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calamities of his unusual destiny. Being cast ashore on a desert island after the shipwreck, alone and
defenseless, Crusoe tried to be reasonable in order to master his despondency. He knew that he should not
give way to self-pity or fear, or spend time in mourning for his lost companions.
Robinson Crusoe's most outstanding feature is his optimism. Sometimes, especially during
earthquakes or when he was ill, panic and anxiety overtook him, but never for long. He had confidence in
himself and in man, and believed it was within the power of man to overcome all difficulties and hardships.
Speaking of Crusoe's other good qualities, that helped him overcome despair, was his ability to put his
whole heart into everything he did. He was an enthusiastic toiler always hoping for the best. He began to
keep a journal of his life on the island. It is another evidence of Crusoe's courageous optimism.
But some critics consider the novel "Robinson Crusoe" to be an exaggeration of the possibilities of an
individual man. According to Defoe, man can live by himself comfortably and make all the things he needs
with no other hands to assist him. This individualism is characteristic of Defoe. He fails to see that Crusoe
succeeds in making most of the things he possessed only thanks to some tools he found on the ship. These
tools are made by many other people. Besides, Robinson Crusoe was a representative of the 18th century
and he had inherited the experience of the many generations who had lived on the earth before him.
There is another character in the book whose name is Friday. The author makes the reader !ike
Friday, who is intelligent, brave, generous, and skilful. He performs all his tasks well. Crusoe teaches him to
speak English and is astonished how quickly the man begins to understand the language. It is to Defoe's
credit that he portrays the savage as an able, kind-hearted human being at a time when colored people
were treated very badly and were regarded only as a profitable article for trade.
Taking a common person as the key-character of his novel, Defoe uses the manner of speech of
common people. The purpose of the author was to make his stories so life like that the reader's attention
would be fixed only on the events. This is achieved by telling the story in the first person and by paying
careful attention to details. Form, in its subtler sense, does not affect Defoe: his novels run on until, like an
alarm clock, they run down; but while movement is there the attention is held. There was no writer of the
age who appealed to so wide a circle of readers as Defoe, - he appealed to all, who were able to read.
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