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Robinson Crusoe True or Real Even though it has been written that Daniel Defoe insisted that Robinson Crusoe was an true story about real events, my analysis of this story does in no way show the certainty of the events. There simply is no way to prove or disprove the events ever occurred. I believe that Daniel Defoe's imagination became so powerful that he actually thought these events could have happened. He became so caught up in his adventurous mind; the story became real to him. My thoughts are that the idea originated from Defoe's reading of the account of a man named Alexander Selkirk, who in a fit of anger had himself, put ashore on a deserted island. It has been written that he was later rescued.
The account of Alexander Selkirk was widely published throughout England. Some biographers maintain that Defoe was quite familiar with Selkirk's adventures and that Defoe interviewed Selkirk personally that is debatable. What Defoe wrote of Robinson Crusoe = s activities on the island are paralleled by many of Selkirk = s activities. They both ate turnips, fish, and goats meat, they became overrun with cats, and they had to use their ingenuity to survive. Defoe wrote of Robinson Crusoe keeping a journal. My reasoning for the idea of a journal was for the reader to keep track of time.
The author wants the reader to believe that the purpose of the journal was for Crusoe to keep track of time and to help in maintaining his sanity, and to entertain himself. However, there are many contradictions as to the time spent on the island. I determined that the time was approximately 35 years that Robinson Crusoe inhabited the island. To make the story appear to be valid, genuine, authentic, and certain, Defoe attempts to prove the unimaginable to the reader. He sometimes embellished the rigors of island life unnecessarily to the point that the reader may have questioned the truth in the tales. Cannibalism and the like are difficult for the average person to even think of, yet, Defoe wrote of it so easily.
To help substantiate my view that the book is not based on factual, proven accounts, thereby making it a story not true or real, only in Defoe's mind, I look at some history of Defoe. The fact that he was born in 1660 and that his early life was not easy and that it was recognized that Daniel Defoe was independent and had an ambitious nature, he certainly was of the character to exaggerate his imagination. Because of these traits and that he was persecuted, wracked by poverty, and his health had deteriorated, I contend that Defoe wrote this long, imaginative literary masterpiece, finished and published it in 1719 at the age of 59, for recognition and the money that he would make from this story. Defoe hoped that a story of a young and impulsive vagabond, who, defying his parents went off to sea, would be appealing to a vast audience of readers. The author, Defoe, was forced when a young man in England to attend a Dissenting academy where he was preparing to become a minister. However, before long he decided against the ministry.
He knew that life would be stifling in the strict confines of a parish. Apparently, Defoe had knowledge of and probably a relationship with God. Then, in his story he wrote of Crusoe communicating with God. No doubt this not difficult for Defoe to write of a religious conversion for Robinson Crusoe.
It makes sense for him to write of Crusoe communicating with God after being cut off from the company of humans. In spite of Robinson Crusoe = s and Daniel Defoe's seemingly religious nature, apparently both author and character embraced the concept of slavery. Perhaps because Defoe experienced poverty, he imagined that in his book he could buy slaves in the hope of becoming wealthy. Crusoe patronized people who were inferior to him or who were obligated to him. Maybe Defoe was revealing himself as an opportunist. In the 18 th Century, man had only the written word as a means to learn.
What was written was probably not questioned. An author through his vivid imagination had the ability to place the reader on the island and make them feel as though he or she was theyre experiencing all that was written. The words on the pages came to life for the reader and it naturally seemed real or true. Today, in the 20 th Century, we have so many means of learning and discerning if information is correct, factual, and able to be proven. We would not believe all that is written. In the United States, our Constitution provides for freedom of the press.
There are many untruths written. Only when unsubstantiated information is printed about a person and the person chooses to bring a lawsuit against the author and publisher is there a concern. 325
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