Robinson Crusoe - Research Paper Example

The novel starts of with the main character and his constant search to satisfy his wanderlust. Into his voyages and other adventures the reader is introduced to the protagonist devoid of any firm and substantial outlook for his life and the world in general. Robinson Crusoe lacks any tangible relationship, even at the beginning of the novel which accounts for the almost flailing persona of the character. Though the novel is written entirely in the first person, a feeling of detachment, as though the narrator takes you where he is going yet does not tell you how he feels is evident throughout the first chapters of the book. A matter-of-factly attitude attests to much of the aloof charm and consequent pleasurable reading of the book. There are little to no embellishments that make for an almost autobiographical account of it. The reader is acquainted and intimated to the character and all of his struggles and personal conflicts that are revealed in further reading of Daniel Defoe’s classic tale. Literal and Figurative Cannibalism The theme of cannibalism in the book gives a mental image to the cultural reality that was evident years ago and quite possibly still at play at some remote barbaric villages unheard of. This first appeared in the book when he was offered by some villagers he came across with. “They offered me some of the flesh, which I declined, pointing out that I would give it them; but made signs for the skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought me a great deal more of their provisions, which, though I did not understand, yet I accepted” (Defoe, p.48). The idea of eating another human being’s flesh is repulsive to say the least. This is something that no normal and civilized person would ever be capacitated to do. This is one of the most stimulating imagery and ultimately reality that Defoe depicted in his telling of the story of “Robinson Crusoe.” It may not be pleasing by all means but that doesn’t make it untrue. Eating another person whether he is already dead or not would make anyone convulse at the very thought. This is the kind of plot that suspense and horror films are made of. But “Robinson Crusoe” is neither a suspense thriller nor a horror film, it rings true not just because of the literal connotation it presents but also because of its figurative meaning. Surely there is much barbarity into consuming a person while he was still alive to than when he is already dead. A person who is still filled with emotions and feelings eaten alive by his fellows. Cannibalism is caused by a lack of food supply, this may be due to famine or other absurdities. It is an irrational reaction to hunger and famine yet even in the deepest of hunger, societies and its people are not known to practice or even consider this act. It is by some considered a ritual practiced to bring order to the society. It is a ‘primordial metaphor’ that distinguishes between subservience and domination (Jooma, p.58). Jooma presents a reference to competition for hierarchy among male figures in the novel (59). This is where the concept of cannibalism is presented in symbolic reference to such oppositions. This sets the differentiation between the domestic and the encompassing economy. The paper “Robinson Crusoe Inc(orporates): Domestic Economy, Incest and the Trope of Cannibalism” discusses the varied relationships between the consumers of flesh and those who are being ‘eaten’ in the novel. Though this may not be studied in anthropology, the concept of prey and predator in the society is still evident, not of course to be taken in its denotative literal sense. In the beginning of the novel, Crusoe narrates how he was able to obtain his last name and the story of how his father ended up in the place where he grew up. The dynamics of the father and son relationships presents the different spheres of power and their adhering connections to each other. Robinson Crusoe contains very much predatory characteristics that lead to the emergence of different conceptualized aspects of the system. In it is a politics of intake that was first seen in the Crusoe household and continues on to other descriptive parts of the novel (Jooma, p.60). Crusoe had the choice of being able to live a satisfactory life under his father’s roof. But doing so, he would be bounded by his father’s conditions and directions so he opted to sail forth to a life and an adventure of his own. Not without his regrets, Crusoe had fantasized about returning as ‘the prodigal son’ and being welcomed with a feast in the house of his father. He was also a t one point compared to another biblical character through his story’s parallelism to Jonah’s (Jooma, p.60). His defiance is pressingly what leads him to his fate and the consequences that went hand in hand with it. Regardless, it is his nature to do so and to have stayed and lived a complacent life would not pose much contentment for his character as he would not have been able to grow through his ultimate tragedies which brought him to his deliverance and change of outlook. The notion of mastery evokes itself into the being of how Crusoe perceives much of his beliefs for the master and the slave. The idea of pleasure derived from the imminence of being a master convolutes the concept of patience. Many critics have raised their concern for the lack of sexual theme that should be common in the context of the novel. Defoe seemed to be reluctant to represent men through the perception of his sexual nature. The issue of sexuality is completely nonexistent in the reading. Comprehensively there is lack of any central or secondary female image within the entirety of the book (Jooma, pp. 63-65). The societal concept of consumption both in the literal and figurative meaning of it poses a more personal indication a person’s role in the society. Talking in a literal sense, cannibalism is an unacceptable practice that does not require a second thought, it is revolting and therefore unacceptable. But looking at it in a more figurative manner, it would seem that those who trample on others to get what they want when they want it are nothing less than cannibals who are unmindful of others and their feelings. For most cannibals, they consume cadavers of people who are already dead because they need it for sustenance but for this other type of predators, they consume while the prey is still alive, weak and disheveled, with a total lack of concern for their sufferings. It poses the proverbial question of which among the two types of cannibals is the worst. The State of the Body and Soul Though known for writing his pieces to be significantly centered on sexuality and the male and female connection, “Robinson Crusoe” is not particular of this theme. If anything else, Defoe is often questioned for lacking this major theme in his most famous work. It is a paradox that Defoe is known for writing about, the definition of the white male masculinity transcending the body in his convergence with the universe and his surroundings while the image of the woman is seconded for her lack of ability to penetrate, metaphorically speaking, and ultimately leads to the character’s consequent self-evolution. Crusoe is depicted much in his capability to change his surroundings in such a way that he could subjugate it through any plausible means (Wiegman, p.35). It may be considered that Crusoe made concerted efforts to supersede his sexuality into the conjugation of power while other characters are mere indirect representations of symbolic female figures. In essence, the story unveils the common concept of domination and the patriarchal society in Western culture. Unlike his other writings, Crusoe does not contain sexual underlying because it contains no programming of the cultural sense towards internal objectification. The story is a mirror reflection of Crusoe as himself and does not concern itself on the other intricacies that would revolve around it and as a result would misplace the basic impression conveyed by the story. In the island he forges oneness with the land. The story presents a primordial sense of being able to be the master of nature which is the ultimate representation of male masculinity and domination (Wiegman, p. 36-37). “Robinson Crusoe” takes the masculinity of the character and replaces it with the discourse of it in the interlinking of politics and the social powers inherent within. Crusoe was able to forge domestication in his own cultural image on his island. He evoked a sense of creatorship and of supremacy towards all. “I confess this side of the country was much pleasanter than mine; but yet I had not the least inclination to remove, for as I was fixed in my habitation it became natural to me, and I seemed all the while I was here to be as it were upon a journey, and from home” (Defoe, p.175). Crusoe was able to provide for himself and be the master of everything that surrounds him. He was defiant and contented in his seclusion. He was able to be the overseer of everything and as it became evident that nature would provide for him and he can provide for himself, he was able to reconcile with his isolation. It had seemed to fit him in every sense and the man living in the island became an island unto himself. But as it unfolds through his journal he wrote how he was consumed by the inexorable grief because of seclusion and being alone. He became passively accepting of his fate and proceeded towards trying to fend for himself and not wallowing on self-pity. He wasted no time and searched and hauled what could be essential to him. The journal became the safe keeper of his redemption as he struggles continually in his 28 years of exile. “No one that shall ever read this account will expect that I should be able to describe the horrors of my soul at this terrible vision. I mean, that even while it was a dream, I even dreamed of those horrors” (Defoe, p140). In it he was compelled to read the bible and search for deliverance. The transformation of the character that was hollowed in the beginning and consumed by the subtle indications of consumerist propensity was transformed through his circumstance. From the hurricanes to the earthquakes to the other disasters that came his way he was able to acknowledge a higher being that optimistically should be the one who would lead him to the way of his salvation. Leaving and Being Left and the Insistence of Greed Creating distance seems to be a nature to Robinson Crusoe. Unmindful of the feelings of whomever he leaves behind and being quite comfortable with it makes him a straightforward embodiment of his own individuality. He could at times simultaneously want distance and intimacy from other people. In the beginning when he left his parents to follow in the footsteps of his brothers and avoid parental jurisdiction over his independence to the end when he was ready to leave his children to satiate his relentless wanting to be on the seas once again. This never-ending yearning to roam and be free of commitments seems to be a recurring instance in the story. Things could either be absent or too at hand for him. He exhausts all means to get what he desires while evading what is there in his presence. In his search, there was a reversal wherein he was left and concurrently stayed and in an existential analysis it became that his passivity was then turned into activity. This can be seen most actively from the shift of his roles as a son leaving his parents to a father leaving his offspring. His three children were abandoned, instigating the implication of the duality of both situations. The non-fictional treatment of the novel offered the connection of the contradiction between the desire to obtain and to renounce something (Gliserman, p.198). The object of Crusoe’s desire is one-dimensional: having enough to eat. This commodity is differentiated between the need for food on the island and the need for money in the mainland, all towards the same commodity. The irony of the people who he first wants to enslave but then shifted to be the ones who he fears will eat him but was taunted all due to what can be perceived as divine intervention. Between slavery and cannibalism the former is more proficient economically. This way, the masters are able to preserve the source of labor which could then continue on to serve them by providing for crops, food and other intensive work he sets him out to accomplish (Gliserman, p.200). The text is composed of descriptions of the body and the different parts of it according to how it is to be filled. Parts of the body such as the head, the stomach, the phallus, etc. are considered containers. Crusoe was even candid so as to say that his head, without the thoughts of the existence of God as he claims was empty and his ears was deaf to His advices. Defoe goes at length to describe the head as a container that should hold thoughts of the Father. This was repeated throughout the text. This depiction of the body and all of its functions remain constant in the book. Between fullness and emptiness, being porous and unassailable, and being open and close is recurrent (Gliserman, p.202). Redemption and Deliverance The idea of the different aspects that run people’s daily lives is evident in the story beyond the commonly perceived centralization on Crusoe’s exile in the island. It contains many other elements that are constantly true which makes the novel endearing from the time it was first published to this date. Not that this is to delineate the concept and people’s fear of being stranded on an island alone, much less for 28 years. This is why there are many contemporary television shows, films and other publications that adapt the same concept. But more than this, it contains many fundamental realities that are accurate regardless of the year or the level of economic development of any specified country or people. It contains the idea of slavery in relation to cannibalism which is a thought-provoking concept. The slavery of the Negro during the vicissitude of this era created much impact for the change in the social progression of Western culture and history. It also contains themes such as greed and of the need to obtain commodities. The idea of the desire to travel and to get away in general and avoid any set obligations for the thrill of adventure and seeing the world despite the possibility of consequences. “Robinson Crusoe” contains a mixture of everything that ranges from philosophical to economical to psychological. More than this, it elaborates on the idea of redemption and of deliverance and how we seek for it and how other times it comes to us under the most unexpected time and circumstance. This concept is common in the Catholic religion. People confess that they may be redeemed. They engage in good deeds that they may be worthy to be in the presence of God when that time comes. And this is also within “Robinson Crusoe.” It seems to be that it is in our nature to be most faithful when we are faced with adversities. Much of our deliverance comes during the most trying times that tests and confirms our beliefs or completely throws us off balance into another direction. Crusoe was the former, from not considering God he was transformed into a firm believer of the faith. “I have been, in all my circumstances, a memento to those who are touched with the general plague of mankind, whence, for aught I know, one half of their miseries flow: I mean that of not being satisfied with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed them” (Defoe, p. 310). Bibliography Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Planet PDF, n.d. 9 Apr. 2009 . Gliserman, Martin. "Robinson Crusoe: The Vicissitude of Greed- Cannibalism and Capitalism." American Imago 47.3/4 (1990): 197-23+ . Heims, Neil. "Robinson Crusoe and the Fear of Being Eaten." Colby Library Quarterly 19.4 (1983): 190-193+ . Jooma, Minaz. Robinson Crusoe Inc(orporates): Domestic Economy , Incest and the Trope of Cannibalism. n.d. 57-78. Wygman, Robyn . "Economies of the Body: Gendered Sites in Robinson Crusoe and Roxana." Criticism 31.1 (1989): 33-52+ . Read More