2. Plot
Robinson Kreutznaer (who in England becomes known with the surname “Crusoe”) is a young man
from a rich middle-class family. His main purpose is to travel by sea, but his parents disagree with
Robinson because they want him to become a lawyer as his father. At first, he tries to accomplish his
father’s desire, but his passion for adventures is too strong, so after having talked to him, he leaves for
a little journey from York to London with a friend. During this journey, there is a little storm and
Robinson is very scared about it, because he thinks that it is a sign of God’s punishment for having
disobeyed to his parents’ wants. When he comes back home, he decides to ignore this little
premonition and leaves again to go to Guinea, in Africa. This voyage ends again in a disaster: his
ship is attacked by Moor pirates and Robinson becomes a prisoner. One day, the pirates’ chief
orders Robinson, a moor and a friend to go fishing in the sea with a little boat. When they were in the
middle of the ocean, Robinson throws the moor in the water and the two men arrived on the shore.
After a few days, a Portuguese ship saves them, and Robinson arrives in Brazil. There, he learns how
to grow some plants, so, with the help of some natives, he sets up a plantation and becomes very rich.
Unfortunately, he feels very unhappy because he wants to travel abroad again, so when the other
planters invite him to go to Guinea with him, he accepts. This journey ends in a terrible shipwreck,
where everyone dies except for him who, with his last efforts, swims to the nearest shore. On the
following day, he realizes what has happened and decides to fetch as many things as he can on the
wreck of the ship before it sinks.
There, he takes a lot of tools and provisions that he considers useful to survive on the island,
including weapons and food. At first Robinson is desperate because he knows that nobody will come
and save him, but later on he realizes that his shipwreck was a sign of God’s benevolence because all
the crew died apart from himself so he starts to settle down in the island as best as he can.
3. Robinson also starts writing a journal, not to lose his reason and his perception of time. In this diary,
he thanks God for letting him stay alive. On the island he builds two places where he can live: one
near the sea and one in a beautiful valley where he grew a lot of food. He also finds some goats and
uses them for their milk and their meat. Besides he also learns how to take care of himself when he is
ill. Nonetheless he really missed a friend on the island as solace to his loneliness. In fact he has been
living alone on the island for 28 years. So after 20 years of solitude, he discovers some footprints in the
sand and he finds some bones on the shore: he realizes that there were some cannibals on the island.
Thus he decides to attack but not to kill them, because it was not his right to do that but it was God’s.
Among them he saves an escaped prisoner and calls him ‘’Friday’’, after the day when he found him
on the island. Robinson teaches him few English words (like “yes”, “no”, “master”) and to read the
Bible. Friday’s submission represents the great English Colonization because Robinson is the
prototype of the English colonizer. In fact their friendship is, as a matter of fact, a master-servant
relationship.
After some years a battle between Robinson and the
cannibals starts. During this event that seems horrible,
Friday finds his father. A European ship arrives on the
island at the end of the battle. Thanks to the ship,
Robinson can finally return home, where he discovers
that his parents died. He marries a woman and has
three sons. He also finds out that he has become very
rich due to his prosperous plantation in Brazil. After 10
years he wants to return to the island with Friday for
their last adventure. Unfortunately, Friday dies in this
journey and Robinson becomes governator of the
island.
4. Characters
•Robinson Crusoe:
Robinson is a man who wants to travel all around the world to get to know new cultures and make
some money. He doesn’t like to stay at home and obey the commands of his father, a middle class
man, so he decides to change his situation. After his departure and the shipwreck on the deserted
island, he becomes totally religious and thanks God for sparing his life. Robinson reads the Bible to
make differences between what is good and what is evil. He is also a rational man who carefully
observes his situation “as a lonely man on the island”, then he makes a list of possible solutions,
analyzing the pros and cons, and finally he chooses the best alternative for his survival. Thus he
exploits and dominates Nature according to his needs, showing his best skills to get by on the island
settling down as much as he can to the new environment.
•Friday:
Friday is a savage that Robinson saves from a group of cannibals. Robinson calls him “Friday” after
the day he found him on the island. He is described as a handsome man: its hair is long and black,
the forehead very high and large, and his eyes are shining . He is a half-cast: the color of his skin is
not black but tanned. He has a full and round face, a small nose, not crushed, a well done mouth,
with regular and white teeth and thin lips .Robinson teaches him the Bible to say only a few words
such as: ‘’master’’, ‘’yes or no’’, and how to eat and drink. Between them there is a master-slave
relationship, in fact Robinson completely submits him.
•Robinson's parents:
They are the typical persons of the middle class that think their state is the best class in the world.
His father is an elderly, wise and strict man. They want his son to be a lawyer because he is a well-
off man of the middle class . Nonetheless Robinson doesn't listen to them and leaves home.
