Robinson Crusoe
By: Bred • Essay • 476 Words • June 9, 2010 • 2,138 Views
Robinson Crusoe
Crusoe leaves England setting sail from the south hampton. He joins an expedition to bring slaves from Africa, but he is shipwrecked in a storm about forty miles out to sea on an island near the mouth of the Orinoco river on September 30, 1659. His companions all die; he fetches arms, tools, and other supplies from the ship before it breaks apart and sinks. He then gets battered by huge waves as he struggles to make it to an unknown island. He proceeds to build a fenced-in habitation and cave. He keeps a calendar by making marks in a wooden cross he builds. He hunts, grows corn, learns to make pottery, raises goats, etc. He reads the Bible and suddenly becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but society.
He discovers native cannibals occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. At first he plans to kill them for their abomination, but then he realizes that he has no right to do so as the cannibals have not attacked him and do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of capturing one or two servants by freeing some prisoners, and indeed, when a prisoner manages to escape, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion "Friday" after the day of the week he appeared, and teaches him English and converts him to Christianity.
After another party of natives arrive to partake in a grisly feast, Crusoe and Friday manage to kill most of the natives and save two of the prisoners. One is Friday's father and the other is a Spaniard, who informs Crusoe that there are other Spaniards shipwrecked on the mainland. A plan is devised where the Spaniard would return with Friday's