Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Robinson Crusoe was the first novel written by Daniel Defoe that was published in 1719. Initially, it was published as an autobiographical travelogue by Robinson Crusoe; however, Daniel Defoe was revealed to be the real author of the fictional novel and fictional character Robinson Crusoe in the later editions. Robinson Crusoe is expressed as a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad.
Daniel Defoe belonged to a Presbyterian Puritan family and he wrote this book as a spiritual autobiography of Robinson Crusoe while emphasizing different aspects of Christianity and his beliefs. The book tells the story of how Robinson becomes closer to God, not through listening to sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only a Bible to read. The novel follows the Christian idea of Providence, Penitence, and Redemption. In this novel, Defoe depicted Crusoe trying to replicate English Christian society on the island. This is achieved through the use of European technology, agriculture, and even a rudimentary political hierarchy. Crusoe refers to himself as the ‘king’ of the island. At the very end of the novel the island is referred to as a "colony". The Master-slave relationship of Crusoe with another character Friday suggests the idea of ‘cultural assimilation.” Crusoe represents the "enlightened" European while Friday is the "savage" who can only be redeemed from his cultural manners through assimilation into Crusoe's culture. The novel also talks of ‘religious tolerance.’ When confronted with the cannibals, Crusoe wrestles with the problem of cultural relativism. Despite his disgust, he feels unjustified in holding the natives morally responsible for a practice so deeply ingrained in their culture.
The story of Robinson Crusoe is often mentioned by Classicist, Neoclassicist, and Austrian economists to illustrate the theory of production and choice in the absence of trade, money, and prices.
Because of the spiritual nature and episodic pattern of Robinson Crusoe, many critics argue that it is not a novel. Nonetheless, Robinson Crusoe was considered the first English novel for a long period until it was contended that Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko was published much earlier, in 1688. Yet, Robinson Crusoe is credited as the first realistic fiction.
Robinson Crusoe became hugely popular and inspired a new literary genre named Robinsonade which describes the genre of stories similar to Robinson Crusoe. While Robinson Crusoe was an accidental castaway, J. G. Ballard wrote stories in which the protagonists often choose to maroon themselves and coined the term ‘inverted Robinsonade’ to represent stories of becoming castaway willingly for a healing and empowering process.
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