narrative style and focuses more on events and actions. Crusoe is the narrator and
also the main character of the tale, everything is described in his own words and as
mentioned earlier, he expresses a factual and detailed narrative style.
It goes on to talk about himself, the main character and his brother and father. This
shows that his family had a big influence on him, this familiarization of his family
brings the readers closer to the character and shows that Crusoe an ordinary man.
Having read the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’, I will now comment on how the opening
scenes to introduce themes which will be important to the novel as a whole. The first
theme I have noticed from the opening is betrayal because he disobeyed his father
even though his father did not want him to go on an adventure. He then regrets this
and wishes he were at home:
“ I would go directly home to my father and never set it in a ship again while I lived.”(p.8)
Crusoe says this long before the adventure has started, this quote gives a sense of
regret and therefore makes the readers curious about what is going to happen next and
therefore gives a sense of enigma. Regret meaning that whatever is going to happen,
is not going to be good so therefore Crusoe is already unhappy with the adventure, so
from this we, as the audience know that there is more to come.
He prepares us for the adventure and makes it seem that at that time, he didn’t think
much of his father’s advice. Now that he has experienced and found out he did the
wrong thing he is on his father’s side:
“My father, a wise and grand man, gave me serious and excellent council against what he foresaw was my design”(p.4)
There is an also religious element being portrayed here because religious people
usually believe in a plan that has been designed by god. He becomes more religious
due to being isolated on the island and starts communicating with god, so religion
becomes a theme in the novel.
Even though he seems to be religious later on, he still accumulates money from all his
adventures and he also manages to make a profit out of his loss. This makes him an
economical man and this all comes down to his family background and the way he
been brought up from what we gather in the first few paragraphs:
“prospect of raising my fortunes by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure”(p.4)
His father always reminded him about the middle class people and told him that it is
the best station of life and to be grateful of what he already has.
You can tell that Crusoe is very fond of money because of the way he has been
brought up, he thinks about raising his fortunes by application and industry, so we
know that he has an educated background (father.)
He also sees money as ease and pleasure:
“That the middle Station of life was calculated for all kind of Virtues and all kinds of Enjoyment; that Peace and Plenty were the Hand-Maids of middle Fortune.”(p.5)
The first few paragraphs are highly specific and detailed which fully informs the
reader about every situation Crusoe goes through (his family’s definition and his
escape from home). This also makes the novel an eyewitness account and gives the
sense of truthfulness, this makes the readers more connected to the character and
therefore are able to relate more to the novel. This shows that Defoe is quite good at
creating a sense of realism.
Finally, Crusoe seemed to be in control of his life where he didn’t want to listen to his
father but later on in the novel manages to have success in mastering his situation,
overcoming his obstacles and controlling his environment. So Crusoe wanting to be
in control and independent of his life and rebellious against his father in the first few
paragraphs seemed to help him later on in the novel and taught him to take control of
his life. Every reader can in some way identify with Crusoe and his situation.
His inner conflicts are obvious in the first few paragraphs, which are duty and
independence, the duty being that he had to stay home and study law as his father
wished, and the independence being the fact that he wanted to be independent and that
happened to him. Hope and despair is another inner conflict because when he left
home, he realised what he has done is not what he expected so therefore regretted the
runaway which made him quite desperate but he had hope. His hope shows that he is
an optimistic person.
When he was at home, he was not happy with what he had, we know this by his
character, always looking for something he didn’t have, but later on in the island, he
made himself happy with what he had and made the most of everything. This shows a
change in his character to be a more mature man rather than a little immature boy with
unrealistic dreams.
The themes of religion, resourcefulness, independence, betrayal, management and
economics are definitely important in the novel as a whole. They are emphasised on
later when gets stuck on the island and I would say that the two most important
themes would be religion and economy management.
BY: LEGHA SAAD
