Robinson Crusoe – can he stay stranded?

{ September 21, 2009 @ 10:26 pm } · { Uncategorized }

Robinson Crusoe, while a classic, was not nearly as entertaining a read as I’m expecting watching Robinson Crusoe on Mars to be. Crusoe was a very frustrating character as throughout the course of the novel he repeatedly brings about his own ruin. When I had first finished I tried to be sympathetic to him and remind myself that since it was written retrospectively he’d had a chance to recognize his mistakes though he wouldn’t have at the time. Then I remembered the sea captian yelling at him and the repeated divine warnings and all sympathy was lost. Crusoe left with dire warnings from his parents and disobeying his father and thereby the Commandments which state that you must obey your parents. While less so at the time, we can identify with rebelling against our parents but Crusoe further flaunts God when he makes vows to stop his rebellious plans to go to sea if he was spared from the storm. He is spared and he quickly dismisses his promises and determines on a sea life again. After this he becomes worse than useless when an especially bad storm rises up and not only is he unable to help try and save the ship, he has to be carried off it because he keeps fainting! By this time I had little good to say of Crusoe and it just got worse from there. He should’ve been able to connect the dots and determine that there was a bad a storm, he made a deal with God and he was spared and when he went back on his part, God went back on it too. Just in case he really was that lacking, the now ruined sea captain spells it out for him that to lead a life asea is to ask for ruin and points out that he would never again sail with him because he’ll spread that ruin to those he sails with. So what does Crusoe do? Does he take the money people were kind enough to give him and return home? Nope! He travels onto London to continue his ridiculous plans. Crusoe is clearly not only very stubbourn and not very bright but he is also very selfish. To cause his own ruin is bad enough… to bring about the ruin of others is inexcusable and, in my eyes, makes it impossibleto excuse his actions.

He sails again despite every reason not to and after making one safe trip, he next gets captured and enslaved by Moor pirates. Frankly, he deserved it though I’m not sure the others did. As a slave, he had no choice but to do what he was told so he couldn’t make exceptionally stupid decisions. Unfortunately, he then escapes. With the help of another slave, Zuri, he escapes and manages to sail around til finding a European ship. I always try to judge a book by its times but I still had difficulty with him selling Zuri off. If it weren’t for Zuri he might not have made it to that ship, plus he had experience as a slave but still sold a friend into slavery. There’s just nothing redeeming about Crusoe!

He spent some time on a plantation and managed to become profitable but quickly switched to a sea life again! Heaven forbid he actually have some kind of stability or kept his promises to God. He then of course gets stranded on the island where, supposedly, he redeems himself. I do see the evidence of how he became more religious but I don’t believe it all that much. I almost wonder if he was trying to flaunt God further because he erects a Cross – not to God or his religion – but to himself and his time on the island. He sets himself up like a king when he finally accepts he’s on the island and while he did have a religious vision, it doesn’t change how focused he is on materialistic goods or the lack of care he show for others. He makes a goat his pet and almost lets it starve to death and I think he only saved Friday ought of a need for another slave rather than to save a life.

In short, I disliked Crusoe before writing this blog and I know dislike him intensely. He’s a selfish, heretical fool who doesn’t deserve the multiple Divine Interventions and really should have stayed on the island to perish, along with his manuscript.

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