Robinson Crusoe: an action and observation adventure

Robinson Crusoe (1719)- Daniel Defoe (297 pages by my edition)

Robinson Crusoe details the travels of a character of the same name and the misfortunes that befall him as he lusts for adventure. The work begins in England with Crusoe as a young 18-year-old and follows his life for the next 30+ years. In this long period of Crusoe’s life, the reader can identify the maturation process that occurs and the ingenuity that proves vital to him for all his life.

Despite being published in 1719, I did not find the reading too difficult. After the first couple of nights, I found the writing style to be quite a trouble-free read. The only reason I will dock the readability score is due in part to my ignorance of some of the nautical terms used as well as some words describing clothing and other equipment from the era.

Defoe’s adventure is ripe with thematic questions. I thought this work would be a simple-minded adventure, perhaps some gung-ho character that is courageous and virtuous, that is not Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe struggles with fate, gratitude, and religion throughout the work from almost the first page to the last. As the work begins, Crusoe finds himself almost fated for disaster and he mentions this to the reader multiple times yet he seems incapable of pulling himself away from this path. Despite many perils, Crusoe refuses to change course. Once Crusoe has entered the main disaster that will run the course of the book, he is sullen and downtrodden constantly wondering why God has forsaken him to his horrible existence. As time progresses, Crusoe changes significantly as he explores his situation he becomes more and more grateful. Instead of focusing on the wrongs that have been done to him, he focuses on the great blessings and gifts he has received.

This leads to the final theme of religion. Let me preface this section by saying if you are not religious that is fine, Crusoe’s learnings can still help you. Crusoe starts reading the Bible and becomes enamored with divine providence. Divine providence is the belief that everything that happens in the universe is under God’s control or another way, everything happens for a reason. This phrase or thought is pivotal to the shift that occurs in Crusoe. He no longer views his fate as a curse but rather sees it as a learning journey, he no longer questions why he is placed in this situation but rather identifies his incredible wickedness and becomes grateful. He thanks God for an unbelievable opportunity to become better and lives his life of isolation in great happiness. Instead of focusing on what he does not have, Crusoe thinks of everything he has and the great life he lives. He becomes happy and rather than focusing on the past which is set he lives in the present, enjoying each day.

I found this adventure quite enjoyable, on the simplest level, there are excellent action scenes and great suspense. Beyond that, Defoe does a great job creating a relatable main character. Crusoe has his faults and a lust for adventure but it is his journey that makes him such an engaging character. As misfortunes transpired for Crusoe I felt invested in him. Likewise, in his ingenuity and later successes, I felt extremely happy for him and connected to him. The conclusion is not my favorite, and thus will receive a lower score, but it does a good job closing the narrative of his misfortune.

This work provided a great mix of adventure, action, and ingenuity all backed by very deep contemplations of existence. By focusing on the psychological impacts of Crusoe’s scenario instead of just the physical impacts Defoe creates a compelling survival scenario. Defoe does not shy away from the difficult cognitive questions that someone in Crusoe’s situation would ask, instead he takes them on head first.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 7.3/10- A great mix of action and observation that create a compelling adventure.

Readability: 7- A fairly simple read that only creates some readability issues in certain nautical terms and equipment of that time period.

Thematic Questions: 8- I was pleasantly surprised by the number of themes and how central they are to the plot.

Enjoyment: 7- An enjoyable tale with great scenes of action matched with a surprising amount of self-reflection by Crusoe.