Robinson Crusoe Story Background

This novel is based on Alexander Selkirk's real experience on a desert island. According to the British magazine at that time, in April 174, Selkirk rebelled at sea and was abandoned by the captain on a small island called Masatier in Juan-Fernandez Islands, more than 9 kilometers off the coast of Chile.

Defoe lived in a time when British capitalism began to develop on a large scale. In 172, he published "Shortcuts to Eliminate Different Sects" and satirized the government's religious policy, so he was arrested and sentenced to three times. After he was released from prison, he was engaged in editing newspapers and periodicals, and wrote many political and economic pamphlets. He was arrested three times for his speech. In 1719, Defoe published his first novel Robinson Crusoe.

4 years and 4 months later, it was discovered by the navigator and rescued. At that time, Selkirk had forgotten human language and completely turned into a savage. Inspired by this incident, Defoe conceived the story of Robinson. However, in the process of novel creation, Defoe created the image of Robinson with the enterprising spirit of the rising bourgeoisie and the colonial spirit of the 18th century, starting from his own impressions and feelings of the times.

Plot

Robinson Crusoe was born in a respectable merchant family. He was eager to sail and wanted to see something overseas. He went to sea without telling his father, and went to London, where he bought some fake beads and toys to do business in Africa.

On the fourth voyage, the ship ran into a storm on the way, and all the companions on board were killed. Only Robinson survived and drifted to a lonely island. He made a raft from the mast of the sunken ship, transported the food, clothes, guns and ammunition from the ship to the shore again and again, and set up a tent at the edge of the hill to settle down.

Then he put a fence around the tent with sharpened stakes and dug a hole behind the tent to live. He used simple tools to make tables, chairs and other furniture, hunted game for food and drank fresh water from the stream, and spent the initial difficulties.

He began to plant barley and rice on the island, made his own wooden mortar, pestle and sieve, processed flour and baked rough bread. He captured and domesticated wild goats and made them reproduce. He also made pottery and so on to ensure his own needs. A "country house" and a farm were also built at the other end of the desert island.

Even so, Robinson never gave up looking for a way to leave the island. He cut down a big tree, and it took him five or six months to make a canoe, but the boat was too heavy to drag into the sea, so he had to give up all previous efforts and build another small boat. After Robinson lived alone on the island for 15 years, one day, he found a footprint on the coast of the island.

Soon, he found traces of human bones and fire. It turned out that a group of savages from the outer islands had held a human flesh feast here. Robinson was amazed. Since then, he has been vigilant and paid more attention to things around him. It was not until the 24th year that another group of savages came to the island, taking captive savages who were sacrificed and ready to kill and eat.

After Robinson found out, he rescued one of them. Because that day was Friday, Robinson named the rescued prisoner "Friday". Since then, "Friday" has become Robinson's loyal servant and friend. Then, Robinson rescued a Spaniard and Friday's father with Friday.

Soon an English ship docked near the island, and the sailors on board rebelled and abandoned the captain and other three people on the island. Robinson and Friday helped the captain subdue the rebellious sailors and recapture the ship. He left the sailors on the island and left the desert island for England with Friday and the captain.

At this time, Robinson has been away from home for 35 years (living on the island for 28 years). He got married in England and had three children. After the death of his wife, Robinson once again went to sea for business, passing through the desert island where he lived. At this time, the sailors and Spaniards who stayed on the island had settled down and thrived. Robinson sent some new immigrants, gave them the land on the island, and left them with all kinds of daily necessities, leaving the island with satisfaction.

influence

Robinson Crusoe marks the beginning of realistic novels as a literary genre. Its success led to many imitators. The drifting novels written by Ambrose Evans and Penelope Obin were very popular in Europe in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

most of them are unknown, but some have been established, including the Robinson family in Switzerland, which borrowed Crusoe's name as its title.

jonathan swift's Gulliver's Travels was published seven years after Robinson Crusoe, which can be interpreted as a systematic refutation of Defoe's optimistic description of human ability. In the incredible Swift: the spontaneous philosophy of the English Church, Warren Montag thinks that Swift is concerned with refuting the idea that the individual is prior to society, just as Defoe's novels imply.

In Treasure Island, the writer Robert Louis Stevenson imitates The Wandering Story with the role of Ben Gunn, a friendly drifter who has been trapped for many years, looks wild, wears a goatskin and talks about God's will.

In Jean-jean-jacques rousseau's monograph "Emile" or "Education" on education, Robinson Crusoe is the book that the protagonist is allowed to read before he is twelve years old. Rousseau hoped that Emile would identify himself as Crusoe, so that he could rely on himself to meet all his needs. In Rousseau's view, Emile needs to imitate Crusoe's experience and let necessity decide what to learn and accomplish. This is one of the themes of Rousseau's educational model.

In the story of Robinson Piglet, Beatrix Potter leads the reader to Robinson Crusoe, and describes in detail the island where her hero of the same name moved (the hometown of Bangshu).

what are the above references? Baidu encyclopedia-Robinson Crusoe