Robinson Crusoe By Daniel Defoe

 

A story of ordeals at the sea of a feisty and valiant character, Robinson Crusoe, the 18-year from England! I proclaim him to be a “Man of Providence”, emerging victorious from all the mayhem, every time!!

Marooned multiple times at various instances, he is saved every time by sheer Providence.

Maybe it is rightly said, fortune favors the brave!

The felicitousness experienced during this adventurous seafaring read embarked my sullen spirit onto a renewed journey of life. Thanks to Daniel Defoe!

 

Crusoe is persuaded by his father to opt for law as a career, instead to pursue frenetically his passion of being a seafarer. Crusoe’s father like a regular loving father, wants him to seek a modest, secure life for himself. Committed to staying obsequious to his father, he finally succumbs to his temptations and embarks on a ship bound for London along with a friend. The tempestuous storm sets their lives in danger, dissuading the friend from any more sea travel. Crusoe too keeps dilly-dallying in between his father’s advice and his own temptation, and finally sets himself as a merchant on a ship leaving for London. He is fastidious and comes back financially successful, setting on a second voyage, which doesn’t prove as fortunate! The ship is seized by the pirates and he is enslaved and held captive. But he is able to be set free during a fishing expedition, and sail down to the African coast. He meets a kindred Portuguese captain who takes him along to Brazil, where Crusoe establishes himself as a successful plantation owner. Embarking on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa, he ends up shipwrecked! Being the sole survivor, he seeks food and shelter, keeps a journal documenting his household activities, and logs all his attempts at making candles, and many more exciting daily events, meticulously.

In the June of 1660, he falls sick, and hallucinates of an angel visiting him(I still feel it was for real :P), warning him to repent!

Post recovery, he discovers a pleasant valley abounding in grapes, and constructs a shady retreat, proclaiming himself as its “king”.

The novel is bulky, and is full of a labyrinthine of excitement and thrills!

 

Robinson Crusoe, throughout the journey, emerged as a grand epic adventurer, worth laudable for previous, present, and future generations. He is astute and dexterous, resourceful and independent. Amidst all difficulties, he never gives up, builds a shelter for himself, manages food, and never disparages anyone or boasts his own strength and luck. Additionally, he is generous and charitable, distributing gifts to his sisters. He does have a tinge of covetousness for possessions, power, and prestige. He addresses himself as a “King of the island”. Though this addressal seemed more jocund to me!

Robinson Crusoe comes across as an exemplary adventurer and sailor of life, not only of the sea! 😊

He keeps expostulating the regular mundane course of life and allows Providence to sail him through all the adventures of life. 😊

 

This classic vignette of a seafarer doesn’t deserve anything less than a 5-star!

 

NB-What appealed to me the most was Crusoe’s intrinsic self-awareness which he banked upon, further whetting it during moments of solace and aloneness, and never letting it abandon him. From not turning into a brute while being marooned on the island, to journaling all alone in his shelter, delineating his wonted spirit-led side! His self-awareness appeared to be his much-wonted accoutrement. 😊