Study Materials for Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

1. What purpose is served by the "family history" section at the beginning of the novel, running up through the time of the shipwreck? Why do we need this material? What does it tell us about the sort of story Defoe plans to tell us, through Crusoe? What other information about the nature of the story do we get from the full title of the book? Remember that the full title is as follows: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates.

2. Crusoe begins his narrative in the form of a journal, but when his ink runs out he switches to a different sort of narrative technique, even though he continues to write in the first person. Even if we admit the premise of a limited ink supply, how can we account for the fact that these two narratives seem to take different forms? In terms of the interior logic of the novel, exactly when are we supposed to understand that each of these sections of narrative was written? And whay would their dates of composition affect the overall nature and "point" of the story they purport to tell?

3. What "matters" to Crusoe? What things does he at first believe he cannot do without? What things does he believe he absolutely must have? For both these lists, which items does he decide he was wrong about needing or not needing? In the process, try to work out what his "values" are.

4. On a related matter, doesn't it seem strange that Crusoe seems to be able to get along so well without human companionship? Even Frankenstein's Creature, in Mary Shelley's later novel, earnestly desires a mate. For that matter, so did Adam, both in the Bible and in John Milton's more recent retelling of the Genesis story in Paradise Lost. So what are we to make of Crusoe's apparent lack of interest in finding a mate or establishing a family?

5. Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719. What relations may be said to exist between this novel and England's interest in world exploration and the massive colonization in which the nation engaged over the next two centuries?

6. Why is it that after spending his entire time on the island trying to escape it, Crusoe finds himself so dissatisfied with what he finds when he returns to Europe? If the island has been such a prison for him, why then does he find "freedom"so unfilling that he actually returns to the island?

7. Considering his very long life and his remarkable adventures, Crusoe seems to be very much the same person at the end of the novel as he is at the beginning: strong-willed, impetuous, inventive but self-centered, and surprisingly intolerant of others who differ from him. Do you suppose this is what Defoe intended for us to notice about him? Or is it just that Defoe is more interested in writing an adventure story than in giving us anything like an intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually "rounded" (i. e., complex) character?

8. Consider Crusoe's relationship with Friday. Look carefully at Crusoe's physical description of Friday to see what -- if anything -- it reveals about Crusoe and his beliefs, attitudes, and biasses. Think too about what he tells Friday their names are. Remember, too, that on at least one occasion Crusoe refers to Friday as "my savage." Think about the implications of this phrase when it comes to Crusoe's relationship to the island itself, to the things he builds there, and to Friday himself.

9. In the latter stages of his journal Crusoe details his apparent "conversion" from irreligious behavior to religious. After thinking about God and Proividence he is led to spontaneous (rather than motivated or directly willed) prayer. It happens again a bit later, together with another discussion of morality. But later on Crusoe expresses shock at his own moralizing. Do you believe that Crusoe is actually sincere, then, in his "conversion"? If so, why does he seem to go back on it? And if not, what is the point of telling the reader about it in the first place?

10. After Crusoe and Friday have become acquainted, Crusoe sets out to convert Friday to Christianity by giving him serious, systematic religious instruction. This section of the novel gives us good information to help us determine the differences between how Crusoe looks at the world and at other people, and how Friday looks at the world and at other people. Discuss the major differences between these two ways of looking at things. Pay special attention to how each man regards the other man in relation to how he regards himself.

Engraved portrait of Defoe

Another portrait of Defoe

Some Internet Resources

Electronic text of Robinson Crusoe

A brief biography and bibliography of Defoe.

Stephen C. Behrendt, 7/26/03