illustration of a man standing on an island and looking out at the ocean with the title Robison Crusoe written in the sky

Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

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Student Question

Did Robinson Crusoe meet another person?

Quick answer:

Robinson Crusoe meets the native man he calls Friday when he saves him from cannibals who occasionally come to the island. Friday becomes his servant. Up until the end, when an English ship comes to the island and rescues Crusoe, he meets no other humans, though he sometimes sees the cannibals from afar.

Expert Answers

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Robinson Crusoe goes for years without human companionship, having to content himself with his animals. However, after a certain time has passed, he begins to notice that natives from another island sometimes paddle over in canoes to a beach on his island. At first, he is worried, but as not many come and they stay in one location, he decides that he will capture a few of them as slaves.

However, he never meets any of them until he rescues Friday, who is their captive and is running away to avoid being butchered and eaten. Friday is so grateful for being saved that he puts his head under Crusoe's foot and in other ways indicates (according to Crusoe's likely self-interested interpretation) that he is willing to be his slave.

Crusoe makes a servant and companion out of Friday, converting him to Christianity, giving him the name Friday, and teaching him English.

At the end of his stay, when an English ship arrives at the island, Crusoe meets the crew, many of whom are mutineers. He rescues the ship's captain, executes the ringleader of the mutiny, and sails off on the ship to Europe with Friday. Friday was his chief and only companion while he was surviving stranded on the island.

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