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

What are the main symbols in Robinson Crusoe?

Quick answer:

Some of the primary symbols in Robinson Crusoe are money, the sea, the cross, the footprint, and the bower.

Expert Answers

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The novel Robinson Crusoe is filled with a variety of symbols. Money becomes a symbol for Robinson, a symbol at first of all the things he might do with his life, of the successes he might find and the influence he might gain. But after he becomes stranded on the island, money symbolizes uselessness. He can do nothing with it now; there is no one to trade with and nothing to buy. Money, he discovers, is not so valuable after all.

Another symbol is Robinson Crusoe is the sea. In Robinson's eyes, at least at the beginning of the novel, it stands for adventure and opportunity, for the potential for an exciting, profitable life. Later, however, it becomes a symbol of danger and of changing fortune. After all, the sea was what wrecked Robinson's ship and stranded him on the island.

The cross also stands as a symbol in Robinson Crusoe. For Robinson, the cross symbolizes both his connection to God and his connection to the world from which he is separated by the shipwreck. He marks the passing of days upon it, but he also makes it the focal point of his new life on the island.

Crusoe is shocked one day to find a footprint in the sand. This footprint reminds him that he is not the only human being in the world. For a while when he first lived on the island, he missed human companionship, but now, seeing this footprint, he isn't so sure if he wants it at all. This footprint might be the print of a devil or an enemy.

Finally, Robinson's bower comes to symbolize home to him. It is a pleasant place for him to reside, and it helps him reinterpret the shipwreck and his subsequent stranding as not so much a disaster but an opportunity to embark on a new kind of life.

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