From Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719)
This text is a passage from the novel Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe in 1719.
It was one of the first novels written in the first half of the Eighteenth century and it
reproduces the reality concerning real life people preoccupations. It is a fictional book
with a realistic background written in the form of a diary to establish a connection with
readers who were middle class people and it is also written from the retrospective point
of view setting during the decades of 1650-1660. The author was political active and a
Presbyterian, he wrote about middle class people and their spiritual development as
individuals. Daniel Defoe was a person with a bit interest of the personal and spiritual
development. The text deals with the protagonist ´s , who is Robinson Crusoe, beliefs
about finding an own way of living and being against middle class conservative
principles in the words of his father.
The text settles during the Republican period from 1650 to 1660. It was imposed after
the execution of Charles II in 1649. Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Parliamentarian
forces, took the rule of England. It was a period full of repressions and military
dictatorship. When Cromwell died in 1658 the Republic died with hum. The republican
Common Wealth was short lived as the population was so fed up with the Puritan rule
and the monarchy was restored with Charles II. England experienced a commercial
revolution. Trade increased dramatically, mainly in the English colonies. This produced
a new mentality of middle class people. The specific context is the early Eighteenth
century in England, during these years there was many chances, above all in the society:
there was a rise of the middle class, they was faith in progress, dignity of work,
pragmatic´s ideas, competition, entrepreneurial attitude, ordered lifestyle, education and
self-improvement and an urban life style. In this novel, we can identify Robinson
Crusoe as a middle class man with middle class mentality.
This is the beginning of the novel written from a retrospective point of view, Robinson
himself stars narrating the beginning of his life and giving us information about his
family. The issue we find in the text is the adventurous spirit of Robinson and the idea
of finding his own way of living against the conservative beliefs of his father. Robinson
is presented as a liberal middle-class young man whereas his father is a conservative as
expected of middle class people.
Robinson challenges middle class people perspective by wanting to go overseas, not
listening to advices of his parents. This will bring misery as a consequence of
disobeying his parents (lines 19-21).
At the second paragraph Robinson is talking about his family, a common family with
three childrens. It was a war (1654-1660) affected the Spanish possessions in the
Netherland for economic reasons and it appears in line 11 as “the battle near Dunkirk
against the Spaniards”.
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