parents, so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy View I had of being a rich and thriving Man in my new Plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate Desire of rising faster than the Nature of the Thing admitted;" (p.257) "and thus I cast my self down again into the deepest Gulph of human Misery that ever Man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent with Life and a State of Health in the World." (p.257) All these examples of counting and measuring underscore Crusoe's practical, businesslike character and his hands-on approach to life. But Defoe sometimes hints at the futility of Crusoe's measuring-as when the carefully measured canoe cannot reach water or when his obsessively kept calendar is thrown off by a day of oversleeping. Defoe may be subtly poking fun at the urge to quantify, showing us that, in the end, everything Crusoe counts never really adds up to much and does not save him from isolation. Generally, we see that there is a major sense of class superiority. Robinson hired one "European servant" and a "Negro slave" on his plantation. We are supposed to assume that one is better than the other. The basis of such distinctions is rooted in religion. Defoe introduces what is perhaps the most important background component to the story--the role of Christianity, particularly as it connects to relationships with other people. What appears to be a friendship between Robinson and Xury is turned into a common master-slave relationship when Crusoe decides to part with him so that Xury will be Christian in ten years' time. The fact that he is willing to forsake his companion in this manner indicates how strongly the Christian faith is entrenched within him. Essentially it is the driving force behind this decision. The excerpt below exemplifies how Crusoe viewed his life when faced with crisis which can have an economic nature and how God acts to help him get through it. "I have been in all my Circumstances a Memento to those who are touched 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 has 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." (p. 168) It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore." (p. 172) The business-like friendship between Xury and Crusoe is further emphasized when the narrator procures a plantation in Brazil. Astounded by the hard work, he wishes dearly for "his boy Xury." The diction of this line demonstrates possessiveness toward Robinson's companion. Ironically, he only longs for his company when there is back-breaking labor to be done. It appears that Xury's un-Christian status degrades him in the eyes of the narrator and the author. Lack of Christian doctrine and teachings becomes a symbol of ignorance and inferiority. When the captain offers to purchase Xury, he is truly playing the part of a savior, at least in Defoe's mind. Modern day readers cannot help but see this as slightly sarcastic: slavery is not often a device of deliverance. However, the author probably did not intend this reading. Xury is happy, even grateful to forsake his freedom; we must believe for the purposes of this novel that Christianity is the proper walk of life. Crusoe's arrival on the island does not make him revert to a brute existence controlled by animal instincts, and, unlike animals, he remains conscious of himself at all times. Indeed, his island existence actually deepens his self-awareness as he withdraws from the external social world and turns inward. "And thus I have given the first Part of a Life of Fortune and Adventure, a Life of Providence's Checquer-Work, and of a Variety which the World will seldom be able to show the like of: Beginning foolishly, but closing much more happily than any Part of it ever gave me Leave so much as to hope for." (p. 219) The idea that the individual must keep a careful reckoning of the state of his own soul is a key point in the Presbyterian doctrine that Defoe took his life seriously that he made sure every action that he makes are recorded and planned. Aside from being concerned with numbers and dates which can be considered the characteristics that make him exemplify the homoeconomicus man, he also believes in the idea of religious salvation such as deliverance. We see that in his normal day-to-day activities, Crusoe keeps accounts of himself enthusiastically and in various ways. For example, it is significant that Crusoe's makeshift calendar does not simply mark the passing of days, but instead more egocentrically marks the days he has spent on the island: it is about him, a sort of self-conscious or autobiographical calendar with him at its center. Similarly, Crusoe obsessively keeps a journal to record his daily activities, even when they amount to nothing more than finding a few pieces of wood on the beach or waiting inside while it rains. Crusoe feels the importance of staying aware of his situation at all times. We can also sense Crusoe's impulse toward self-awareness in the fact that he teaches his parrot to say the words, "Poor Robin Crusoe. . . . Where have you been" This sort of self-examining thought is natural for anyone alone on a desert island, but it is given a strange intensity when we recall that Crusoe has spent months teaching the bird to say it back to him. Crusoe teaches nature itself to voice his own self-awareness. "Deliverance" is a word that appears throughout the book. It is introduced to us in this part as the action of Providence. The author seems to define Providence as an ephemeral being, a personification of Christianity's ideals that has the power to decide the fate of its followers. Crusoe uses this concept to justify the course of events that befall him. The sea captain obtains responsibility by taking Robinson abroad and delivering him to South America, for Robinson's extremely good fortune in purchasing a plantation and amassing wealth. In many respects, he is still a child, depending on the kindness of strangers. Providence, together with Nature, is the temptation that leads him out of his safe, rich haven and onto another sea voyage. Similar to deliverance, providence also shows Crusoe as a believer of religious salvation. Once again, the sea becomes a symbol of trouble and turmoil. Each time Robinson ventures into the ocean, he is punished; first slavery, now a shipwreck. This sentiment is heightened by the fact that the rest of the crew perishes when they might have survived. Once more, he laments that he did not heed his father's advice. Yet he is not yet willing to take entire responsibility for his decisions. "In a word, as my Life was a Life of Sorrow, one way, so it was a Life of Mercy, another; and I wanted nothing to make it a Life of Comfort, but to be able to make my Sence of God's Goodness to me, and Care over me in this Condition, be my daily Consolation; and after I did make a just Improvement of these things, I went away and was no more sad." (p. 97) The will of Providence becomes a convenient escape from the simple fact that Crusoe chooses to be on this island through his own mistaken reasoning and greediness. Plantation money was not enough for him; he needed to try and engage in the risky enterprise of slave-trading. It is ironic that the Christian religion condones such human oppression. The book winds up commenting on religion without intending to do so. Again, this is the interpretation of a modern reading. Still, the narrator's decisive actions in the face of hardship are admirable and surprising. We wait to see whether he will prove to be skillful enough to manage his fate. Concerned that he will "lose [his] reckoning of time" in Chapter VII, Crusoe marks the passing of days "with [his] knife upon a large post, in capital letters, and making it into a great cross . . . set[s] it up on the shore where [he] first landed. . . ." The large size and capital letters show us how important this cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device and thus also as a way of relating himself to the larger social world where dates and calendars still matter. "Thus we never see the true State of our Condition, till it is illustrated to us by its Contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it." (p.102) But the cross is also a symbol of his own new existence on the island, just as the Christian cross is a symbol of the Christian's new life in Christ after baptism, an immersion in water like Crusoe's shipwreck experience. Yet Crusoe's large cross seems somewhat blasphemous in making no reference to Christ. Instead, it is a memorial to Crusoe himself, underscoring how completely he has become the center of his own life. Crusoe's experiences constitute not simply an adventure story in which thrilling things happen, but also a moral tale illustrating the right and wrong ways to live one's life. This moral and religious dimension of the tale is indicated in the Preface, which states that Crusoe's story is being published to instruct others in God's wisdom, and one vital part of this wisdom is the importance of repenting one's sins. "Now, said I aloud, My dear Father's Words are come to pass: God's Justice has overtaken me, and I have none to help or hear me: I rejected the Voice of Providence."(p. 67) While it is important to be grateful for God's miracles, as Crusoe is when his grain sprouts, it is not enough simply to express gratitude or even to pray to God, as Crusoe does several times with few results. Crusoe needs repentance most, as he learns from the fiery angelic figure that comes to him during a feverish hallucination and says, "Seeing all these things have not brought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die." (p.93) Crusoe believes that his major sin is his rebellious behavior toward his father, which he refers to as his "original sin," akin to Adam and Eve's first disobedience of God. This biblical reference also suggests that Crusoe's exile from civilization represents Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden. For Crusoe, repentance consists of acknowledging his wretchedness and his absolute dependence on the Lord. This admission marks a turning point in Crusoe's spiritual consciousness, and is almost a born-again experience for him. After repentance, he complains much less about his sad fate and views the island more positively. Later, when Crusoe is rescued and his fortune restored, he compares himself to Job, who also regained divine favor. Ironically, this view of the necessity of repentance ends up justifying sin: Crusoe may never have learned to repent if he had never sinfully disobeyed his father in the first place. Thus, as powerful as the theme of repentance is in the novel, it is nevertheless complex and ambiguous. According to J.P. Hunter, Robinson is not a hero, but an everyman. (Watt, 1951) He begins as a wanderer, aimless on a sea he does not understand; he ends as a pilgrim, crossing a final mountain to enter the promised land. The book tells the story of how Robinson gets closer to God, not through listening to sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only a Bible to read. Robinson Crusoe is filled with religious aspects. The writer is considered as one of the conservative Puritan believers. He is known for his other literary works involving his faith and the traditions he upholds for his being a Puritan Christian. Robinson Crusoe has literary elements showing similar characteristics in terms of spiritual aspects with Defoe's other books on Puritan morals. Crusoe is a reflection of a man's history as he finds his purpose through the experiences he has undertaken and through the providence given to him by God. When he was washed ashore and had to live on an island away from the comforts of home, it seemed that he was goven a new life. He is considered as a living metaphor for similar to us he has the capacity to learn from experiences and adapt to new challenges and environment. He is the self, prevailing against an environment (or, perhaps, a "providence") that is indifferent at best, cruel and despising at worst. Crusoe thus also serves as a metaphor for that which is worst about humanity: our pride, our greed, our willingness to exploit and use others for our own ends and good, without much regard, if any, to their own. While this metaphorical interpretation of Crusoe was no doubt far from the mind of Defoe-who was writing, he believed, a morally edifying, didactic. Blewett, David. Defoe's Art of Fiction. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1979. Bloom, Harold, ed. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1995. Earle, Peter. The World of Defoe. London: Atheneum, 1977. Ian Watt. "Robinson Crusoe as a Myth", from Essays in Criticism (April 1951). Reprinted in the Norton Critical Edition (second edition, 1994) of Robinson Crusoe. William Dampier, A New Voyage round the World, 1697 Shinagel, Michael, ed. (1994). Robinson Crusoe. Norton Critical Edition Ross, Angus, ed. (1965) Robinson Crusoe. Penguin. Read More