Themes

One of the common themes in the novel Robinson Crusoe is Fear;  Robinson Crusoe is forced to overcome fear throughout the many trials and troubles he must face in order to survive.  He must learn to be self sufficient and must try hard to remain sane.  He often faces fear of the unknown, which in turn helps him in exploring the island and becoming more self sufficient.  He turns fear into productivity and energy and overcomes  obstacles.  The book also teaches the theme of  Human Condition;  This was particularily hard for Crusoe because he had to remain sane and conscious for years being alone.  He faces many spiritual fits on his journey and has to overcome and repent of his sins.  He eventually triumphs over panic and fear and becomes productive.  Money is also another theme represented in Robinson Crusoe; among all the things that Crusoe possesses,  money was not always one of them.  His money while living on the island, lost it's value and became useless.  He sometimes talks in his journal about how futile money is and what drug it can be.  The book teaches us that money isn't everything and it isn't as important as your spiritual worth.  Industrialization is one of the remaining themes in Robinson Crusoe.  While on the island, Crusoe realizes how easy people have it, how easy it is to just be able to go to the store or market to buy things rather than make them yourself.  He slaves away building and baking and thinks about how people take all these necessities for granted.  He appreciates the help of tools and such that he is able to construct.  

Setting

The Novel, Robinson Crusoe takes place between 1651 and 1694.  Throughout the book, many places are described, some being; England: York, Hull, Yarmouth, London, Dover, Africa: Guinea and coastal regions to the south, South America:  Brazil and an island off northeast Venezuela, near the mouth of the Orinoco River, Continental Europe:  Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid and other Spanish cities, Toulouse, Paris, and Calais, France. 

Summary/Plot

Robinson Crusoe is a rebellious youth, he disregards his parents wishes of being a lawyer and decides to set out to sea.  The first ship he sets sail on, thanks to the help of a friend, gets involved with terrible storms and people tell Crusoe that this is a bad sign, and that he should probably stop his career in sea adventuring.  But, Crusoe was stubborn and too ashamed to go home, so he set off on another journey.  He traveled to Africa with a kind Captain but was then taken hostage in a town called Sallee  He served as a slave there along with a few other men.  His masters noticed he had a skill in fishing and frequently send him out to do so, and using this to his advantage, Crusoe along with another lad named Xury, escaped and set off to sea again.  They stopped in Brazil, and Crusoe decided to make a new start. He settled and started growing sugar.  He decided that buying slaves would help him in his new line of work, and he along with other neighboring planters took a trip to Africa to buy slaves.  While on this trip there was  another terrible storm and the ship wrecked leaving only Crusoe alive.   He used his survival skills to find food, build shelter and salvaged any useful goods from the ship as he could.  During this time by himself, Crusoe became closer to God, he became stronger physically and mentally, he developed new skills and learned to support himself, he became more grateful and kept a journal.  Crusoe became ill a number of times, and each time he became ill he prayed heavily to God and thought he was going to die, but amazingly he was able to pull out of it.  He taught himself many things such as farming, building, and hunting.  He spent many years on the island reflecting his life and frustrating himself about his previous wickedness.  Throughout the fifteen years on the island, Crusoe noticed some changes in the landscape, he found some human bones, and footprints...and later some cannibals huddled around a fire.  Several years later, a ship wrecked near the island, and Crusoe took some of the ships goods. Later on Cannibals landed on the island and a man escaped from them.  Crusoe saved him and kept him as a slave, he was named Friday.  Friday helped Crusoe build a boat and they made plans to leave.  Savages returned and put a damper on this idea of escape, but they attacked the cannibals and saved two men; one white man, and the other, Friday's father.  They planned another voyage and saved up food but the other two men ended up going and saving 16 other and left Friday and Crusoe behind.  Even though they were left behind, the two were saved by a ship that was falling apart because of a rebellion.  Crusoe and Friday helped the old captain gain control and he took them back to England.  Crusoe realized that he was quite a wealthy man, he sold his plantation in Brazil for a price, got married, had three children, and returned to check on his island.