Robinson Crusoe Discussion Points

ENG 190: Robinson Crusoe-Bess Hoskins

Theme of Cultural Relativism:

·         Pg 246: Friday & Father reunited: demonstrates that savages have intrinsic values of love like all humans

·         Research: Spaniards are depicted as being “far more tolerant and far more civilized in their relations with the natives than the Castaways.”

o   Critique of English idea of racial purity

o   Source: Robinson Crusoe Christopher Hill History Workshop , No. 10 (Autumn, 1980) , pp. 6-24.

Motif of Master/ King:

·         Does he move from a positive master of the island to a negative, over-controlling man?
Does this offer a more realistic and humanistic feel?

·         Pg 250: “My Island was now peopled, and I thought my self very rich in subjects..”  

·         Pg 256: Told Spaniard to only bring men that would be completely obedient to him.

·         Is his decision to make Friday his servant excusable? If Friday was from Europe, would he have been given the same fate?

·         Given Religious Power by Savages & Those he Saved:

o   Pg. 251: “They would tell their people they were all killed by Thunder and Lightning, not by the Hand of men.”

o   Robinson and Captain call each other “deliverers”

§  pg 276: ‘I took my turn, and embrac’d him as my Deliverer”

§  When Crusoe makes everyone call him a ruler and is then called “Deliverer,” is he acting against the teachings of his religion? Hypocritical? Is he obsessed with power?

·         Pg 299: “They did me the honour to call me Captain as well because I was the oldest Man…”

o   Will he always need to be in position of power? Always need servants?

·         Pg 304: “I shar’d the Island into Parts with ‘em, reserv’d to my self the Property of the whole, but gave them such Parts respectively.”

o   lifetime ownership over the island

o   Brings them supplies and sends women: Is he still acting like their ruler or just being generous? Does he always need a sense of power?

Religious and Spiritual Journey:

·         Does Crusoe keep true to his declaration to repent all his sins when he was sick? Does the idea of repentance mean that sins are justified because you can repent them later?

·         Crusoe said to encompass the Protestant and Bourgeois values: His success came from “hard work, self-discipline, and refusal to waste time.” He “could not abide the thought” of nakedness. One of first actions was to give Friday a pair of linen shorts.
         -Souce: Robinson Crusoe Christopher Hill History Workshop , No. 10 (Autumn, 1980) , pp. 6-24

·         Pg 258: Develops rational thought about heading hints of danger from “an Invisible World”

·         Pg 288: What do you make of his quote: “I began to regret my having profess’d my self a Papist and thought it might not be the best Religion to die with.”

·         Remaining self-aware is a major theme in the book:
What are some things that Crusoe does to keep himself self-aware while stranded on the island?

Inability to Stay Still:

·         Returns to England, and thinks of returning to Brasil where he started.

·         When his trip by land has just as many disasters as his trips by sea, why does he not take this as a sign of God for him to stop traveling and to stay in the middle class? When the English ship first come to the island, he trusts a small feeling he has not to run straight up to the ship. However, he doesn’t take huge disasters as a signal from God. Why?

o   Very strategic on the island before acting, but when he gets back to Europe, he no longer employs that thinking. Why?

o   Are there any more changes of the Crusoe on the island versus the Crusoe back in Europe?

·         Pg 303: Skims through marriage, wife’s death, and children in two sentences. Are these not meaningful? Is traveling the most important?