The Story of Robinson Crusoe – Travelog Written by Daniel Defoe
The passage assigned to deals with Crusoe’s personal account on survival in an uninhabited island with limited resources, just after his ship gets wrecked due to strong winds and storms. He talks about the events in the story in chronological order. The passage is described in such a way that each day what happened is mentioned along with dates. Thus, it is known as a diary entry which he describes what he did each day. The passage revolves mainly around the themes of adventure and survival. The mode of narration used in this story is expressed in the form of first-person narration and therefore there is an informal and hardworking tone under which the whole passage seems to be written. There are some moral lessons that are to be learned from Robinson Crusoe. The significance of this story is the discipline followed by Crusoe.
The theme of this passage revolves around adventure and survival. The passage is also characterized by the intense realism of the presentation. He has experienced a good amount of adventure before arriving on the island. After his ship broke into pieces because of the storm, rain and winds, he spent that whole night bring the goods from his broken ship to the shore and placing the goods safely to protect it from the rain. The next few days he spends all his time in making his new habitat for his survival on the island. (Defoe, 1719) As is seen from the lines Crusoeworks hard in order to survive. This brings in the values of self-reliance and independence. He shows a character of not being dependent on others. By using nature, he makes many discoveries and inventions in order to survive on the island.
Crusoe makes use of the natural resources available in order to live his life. Robinson Crusoe teaches us that nothing is impossible and never give up hope. Even though he didn’t have the proper tools to build his furniture, with the help of nature he made the tools that he required. By living his life on the island, he has acquired life skills in order to survive. He is the kind of person who can adjust to any situations which may arise. He presents the situation and later on provides the solution to it. For example, he stated “Oct. 26. I walked about the Shore almost all Day to find out a place to fix myHabitation, greatly concerned to secure myself from an Attack in the Night, 8 either from wild beasts or Men.
Towards Night I fixed upon a proper Place under a Rock and marked out a Semi-Circle for my Encampment, which I resolved to strengthen with a Work, Wall, or fortification made of double piles, lined within with cables, and without with Turf”. (Defoe,1719)The kind of narration used in this passage is first-person and it suites the story and the character well. Crusoe describes all his feelings in the form of a journal. In my judgment, Crusoe is a character most perfectly in tune with the first-person mode of narration. It gives us a first-person account of the happenings in Crusoe’s daily life. It feels like a recorded travelogue with diary entries for the events unfolded in each specific day. For instance, Crusoe goes into detail about his adventures (Defoe, 1719) Events succeed one another in a routine way and there are not many signs of climax. The author’s intention might be to look over the unnecessary details given in usual fiction writings and yet give just enough of it for the reader to form a predetermined mental image of the events taking place.
In conclusion, this passage is connected with the theme, survival and the adventurous life of Robinson Crusoe. The form of narration used in this passage is in the first form of narration. There are some moral lessons involved in this passage. The description of this passage is given in this form of a diary entry and it is a travelog mentioned in an even manner. The description is mentioned in such a way that the events which occurred are mentioned along with dates.
