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imreallybored 's review for:
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
3.75/5
Being one of the first English novels, It's amazing how easy this reads. Daniel Defoe, with his hilariously long book titles, wrote in the layman's English making the novel remarkably accessible to todays readers.
Crusoe himself can certainly come off as an asshole, but I think he is definitely more a product of the times. He lived in the mid-1600's in the early days of the Slave Trade. He was British at the dawn of the British Empire, setting sail for the first time the same year of the Navigation Act. He was, by the most literal definition, a colonizer. To them in this time that was the norm, just as Manifest Destiny was the norm in the Americas much later, not to excuse either instance as the horrible conceited actions of those in power. It helps explain some of Crusoe's thought process in regards to the "savages" in his point of view. Ironically, he ends his first embarkment as a slave. While living on the island for the majority of the novel, he begins to come to terms with the fact that these "savages" he encounters are not inherently evil because they don't know what they're doing is morally wrong, in British society's eyes.
I think this novel is a fun look at how Christianity always has to spin everything into a positive. Crusoe at first, reasonably, is devastated by his present condition. Over the course of his time on the island he begins to thank god for his deliverance to the island. I'm biased when it comes to religion, as I am not religious, but it amazes me how someone who is stranded on an island alone for 28 years can wake up and thank their creator for the opportunity to fight for their life every day. Don't worry, this wouldn't be a book about colonization if they left out religious indoctrination. Once Crusoe saves Friday from being killed and eaten by the natives of the mainland, he almost immediately begins converting him to Christianity. Friday, being grateful for being saved by a man with technologies he could not fathom at the time, had no choice but to believe Crusoe. Thankfully, Friday is never submitted to any cruelty by Crusoe, and Defoe seems to paint this as Friday graciously attending to his savior rather than his master (though Crusoe does have Friday call him master).
I don't believe that literature about things viewed negative, especially through a modern lens, inherently makes the book bad. In fact, I'd much rather get an idea of what goes through someone's head in that point in time. How do they try to justify their actions, if they try at all? Defoe seems to be quite content with colonization, and this is an interesting take on justifying it, especially when dousing the issue with Christianity to garner support from the masses.
Being one of the first English novels, It's amazing how easy this reads. Daniel Defoe, with his hilariously long book titles, wrote in the layman's English making the novel remarkably accessible to todays readers.
Crusoe himself can certainly come off as an asshole, but I think he is definitely more a product of the times. He lived in the mid-1600's in the early days of the Slave Trade. He was British at the dawn of the British Empire, setting sail for the first time the same year of the Navigation Act. He was, by the most literal definition, a colonizer. To them in this time that was the norm, just as Manifest Destiny was the norm in the Americas much later, not to excuse either instance as the horrible conceited actions of those in power. It helps explain some of Crusoe's thought process in regards to the "savages" in his point of view. Ironically, he ends his first embarkment as a slave. While living on the island for the majority of the novel, he begins to come to terms with the fact that these "savages" he encounters are not inherently evil because they don't know what they're doing is morally wrong, in British society's eyes.
I think this novel is a fun look at how Christianity always has to spin everything into a positive. Crusoe at first, reasonably, is devastated by his present condition. Over the course of his time on the island he begins to thank god for his deliverance to the island. I'm biased when it comes to religion, as I am not religious, but it amazes me how someone who is stranded on an island alone for 28 years can wake up and thank their creator for the opportunity to fight for their life every day. Don't worry, this wouldn't be a book about colonization if they left out religious indoctrination. Once Crusoe saves Friday from being killed and eaten by the natives of the mainland, he almost immediately begins converting him to Christianity. Friday, being grateful for being saved by a man with technologies he could not fathom at the time, had no choice but to believe Crusoe. Thankfully, Friday is never submitted to any cruelty by Crusoe, and Defoe seems to paint this as Friday graciously attending to his savior rather than his master (though Crusoe does have Friday call him master).
I don't believe that literature about things viewed negative, especially through a modern lens, inherently makes the book bad. In fact, I'd much rather get an idea of what goes through someone's head in that point in time. How do they try to justify their actions, if they try at all? Defoe seems to be quite content with colonization, and this is an interesting take on justifying it, especially when dousing the issue with Christianity to garner support from the masses.