Robinson Crusoe is the story of a man seeking adventure on the sea, only to come upon disaster as he ends up spending over 28 years of his life on a deserted island.
He was born in 1632 in York, England. As a child, Crusoe dreamed of being able to sail the seas on incredible journeys, despite his parent’s anxiety. His father tried to convince him to stay home, and take the middle station in life. This convinced Crusoe for a short while, but at the age of 19, He succumbed to his sense of adventure, and secretly joined his friend on a boat bound for London.
A few days out of York, a terrible storm hit, and nearly sunk the ship. The crew survived making it to land, but Crusoe took the storm as a sign from God that he should return to his family and give up his life on the sea. However, as he was making his way to London, he came across a sea captain who asks if Crusoe would be interested in joining him on a merchant voyage. Crusoe accepted, and left with the captain on the voyage. He was able to make a profit off of the voyage and decided to go on another, but was not so lucky the second time. On his second voyage, Moorish pirates attack Crusoe’s ship. His ship was captured, and he was taken as a slave. Due to his skills in fishing, Crusoe’s master assigned him as his fisherman. After being a slave for a little over 2 years, he had an opportunity for escape. Crusoe took a fishing vessel out with two other slaves on board, and after getting a good distance away from land, Crusoe earns the respect of a slave boy named Xury, who swore to be faithful to him, and go with him on all his travels.  Crusoe began searching for an English trade ship, in hopes that they might escort him back to England. After traveling for about 15 days, and running low on provisions, Crusoe came upon a group of natives, who gave him food and water for his journey. Crusoe continued to sail near the shore in search of an English trade ship. While Crusoe was sailing, Xury spotted a Portuguese ship. The crew allowed Crusoe to come aboard, and bring all the cargo from his ship. After selling the Captain his boat, possessions, and young friend, the Captain took Crusoe to Brazil, where he bought a plantation, and began growing tobacco.
After spending four years as a plantation owner, Crusoe decided to go to the islands of Guinea to see if he could buy some slaves for his plantation. As they were sailing, a storm hit the ship and threw them off course. They were driven towards the Caribbean where they were hit with yet another storm. The boat was thrown upon a sand bar, and the captain ordered everyone to abandon ship and attempted to row in lifeboats to a nearby island. As they were rowing, a huge wave swallowed them all, and sent every crewmember down to the depths, except Crusoe, who was carried to the shore of the nearby island by another great wave. Crusoe managed to get on his feet and run out of the water so as to avoid being taken by another wave. Crusoe began to panic when he realized he had no food, no weapons, and no shelter. He managed to find some fresh water, and as night fell, he climbed a tree to sleep in.
Crusoe woke up the next day and saw, to his surprise, that the boat had been driven onto the shore by the night storm. He made his way out to the ship, and recovered many supplies, which he brought back to the safety of the island. He even cut down the mast of the ship and used it to make a raft to bring back more supplies. He then decided to build a tent to store his supplies, and to rest in at night. Over the next few days, Crusoe returned to the ship multiple times and brought anything that he might find useful: food, clothing, tools, tobacco, rum, lumber, guns, powder, and shot. Crusoe then decided that he must build a better shelter to protect himself from wild beasts and ferocious men that might occupy the island. He found a small meadow, with a rock hanging over one end, to provide shelter. He then set up wooden stakes to act as a frame for a barrier tying them together with a cable, which he had cut from the ship, and made a very sturdy barricade surrounding the small field. After bringing all his supplies inside, Crusoe worried he would lose track of time while on this island. In order to remember the date, Crusoe made a great cross, and inscribed on it “I CAME ON SHORE HERE ON THE 30TH OF SEPT. 1659.” He then decided to leave a notch in the cross for every day he has spent on the island.
Crusoe eventually decided to keep a journal of the events on the island using a pen and paper he had brought from the ship. One day, Crusoe threw away some cornhusks, and to his surprise, and delight, they later sprouted into barley, which he harvested and saved to plant again. He was eventually able to plant enough barley to provide his self with bread. On the 16th of April, an earthquake rocked his island and Crusoe feared he would be killed from his rock shelter. So Crusoe decided to move to a new location. But before he could start, he fell terribly sick, which made him barely able to walk. While he was sick, he began praying to God for deliverance from the fever, and that night he had a dream. In the dream, he saw a man descending from a dark cloud, in a flame, and the man had a spear and was walking towards Crusoe. When he was just in front of him, the man looked at Crusoe and said “Seeing all these things have not brought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die.” At these words, Crusoe awoke in a panic, terrified by the dream. After resting for a little while longer, Crusoe began searching through his things, and managed to find some Bibles he had found on the ship. He opened one of them casually, and fell upon these words, “Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Crusoe felt the words were especially for him, and knelt down to pray to God, that he would deliver him in his day of trouble. The next day, Crusoe felt almost fully recovered from his illness.
Crusoe endured many other hardships, but was kept safe and nourished through his own determination, and the grace of God. Crusoe eventually rescued a local man, brought to the island by a group of cannibals. He named the man Friday, as that was the day on which he’d been rescued. Crusoe fought the cannibals a second time, and defeated them, rescuing two more men - a Spaniard, and Friday’s own father.
One day, an English ship arrived on the island, with three prisoners. Crusoe discovered one of the prisoners was the captain of the ship, and that the crew had mutinied. Crusoe swore to help the captain, if the captain would promise to take him back to England. The captain agreed, so Crusoe made a plan to defeat the mutineers, and he succeeded in taking back the ship.
After 28 years on this island, Crusoe was finally able to return home to England. He discovered his plantation had been very successful, and he now owned a large fortune. The book ended with the claim that Crusoe continued with 10 more years of adventure, which apparently were never given an account.
Robinson Crusoe, in my opinion, was interesting, due to a style of writing that depended heavily on great detail. The author goes into so much detail about what Crusoe does on the island, that it feels more like a biography then a fiction. I felt this level of detail was also a double-edged sword. On one hand, the detail could make it feel as though all the accounts are true, drawing the reader in, captivated by Crusoe’s struggles. On the other hand, the author seems to put so much less interesting detail that I found myself wanting to flip through pages ahead, hoping to get to more interesting parts in the story.
Written 100 years before our Revolutionary War, Robinson Crusoe was written as an adventure novel, pitting a man raised in a culture of science and technology against increasingly difficult odds. The more struggles he faced, the harder it was for him to define himself strictly by his wealth, and he eventually discovered that a spiritual connection with his Creator brought him the most peace.