After reading Robinson Crusoe, I could only think of one word to describe him confusing. The reason Robinson is confusing is because he is a hypocritical character. It is as if money controls his every living moment. Robison considers money more important than his family. He does not listen to his father's advice about being safe and uncorrupted and becomes stranded on an island, he becomes a slave, owns a slave, see footprints on the island and becomes frightened of them and all the while becomes obsessed with hard work and fortune to the point where he becomes obsessed with it and let it control him. He does display a religious to the point where I feel he becomes preachy about how in order for one to become wealthy you must believe in a religious bieng. I really wonder if he wrote this novel for a higher class of audoence even though the higher class cosidered it novel not to be read by the upper wealhier class of people. Or am I reading too much into it.
Anselmo
3 comments:
Just a few clarifications: I am very glad you brought up the preachiness; several students have noted it. Most authors of the time felt that they must include a moral or didactic message in their works--this is true even of books that depict tawdry scandals or love stories, and that do not seem otherwise to have a moral message. One reason authors did this was preemptive: they are trying to head off criticisms that all novels are a waste of time or even down-right corrupting. Perhaps surprisingly, attacks on the novel increased throughout the century, as the genre became more established and even respectable. In Defoe's case, I think the moral message is more important than the usual perfunctory gesture: I think it reflects some of the fundamental tensions in his book and the culture that produced it. His class had two competing value systems, that were becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile. The conflict can be summed up thus: is Crusoe an adventurous hero or a pathetic sinner for getting on that boat?
I do agree about the book being confusing. However, I see Crusoe’s motive being more self-discovery than anything else. Let's not fool ourselves the man is a fiend for money but he is also in some ways trying to discover himself away from what his predetermined place in the world is. And as far as the preachiness goes I absolutely second that but quiet understandably after Professor Nadell’s explanation.
I thought that in the beginning it was hard to place the character with something you can relate to. When you think about he is like any other yound lad who wants to experience things first hand, rather then from advice. I admire TOm JOnes for this because it takes courage to go out and try something without knowing the outcome of it.Now that i have experienced his emotions i can almost relate to him.
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