Another innovative feature to Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is the candid introspection of the narrator. For, before the publication of this novel, there were few characters who internalized to the extent of Defoe's main character. Frequently, Crusoe expresses his doubts, regrets, and examinations of conscience. For instance, in Chapter II Crusoe reflects upon his father's advice,
At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my father's prophetic discourse to me.... [and] I thought was now so effectually brought to pass that I could not be worse; for now the hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption....
In Chapter VI, also, he attempts to "describe the horrors of my soul at this terrible vision," his dream about the wreckage of the ship on which so many perished.
While a precusor to the English novel, Robinson...
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Crusoe is also, as critic Jeremy Hubell writes, a model for English colonialism. That is, Defoe's novel presents a Puritanical paradigm for the ideals of colonialism which conquers nature and receives the rewards of God through the work ethic. Like the Puritans who came to America, Crusoe reinvents society for himself as the island becomes his source of nurture and he constructs a civilized structure in his subjugation of nature.
Many years ahead of his time, too, is Defoe's treatment of the issue of slavery. For, after selling Xury, Crusoe feels regret. Of course, other incidents later in the novel, as well as his relationship with Friday reveal Defoe's concern with social injustice.
Probably the most significant importance of Robinson Crusoe is its status as one of the first fiction novels in the English language. In the early 1700s, both short fiction and stage plays were established and popular, but there were few fully fictional prose novels.
Robinson Crusoe went against the norm by being an original, fictional story in the long format. The novel was a great success, and paved the way for realistic long fiction as a genre; many earlier works were based in myth and legend, and it was highly unusual for a writer to invent the entirety of a story rather than inserting real events and people. After the novel's publication, dozens of derivative works were published, as well as critical or satirical works, including Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
Defoe also popularized a new type of character: the "Competent Man," who faces adversity and wins through his own ingenuity. This type of character is often seen today in genre fiction such as sci-fi and fantasy, with literary fiction often focusing on man's weaknesses. While characters of similar type were present in fiction earlier, the most notable probably being Odysseus, Crusoe was unique in that he took only mental strength from religion and achieved all other tasks with his own personal abilities.
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What made Robinson Crusoe popular when it was published?
The novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, which was first published in 1719, tells of an English sailor who becomes a castaway on a deserted island and survives there for 28 years until he is finally rescued. The book became instantly popular and went through four editions by the end of 1719. There are several reasons why Robinson Crusoe became so popular in the days after it was first published.
First of all, it was an anomaly in the publishing world of the time. In 1719, the novel was not an established genre of literature. The real author, Defoe, was not credited in the first edition. Many readers thought that it was a true story and that Robinson Crusoe, an actual person, was the author. Defoe had based his novel on the accounts of real sailors who had been shipwrecked, and the book's realism thrilled readers. Defoe was almost sixty years old when Robinson Crusoe was published, and he had spent much of his career as a journalist. He was adept at depicting the details of events in a way his readers would find interesting.
In the novel, Crusoe is presented as a common man that many readers of the era could relate to. They could see themselves in Crusoe, and they could sympathize with the fears, joys, and moral dilemmas that he goes through in the course of his struggles for survival. One of the main things that Crusoe uses to cope with his solitude and despair is the Bible, and 18th century readers could identify with that as well. His attitude of thankfulness to God helps him endure his harsh circumstances and have mercy on his companion Friday, who he rescues from cannibals and converts to Christianity. This would fit in with attitudes toward religion that readers of the era would have held.
Some scholars also suggest that Robinson Crusoe's tale of survival is an example of the hero's journey, a term made popular by author Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Although readers in the 18th century would probably not have consciously made this connection, they would have been unconsciously affected by this universal mythical theme.
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Why is Robinson Crusoe important?
While it is difficult and contentious to locate the first realist novel, Robinson Crusoe is important because it is very much a major contender. Most critics point to Don Quixote as the first novel, because it sets itself in opposition to the popular knightly romances of the time. These romances depicted a highly unrealistic medieval world of knights doing good deeds such as fighting dragons and giants and saving damsels in distress. Quixote decides that he wants to reside in that alternate reality and so sets himself up as a knight in (not so) shining armor. The novel is realistic in showing the impossibility of living a knightly fantasy in the everyday world, but it also contains unrealistic elements. For example, the elderly Quixote survives a seemingly endless run of cartoonish violence and beatings, always popping up unscathed.
In contrast, Robinson Crusoe is completely realistic. Crusoe's situation of being alone on a deserted island for many decades is extreme, but all of Crusoe's survival responses are rooted in reality. No magic saves Crusoe: it is his own brains, hard work, resourcefulness, prudent management, and, ultimately, faith in God that allow him to survive and prosper.
The novel is important in being an early and popular example of a realistic novel. It spawned many imitators, which also set their own attempts wholly within the context of the real. The realist novel as we know it today evolved in part out of this early attempt of Defoe's to render fiction as factually as possible.