Robinson Crusoe- pg's 1-57, 2/8/08 Blog Entry

The Story of "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe, the story starts off with the editor tells us the readers that this story will provide instructive value and will be a very important lesson to the world and that is his right for publishing it. In the first chapter, we learn of Robinson Kreutznaer, who is forced to change his last name to Crusoe later. He was born in 1632, in the city of York. he is the youngest of 3 brothers. One is in the military, the other went missing. Crusoe and his father differ on Robinson's career choice. Robinson wants to go to sea. his father wants him to take up law. In chapter three, Crusoe takes on the sea and after surviving a sea wreck, he is enslaved by pirates off the coast of Sallee. He takes a job as a fisher during his enslavement. In chapter 3, Crusoe and Xury, a fellow slave, escape on a fishing trip and sail away from Sallee. They arrive at the Canary Islands and Crusoe shows off his gunning skills to the residents of the island. Crusoe and Xury are then picked up by a portuguese ship. In chapter 4, Crusoe lands in Brazil. Crusoe becoms a tobacco planter and does well. As his business improves, Crusoe agrees with another man to go to Guinea to get slaves to help do Crusoe's work. In chapter 5, tings change drastically for Crusoe. On his way to Guinea, Crusoe's ship takes a beating by 2 storms and finds his way onto an island somewhere in the Caribbean. None of Crusoe's crewmembers show up and Crusoe is deserted by himself. In chapter 6, Crusoe goes to the ship's remains and finds food, clothing and arms. He also builds a raft. In capter 7, Crusoe builds a fortress with a hammock. Crusoe later finds 2 goats and kills them both. He then makes a corss with the date September 30, 1659, the date of his arrival on the island. He also records the good and evil points of his experience thus far, until he runs out of ink.

Robinson Crusoe seems like a pretty cool guy. Hes into GOD, as he is always praying to him which shows hes religious. He also seems very bright and understands what to do in dangerous situations. He is also very optimistic as we see in his good and evil chart. For everythign bad happening to him, there is a counterpart good for it. I think the theme so far is faith and destiny. Crusoe is somehow the only man that survives the man that survives from the shipwreck. Also a few years removed from being enslaved by pirates, Crusoe turns it all around and is a successful Tobacco planter. Crusoe shows faith because he believes that the man that put im in the position of being stuck on the island also can get him off and he has faith in GOD to get him off this island. I think the novel is going to portray some sort of conflict that Crusoe is going to need too overcome to prove himself. I dont believe he is just going to find a ship and get off free. Im believe he'll face some sort of problem to prove that he deserves his life and then he will eventually be rescued. The novel says that anyone can survive the worst if you have the will to survive. early on in the book, Crusoe is doing well because he has the tactics it takes to stay alive, even though he is just a regular man. it shows that everyone has the will to survive deep inside them and when put to the test, can suceed. The only thing this reminds me of on previous experience would be the TV show, "LOST". Both portray people stranded on islands and using their will power to survive. I learned that Crusoe's father was German and there original last name was Kreutznaer. Also, i found out that Crusoe is about 27 years old when he arrives on the island. The book is pretty ood so far and im excited about reading more chapters.