"Robinson Crusoe" Summary

ROBINSON CRUSOE ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe Summary Robinson Crusoe was born in 1632; his parents are German, and left their hometown of Bremen to settle in Hull, in England. They are middle-class, and Robinson's father strongly suggests a middle-class life for Robinson too, encouraging him to study law. Both of Robinson's brothers are missing: one was killed in battle, and there has been no news about the other since he began a life of travel and adventure. Robinson wants to travel as well, but is dissuaded by his father. In 1651, against his parents' wishes, however, Robinson leaves on a series of ill-fated voy­ages in search of indigenous non-Western peoples with whom he can trade. On one such voyage, Robinson's ship is captured by pirates and he is made personal slave to the pirate king. After two years, he manages to escape with a fellow prisoner, a Moor, Xury, and the two are taken in by a Portuguese trading ship and brought to Brazil. Robin­son becomes quite friendly with the Captain of the ship and sells Xury to him on the con­dition that he would free Xury in ten years (if, the Captain insists, Xury will convert to Protestantism). Robinson sets up a plantation in Bra­zil, growing tobacco, and it quickly begins prospering. Though he could stay and continue to manage his planta­tion, however, Robinson is struck with the urge to go to sea again, and leaves on a voyage that will eventually lead to disaster. The ship encounters a huge storm, and Robinson is the only survivor to reach the shore of a de­serted island. He begins to make a life on the island, and will stay there for 28 years. He keeps a journal cataloguing his activities, which include building a fort in which to sleep. He is very concerned that he will be discovered, either by indigenous people, or by Europeans, and he does not want to be surprised or caught off guard. He disguises his fort by walls and vegetation, and builds a ladder to get over the bar­ricades. He also begins domesticating wild goats, building them an enclosure in another part of the island. He kills some of them for food, but also milks them and makes cheese and butter. He learns to make earth­enware pots, and even builds a kiln for firing them. He plants grain and barley. He has a pet parrot named Polly, who is the only beast with whom he speaks English for much of the time on the island. During the course of his stay, he goes to his own shipwrecked boat, as well as to other boats that are wrecked, and takes away their supplies. He eventually comes to live a comfort­able life that con­sists for the most part in tending his flocks, occasionally hunting for food, harvesting and gathering grain, and making things like baskets and pots. Late in his stay, however, he notices a footprint in the sand on the other side of the island. This makes him extremely nervous. He begins imagining what sort of men might have come to his island. He can't find evidence of where they might have come from, but he is nonethele Continua »