Category: Novel

This extract belongs to the opening of Robinson Crusoe’s journal, the main protagonist of Daniel Defoe’s novel The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. This novel has been analyzed from different perspectives by critics: as an adventure story, as the enthusiastic European imperialistic drive for colonization present in the 18th-century English society or as a meditation on the human condition.

Robinson Crusoe draws inspiration from one of the main important figures of the Age of Reason, the empiricist philosopher John Locke. In comparison to the Cartesian theory ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’, Locke states that knowledge is not intrinsically present in the subjects’ minds. Consequently, he rejects Descartes’ objectivity and highlights the relevance of the subjective individual’s perspective of the world. His theory is visibly rooted in 18th-century novels, as they began to focus on developing a new style of writing based on the first person I, following the Enlightenment ideas that were centred on the importance of reason and the senses as primary sources of knowledge.

Robinson Crusoe is a clear example of how 18th-century authors achieved their purpose. In the novel, the recording of the protagonist’s thoughts on a journal is the perfect example of the analysis of the individual’s psyche: Robinson Crusoe starts writing this journal after his boat got shipwrecked and finds himself alone on a desert island, as he feels the importance of staying aware of his situation. Crusoe decides to describe the story of his life in his journal (some biographical background, adventures, relevant aspects and accomplishments), as a way of persevering his identity in a context of opposite realities: the contrast between him being an York’s upper-class man and him being a shipwreck survivor. Nevertheless, the aim of autobiographical writing in this novel is also to show the main character’s arch to emphasize the transformation of Crusoe’s subjective self-perception of the world, the self-identity construction process, and the spatial and time evolution of the novel. By the end of the self-analysis, there is a specific moment that marks a turning point in Crusoe’s attitude: After reading the Bible, there is a change in his writing style: his subjective perspective on the world remains unaltered, but he deliberately remarks the specific experiences that demonstrate the virtues of a faithful man. Therefore, it is demonstrated in Defoe’s novel that characters can achieve such self-awareness by interacting with their environment, by changing their viewpoint and by being influenced by external factors, as human beings do in the real world.

Robinson Crusoe broke the rules of spiritual autobiography because it was the result of mixing travel literature and adventure stories. Eventually, Defoe’s accomplishment boosted the novel’s popularity. This genre was an emerging phenomenon back in the 18th-century, but its main objective was to respond to the readers’ demand for realistic stories. One of its most important characteristics of this is the use of the first-person point of view in the storytelling: this writing style allows the reader to have direct access to the characters’ thoughts and feelings, which makes them more plausible and reliable. As a result, readers quickly become engaged with the story. However, despite the use of the subjective style and tone in his writing, Defoe wants to highlight the importance of realism in his novel: It is explicitly specified in the preface titled “Just a History of Fact”, referring to the potential (or not) reliability of the events narrated by the protagonist. For this reason, Defoe believes that readers are free to decide whether they trust Crusoe’s storytelling or not. In any event, that is precisely the power of literature: it is a mirror of the real world, but it also questions what the word real actually means.

Webgraphy

1. Robinson Crusoe. (2019). Retrieved 21 December 2019, from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Robinson-Crusoe-novel
2. Mullan, J. (2018). The rise of the novel. Retrieved 21 December 2019, from https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/the-rise-of-the-novel
3. Popa-Petrar, P. (2019). Presentation on Robinson Crusoe. Retrieved 21 December 2019, from: https://campusvirtual.urv.cat/mod/resource/view.php?id=2480381
4. Popa-Petrar, P. (2019). Presentation on Enlightenment and Rise of the Novel. Retrieved 21 December 2019, from: https://campusvirtual.urv.cat/mod/resource/view.php?id=2480380

‘The Alchemist’ by Paul Coelho follows Santiago’s journey, an independent Andalusian shepherd, to uncover his destiny. In the present day, Santiago sleeps in the ruins of a church with his herd of sheep. He is awakened by strange recurring dreams that tell him to seek treasure in Egypt. Santiago pursues the advice of a Gypsy to tell him the meaning of this recurring dream, and she advises him to journey to Egypt. He later meets Melchizedek, the king of Salem- who advises him to travel to the Egyptian pyramids. Melchizedek assists Santiago in selling his flock before sending him off to Tangier to begin his arduous journey to Egypt. Santiago is impressed with the vastly different culture of Tangier, he meets a strange man who would later rob Santiago of his only values. The shepherd is forced to find local work at a crystal shop to gain a source of income once again, becoming acquainted with the crystal merchant. The crystal merchant, an old man states that he enjoys the comfort of an unchanging life and had aspirations to travel to Mecca, but chooses not to. Santiago teaches the merchant to change his business for the better, and both gain profits from the revived, successful business. Santiago decides to continue pursuing his destiny of the Egyptian Pyramids.

Santiago joins a Caravan on their way to Egypt, and meets several people, including an Englishman. The Englishman, as an aspiring alchemist, educates Santiago on the importance of the Emerald Tablet, Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life. The older man explains that he searches for the Alchemist to teach him his work. During a stop in Al-Fayoum, Santiago meets Fatima- whom he interprets to be the love of his life, and the two share an instant connection between one another. The shepherd later, unknown of his talents, has a vision of an opposing army coming to attack Al-Fayoum and informs the Chieftains of the approaching assault. Al-Fayoum conquers the opposing army and survives only due to the shepherd’s insightful vision. The genuine alchemist reveals himself to Santiago upon learning of his ability to sense omens, and assists him to accomplish his journey to the pyramids. On their way to the pyramids, they’re captured by soldiers who question them on their travels. The alchemist manages to grant their freedom through the promise that Santiago will turn into wind within three days. On the third day, Santiago communicates with the sun, and the wind to help him create the illusion of him becoming one with the wind, successfully doing so and granting the freedom of both he and the alchemist. After the alchemist bids his farewell, Santiago finalizes his journey to the pyramids. The shepherd begins digging for the long-awaited treasure and is afterward assaulted by two men who mock his destiny. One of the men informs Santiago that he too had dreams of treasure hidden under a sycamore tree in the ruins of a church. Santiago realizes where the true treasure is and returns to Spain where his recurred dreams all began. The shepherd returns to the ruins of the church where he once slept and located the treasure he had been looking for all along. He fondly remembers Fatima awaiting his return.

Melchizedek educates Santiago on the importance of taking advantage while he is young, he states that “Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is…At that point in their lives… They are not afraid to dream and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives” (11). Coelho uses the king as a way to emotionally appeal to young and impressionable readers through Santiago’s perspective. The quote is of significance to Santiago’s character arc as he learns that while he is young and eager to learn, he is capable of accomplishing whatever dream he so desires. The king of Salem’s words only encourages the shepherd to accomplish his goals to travel to the Egyptian Pyramids. Melchizedek furthers his encouragement towards Santiago as he speaks of a baker in their line of sight, commenting that “When he’s an old man” the baker will realize, “that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of’ (Coelho, 11). The king reaches an older audience by communicating that the reader, no matter the age, is capable of accomplishing their dreams as much as the young and impressionable audience. Santiago learns to inspire those he comes across to fulfill their aspirations in life throughout the rest of his journey. Further on in ‘The Alchemist’, Santiago confronts the crystal merchant on why he’s never accomplished his dreams to travel to Mecca. In response, the crystal merchant states that “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living” (Coelho, 27). The crystal merchant’s hesitance on traveling to Mecca displays that some dreams may only exist for the sole reason to give a person a universal purpose to carry on. When Santiago is conversing with the camel driver, the camel driver offers advice regarding only examine the present, he states that “If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man…Life will be a party for you, a grand festival because life is the moment we’re living right now’ (Coelho, 43). The camel driver’s advice is to live presently and not to be outweighed by the past as Santiago isn’t weighed down by his previous negative experiences, and rather to look to the future of what he can accomplish. At the end of the book, when Santiago is faced with a decision whether to go out to the pyramids or stay with the woman he loves, Fatima states that ‘If I am a part of your dream, you’ll come back one day” (Coelho, 50). Love is a recurring theme in ‘The Alchemist’, it is the universal language of the world according to alchemy, and it isn’t until Santiago is faced by the purest love that he understands that true love doesn’t simply fade away in the face of challenges.

My opinion on ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho is that it’s an excellent book that has several underlying meanings on what it is to pave one’s destiny. Coelho captures the audience’s attention through Santiago’s journey of self-discovery. ‘The Alchemist’ has several meaningful metaphors that allude to the true beauty that lies within the everyday objects or people we take for granted. Coelho’s work reminds us to recognize the underlying meaning of everything around us, regardless of whether we would’ve cared to acknowledge it beforehand. The book carries the general moral that the audience ought to follow their aspirations, and goals in life to fulfill a much greater purpose. I appreciated the morals of the story, and the inspirational tone the author conveyed through an interesting story of magic intertwined with destiny.

Arguably one of the most well-known events in Defoe’s 18th-century masterpiece Robinson Crusoe is Crusoe’s discovery of the footprint in the sand. Crusoe can be seen peering downwards, appalled at the sight of an oversized and remarkably distinct single footprint which, oddly enough, is still visible several days later. The image, a construct of what the novel means; the adventurer in his goatskins, his isolation, the lingering danger from a tribe of vicious cannibals. The footprint scene comes well on in the novel, and its effect belongs as much to what popularity and posterity have done to Crusoe, as to the text itself. For the reader, an image appears earlier of Crusoe driven by the earthquake from his refuge, sitting alone in the storm, outside his shelter. He is, he tells us, ‘greatly cast down and disconsolate,’ as well as, ‘very much terrify’d and dejected,’ and remains in his solitary, defenseless position for upwards of two hours. Initially, his intuition is nowhere to be found. It is not until he all of a sudden decides that the wind and the rain which follow the earthquake are the consequence of the earthquake, and it would be safe for him to retreat once more into his cave, that he moves at all. Defoe does not tell us so, but it is easy to imagine a dissatisfied Crusoe sitting and shivering, clasping his knees, his head bowed in despair.

These two scenes might serve to epitomize two views of the novel: if the first is a dominant image, Robinson Crusoe can be visualized as a resilient hero, the man who survived, the man alone, triumphant over not only nature but all outside danger. Giving the second image precedence in our imagination leaves us with a different Crusoe. Here, Crusoe can be perceived as a solitary, pathetic figure; an outcast, alienated by man and deserted by God. Chronologically, these images do not have to contradict one another, and we can read the novel as the history of the outcast’s triumph, his finding of God, and through God, fortitude. With this in mind, the memory of Crusoe as an orphan of the storm fades, and the scene of his isolation becomes but a prelude to his inevitable victory. Yet such a reconciliation seems unsatisfactory; the image of isolation is too strong to be forgotten.

In recent years, criticism of the book has forced people to look at Robinson Crusoe with more respect and has gone a long way to explain the novel’s extraordinary force and strength. Through lots of analyses, we know that the book is full of faults, that it is repetitious and often boring, that it is sloppily written by a forgetful author. We are aware that the time scheme is improbable and the end of the novel is tacked on. We are told that Crusoe’s life is unrealistic, that he does not seem to suffer from the lack of company, or women, or an adequate diet. We know too that all these things matter very little since the book has a mythic simplicity, an appeal that owes little to realism and nothing to chronology.

Yet what is the central myth behind Robinson Crusoe; what single theme lends the novel its structure? Ian Watt, in his thesis of Crusoe as Homo economicus, argued for the novel as a myth of man alone, independent and free, while E.M.W. Tillyard placed the book in the tradition of epic. More recently, J. Paul Hunter has reminded us of the religious allegory in the story, where Crusoe is painted as a sort of Adam, with his trials and tribulations patterned upon the wanderings of the children of Israel. These views are well known, and each is necessary to an understanding of the novel: Crusoe is an example of an economic man, the hero of an epic, and a reluctant pilgrim all at once. Yet in thinking of him as a type we neglect his humanity and forget how similar he is to us. An article by Eric Berne on the psychology of the novel suggests a way of adjusting our perspective, in drawing attention to the man himself. Berne argues that Crusoe’s behavior on the island is motivated by his need to explore and secure the space around him, and in this Crusoe is at least partially successful. What is important about Berne’s argument is not its conclusion—as a Freudian, he sees Crusoe as something of a neurotic, the victim of an oral fixation—but his realization that the hero’s conquest of the outer space of the island parallels the exploration of the inner space of the self. I choose to look at this parallel from an archetypal standpoint. Crusoe’s quest is to find himself, plain and simple. This journey is both extraordinary and commonplace; heroic and human. He is an exceptional man, yet he remains an ordinary man. His adventure can be interpreted as an 18th-century midlife crisis. Our response to him is one of sympathy, understanding and immediate recognition of his situation. Robinson Crusoe, I will argue, is a novel about order, both physical and psychic, and the establishment of this order is its dominant myth.

The island is Crusoe’s own territory, a microcosm of sorts; it contains the extreme conditions he must learn to cope with, the dangers and the delights, both around him and within his self. On the island, he learns to progress from a complete disregard for anything metaphysical to spiritual integration. In the middle of the storm after the earthquake, we see him at perhaps his lowest point. He has survived his shipwreck, he has overcome his first fears of savages and wild animals, and he has laboriously salvaged innumerable articles from the hulk on the rocks. He has begun his system of fortification, erecting a semi-circular palisade of stakes around the face of a wall of rock, and he has tunneled out his cave from this rock. Just before this point in the story, he seems to be well on his way to establishing himself in safety. He witnesses what he describes as his first miracle, the first sign of God’s hand, in the discovery of the stalks of barley. Then comes the earthquake, which finds him inside his cave. His first action is to escape into the open, and he does this instinctively, being afterward ‘like one dead or stupify’d.’ His first fear is of being buried himself, his next, that his tent and all his goods will be buried even if he is not. When the storm is over and he has had time to consider, he finds himself subject to two equal fears: one, of being swallowed up alive, the other, of being vulnerable to anything beyond himself, of ‘lying abroad without any fence.’

Perceiving the novel as a record of the hero’s establishment of some kind of psychic order within his personality, this scene takes on a powerful meaning. We remember that Crusoe has been buried before; when he is shipwrecked we are told that the wave swallowed him up, and ‘buried me at once 20 or 30 Foot deep in its own Body.’ Now, he again lives in fear of ‘being swallow’d up alive.’ His battle with Nature is cosmic; she seems a most terrifying and powerful force, ready to devour her unfortunate child. We remember that Crusoe is a Jonah and that Leviathan lurks in the waves, even that he is a type of Christ, and must need to descend into the dark jaws of Hell before he can be reborn. With these mythic and allegorical parallels in our minds, we can see this earthquake scene as a second beginning, a thrusting out from the womb-like cave into the open world. Until Crusoe has become aware of his defenselessness he cannot (like Jonah) begin the ordering of his life.

What emerges from the first part of the story is the inevitability of Crusoe’s role as a wanderer, a man driven by Providence towards some critical moment. This moment is not just retribution, nor another adventure, but a meeting with God. Crusoe’s God is an external power, controlling the elemental forces, showing himself to Crusoe through the sea, the storm, the earthquake, and nature, but he is at the same time within Crusoe, manifesting himself in his thoughts and his dreams, directing his soul through secret stirrings. It does no historical injustice to the novel to see in this communication with God Crusoe’s exploration of his psyche, and in particular, to recognize, in the gradual freeing of Crusoe’s soul, his acceptance of his unconscious.

Up to this point we have been shown a series of archetypal images in the life-voyage of this Wanderer; his ejection from the sea, more helpless and no wiser than Jonah himself; his isolation; his peril, first from imaginary animals, and later, from cannibals; his burrowing back into the elemental earth: his expulsion from this “womb” to face the divine. As we have seen, this crisis, this meeting with the unconscious, is followed by the meticulous re-ordering of both the inner and the outer realities. The island, though still surrounded by the dangerous currents of the elemental waters, turns from prison into a kingdom, while the images of the wilderness give way to those of the enclosed garden. Now Crusoe, faced with the threat from the outside world, significantly seeks the solution within himself, enters the mouth of hell, confronts the devil, and finds in that cave of the unconscious a secure and hidden retreat.

He is by no means settled and easy after this experience in the cave, but still finds himself prey to innumerable doubts and fears. It is not until he meets his danger in the form of Friday that he becomes his old self once more: by taming, teaching, and forming Friday after his own image he sets his world back to rights. Once the unknown becomes familiar, once he is able to make it his own and impose his own order upon it, it no longer offers a real threat to him. With Friday at his side, Crusoe spends ‘the pleasantest Year of all the Life I led in this Place’.

Crusoe has now regained his confidence, and during the rest of the novel, he is in command of his growing society. With the addition of Friday’s father and the Spaniard ‘my Island was now peopled,” and he is no longer just king in fancy. His resoluteness in guiding the attack on the savages, and later, in directing the defeat of the mutineers, makes us accept his title of ‘Governour’ as real rather than ironic just as later, safe in Spain, his companions call him their ‘Captain’. The order that he has imposed so carefully upon his own life is extended to those who come near him: he plans the rescue of the fourteen shipwrecked Spaniards, and he restores to his ship the captain and his companions, imposing resolute yet merciful justice upon the mutinous crew. The final imposition of order upon his by now expanded world is the settlement of his commercial affairs, whose notable success – and it is none of Crusoe’s doing- is a reward for his finding of God and self.

He is now quite in touch with God and is content to be guided by the promptings of his inner self. His unconscious speaks to him in moments of crisis, and he listens: ‘I had some secret Doubts hung about me, I cannot tell from whence they came…’ and they bid him to be on his guard, and so he is cautious. He speculates on the nature of such warnings, speaking of ‘certain Discoveries of an invisible World, and a Converse of Spirits”. ‘Let no Man despise the secret Hints and Notices of Danger’ he says, and later, on his way home to England, when he finds he has a ‘strange Aversion’ to going to sea, he repeats the lesson: ‘let no Man slight the strong Impulses of his own Thoughts in Cases of such Moment’.

Seen in this light, Crusoe’s life becomes the experiencing and the ordering of the unknown. The peculiar scene of the wolves in the pass of the Pyrenees is felt like one last attack upon his psyche; by now he is so strong that even when ‘above three hundred Devils come roaring and open mouth’d’ to devour him, and he tells us that he gives himself over for lost, we have little sense of crisis, and no fear for his safety. This scene may be unrealistic, but realism, for all the detail of homo economicus, is not always Defoe’s point. Crusoe’s island is a world of creation and experience, and his twenty-eight years on the island should be read in somewhat of the same light as Jehovah’s six days of creation. All is drawn into the myth of order: Crusoe becomes more than Homo economicus and more than the Wanderer; he becomes, finally, every man who has ever tried to cope with a chaotic and hostile world.

Works Cited

1. Berne, Eric. “The Psychological Structure of Space with Some Remarks on Robinson Crusoe.” Taylor and Francis Online, 1956, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21674086.1956.11926037.
2. Hunter, J. Paul. The Reluctant Pilgrim : Defoe’s Emblematic Method and Quest for Form in Robinson Crusoe. Johns Hopkins Press, 1966.
3. Tillyard, E. M. W. The Epic Strain in the English Novel. Greenwood Press, 1975.
4. Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe: An Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Edited by Michael Shinagel, Norton & Company, 2001.

Abstract

A journey in literary criticism may have several connotations. A journey may be a physical one, such a thing happens when Robinson Crusoe, the main protagonist of the novel, leaves his family estate and goes out on a journey that finally brings him to the isolated island off the coast of Venezuela. A journey can be a psychological one like when the literal journey becomes Crusoe’s journey for self-definition. The protagonist develops into a cult hero depicting capitalistic individualism. He can create his own means of sustenance by struggle. A journey can even be a spiritual one and this happens when Crusoe from being a practical, logical person turns into a devout Christian. He even takes up the role of a Preacher, preaching Friday about Protestantism.

In this term paper, I would like to focus on the different journeys that Crusoe embarked upon through the entirety of the novel. Introduction- Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25th April 1719. By adopting the epistolary form of narration, he made the readers believe that the novel is autobiographical in nature and that Robinson Crusoe, the main protagonist of the novel, is in fact a real person. The novel was well received in the literary world and is often credited for marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. It is generally seen as a contender for the first English novel. Before the end of 1719, the book had already run through four editions and even claims to be second only to The Bible in its number of translations. Body- Daniel Defoe himself was a man of odd jobs. Defoe was once a soldier, an apprentice of a bookbinder, a book merchant, and even a wholesaler of undergarments. The diversity of his professional life enabled him to traverse through the different strata of society from the grass root to the gentry and observe them from close quarters. Many critics, thus, considers that the journey of Crusoe is very similar to that of the authors.

The preface of the novel has a very moralistic tone. It feels like the novel is written as a cautionary tale describing what may happen if anyone departs from the trodden path. At the same time, the novelist kind of is relieved that Crusoe did not follow the path and thus could embark upon such an adventurous journey. Crusoe deals with this same dilemma throughout the novel when he is unaware of whether he has made a correct or incorrect choice. Crusoe’s character, thus, has the features of modern Existentialism.

The novel starts with Crusoe setting sail from Kingston upon Hill on a sea voyage on August 1651, even though his father had prophesied that he will come across danger at sea. However, 18-year-old Robinson did not believe in prophecies or divine existence. Sadly, he faces a violent storm on his very first sea venture and his ship gets wrecked. His faith in God is restored and he interprets the storm to be a form of God’s punishment for leaving and disappointing his parents. Thus, Crusoe along with his literal journey started undergoing a spiritual journey. This happens on numerous occasions that whenever something goes wrong in his life, he feels the same guilt of following his dreams of being a globetrotter and ends up asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Even though he fails the first time he boards another ship; partly because of his un- quenchable thirst for adventure and partly because he didn’t want to return home after being a failure. He did not have to experience any financial loss or near-death situation in this voyage but instead, it was a financially profitable journey. The theme of Capitalism is slowly entering the novel at this point. The protagonist starts changing from being a Romantic wanderer into a person who has an interest in a vocation that would lead to a sustained life. The novel is thus an evolution story, a kind of a bildungsroman.

On another expedition at sea, he gets captured by Sale pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved by a Moor. After two years, however, he escapes with the help of another slave, Xuri. Now, Robinson undergoes a fear of the unknown while escaping. This is a new character trait observed in Crusoe as one could never imagine Crusoe to be scared of anything after embarking upon so many adventures. He soon reaches the coast of Morocco. A master-servant relationship starts developing between Crusoe and Xuri which brings out the Euro-centric bigotry and casteism developing in his character. Crusoe starts developing traits of a Colonizer when on killing a lion he keeps the lion skin. This reminds us of the African trade of ivory as described by Joseph Conrad in The Heart of Darkness. Crusoe sets up a plantation business and started using Xuri as a farmhand and failed to develop a camaraderie or friendship with him. He now attained solvency and starts leading a middle-class man’s life. He is thus living a life that his parents had always wanted him to live. He started contemplating the futility of his rebellion again social conventions.

On 1st September 1659, he sets sail for Brazil. On 30th September, his ship gets wrecked and he somehow manages to reach a tropical, deserted island on the Venezuelan coast near the mouth of the Orinoco River where he spends 28 years of his life. Time and again his faith in God are restored. He is not angry to have faced a lot of trouble in the form of divine retribution but feels lucky to be alive.

Crusoe’s journey seems to represent the journey and evolution of the entire human race. On the first night of his arrival at the island, he spends the night in a cave very similar to the primitive humans who were primarily cave- dwellers. Crusoe then started collecting fruits and drying grapes to make raisin which is similar to the natural progression of the human race of becoming hunters and gatherers. Crusoe then started agriculture which is similar to the path humans took to evolve by growing food crops of their own and becoming settlers. Crusoe further started weaving baskets and making pots to store the surplus which is very similar to what our ancestors had done while following the path to civilization. Lastly, he decides to tame goats for sustenance which is very similar to the modern concept of Animal Husbandry.

The Bible started having a great influence on Crusoe’s life. He strongly believed in the phrase of The Bible: – “Call me in the day of trouble and I shall deliver”

He has moral thoughts, but he does not become a Saint. His materialistic concerns do not go away. He finds money in the ship and takes it, thinking that he might need it at some point in life. He starts developing a keen business mind, keeping into account all his losses and gains. He starts living a very methodical life by writing regularly in his journal. He does not feel like an inhabitant of the island anymore but feels a sense of possession towards the island. The rudimentary concept of Capitalism starts developing in his mind. The sense of ownership begins to provide him with a sense of power. He develops a sense of harmony with nature being fully aware of the seasonal cycles and sowing and reaping his crops accordingly.

In the third year, he decides to explore parts of the island that he had never been to. Here, he finds a parrot that he takes back to his part of the island and cages it. Robinson has thus turned into a settler from being a nomad. He spends a lot of his time in moral contemplation. He feels that he should live on this island than with other people. He realizes that being the person that he is, he would feel dissatisfied to live amongst society.

After seven years, Crusoe notices human footprints on the island. If something like this had happened earlier then he would have rejoiced at the hope of finally being saved. Now, when he sees it, he is alarmed. He feels that everything that he has grown and built would be taken away from him.

In the ninth year of his stay at the island, he encounters Cannibals and is disgusted by them. He, however, resorts to a very didactic approach towards their existence proving his maturity. He realizes that if God hasn’t punished them then he is no one to do so. He even reasons saying everyone kills something or the other for food. After the twenty-third year, he started getting nightmares proving that he was highly disturbed and not at peace.

The novel takes a new turn when Crusoe saves a victim from the clutches of the Cannibals and comes in contact with another human being after so long. He refers to him as “his savage” and names him Friday. At this point, he starts imbibing all the characters of a colonizer. He starts imposing the English language and also the Christian religion. He even considers the God that the Cannibals worship to be a form of Satan. Crusoe, thus, started portraying a very Euro-centric concept of religion similar to Milton’s portrayal in Paradise Lost. At the end of the novel, we observe a drastic change in Crusoe when he transports his wealth overland to England from Portugal to avoid traveling by sea. This occurs because he has finally satiated his desire for exploration.

Conclusion

It can thus be concluded that by following one’s dream and taking the plunge can an individual attain success and prosperity just like in the case of Robinson Crusoe. As theorized by existentialist theorists, it is better to take the leap rather than spending life with pent-up anger towards society.

The Road demonstrates diverse perspective in renewal be making readers question not only spiritual beliefs but the existence of god. Throughout The Road there is a conflict of spiritual belief that is demonstrated by the main characters own uncertainty. McCarthy’s novel could be seen as an agnostic novel with multiple characters believing in god and others completely rejecting the idea of god, “There is no God and we are his prophets”. The main character of the book, the man, continues to switch between doubting and believing, “He raised his face to the paling day. Are you there? he whispered. Will I see you at last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul? Oh God, he whispered. Oh God.” The tone McCarthys uses throughout the novel continues the many occurrences of faith and doubt. However, the central feature of the tone is that of religious belief, “The child was his warrant… If he is not the word of God God never spoke.” Which shows the faith the father that his son is the future of the world and has followed god plan to survive thus far. However, the father also can’t see how there is a god in the apocalyptic world, “God was the savior of our sins, but now the world is a sin along with everyone inside it.” In which the character questions if there is a god and why he would allow the world to fall. The events of the novel itself switches between the two extremes much like the man with the atmosphere and wording being bleak and horrifying as if trying to convince the reader that there is no god. However, a lyrical, hopeful passage will suggest that god may exist. Although the novel remains agnostic, McCarthy may have suggested throughout the novel that the sacred is that of other people.

McCarthy’s novel The road challenges literature conventions as it doesn’t follow most post-apocalyptic literature of its time. McCarthy displays an unfeasibly brutal world that feels real. With use of high imagery McCarthy creates a world where there is no more manufacturing or framing with most of the natural world being destroyed, “Perhaps in the world’s destruction it would be possible at last to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence.” with only the remains of capitalism left. The road further diverges from the usual post-apocalyptic worlds by using desolate and colourless surroundings, “Charred and limbless trunks of trees… sagging hand of blind wire strung got blackened light poles. McCarthy further diverges by creating a real life world by giving the reader the trivial tasks of daily life as the father and son travel.

McCarthy further challenges literature conventions by creating a dislocation between the reader and the son. While The Road is modeled after Earth, there are parts throughout the novel which create both a familiar feeling in the reader and dislocation. “He sat and ran his hand around in the works of the gutted machines and in the second one it closed over a cold metal cylinder. He withdrew his hand slowly and sat looking at a Coca Cola.

What is it, Papa?

It’s a treat. For you.” This further pushes the dislocation as the 10 year old has never had Coke a beverage that is common for most children to have tried along with the Coke representing the fall of capitalism. The road demonstrates the conflict in spiritual beliefs creating diverse perspectives on renewal McCarthy does this by challenging literature conventions and creating a realistic bleak and grim world.

The concept of poverty is pervasive throughout the novel The Outsiders and provides a significant representation of the struggles of those living in it. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor and greatly affects the quality of someone’s life. Written by S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders (published 1967) follows the story of a group of juveniles who are discriminated against because of differences in socioeconomic status in society. Poverty in The Outsiders creates division in society and affects a greaser’s life to such an extent that it shapes their entire place in life. Due to their behaviour, greasers prompt society to create a stereotype for themselves as hoodlums. Greasers do badly in school because of their need to conform to their social status created by division in society. Also, Greasers turn to crime and violence as a way to create an identity for themselves, so that they can fit in with their social class and fulfil society’s expectations.

Because greasers live in poverty, they cannot access support and motivation to do well in school. Greasers are extremely poor so they cannot afford to focus on schoolwork as it does not conform to the social normalities of a greaser. Also, greasers have an extremely difficult life outside of school, so they cannot complete homework or assignments, hence they receive bad marks. On the contrary, socs are privileged and can focus on school as their life at home is easy. For example, because his dad beats him, Johnny does not have a place at his house, so he escapes to his gang on the streets and becomes a hoodlum. Johnny is forced by society fulfil his expectations as a hoodlum and flunk school. This is evident when Johnny’s teacher labels him as “Just plain dumb” (p. 58) because he had always received bad grades in school. This tell the reader that society is think his are inferior not worthy of education. This prejudice denies him opportunity to improve his life into adulthood. Dropping out of school is seen as a solution to the torment, but it just worsens the situation. It labels greasers as outcasts of society. Having no skills and money, leads to reliance on crime and violence for support and belonging.

Greasers often engage in crime and violence because they live in poverty. For greasers, criminal activity is a survival technique, as it provides them with a purpose and an identity. This identity is being someone of low social status – a hoodlum. This difference in social classes fuels the aggression within greasers towards the socs and society. A prime example of this typical ‘crime and violence of a hoodlum’ is Dallas. Dally comes from a poor family, his dad abandoned them, and his mum has to work as a waitress to support her two kids. Having very little money, Dally grew up with his gang and was instantly labelled as a greaser. Most greasers tend to fight back against the stereotype of being a greaser, however Dally chose to embrace it, which makes it his entire purpose in life. Johnny is a major part of Dally’s identity as a greaser since “Johnny was the only thing Dally loved” (p. 109). At the event of Johnny’s death, Dally feels ‘trapped in a corner’ because he his identity and purpose as a greaser was lost. Dallas feels a need to rob the grocery store afterwards as a desperate way to gain it back. From this event in the novel, the reader is told that the idea of identity and belonging to a gang is really important to a greaser. This is because it provides them with a solution to their separation from the rest of society.

A Greasers entire life is affected by division in society, which in turn is caused by poverty in the community. Being poor, greasers are unfairly labelled as hoodlums. Living in poverty greasers are forced to join gangs to survive the pressure of being separated by society. Coming from poor backgrounds, greasers cannot get the help needed for school, so they fail their classes or drop out. This turn of events is very cyclical. They do badly in school, and then live in poverty during adulthood, just like their parents do. Being in gangs is a refuge from society’s abuse to greasers for being poor. In order to be in the gang, the greasers need to conform to the normalities of being a hoodlum, which means crime and violence. Greasers do this because without a gang, they have no purpose or identity. Even if it separates society into socioeconomic classes, poverty provides people such as greasers and hoodlum an identity and meaning, which overall unites them in gangs.

The Giver and The Last Dog are two great examples of middle school literature, so they are naturally similar in many areas. The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, touches on the subjects of emotions and memories, and The Last Dog, written by Katherine Paterson, explores the concepts of truth and emotions. A strength of The Giver is the word choice; Lois Lowry makes the reader feel like he/she is there with Jonas. However, sometimes the descriptive words can make the chapters drag on. One strength of The Last Dog is the creativity in the book, and a weakness is the lack of descriptive words. The books are more similar than they are different.

Both stories take place in isolated and controlled communities. The Giver’s community is controlled because citizens can’t choose their own job or pick their own spouse. Likewise, The Last Dog’s community monitors the number of children born in pods; families are considered inefficient. Also, The Giver has no consistent interaction with the outside world revealing its isolation. Similarly, The Last Dog shows an isolated community because nobody ventures outside the dome; those who do are considered deviants. These examples prove that the stories are similar because they show that both communities are isolated and controlled. More examples of similarities exist in how the main characters deal with unfamiliar and unshared emotions. In The Giver, Jonas feels the new emotion of anger, but he can’t share it with anyone because nobody else feels emotions. In The Last Dog, Brock has never felt any emotion before, and needs a device to tell him that he is hot. Also, all of Brock’s podmates see him as strange and as a deviant because he wants to voyage outside of the dome, so Brock doesn’t have the ability to share his emotions with anyone. These examples prove that the stories are similar because they show that both stories have the main character deal with emotions. As seen from the reasons above, the similarities of The

The Giver and The Last Dog are two great examples of middle school literature, so they are naturally similar in many areas. The Giver, written by Lois Lowry, touches on the subjects of emotions and memories, and The Last Dog, written by Katherine Paterson, explores the concepts of truth and emotions. A strength of The Giver is the word choice; Lois Lowry makes the reader feel like he/she is there with Jonas. However, sometimes the descriptive words can make the chapters drag on. One strength of The Last Dog is the creativity in the book, and a weakness is the lack of descriptive words. The books are more similar than they are different.

Both stories take place in isolated and controlled communities. The Giver’s community is controlled because citizens can’t choose their own job or pick their own spouse. Likewise, The Last Dog’s community monitors the number of children born in pods; families are considered inefficient. Also, The Giver has no consistent interaction with the outside world revealing its isolation. Similarly, The Last Dog shows an isolated community because nobody ventures outside the dome; those who do are considered deviants. These examples prove that the stories are similar because they show that both communities are isolated and controlled. More examples of similarities exist in how the main characters deal with unfamiliar and unshared emotions. In The Giver, Jonas feels the new emotion of anger, but he can’t share it with anyone because nobody else feels emotions.

In The Last Dog, Brock has never felt any emotion before, and needs a device to tell him that he is hot. Also, all of Brock’s podmates see him as strange and as a deviant because he wants to voyage outside of the dome, so Brock doesn’t have the ability to share his emotions with anyone. These examples prove that the stories are similar because they show that both stories have the main character deal with emotions. As seen from the reasons above, the similarities of The Giver and The Last Dog overpower the differences.