Daniel defoe and his novel ‘’robinson crusoe’’. Contents

2.2 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE
The storyline opens with Robinson Crusoe, an English boy, living in York of 17^th century England. As the son of a German merchant, Crusoe is told during his childhood to study law, but his love for the sea does not hold him back from expressing his strong desire to his father about voyages to the far-off lands. His father, instead wanted him to find a secure job for himself. Robinson initially wanted to obey his father but could not resist the temptation of fulfilling his longing. So, despite staunch familial opposition and paternal advice, Robinson leaves for London after boarding a ship in the company of his friend. Although his friend leaves him on the next voyage, Robinson does not budge from his stand despite facing a terrible storm during the journey.
However, he wins some financial success after which he makes another plan for such a journey. He leaves his profits in the care of a nice widow. But, he then becomes a victim of Moorish pirates, as well as abduction and becomes, is enslaved to a ruler in the North African town of Sallee. During a fishing expedition, he along with a slave and sail through the coast of Africa. A kind Portuguese captain picks them up and buys the slave boy from Robinson. He takes him to Brazil where he becomes a plantation owner successfully. He then leaves for West Africa on a slave-gathering expedition to bring slaves for his plantation but faces a storm on the way in which his ship is wrecked on the coast of Trinidad.
When Robinson comes to his senses, he sees that he is the sole survivor of the shipwreck and that he would have to fend for himself. Soon he becomes busy making a shelter for himself and preparing food. He returns to the wreckage to extract some food, gunpowder, and a gun and creates a cross to write his date of arrival; September 1, 1659. Soon he becomes an inmate of a shelter he has prepared, rearing goats he finds there on the island. He also maintains a journal to keep a track of everything he does like cleaning his hut, grazing goats, attempts at making candles, discovering sprouting grain, etc. After a while, on June 1660, he finds himself on the deathbed due to an illness and an angel warns him to repent.
However, while drinking tobacco-steeped rum, he experiences exoneration from his sins as God relieves him from this sickness. Soon he busies himself surveying the area and finds that he is on an Island. He constructs a retreat for himself after he declares himself as to its king. He domesticates some animals, makes things of everyday use, and builds a boat for himself to navigate the sea around the island. When he rows around the Island one day, he nearly dies but is thankfully saved as he hears his parrot calling his name once he reaches the shore. Crusoe enjoys several years in peace with his pets and animals when one day he discovers footprints on the seashore. He first thinks that the footprints are that of the devil’s, but later decides that it must be the cannibals. Finally, he arms himself and creates an underground cellar for himself and his pets to live in safety. He hears gunshots yet does not discover anything except a shipwreck the following day.
When he investigates that shipwreck, he sees footprints of cannibals. This alarms him and he keeps a lookout for the cannibals. He later discovers one victim killed and several cannibals chasing another victim. This victim heads straight toward Crusoe who offers him protection, kills the pursuer, and makes others run for their lives. Robinson being well-armed kills most of the cannibals onshore. The victim Robinson saved, becomes his servant for life whom he names Friday to commemorate that day of his life. They start living together in that part of the island where Robinson has built his hut. He finds Friday to be intelligent and starts teaching him English and the biblical concepts of God, life, and death. He, on his part, explains to him about cannibals and tells him about the Spaniards who survived the shipwreck. After this, both of them build a boat but soon find cannibals with three victims landing on their seashore. They fire at them, making them flee for their lives, leaving four victims behind, one of who happens to be the father of Friday which makes him overjoyed. The four men return to Robinson Crusoe’s dwelling and he welcomes them to join his community permanently.
After some days, Friday announces the arrival of a ship with an alarm. When the boarders come on the island, they discover that they are rebels with some captives, including the captain of the ship, which was was taken in mutiny. They chase the mutineers around the island until they surrender, including their ringleader. They make the men bring the ship at which Robinson becomes much elated, showing them that the island is the English territory and that they cannot run away from justice. Finally, when he returns to his home in 1686, he finds that only two of his sisters are alive and the rest of the family members have breathed their last. After retrieving his money from his widow friend, he learns about his planation of Brazil and sells it to have more money that he donates to the widow and his sisters and turns into a catholic to lead a peaceful life. He gets married and after his wife died, Robinson finally leaves as a trader for the East Indies in 1694. He also revisits his island to see it being ruled well by the Spaniards and that it become a wealthy colony.