Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

It took me a while to get through this book and it has taken me even longer to sit down and write about it. Many of the things that were running through my head as I read and felt inspired to write about have seemingly disappeared into that dark corner of my brain with all my other forgotten thoughts. Let’s see if I can drag a few of them back into the light.

I appreciate that the book is written in the first person and that it reads more like a diary than a novel at times because it reflects the disorganized repetitive babbling that goes on in most of our heads. However, this repetitiveness, especially at the beginning, made it extremely difficult for me to get into it. I persisted, though, and actually did enjoy the book in the end. Yet, I did something I rarely ever do, which was start and finish another book when I was in the middle of reading it. I know there are some people who read multiple books at the same time but for whatever reason I have never been one of them.

When you read books that both take place and were written in the past, you have to go into it understanding that the characters’ views of the world are going to be different to our accepted norms today. I didn’t like his attitude toward slavery or the native Americans, for example, but I accepted that things were different back then and didn’t allow it to ruin the story for me. If anything, it was an eye opening account of how things were at that time and how much the world really has changed.

“To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.”

I was amazed at times by the success of certain arrangements in a time when it was so difficult and time consuming to communicate with someone who wasn’t even that far away. The honesty and trustworthiness shown by some of the characters was incredibly surprising, especially considering how much time had passed and it being completely plausible that Crusoe would never be seen again.

Robinson Crusoe is the luckiest unlucky character I have ever encountered. He has so many unfortunate things happen to him throughout the story, but at the same time things could always be so much worse. He is intelligent and recognizes that he has been lucky despite the circumstances he finds himself in. He always makes the most out of what he has been dealt.

“I had more wealth, indeed, than I had before, but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use for it than the Indians of Peru had before the Spaniards came there.”

I can’t imagine being alone on an island for so long. Honestly, I highly doubt that I would have been able to do everything he did in order to survive for so long. Having so much time to yourself definitely gives you the time to really think. You can see how it inevitably changes his views in certain ways and gives him the opportunity to really reflect on the true significance and meaning of certain aspects of life.

“As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention which have happened in the world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines or schemes of church government, they were all perfectly useless to us, and, for aught I can yet see, they have been so to the rest of the world.”

Robinson Crusoe is an impressive, eye opening tale of a man who didn’t want to live the life that had been planned for him. He defied his parents and did what he wanted to do in order to pursue his dream of a different life. At the very least, it was an adventure.