As we moved from Crusoe's solidarity, into his paranoia and then subsequent kinship with Friday, I thought that the novel had taken a turn from daily journal entry to account of escape. Instead Defoe continues to beat the reader over the head with Crusoe's seemingly inexhaustible knowledge. It seems that not only does he know what to do in an attack against the new comers to the island; he is a master of negotiations and makes them all his loyal servants in a matter of days. The story took an even more unbelievable turn when Crusoe returned to civilization and found himself a rich man, foreshadowed by his leaving all of his acquired riches on the island. I was disappointed as the lack of expansion on the discomforts of returning to civilization. Only once is the discomfort of wearing clothes again mentioned.
I enjoyed reading the novel, but it neared satire as everywhere Crusoe seemed to go, including a deserted island, seemed to benefit him.
I wonder if early warnings from Crusoe's father, and our class' reading of Defoe's intent to defend the Middle Class way of life may have been way off and instead Defoe's novel was advocating instead a life of movement and transformation. After all, Crusoe ends up being the benefactor to anyone who had helped him along the way, not to mention his own colony.
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I really like your point that Crusoe is successful everywhere he goes--I think there is a decided tension here. The novel claims that Crusoe is punished for rejecting his father's lifestyle, but nothing else in the novel would seem to demonstrate any defense of or admiration for that lifestyle. Defoe seems to want to the tell the story of a sinner who repented and made peace with God; This story would in the normal course of things emphasize the misery of being on a desert island; but Defoe can't seem to be able to resist what you are calling the superman story: he loads his character up with skills, luck, money, etc.,so that by the end he does not bear any resemblance to a "penitent sinner." Why does he do this? One possibility is that he infects the character with his own fantasies; another that he is trying to satisfy what he imagines are his readers' desires; many critics believe the tension or contradiction exists within Protestantism itself; and others that it is inherent to the novel form. None of these answers seems exhaustive- they all seem possible to me. What is certain is that the tension between the "making it" story and the "redemption" story is a recurring characteristic of the English novel in both the 18 and the 19th century.
If I was to give this story of a superhero it would be Spider-Man, and not Superman. The reason I would say that Crusoe is a "Spider-Man" type of character is because Crusoe and Peter are people who attains power and feel that their aquisiton of that power is blessing and not a curse. Peter's powers are attained and he does not want them as a matter a fact he considers his powers a burden. On the other hand, Crusoe aqusition came at a price when he rejects his father's advice and becomes wealthy and unfeeling character. Where Crusoe works so hard to attain the wealth that he loses his humanity. So he is blessed with wealth, but at the expense of his humanity.
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