bunpeiris Literature

Fortitude and Attitudes of Robinson Crusoe
Written by bunpeiris

Robinson Crusoe is a fiction not only of the perseverance and fortitude of a man in trouble, but also of the attitudes of the “white man” towards the “black man.” Discuss

The question is answered using the paragraph writing technique “PEEL”: Point; Evidence; Explanation; Link. You may follow this technique in your literature essays in Cambridge OL, Cambridge AL, National OL/AL [Sri Lanka] and undergraduate level and even further.

There is no denying the fact that the novel “Robinson Crusoe” (1719) falls short of intellectual engagement that is most often associated with a great work of literature. Neither does it make anyone laugh as in a comedy or cry as in a tragedy. Nevertheless the reader secretly enjoys the way Crusoe lives in inescapable solitude, imagining himself in the shoes of Crusoe-Robinson-brand. Most of all, it is an enduring tale of a die-hard man’s lonely and singular battle, for perseverance and fortitude. But then the novel is blended with amusement as well as. In the end, his fortitude and perseverance  see him through. Therein lies the didactic aspect, the instruction or the moral message of the novel: never give up. Perhaps that could be reason why Jean-Jacques Rousseau praised it as “the one book that teaches all that books can teach”. (Shinagel) After all, the foremost of virtues are fortitude and perseverance for no virtues could be held aloft in their absence.  Such was the impact and popularity of the book, in 1783, James Beattle profused “being founded on a passion still more prevalent than love, the desire for self-preservation; and therefore likely to engage the curiosity of every class of readers, both old and young, both learned and unlearned” (Shinagel)  .

One would wonder what could be the first reaction of a sole survivor of a terrible shipwreck in a jungle beach. Crusoe’s is that of utter panic: “I had a dreadful Deliverance; For I was wet, had no Clothes to shift me, nor anything to eat or drink to comfort me, neither did I see any prospect before me,………  Threw me into terrible  agonies of mind, that for a while I run about like a Madman; night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart to consider what would me my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, seeing at night they always come abroad for their prey.”

Crusoe’s lamentation at the jungle beach that he was washed ashore opens the secret of his fortitude and perseverance: fear of starvation and of fear of danger. It is fear that drives Crusoe to immerse his whole being to never ending chain of manual labour to secure his existence in the uninhabited island. The day after he was washed ashore, Crusoe rises from the jungle beach of the desert island as an enterprising embodiment of perseverance and fortitude in blood and flesh. Crusoe was marooned and washed ashore. But then, as the destiny or the “wisdom of providence” would have it, wreck of his ship bequeathed him a fortune: fresh water and clothes; a provisions of  bread, rice, goat meat, cheese & other food stuff; an assortment of tools, equipment an utensils; axes and knives; guns and powder; sail clothes and cables; posts, planks and beams of solid wood. Beginning with the second day in the island, Crusoe brings ashore almost everything that was lying in the wrecked ship. He rips the vessel of its all possessions day after day for 12 days day till ship was broken into pieces in a stormy night. Crusoe also notices wildfowl: he wouldn’t be starved since at least, lean meat is in supply. Therein begins the story of preservance and fortitude of a man in trouble. But then again, if one could locate that one blemish in Crusoe that would well be his “white man’s” attitude towards the “black man”.

Cast away on a wild uninhabited island, with nothing but “Knife, A Tobacco –pipe, and a little tobacco in a box” Crusoe is beset with two fears of life-sinking proportions: ‘of perishing with hunger, or being devoured by wild beasts’. But then driven by desire of self-preservation, a will to survive, Crusoe doesn’t spare any stone unturned: he builds himself a shelter that amounts to no less than a primitive “castle”; he transforms himself from a middle class tradesman to a working class craftsman and a farmer engaged in relentless manual work. That is no mean achievement: it is a story of immense fortitude in times of adversity and desperation. Following the construction of his fortress, Crusoe becomes a primarily a hunter and a farmer at the same time. There goes the perseverance and fortitude of a man in trouble in search of safety needs: security and safety.

In an uninhibited island, where an ordinary human being would have been reduced to live in poverty and primitive condition, Crusoe extraordinaire triumphs over the state of destitution. In a state of desperation, Crusoe rises to state of relative luxury of having fortified shelter required for safety and enhanced nutrition demanded for relentless manual work. That is not a petty triumph. That his fortification called “my castle” is abounding in food with a couple of pieces of land planted in corn would not make Crusoe content. Next to his grape arbor, he builds another fortification, a country retreat that he calls “bower” where the goats are reared for the continuous supply of meat and milk. Still he wouldn’t be satisfied. He believes in civilized dining: the dining table should croak under the burden of wine & meat, bread & butter, cheese & milk, grapes and raisins. He goes onto make butter and cheese from milk gained from his herd of goats. And he goes on to bake bread with corn harvested in his fields: “It might be truly said, that now I worked for my bread. ’Tis a little wonderful and what I believe few people have thought upon, viz., the strange multitude of little things necessary in the providing, producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing this one article of bread.” Therein is revealed Crusoe’s perseverance and fortitude of a man in trouble doing all humanly possible to live a civilized life of substantial nutrition and enriched dinning.

In a desert island, Crusoe becomes relentless in his drive to produce everything he needs to make his life comfortable. Having build a fortress, having secured a continuous food supply to see a bulging storeroom and croaking dining table, Crusoe carry on to learn the crafts of carpentry, pottery, tailoring, shoe making and even umbrella making. All his products could well be crude, but then all are functional and serves all his proposes. Therein the ample testimony to Crusoe’s perseverance and fortitude of a man in trouble resigned himself to a long haul struggle in a desperate situation.

Robinson Crusoe settles in for long haul existence till he witness a ship passes his island. With safety and security in place, with the supply of food in yoked with strong links of corn field, a flock of goats and grape arbor, Crusoe yearns for human companionship. In his essay titled “Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe”, Daniel Defoe writes: “Man is a creature so formed for society, that it may not only be said that is not good for him to be alone, but ‘tis really impossible he should be alone.” (Shinagel) However, in spite of Crusoe’s yearning for human companionship, the black man Friday, who he rescued from slaughter, does not amount, in his eyes, to that of a companion of equal footing. Crusoe’s “white man” towards the “black man” is succulently summed up by no other person than James Joyce himself; “He is the true prototype of the British colonist, as Friday (the trusty slave who arrives on an unlucky day) is the symbol of the subject races”. (Shinagel)

The most glaring incident that testifies to Crusoe’s assumed superiority of white man over the black man is his immediate acceptance of the savage as a slave upon his submission:“taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head, this was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever…” The very first word that was taught to Friday by Crusoe testifies to his notion of superiority of white man over black man: “master”. And that is to say, he considered Friday his slave. And that was in spite of Crusoe himself once being a “miserable slave” of a Moore in Salle.

But then again it was during his escape that Crusoe has accustomed to take black men as slaves as in the episode of the Moorish boy, Xury. Although Xury closes ranks with him to escape from slavery, although he has been loyal, Crusoe has no pricks of conscience in selling him. Having sold Xury to Portuguese captain, subsequently he regrets. But then again, that too only since he would have been invaluable in his plantation in Brazil. The sale of loyal Xury is a glaring testimony on Crusoe’s callus attitude towards the blacks, and in turn testifies to the attitudes of the “white man” towards the “black man.”

Thus, in conclusion, it should be stated Robinson Crusoe is a fiction that enlighten the readers of the life saving virtue of perseverance and fortitude of a man living in desperation yet gripped in great fortitude in adversity. But then, that is not all, among others causes, concepts and problems with respect of human condition that is laid bare therein, it also reveals then existing attitudes of the “white man” towards the “black man.”

Works Cited
Shinagel, Michael. “Robinson Crusoe.” Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2005.

Also read Robert Knox & the Bible by bunpeiris.

https://www.bunpeiris.org/robert-knox-the-bible/