Robinson Crusoe - as a travel novel

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe as a Travel novel

Written by Sourav 

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Travel literature of the eighteenth century was grounded on the act of journeying and the narrative format of the everyday Englishman stranded in a foreign land. It was felt that a man’s surroundings were what shaped his character. At the time trade was being expanded and more territory was being opened up abroad, influencing the travel narrative in terms of the themes it dealt with. It is nearly impossible to discuss the eighteenth century fiction and nonfiction without speaking of travel. Its protagonists’ journeys so often give impetus and form to their stories. The travels of Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy come to mind when we speak about the eighteenth century English Literature.

The spirit of the eighteenth century could best be seen in travel literature. English people began to travel throughout Europe for self-discovery and they also journeyed outside Europe to observe and bring the unique values of the countries they visited home. Travel accounts and letters sold by thousands.

When we focus on Robinson Crusoe, it is clear that Daniel Defoe is famous for the fiction he produced in the latter part of his career, one of the most popular being Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719 and based on the true story of a shipwrecked sailor called Alexander Selkirk. The book is considered to be a “seminal novel” meaning it helped to shape the whole genre of ‘the novel’ as it is known today. Seeing the popularity that the book had at the time, many other authors also began writing books of a similar nature i.e. The narrative of the English ‘hero’ stranded abroad, which subsequently created a sub-genre called ‘Robinsonades’.

In Robinson Crusoe Crusoe started his journey at his boyhood ( at the age of 17) and ends with the rescue of his old age. So if we focus on Crusoe's golden age we can see that he spend his most time in a desolate island with isolation and alienation. In the past semester we read Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea who is also isolated from society and he travels and suffers alone. But he had a caretaker (Manolin) who is also waiting for his return. But in Robinson Crusoe Crusoe have no one who is worried for his come back. So basically his travel or journey is different from others.

 The book tells of an Englishman called Robinson Crusoe who runs away from his home town of York, in search of adventure at sea. We follow his journey and the many different experiences he has such as shipwreck and an attack from pirates. During a voyage to Guinea to set up a plantation Crusoe’s ship hits a storm.

Only he survives and is washed ashore on a deserted island off the coast of Trinidad. It is there that the real story begins as Crusoe has to find his way and develop many new skills in order to survive. After he has been on the island alone for some time, he realises that there are other inhabitants through his discovery of a footprint. He comes across a man who is about to be eaten by cannibals, and rescues him. The man, in his gratitude at being saved, offers total submission to Crusoe. Crusoe names the man “Friday” and takes him as his servant. The two have many adventures together such as building boats to travel to the land of the cannibals, and overcoming mutineers. Crusoe settles back in England with the fortune he has made from his plantations and marries. However after his wife’s death, he sets off for the West Indies and makes a visit to his island to see that it has become a prosperous colony governed by the Spaniards.

The style that Defoe uses in Robinson Crusoe is very important and is a key element in successful travel writing. He narrates the story in the first person, which is made clear by the repeated use of the pronoun ‘I’ throughout. An example of this is the way the story begins: “I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York” (Defoe, 2004, p. 1). This, and the facts used, assists the story in its intentions to tell a seemingly ‘true’ story; Defoe’s work often blurred the distinction between journalism and fiction.

His writing was extremely popular with the general, working-class people who formed his readership, and this is thought to be due to his tendency towards the use of colloquial writing which resembles the everyday speech of the reader, and also his preference for fact-based writing rather than the pretentious style used by the upper-classes -he felt that it was more important that the focus was on content rather than style. Also noticeable within the text is Defoe’s inclination towards overwhelming detail to create a very clear portrait of the environments and scenes that his characters witness. This is important because the readers of the time would not have seen many of the sights that Crusoe does on his journeys. To allow them to become involved in the story, Defoe describes in enough detail to allow them to create a vivid image in their minds about that they are reading, without making it too complex.

It is crucial to examine how the ‘self’ is disseminated through the narrative of Robinson Crusoe. I feel that there is a sense of changeable identity created in the depiction of Crusoe’s character, as he becomes a merchant, plantation owner, slave, and even a kingly figure (like in Eothen). I feel that a major point in the narrative is when Crusoe discovers the footprint in the sand. The distinction between ‘self’ and ‘other’ becomes distorted because Crusoe imagines the print to be his own. It is only when he sees the remains of the cannibal feast that he is able to distinguish himself as civilised, against the native and savage ‘other’ that are the cannibals. The introduction of Friday into the narrative, further allows Crusoe to establish self, as he becomes Friday’s master, and has therefore managed to gain control over the ‘other’. He does this through the act of naming him; “I made him know his name should be Friday … I likewise taught him to say master, and let him know that was to be my name” (Defoe, 2004, p. 158). The language Defoe uses here, such as the words ‘made’ and ‘should’ is very forceful and highlights the dominance that Crusoe now has over the man he has rescued and who has submitted to him. Crusoe also dresses Friday; “I gave him a pair of linen drawers … which I found in the wreck.” (Defoe, 2004, p. 159). He dresses Friday in a typical Englishman’s attire and teaches him to speak English. By doing this he is effectively creating an image of himself in the”other” by which he can validate himself. He is also symbolically and literally colonising both Friday (a native) and the island, as the following quote also implies: “In mastering his own selfhood, Crusoe simultaneously masters his environment and (re)creates a world to his liking-a decisively colonial act.” (McInelly, 2003, pp. 1-21)

Travel literature was one of the most popular literary genres in the eighteenth century. As it is mentioned before, arguably, this period was a time of increased scientific and economic exploration, and numerous scientific expeditions were motivated by the ambition to “boldly go where no man has gone before”. At the same time, travel in the form of tourism became more widespread, especially for the middle classes. Once I understood that travel accounts are vehicles whose main purpose is to introduce us to the other, and that typically they dramatized an engagement between self and world, it was a matter of focusing on the various ways the observing self and the foreign world echo within each work.

At the beginning of his career he fells nostalgia when he travels but with some difficulties and crucial situation he have gained maturity and now he wants an isolated place. Even he wants to go out travel again how many days he would be alive. 

This tendency could be observed intensely in many eighteenth century literary works. The persistence of this kind of writing is undoubtedly related to human curiosity and to a travel writer’s desire to mediate between things foreign and things familiar, to help us understand that world which is other to us. I find this pattern in both literary works, namely,

Many writers start their piece with a strong – but brief – anecdote that introduces the general feeling, tone and point of the trip and story.

Daniel Defoe wrote 100 best Novel. No 2 is Robinson Crusoe

Defoe used the simple, direct, fact-based style of the middle classes, which became the new standard for the English novel. With Robinson Crusoe’s theme of solitary human existence, Defoe paved the way for the central modern theme of alienation and isolation.

Defoe deals with the growth and development of individual in solitude. Crusoe becomes ‘everyman’ and readers see the solitude of a human soul. Crusoe becomes the king, the lord, the master, the emperor etc. Crusoe becomes the creator of the world. Defoe believes in religious, political and social freedom of every individual. The novel is the narrative of spiritual and emotional growth within the ‘self.’ Crusoe realizes that he is self-dependent. By living in island Crusoe has to stop wandering. He acquires a sense of place and a sense of self. Crusoe becomes the human representative. The novel helps readers to develop an optimistic outlook towards an unfortunate situation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Blanton, Casey (1995). Travel Writing: The Self and the World. New York and London: Rotledge.

2. Buzzard, James (2002). The Grand Tour and After (1660-1840). Peter Hulme and Tim Youngs (Eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, pp. 37-53. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

3. Batten, Charles L. (1978). Pleasurable Instruction: Form and Convention in Eighteenth Century Travel Literature. Berkeley and London: University of California Press.

4. Defoe, Daniel (2004). Robinson Crusoe. London: Longman.

5. Fabricant, Carole (2005). Eighteenth Century Travel Literature. John Richetti (Ed.). The Cambridge History of English History, pp. 707-745. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

6. Kinglake, W. Alexander (1992). Eothen: Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East. Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

7. McInelly, Brett C. (Spring 2003). Expanding empires, expanding selves: Colonialism, the novel, and Robinson Crusoe. Studies in the Novel (Univ. of North Texas, Denton) vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 1-21.

8. Phillips, Richard (1997). Mapping Men and Empire: A Geography of Adventure. London and New York: Routledge.