Defoe’s
technique in
producing the effect of
Realism in his novel
Robinson Crusoe
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Defoe described the book as “a just history of fact”. The story
in this book was historical and therefore authentic. Defoe
claimed that Robinson Crusoe was historical in a deeper sense
and said that the book was an allegory of his own life.
The Novel, based on Selkirk’s Experiences
Robinson Crusoe was based upon the actual experiences of a
real man called Alexander Selkirk who has spent four years
alone, all alone in the island of Juan Fernandez. But , while
recognizing this we must admit that the hero of this novel is
is an imaginary character and that , there is resemblance
between Selkkirk’s life on the actual island of Juan Fernandez
and Crusoe’s life on an imaginary island. Defoe’s story of
Crusoe’s experiences and doings is largely fictitious.
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This novels has been celebrated as the boy story . Robinson
Crusoe is certainly an adventure story, and a most remarkable
one. But it is much more than that. It has been found by critics to
be rich in symbolic meanings. It is first of all a religious allegory.
It depicts the original sin of which a man finds himself guilty,
and the consequences of which he has to endure. The message
of Defoe is that the hero should repent of his sin. Crusoe is the
prodigal son who had disobeyed his father. The novel depicts the
spiritual development of Crusoe----- his recognition of his
original sin, his repentance, his self-reform, in short his religious
conversion.
Another allegorical way of looking at the novel is to regard
Crusoe as everyman, or as a representative of humanity in
general . Crusoe’s sufferings, punctuated by feeling of relief,
contentment, and joy, symbolize the experience of all humanity.
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Some critics have offered other allegorical
interpretations of the story. One critic describes
the story of Crusoe as a version of the Biblical
story of the Prodigal son. Crusoe is the prodigal
son who leaves his father’s advice, who ruins
himself by his roaming nature, who is then left
solitary and desolate, who repents of his
disobedience to his father, and who eventually
returns to his father. Crusoe recognizes the fact
that he has been treated by the creator most
mercifully, and that God has sweetened his bitter
life on the island with his generosity. He
imagined himself as the king of the whole island.
Robinson Crusoe indeed shows Defoe as a skilled
craftsman in the manner in which he has constructed
the plot of this novel. One critic shows that it is indeed
not possible to remove any event or incident from the
novel without damaging the novel as a whole.
The thematic unity of the novel
This novel may be regarded as a version of the biblical
story of the prodigal son or as a version of the
progression from Do-well through Do-better to Dobest. In Defoe’s novel, Crusoe is the prodigal son who
leaves his father’s house against advice, who ruins
himself by roaming, and who returns to his God and is
blessed with abundance of everything on the island.
Therefore, the novel will be found to possess a thematic
unity.
P.T.O
Robinson Crusoe is as much the story of a man’s
psychology development and spiritual progress as
a tale of adventure in the physical sense. It is very
much a novel for adult reader. This novel tells the
gripping story of the hardships which the
protagonist experiences, but it also gives us an
engrossing account of the thoughts, emotions, and
moods of the protagonist at various stages in his
eventful career. The novel is thus a narrative of
action and a mirror of thought and feeling. It
depicts the process by which the man achieves a
triumph over his hostile environment, it also
depicts the journey of that man’s mind and soul
towards God.
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In Brazil, Crusoe finds himself in that middle station of life which
his father had strongly recommended to him. But he doesn’t feel
content with this middle station. His middle station did not
satisfy him in England; and it does not satisfy him in Brazil. He
now wishes to pursue a rush desire to rise faster. After staying in
Brazil for four years, he decides to go on another voyage. This
voyage also ends in disaster. All his friends perish and he finds
himself alone survivor on an uninhabited island. In due course,
he is able to adjust himself to his new life. He finds himself alive
while all his companions had been drowned. God had saved him
and helped him to live in that island. He is not starving, but is
able to feed on the meet of animals and birds. He is on a warm
island where he does not need much clothes. There are no wild
animals to hurt him. God had sent the wrecked ship near enough
to the shore so that he was in a position to obtain many
necessary things from there. The realization of the positive side
of his life on the island is more than the negative side, makes
him feel quite cheerful. Here is an important stage in Crusoe’s
spiritual development.
Analysis of Major Characters