like a proper European colonialist he immediately lays claim to it as his domain. He sees it, as European colonialists saw the "New World," as a resource base to be exploited for his own purposes. When he does encounter a native in the form of Friday, he understands Friday (the colonialist assuming the right to impose a name on the "savage") as a lesser human, a "primitive," there to serve his needs and to be guided by Crusoe's "superior" white beliefs and ideology. Friday becomes Crusoe's servant, never his equal, and Friday's imperfect command of English becomes a symbol of his inferiority. Friday fulfills the white European fantasy of how a native should think and behave, adopting the ideology of the master:

 ‘You do great deal much good,’ says he; ‘you teach wild mans be good, sober, tame mans; you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life.’ ‘Alas, Friday!’ says I, ‘thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an ignorant man Robinson Crusoe myself.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ says he, ‘you teachee me good, you teachee them good.’

When native "cannibals" arrive on the beach of "his" domain, Crusoe uses his superior technology to frighten and intimidate them with his musket. Natives are given pejorative labels and driven off, with no thought that they might have rights to what the white man has staked out as his domain. They are "cannibals" and "savages" who deserve to die. In Robinson Crusoe, we may be said to have colonialism in microcosm.

The most important allegory in Robinson Crusoe is Crusoe's religious conversion while confined to the deserted island. He admits to never having cared for religion before, but in understanding that his continued survival could not be from anything other than divine help, come to accept religion. The novel acts as an allegory for the repentance of Man after sin, especially when brought to severe hardship; many people do not consider the role of religion until they have reason to ask for help. In Crusoe's case, he was part of a wealthy family until his shipwreck, after which he had nothing but his own survival instinct; although he asks for both forgiveness and gives thanks, he also continues to work, remembering the old axiom "God helps those who help themselves." In the same manner, people often ignore religion until they find themselves without any other recourse, and then become devout.

Robinson Crusoe is intended to be an allegory for what happens when we turn away from God. Crusoe has been washed up on a desert island where he's been provided with everything he needs to survive. Yet far from offering thanks to God for such bounties, he takes everything for granted. Unlike most Christians at the time, he doesn't see the benevolent hand of God at work: he doesn't see Providence.

It was such arrogance that originally led Crusoe to ignore his father's wishes and take to the high seas. In defying his father, Crusoe was also defying the Almighty, challenging the God-given social order in which fathers rule over their children as divine surrogates. It's not too hard to see this as an allegory on humankind's sinful tendency to turn its back on God the Father and try to make its own way in the world, without divine grace. This would've been an especially important theme for Puritans like Daniel Defoe, who believed that a sinful humanity's salvation was totally reliant on the freely given gift of God's grace.

It's only when Crusoe undergoes a profound religious conversion that he returns to the path of righteousness. But even then there are many bumps along the way, emphasizing once more the inherently sinful nature of man.

During his time on the island, Robinson Crusoe goes through a religious conversion. He was raised Puritan, but he commits sins such as rebelling against his father and failing to appreciate his class status. These decisions and feelings go against God. He suffers trials and misfortunes, ultimately winding up on an abandoned island, but his conversion is not complete until after he falls sick and nearly dies as a result of fever. He calls on God to deliver him and vows to serve Him afterward.

This story contains some parallels with the prodigal son parable in the Bible, in which the son leaves his father and squanders his fortune. When he returns, the father welcomes him with open arms.

Robinson Crusoe goes on to record reflections about his relationship to God, as well as his place in creation (which he had been dissatisfied with before). It is important to note that he also teaches Friday religion.

I wonder whether there is scope for this view of this novel through analysing what the novel has to say about the human condition and how Robinson Crusoe struggles to return to civilisation. What is interesting about the story and in particular the character of Robinson Crusoe is that when he finds himself on this island, he embarks on a struggle to remain a civilised man and maintain his reason. The novel says his "original sin" was his refusal of a normal life where God had placed him. In particular, the story states that he was not "satisfied with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed" him. He is therefore placed in a setting where he will have to struggle to remain human and civilised and good. Allegorically, we could read this as a struggle between good and evil. He is tempted at various stages to become less civilised and to reject reason, which could be viewed as slipping into evil ways.

However, the way in which Crusoe triumphs over the forces that are ranged against him shows how clinging on to our civilised and good status as human beings can help us to overcome the struggles that we face that tempt us to become evil. Therefore it might be possible to view the theme of the human condition as being something we could use to think about whether this text is a Christian allegory.