INDIVIDUALISM AS REFLECTED ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CRUSOE IN DANIEL DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RISSAKSANA
Student Number: 044214021
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
INDIVIDUALISM AS REFLECTED ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CRUSOE IN DANIEL DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RISSAKSANA
Student Number: 044214021
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
iii
v
To all of the people who always
support me
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Rissaksana
NIM : 041224028
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
INDIVIDUALISM AS REFLECTED ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CRUSOE IN DANIEL DEFOE’S ROBINSON CRUSOE
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian, saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas dan mempublikasikannya di internet
atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya
maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal 28 September 2011
Yang menyatakan,
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I want to thank The One Who Makes All the Things Possible:
the God Almighty. His guidance is proved to be very useful when I faced the
obstacles along the completing of the work. I am very grateful for the unlimited
inspirations You gave me. I would also give my thanks to my parents especially
my mother for the never ending support. Without that, I surely cannot complete
this thesis.
My deepest thank is also given to my advisor Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S,
M.Hum for the patience in guiding me until finally my thesis is finished. Thank
you very much, ma’am! I also would like to thank the second advisor for this
thesis M. Luluk Artika W, S.S. Your unlimited patience is helping me very much,
ma’am. Thank you. A great thank will also be given to Drs. Hirmawan
Widjanarka, M.Hum, the Head of the Department of English Letters, for letting
me take the KRS and “perpanjangan semester”, although it was actually late.
Thank you Sir, for your hospitality facing the “angkatan tua” student like me.
I would also like to give my thanks for my friends in Etawa Jazz
community for their great support and guide. Thank you friends, for letting me
join the jazz community. God jazz us, man!
Finally, I would like to say thank for all the elements and persons who
support me during this thesis completion process. God bless you all!
Rissaksana
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ………... i
APPROVAL PAGE ………... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ………... iii
MOTTO PAGE ……….. iv
DEDICATION PAGE ……… v
HALAMAN PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……… vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………... viii
ABSTRACT ………. ix
ABSTRAK ………. x
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ……… 1
A. Background of the Study ……….. 1
B. Problem Formulation ……… 6
C. Objectives of the Study ……… 6
D. Definition of Terms ……….. 6
CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW ………. 7
A. Review of Related Studies ……… 7
B. Review of Related Theories ………. 11
C. Theoretical Framework ………. 18
CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY ………... A. Object of the Study ……….. 19
B. Approach of the Study ……….. 20
C. Method of the Study ……… 21
CHAPTER IV : ANALYSIS ………... 23
A. The Description of the Characteristics of Robinson Crusoe …….. 23
B. Reflected Individualism Upon Crusoe’s Characteristics ………… 37
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION ………... 51
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ABSTRACT
RISSAKSANA. Individualism as Reflected on the Characteristics of Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
The term ‘individualism’ has become widely popular since the rise of Capitalism on 17th century, when England gained its golden age along with the Industrial Revolution era. It is considered to be unique because it actually has planted in the deepest grove of every human’s subconscious, so it is to say that every single person has the tendency to be an individualist. We often refer it as egoism. The rise of individualism also affected several author of the best seller book at that time, such as Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Robinson Crusoe. Each of the novels mentioned contains the strong influence of individualism. Seeing this fact, then the writer was encouraged to know more about the effect of the individualism to those literary works, and made a research from one of the famous books—it is the Robinson Crusoe.
From this research, finally the writer revealed the two objectives of making this study. They are (1) to find out how the character of Robinson Crusoe was described and (2) is to define individualism in the each characteristic of the main character of the novel studied.
In doing this research, several steps were taken. Reading and understanding the novel in details were the first step taken by the writer. The next step was deciding the topic and choose the approach to be used to analyze the problem. Problem formulations were conducted after the topic has been decided. Then the writer began to analyze the novel using the adequate theories and sources to find the answer of the two problem formulations.
After studying the novel thoroughly, finally the writer found that there are three major characteristics of the main character, and that answered the first problem. For the second problem, the writer also got the adequate results: there is strong individualism motive contained in each characteristic of the main character, and each individualism motive led to one main cause: the dominant ego that has planted in the subconscious mind of the main character, for the ego and individualism are closely related on each other. The writer also successfully proved that all of the major characteristics of the main character that has been studied are the result of the strong needs of that dominant ego.
ABSTRAK
RISSAKSANA. Individualism as Reflected on the Characteristics of Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Istilah ‘individualisme’ menjadi sangat terkenal sejak bangkitnya Kapitalisme pada abad 17, saat Inggris mencapai era keemasan bersamaan dengan era Revolusi Industri. Individualisme dianggap unik karena sebenarnya istilah ini sudah tertanam pada bagian terdalam dari pikiran bawah sadar manusia, karenanya dapat dikatakan bahwa setiap manusia mempunyai kecenderungan menjadi seorang individualis. Kita sering mengartikannya sebagai egoisme. Kebangkitan individualisme juga mempengaruhi beberapa karya sastra terbaik pada saat itu, seperti Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, dan Robinson Crusoe. Setiap novel tersebut memuat pengaruh individualisme yang kuat. Melihat fakta semacam ini, penulis merasa terdorong untuk mengetahui lebih banyak tentang efek dari individualism pada karya-karya sastra tersebut, dan membuat penelitian dari salah satu judul buku-buku tersebut, yaitu Robinson Crusoe.
Dari hasil penelitian tersebut, penulis akhirnya merumuskan tujuan pembuatan tugas ini, yaitu (1) menemukan bagaimanakah tokoh yang bernama Robinson Crusoe itu dideskripsikan oleh pengarangnya, dan (2) mendefinisikan individualisme dari setiap karakteristik dari tokoh utama.
Dalam membuat penelitian ini, diambillah beberapa langkah: Yang pertama adalah membaca dan memahami novel yang dipelajari dengan seksama. Langkah selanjutnya adalah menentukan topik. Kemudian, batasan masalah dirumuskan setelah topik didapat. Setelah itu, penulis mulai menganalisis masalah dengan menggunakan teori-teori dan sumber-sumber yang memadai.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
None of us know the exact time when individualism—in this case, the
accurate description of individualism—truly manifests in human civilization.
Many historians said that it has emerged so deeply in every aspect of human life
so that we claimed it to be the inseparable part of human life. Some even believed
that individualism emerged in this world at the same time when Adam and Eve
were banished from the heaven by God. So those statements imply in the other
words, that the spirit of individualism has existed since the beginning of human
civilization.
According to Ian Watts(1996) in his book Myth of Modern Individualism,
the own terms of individualism actually derived from Latin individuus, meaning
undivided or undividable. Then it gained the complete definition when the Oxford dictionary records its first use in 1835. There, the Oxford dictionary defined
individualism as: “self-centered feeling or conduct as a principle, … free and
individual action or thought, egoism.” Because being individual is a characteristic of human being, then Oxford dictionary added that “it is a very personal and
individual thing.” The meaning of individualism only changed a bit after 200
years, regardless of change in meaning that affected some of the English words. In
its updated version(2008), Oxford dictionary defined individualism as: “1) The
feeling or behavior of somebody who likes to do things their own way, regardless
of what people do; and 2) The theory that favors complete freedom for action and
belief for each individual person rather than state control.” But to be more specific
about this term, Watts himself stated:
Many psychological definitions of the term “individualism” equate it with egoism, with a single individual’s inward independence of other people or institutions. … But individualism was not originally or primarily a psychological term; it was and is essentially a social description; if people are aware of being individualists, it must be because the concept is familiar and established in their society. (Myths of Modern Individualism, 235)
If we observe the description of what individualism is—as stated above by
Watts—we may say in our own words that it is a kind of human characteristic that
is deeply emerged in the subconscious part of human mind, as a product of
society’s strong mindset, so that it becomes the tendency—our own tendency—to
become very individual, in contrary to the fact that human is a social creature. We
sometimes tend to be more individualistic than the others in a situation where we
compete in search of something that can lift our own egos up, such as the need of
being popular, different than the others, more superb, and this usually leads to the
rise of our own pride—in which it could separate human being from one
another—remembering that we cannot truly live in aloneness.
So strong was the individualist spirits in the medieval era—it was the
impact of Renaissance and particularly the rise of the Protestants, who often
accused as the main cause of the rise of individualism—so that it forced the
European kingdoms—led by the Holy Roman Catholic Church—to create what
the society called ‘the counter-individualism’, in which it considered that every
3
had also been reflected in the many great masterpieces created by famous artist at
that time, such as Faust, Don Quixote, and Don Juan—in which all of them have the very similarities from the writers’ own point of view towards the
individualism. In Faust, doctor Faust was sent to hell because of his agreement with the Devil. Similarly, the arrogant Don Juan died tragically in the hand of the
Living Statue, while Don Quixote died in regret—although he had received
forgiveness from the church—of the failure of his quest.
Different from its three predecessors, Robinson Crusoe practices individualism in a more ‘civilized’ manner than those three masterpieces. While
the writers of Faust, Don Quixote, and Don Juan regarded individualism as something unpleasant, the writer of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, regarded individualism as something important; the moving force that could control the
desire of Crusoe—the main character—of pursuing happiness, the force that could
make Crusoe survived his twenty seven years in an uninhabited island. Ian Watts
in his book implicitly stated the difference of the society’s viewpoint towards
individualism in Britain and in Europe in these passages:
We cannot but wonder whether these experiences conditioned their(the authors) confirmation of the strong punitive tendencies of the Counter-Reformation, exemplified so starkly in the death and damnation of Don Juan, the orthodox Christian death of Don Quixote, and the terrible fate of doctor Faustus. The final emblematic punishment of three protagonist can be seen as the unpalatable lesson which the Counter-Reformation attempted to teach to the individualism of the Renaissance. (Myths of Modern Individualism, 137)
The passage above explained that the individualism movement in the
renaissance era in Europe was forbidden by the Church at that time, and it was
Quixote, and Don Juan—all of them represent the individualism in the renaissance era. The different reaction on individualism instead was shown in England. This is
shown in the next passage:
Crusoe, as created by Defoe, is not only a tribute to the basis of the individualism in the Puritan psychology, or in the ethos of developing capitalism; he is also a reflection of the virtues and vices of the English character. As James Joyce wrote in his 1912 lecture on Defoe: “The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence; the unconscious cruelty; the persistence; the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy; the practical, well-balanced religiousness; the calculating taciturnity.” (Myths of Modern Individualism, 171)
Here we can see the contradiction of the viewpoint towards individualism
in Europe and in Britain, in which on one side Europe—mostly dominated by
Roman Catholic countries—tried to suppress the rise of individualism, while on
the other side, Britain—the country that had lost its bound from the influence of
the Roman Catholic Church—used individualism as its expression to reach glory,
until eventually they reached the great success on making Britain the wealthiest
country in the world; it was all because the spirit of individualism.
Moreover, the rise of Capitalism at the end of 17th century created a vast
space for individualism to grow, because individualism is the basic principle of
Capitalism and they support each other. Robinson Crusoe, as a result of this massive individualism movement in Britain then received a great public applause
because of its strength of the story. It really depicted individualism as the way it
was in the characteristic of Crusoe, the main character. So it is quite fair to see
that Crusoe was described by Defoe as a man who always sees the other people
5
and Capitalism spirits on the eighteenth century—which depended explicitly on
the participation of an individual in a newly competitive and credit-based
marketplace. This can be shown—as we read carefully along the story—in his
solitary state on the island and his limited relationships with others including his
own family, that obviously reflect the nature of individualism, which of course,
emphasizes individual self-interest. Because it really put the individual’s interest
above anything else, individualism—which in this thesis is based on the
psychology theory—tended to diminish the importance of personal as well as
group relationships.
This phenomenon—individualism that is reflected in the characteristics of
Crusoe—is the main reason that interests the writer to study this topic. The writer
considered the phenomenon of Robinson Crusoe as an interesting thing to be
studied because what we called ‘the characteristics of Robinson Crusoe’ is often
found in the individual life of the nowadays society. As we may know, the
individuals in today’s society—especially in metropolis cities—are usually
emphasize individual self-interest—the thing that we always see in Crusoe. Even
the rich companies also see the other people based on the economic use only.
They seldom pay attention to the need of the other people—especially the
working class. Instead, they exploit these people—what usually cause social
barrier. In conclusion, what interests the writer to study further about Robinson
Crusoe is the resemblance between Crusoe and today’s individual life.
A. Problem Formulation
1. How are the characteristics of Crusoe described?
2. In what way is individualism reflected through the characteristics of Robinson
Crusoe?
B. Objectives of the Study
Basically the objectives of this study can be divided into two parts. The
first objective of the study is to find out how the character of Robinson Crusoe
was described. The second objective of this study is to define and explain the
individualism motives in each characteristic of Robinson Crusoe.
C. Definition of Terms
According to the Oxford English Dictionary 2008 edition, individualism
is: “1) The feeling or behavior of somebody who likes to do things their own way,
regardless of what people do; and 2) The theory that favors complete freedom for
action and belief for each individual person rather than state control.”(Oxford
2008)
Individualism actually derived from Latin individuus, meaning undivided
or undividable. Moreover, Ian Watts stated in his book Myths of Modern Individualism that “many psychological definitions of the term “individualism” equate it with egoism, with a single individual’s inward independence of other
7
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Robinson Crusoe is considered as one of the greatest novels ever made. The fame of Crusoe, the main character, can be compared with the fame of
Lemuel Gulliver, as well as Odysseus, Don Quixote, Falstaff, and the rest of
‘immortal’ masterpiece. Those main characters in the novels mentioned
previously have their own uniqueness that made them widely famous. Similar
with those ‘immortal’ stories, Robinson Crusoe also has its own strong chemistry that made this novel can be put in the list of the greatest novels ever made.
As we know that the main idea of Crusoe’s life experience was taken from
the life experience of Alexander Selcraig or Selkirk, a sailor from Fife in
Scotland, in which he decided to be put ashore on the island of Juan Fernandez,
and there he lived all alone for four and a half years. Guy N. Pocock on the
introduction of the book said that although people knew where the writer—Daniel
Defoe—got the raw idea, but when the human creativity is put upon it, a miracle
happens and one can say no more than that.
This, then, is the nucleus—the slight account of the doings of Alexander Selkirk on Juan Fernandez—which inspired the immortal adventures of Robinson Crusoe on an island in Carribean Sea. (Robinson Crusoe, ix)
Daniel Defoe’s ability of writing such a great story did not come up
instantly. His incredible writing ability was gained because Defoe was previously
English Literature said that although he had no chance of university education, he became a man of wide learning, speaking six and reading even more languages.
As a pamphleteer, Defoe’s pamphlet style was very critical, and he knew
the affairs of the Aristocratic lords better than anyone did. As a result, his
pamphlets were enormously influencing the public in the days when pamphlets
took the place of the news nowadays. Van De Laar also stated that Defoe had
what the modern journalist called ‘a true journalist intuition’.
Defoe was a journalist and he had a good luck to live in an age the cultural level of which was very high. He could write so fast and well because he used the pure contemporary idiom—a sign of high cultural level—and because he was kind of genius and spoke beeter than most, i.e. used better speech, he wrote better than most. (An Approach to English Literature, 179)
As a journalist, he was clever on arranging a good and interesting article.
His idea led to the periodical essay that appears daily in newspapers. It was
Defoe’s long article which led directly to the leading article of our own times. He
also invented personal interview and gossip article in newspapers. Even before he
wrote novels, he had written more than two hundred treatises, pamphlets, and
booklets on all sorts of subjects.
It was Defoe who actually invented novel because the previous stories
created before his novels are characterized by their extreme unreality, although
many of them show great interest in the affairs of everyday life and in human
nature. The writers made little or no attempt at creating characters based on
everyday life events. So we can say that the writers before Defoe wrote stories
that cannot be accepted into logic—of the people at that time—because of the
9
novelists. Defoe’s novels—Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and the rest are brilliant autobiographical adventure stories—his books are simply marvelous
example of the adventure story told by oneself.
Generally called novel-by-accident—the novel that contains accident
story, the strength of Robinson Crusoe lies in the solitary life of Crusoe, the main character. How he faced his loneliness is the strongest chemistry that made Crusoe
cannot be easily forgotten. Moreover, it is beyond our mind that a man from 17th
century could make the incredible details as well as nowadays novelist.
The main reason behind the great success of the first book of Robinson Crusoe—entitled The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe—is that Defoe had successfully made the readers feel that the life of Robinson Crusoe is being experienced by the readers as they read every scene in
the novel. Defoe had put every scene in detail, so that the readers could imagine
how to live as Robinson Crusoe himself. The very exactness of the detail is the
clue to Defoe’s method of creating the illusion of reality. At the time we can
follow what he had experienced from day to day, month to month, and year to
year. Van de Laar added that the point that made Crusoe’s fame widely spread
through England is that Defoe brilliantly managed to create the illusion of reality
upon the life of Robinson Crusoe, something that never been done by the writers
at that era.
Defoe created the illusion by using a mass of circumstantial of a kind of no one …would take the trouble to invent. The whole thing is certainly fantastic and incredible enough. …many details appear too trivial for anyone to have invented them, while others seem inexplicable unless as a result of private experience. (An Approach to English Literature, 179)
To convince the reader that what Crusoe had experienced—stranded on an
island alone for 28 years, 2 months and 19 days—was true, Defoe even released
the third book of Robinson Crusoe, titled Serious Reflections. In this book, Defoe managed to create such a condition as if it was Crusoe himself who wrote the
reflections. The book contained several reflections from Crusoe’s adventures
supposed to be written by Crusoe, and it put more emphasis on the part in which
Crusoe was stranded in an uninhabited island. In his book Myth of Modern Individualism, Ian Watt said that Defoe seemed to put some unbelievable attitude towards the reader’s perception, because he persisted in convincing the readers
that the event was really happened, although most readers have already known
that Robinson Crusoe is purely fiction.
And what is the point of asserting that various part of the tale—the parrot, Man Friday and so on—are all “literary true”(III, xi) when the writer also concedes the important qualification that every “Circumstance” in the imaginary story has its just allusion to the “real event”. (Myth of Modern Individualism, 149)
Regarding the ambiguity that was mentioned above, the writer decided that
Robinson Crusoe is chosen to be the main subject of this study because the writer was interested to study more about the character of Robinson Crusoe. The great
chemistry that was brilliantly put by Daniel Defoe in his main character and the
details about what happened to him becomes the main attraction to the writer’s
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B. Review of Related Theory
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Van de Laar in An Approach to English Literature, stated that a character
is the re-creation of human life that firstly comes up from the novelist’s mind. In
the other words, the novelist does not take his character straight from life. The
human beings s/he has observed in actual life first pass through the novelist’s
mind, then the imagination sets to work on them and re-creates them
imaginatively. As a result, the characters are never exact replicas of the actual
human beings.
Because a novelist re-creates a person imaginatively, there may be happen
that two novelists who are ‘working on’ the same living person produce two quite
different characters. So little of the original has been left, so much other material
added, that one cannot speak a portrait. On the other hand, it is not totally true
when a novelist says that a character is truly a fiction. A novelist often builds
his/her character out of elements s/he has taken from various persons and it is
his/her problem to make this character real.
Another opinion about what character is was stated by M.H. Abrams in his
book A Glossary of Literary Terms. There, he described a character as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as
being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are
expressed in what they say—the dialogue—and by what they do—the action. A
character may remain essentially ‘stable’, or unchanged in outlook and
disposition, from beginning to end of a work, or may undergo radical change,
either through a gradual process of motivation and development.
In defining the ‘stability’ of a character, E.M. Forster in Aspect of the Novel categorized two kinds of character. The first is called flat character, that is when a character is built around ‘a single idea or quality’, and is presented without
much individualizing detail, and therefore can be fairly adequately described in a
single phrase or sentence. The second is called round character, that is when a character is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with
subtle particularity. Such as character therefore is as difficult to describe with any
adequacy as a person in real life, and like real persons, is capable of surprising us.
Similar with what E.M. Forster defined, Van de Laar also stated that
Character in a novel should not be static. It means that there must be development,
because we have already knew that a static character—the character who does not
experience any significant characteristic change from the beginning until the end
of the story—sometimes gives a kind of ‘monotonous’ atmosphere in a story.
While the plot, the story, goes forward, the character should go forward too and
vice versa. Action and incident spring out of character and, having occurred, they
change it, so that at the end of a novel a character should have changed, have
developed, and. should be different from what it was at the beginning of the novel.
While in the first sentence it is stated that character is the re-creation of human life by observing the real life and the human beings inside—and finally it
results as imaginary persons, the process of re-creating it, so that they exist for the
13
characterization. The first method is the explicit presentation by the author of the
character through direct exposition, either in an introductory block or more often
piecemeal throughout the work, illustrated by action. The second method is the
presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the
author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attributes of
the actor from the actions. And then the final method is the representation from
within the character, without comment on the character by the author, of the
impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self, with the expectation
that the reader will come to a clear understanding of the attributes of the character.
Additionally, Jonathan Culler in his book Introduction to Literature stated that there are two main methods character presentation in the novel. The first is
called typification method. This method is used in order to show the readers the personified vices, virtues, or philosophical and religious positions. Then the
second method is called individualization method, which is divided into two aspect: the first is the explanatory characterization or telling, which describes a person through the narrator—the character is represented through the filter of a
selective and judging narrator; and the second is the dramatic characterization or showing, which creates the impression on the reader that he or she is able to
perceive the acting figures without any intervening agency, as if witnessing
dramatic performance—in the other words, the author let the readers to judge the
character he or she creates by their own value. In the novel Robinson Crusoe, the author used the dramatic characterization method to describe the character of Crusoe. So, it is to say that the theory of Characterization is the most suitable
theory that is going to be used to explore the traits of the main character of the
novel studied.
2. Individualism
The Oxford Dictionary (2008) describes the word individualism as: “The feeling or behavior of somebody who likes to do things their own way, regardless
of what people do.” We all know the fact that human beings are both social and
individual being, and each of those two basic characteristics cannot be separated
each other. Yet, there is tendency in each one of us to be more individualistic than
the others—in fact, so strong the individual tendency in some of us, so that it
tends to control and even overcome our characteristic of being social. In the other
words, some of us—who are considered to be more ‘individualistic’ than the
others—use the ability of being social for the individual purpose only. That
example showed us that our tendency of being individual has deeply planted upon
the very essence of every human being. Thus, the statement that “individualism
emerged in this world at the same time when Adam and Eve were banished from
the heaven by God” could be considered right.
But from the history point of view, the word ‘individualism’ gained its
essence meaning after the birth of the Protestants in the Middle ages, along with
the rise of Renaissance era. In his book Myth of Modern Individualism, Ian Watts stated that individualists was a social description, because this concept was
familiar and very well-established in the society—seeing the fact that people are
aware of being individualist. So it was acceptable that it is a social description,
15
know that the Protestants were rapidly grew after they declared to separate from
the Roman Catholic Church, and as the result, they became what the people
said—the social religion. Louis Dumont, in his essay Essais sur I'individualisme: Une perspective anthropologique sur Videologie modern, stated that the institutionalization of individualism was based on the Christian belief, and it was
developed from the general idea of the society in which created from the union of
all believers, the union in which the individuals are totally free and autonomous.
Later, he added that individualism was developed by the Reformation and the
Calvinists—so; it was “a phenomenon of Western world”.
After individualism became institutionalized, then it gained its complete
description. After the Oxford Dictionary recorded the use of the word
individualism in 1835, there it defined individualism in its early use as: "self-centered feeling or conduct as a principle; free and independent individual action
or thought; egoism." The more precise definition came up after Alexis de
Tocqueville, quoted by Ian Watts, defined individualism in his own words in his
book On Democracy in America, as:
Individualism is a novel expression, to which a novel idea has given birth. Our fathers were only acquainted with egoisme (selfishness). Selfishness is a passionate and exaggerated love of self, which leads a man to connect everything with himself and to prefer himself to everything in the world. Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends.
This description is the most accurate description to describe the nature of
individualism, because it precisely defined the phenomenon of individualists
nowadays, which tends to use their ego to control the environment around us. This
description is also considered the best description to examine the characteristics of
Crusoe in the novel Robinson Crusoe. An interesting ethos of the individualist people was stated by the former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, as
quoted by Anthony Elliot and Charles Lemert in the book The New Individualist
page 3, said that “There is no society, only individuals and families.”
That statement of Margaret Thatcher really shows us that the spirit of
individualism has influenced strongly most of the society especially nowadays,
where people are given total freedom by the social system to choose their own
path to build their happy life, and expressing their own innermost desire. This
then, is so relevant with what is stated next by Anthony Elliot:
In the so-called do-it-yourself society, we are now all entrepreneurs of our own lives. What is unmistakable about the rise of individualist culture, in which constant risk-taking and obsessive preoccupation with flexibility rules, is that individuals must continually strive to be more efficient, faster, leaner, inventive and self-actualizing than they were previously—not sporadically, but day-in and day-out. (The New Individualism, p.3)
3. Psychology Theory
The psychology theory is the essential elements needed when we are about
to analyze the trait of the main character, because this theory deals mostly with the
psychological aspect of the main character studied. There are lots of the
psychological theories and theoreticians, but what we are going to apply to
analyze the main character is the famous theory stated by famous psychologist
17
In psychoanalysis study, human psyche becomes the main object of the
study. Before Freud presented this theory publicly, there was rarely—or even
none at all—any kind of modern knowledge that analyze the human psyche as
complete as what Freud had presented. Because of his breakthrough findings
about human psyche phenomenon, Freud then called as ‘the father of
Psychoanalysis’. Mainly in psychoanalysis, Freud divided human psyche into
three aspects. The first aspect is called id, or human basic instinct. Basically, human id has no difference with the basic animal instinct, because they shared same needs, such as the need to eat, the need to mate, the need to survive, etc.
What differentiates human and animals is the second aspect of human psyche that
is not found in animal: ego. This aspect functions as the controller of the human
id. Ego also functions as psychological aspect of human being. This aspect becomes the mean to connect the human instinct and the reality, and because of
this function, it also makes a human being think logically. The last aspect of
human psychology is called by Freud as superego, and it mainly roles as the moral aspect of human being, and it also functions as the limitation of the ego, so
that the human being can be accepted in a structure of society. Without the three
aspects mentioned, a human cannot be a complete human being.
The Psychoanalysis theory is seemed suitable to analyze how the main
character in the novel studied by the writer behaves, because its principles can be
used to trace how those three human aspects affected the main character.
C. Theoretical Framework
Those theories and reviews above are both important in solving the
problems. The reviews are needed to compare the study in this paper with any
previous studies; whether it is an agreement or disagreement to the object of the
study, etc. The theories are also needed to help solving the problems: the theory of
Characterization is needed to study about the development of certain character,
and the theory of Individualism is needed to describe how far a character is
affected by the concept. Besides, the psychology theory must be added to analyze
the traits and psychological aspects of the main character, because this thesis
mainly studies about the main character’s psyche. All of these theories are applied
in the studies by comparing them to the problem discussed.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object that is taken for the purpose of this research is entitled
Robinson Crusoe. It was written by Daniel Defoe, the Englishman who, in the previous time, was more popular to be called a journalist. His skill of arranging an
interesting topic and article made Defoe was considered as an expert journalist at
that time.
As a journalist, Defoe had produced a lot of influencing article. Moreover,
he was very critical to the English government at that time. It was his rough
satirical poem entitled “The True Born Englishman” who made him imprisoned several times. Even he made another satirical poem called “Hymn to the Pillory”
while he was still in prison. When he began to make his first novel entitled
Robinson Crusoe, he used his skills on writing pamphlets to create the amazing storyline that would make him achieve literary immortality later on.
Robinson Crusoe was first published in London at 17th century. This book reaped the great success soon after it was launched and became the mostly read
work by the people even until nowadays. Defoe succeeded in making his work’s
fame equal with another immortal works such as Gulliver’s Travel and Helen of Troy. Like the work, Defoe also considered to be a great author. In 1836, 18 years later and on the other side of the Atlantic, Edgar Allan Poe said that Robinson
Crusoe has become a household thing in nearly every family in Christendom. A
hundred years after Robinson Crusoe was published, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
praised its author as being far superior to Jonathan Swift. Dozens of films,
whether it is about Crusoe or inspired by Robinson Crusoe was also made, such as
Robinson Crusoe the Movie starred by Pierce Brosnan and Robinson Crusoe in Mars. Moreover, Robinson Crusoe spawned Johann Wyss's book The Swiss Family Robinson, which spawned at least three feature films of that same name.
Generally, this book tells about the story of a young boy named Robinson
Kreutznaer, who was more popular with nickname Crusoe. The young Crusoe left
his home in order to become an overseas merchant. Then he experienced amazing
adventure as a newly merchant. His luck began to turn on his side when he raped
great success in Brazil. But the luck seemed to play on him when a storm destroy
his ship and drifted him ashore on an uninhabited island alone. Here lies the
strength of the story that inspired many people; when Crusoe live alone in the
island for 28 years. How he survived alone, his reflections upon his life, the
relations with the Providence, are the sources that made this story immortal.
B. Approach
In studying a work, the most suitable approach is needed in order to gain a
better understanding to a certain work. The role of an approach is to keep the
writer on the right track on making a research of a certain work before finally lead
the study into a precise conclusion.
21
noting how certain events in the story of the novel studied affects or influences the
main character’s motivations and/or behavior in the rest of the story. Regarding
that this study brought individualism as the main topic, the writer chose to apply
psychological approach to trace how far the certain conditions—in this study,
individualism—affects and influences the main character’s point of view;
therefore it will gain a thorough and complete analysis.
C. Method of the Study
The writer use library research in doing the research. Because this study is
a library research study, almost all sources were taken from the library, and the
rest of them were taken from the internet source. The book from the library and
internet source was consulted before making the report.
The primary object of the research—it is, the novel—was taken from
library. Besides, the secondary data, including the biography of the author, and
any other information about the novel were taken from various sources.
Furthermore, the theories used to answer the problem formulation were taken
from some books and websites.
In doing this research, several steps were taken. Reading and
understanding the novel in details was the first step taken by the writer. Then,
reading several sources to know further about the work was also essential to the
writer. After gained some thoughts about the work, the writer decided the suitable
topic on this study—that is, individualism—since it is assumed that individualism
strongly influenced the work. Problem formulation can be summed after the topic
has been decided.
The next step was collecting the data suitable to help the writer answering
the problem formulation. Then after the data was adequately understood, the
writer began to analyze the main character and his/her role towards the whole
story. Using the theory of character and characterization, the writer began to
analyze how the main character is characterized and presented to the readers by
the author—what type of character Robinson Crusoe is; how he is drawn by the
author, etc. And then after it is clear to the readers about how the main character
has been presented, the writer—using the theory of Individualism, began to
analyze how far the individualism has affected the main character. Further, the
writer wanted to show the readers the aspects of individualism that is contained
within the character of Robinson Crusoe—what kind of person he is; how
individualized he is; is it he truly individualistic person or is he just following the
conditions so that he became individualistic? etc, etc. After the analysis has been
23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
A. The Description of the Characteristics of Robinson Crusoe
The character of Robinson Crusoe in this novel written by Daniel Defoe
became the center of the public’s attention since he ‘told’ the public ‘himself’
very precisely what happened to him in the uninhabited island—from the very
beginning of his 27 years of lone life until he left the island with the help of the
Englishman sailors. It was like a really new and fresh point of view to the public
because none of the character in the stories written by countless authors—before
Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, of course—could simply told the readers and made them feel like they experienced every single moment with the character.
What made this character very special is that the touch of the author
himself—he got the raw idea from nothing but usual story of an ordinary sailor
(Robinson Crusoe, ix), who was stranded alone in an island no more than a year, and with the exceptional writing skill, the author made that one-year experience of
an ordinary sailor into a fascinating story of an extraordinary sailor. This has
proven that the author of Robinson Crusoe—Daniel Defoe really had an extraordinary talent of creating such character like Crusoe.
It is to be remembered that the theory of Character—previously stated by
Dr. E. Van de Laar in the Theoretical Review chapter—stated that a character in every story must have development in order to create a good story. The
development is created by either accidents or conflicts that occur as the story
goes, so the character will not be the same as she or he was on the beginning of
the story. Moreover, a special character is created by his or her conflict especially
inside his or her mind, in which it results in the complete change of the character
itself.
To be considered, in the first part of analysis which tries to answer the
first problem formulation, the writer is going to try to describe Robinson Crusoe’s
characteristics which are regarded relevant to the discussion of individualism. If it
has been said previously that Crusoe is that sort of special character, and these
characteristics lead to the relevancy with individualism, then, what kind of
character Crusoe is?
At the beginning of the story Crusoe was described as the ordinary young
man whose desire burns brightly. Unfortunately this desire was altered by his
father’s intention of making the young Crusoe a successful lawyer, which of
course, was disagreed by the young Crusoe. It was reasonable at that time for the
parents to educate their children highly because the society would regard the
educated person as a respected individual.
From the strong disagreement of Crusoe, the first characteristic of Crusoe
can be clearly seen:
1. Rebelling against all type of mental repression
On the other words, what young Crusoe really wanted actually is a total
individual freedom. It is actually fair for a young man to have burning desire,
because usually people, especially in a very young age like Crusoe, always try to
25
the society instead forced them to give up their independence, only to fulfill what
is wanted by the society. This is what we observed in Crusoe’s society. The next
passage implies that one’s position in the society in the era of Crusoe is
determined by the occupation that he or she had.
Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be fill’d very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning as far house education and a country-free school generally goes, and design’d me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to the sea, and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and perswasions of my mother and other friends, that there seem’d to be something fatal in that propension of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me. (Robinson Crusoe, p.5)
The inner desire of young Crusoe was too strong to be influenced by the
society. Obviously, he did not like to be dictated by the notion of the society, in
this case, represented through the will of his father, and the entreaties and
persuasions of his mother and other friends. The use of the word ‘ancient’ in
describing his father is a kind of picture on how Crusoe saw his father’s mindset,
in which it was very contrast with his own mindset. Tired of the doctrine of his
father, then young Crusoe wanted to leave his home hoping that he could get free
from the pressure of the society by becoming an overseas sailor. Here, we can also
find the motive behind the choice of his occupation—as an overseas sailor. First,
he saw sea as a medium of a total individual expression, where no boundaries can
be seen; where he could go everywhere he wanted to, without concerning any
social norm. Second, he discovered that the sea is the one and only way to escape
the pressure because he disliked the society’s point of view towards the individual
freedom, which stated in this passage:
He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortune on the other, who went abroad on adventures, to rise by enterprise and make themselves famous in undertaking of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me, or to far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of the low life which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the mysteries and hardships, the labour and sufferings to the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrass’d with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of the mankind. (Robinson Crusoe, p.5)
To conclude the passage above, the attempt to express the individual
freedom would be considered either too bizarre or too crazy for the most of people
at that time. The middle state, the state which is stayed by Crusoe’s family, was
considered as a comfort zone to the most of the people at that time. This passage
shows how the middle state had become very popular state on the era of Crusoe:
He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; … that the middle station of life was calculated for all kinds of virtues and all kinds of enjoyment; that peace and plenty were hand-maids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable divisions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly thro’ the world, and comfortably out of it, … . (Robinson Crusoe, p.6)
This kind of notion is something that disturbed Crusoe very much. Living
in the middle state of life does not mean that the chance to express the
self-confidence was restricted to the lowest point. As a young spiritful man who likes
27
to the individual freedom. This passage precisely shows how Crusoe’s reaction to
this kind of restriction:
But alas! A few days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any of my father’s farther importunities, in a few weeks after, I resolv’d to run quite away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first heat of my resolution prompted, but I took my mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world, that I should never settled to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go but one voyage abroad, and if I come home again and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double diligent to recover the time I had lost. (Robinson Crusoe, p.7)
We can see that Crusoe chose to stay away from his father, and he tried to
convince his mother that his mind was so entirely bent upon seeing the outside
world. He said very clearly to his mother that he was eighteen years old and he is
old enough to decide the best by himself. He did not need any of the parental
suggestion anymore. He was so desperate that even he begged his mother to
convince his ancient father that he would be very faithful to his father if he is
allowed to express his freedom just once. Unfortunately, his father did not even
pay attention to the desperation of Crusoe. Moreover, his father added that if he
turned against his father’s wish, then he will be the most miserable person in the
world.
Tho’ my mother refused to move it to my father, yet as I have heard afterwards, she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after shewing a great concern at it, said to her with a sigh, ‘that boy might be
happy if he would stay at home, but if he goes abroad he will be the miserablest wretch that was ever born: I can give no consent to it.’ (Robinson Crusoe, p.8)
But it looks like that his father had made his biggest mistake by saying
those words to Crusoe, although indirectly. His advice did not even change
Crusoe’s deepest desire a single bit (although he was actually affected a lot by the
‘prophetic’ words of his father, until later at some point in his reflection in the
island he thought that all of the unfortunate events that had been experienced by
him was caused by his unfaithful deeds to his family—especially his father—by
leaving his home quietly without the permission and blessings of his father).
Instead, it made him become more and more eager to leave his home quickly.
Seeing no hope that his father would give him any permission, then Crusoe left
his home quietly to become sailor.
Obviously that after he gained his freedom, Crusoe had really obsessed
with his individual freedom so that he refused to go home after several times
experiencing unfortunate evens when he made his first sail, as an illegal sailor.
Even the captain of the ship—after learning about Crusoe’s home escape—asked
him to go home because the captain felt that all of these misfortune was coming
from the unfaithful deeds of Crusoe to his family. We can implicitly see the
conflict on Crusoe’s mind after he was asked to go home from this passage:
29
ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are asham’d of the returning, which only can make them be esteem’d wise man. (Robinson Crusoe, p.14)
The passage above explained that Crusoe was too ashamed to go home, or
if we may say in the other words, he did not like to go back to the old habits of his
society, and mainly did not like on how the society judge the man like him as
‘doing a very bad sin’, because he thought that escaping from his home was just
merely a desire of a young boy that was neglected by the parents. Seeing that it
was not possible to go home with shame, Crusoe instead went to London and
joined one of the prestigious trade companies in London.
Here, another trait of Crusoe that is also obviously shown as the story
continues, and we must have been aware of it, had begun to unfold:
2. Pursues wealth heavily, and tends to be greedy
Being apart from his old society and now totally decide his own destiny by
himself, he began to pursue wealth as some kind of proof to convince himself that
he is able to completely free from all of his past influence. As we know that
actually Crusoe still carry what he called ‘guilty feeling’ from his escape. His
father’s word that Crusoe will be the most miserable person if he left his home
was grasped deep in his subconscious mind. By pursuing wealth, it looked like
this is the only thing that could be done by Crusoe to prove that his father’s word
was completely nonsense. Working on a prestigious company in London, Crusoe
did not waste his time. He efficiently used his time by becoming well-acquainted
with the ship captain of that trade company. This passage obviously shows how
well Crusoe get acquainted with the captain:
… I first fell acquainted with the master of the ship who had been on the coast of guinea, and who, having had very good success there, was resolved to go again; and who, taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the world, told me if I wou’d go the voyage with him I should be at no expence; I should be his mess-mate and his companion, and if I could carry any thing with me, I should have all the advantage of it that trade would admit; and perhaps I might meet with some encouragement. … I embrac’d the offer, and entering into a strict friendship with this captain, who was honest and plain-dealing man, I went the voyage with him … (Robinson Crusoe, p.15)
Crusoe then quickly learned that the amount of profit from trading with the
native African people was something very tempting to be gained. Since then,
pursuing wealth had likely become one of the obsessions that Crusoe had. His
mind was completely filled with what is called ‘never ending wealth’ syndrome.
It is believed that this state of mind that caused Crusoe became a quick learner on
differentiating the value of any certain thing. He could instinctively determine
which things were worth of sale and which things that was not. It is shown in this
passage:
I bethought my self, however, that perhaps the skin of him (lion) might one way or other be some value to us, and I resolved to take off his skin if I could. So Xury and I went to work with him; but Xury was much the better workman at it, for I know very ill how to do it. Indeed, it took us up both the whole day, but at last we got off the hide of him, and spreading it on the top of our cabbin, the sun effectually dried it in two days’ time, and it afterwards serv’d me to lye upon. (Robinson Crusoe, p.15)
This passage also shows that how quickly Crusoe could read the situations
that might give profit to him.
31
readily and much more readily than we cou’d have done with a knife; they offered me some of the flesh, which I declined, making as I would give it them, but made signs for the skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought me a great deal more of their provision, which tho’ I did not understand, yet I accepted; … (Robinson Crusoe, p.25)
We see that Crusoe could quickly determine whether the skin of a lion and
leopard could become a very high value. Moreover in the second passage, Crusoe
cleverly took advantage of the situation among the native African people by
helping them killing the great leopard that frightened them very much. This made
the native very grateful to him. Having observed that the leopard skin was of no
great value to the native, then Crusoe demanded to take the leopard skin as a
reward of his help, and surprisingly the native brought more leopard skin to
Crusoe, which was accepted happily by him. The instinct of Crusoe was
eventually proven true, when he finally got a large amount of money by selling it
to the captain of the Portuguese ship.
The generous treatment the captain gave me, I can never enough remember; he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats for the leopard’s skin, and forty for the lyon’s skin which I had in my boat, and caused everything I had in the ship to be punctually deliver’d me, and what I was willing to sell he bought, … in a word, I made about 220 pieces of eight of all my cargo, and with this stock I went on shoar in the Brasils. (Robinson Crusoe, p.27)
It looks like the ‘wealth syndrome’ was also responsible for making
Crusoe become greedy, because he dared to sell his most faithful servant, Xury—
with whom he promised to make a really great man—to the captain of the
Portuguese ship, for 60 pieces of gold in the exchange of the mutual friendship
with the captain, although this transaction later troubled him a lot and made him
regretted for parting with his faithful servant. On the other words, under this
condition, what he seeks was only much and much profit. His relationship with
others usually based on their use for him: they could make him closer to his
ultimate purpose. Mainly, that is the reason why Crusoe could get a prestigious
position in trading with others. Because of this mutual friendship, Crusoe got the
privilege of learning the skill of cultivating plantation as soon as they arrive in
Brazil. Moreover, the Portuguese captain allowed Crusoe to live with him to learn
more about cultivating plantation as shown in this passage:
I had not been long here, but being recommended to the house of a good honest man like himself, who had an ingenio as they call it, that is, a plantation an a sugar house, I lived with him some time, and acquainted my self by that means with the manner of planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters liv’d, and how they grew rich suddenly, … (Robinson Crusoe, p.27)
Now it seemed clear that Crusoe tended to make friend with the person
that could bring great advantage to him—from the captain of the trade company to
the captain of the Portuguese ship—both of them were contributed a lot on
making Crusoe really wealthy person. On the other words, Crusoe did what me
may say ‘sucking the knowledge’ from the both captain of the ship. Crusoe really
‘sucked’ the kind of knowledge that can be used for life, and as a result,
eventually he manifested his dream of becoming a wealthy person by himself.
This passage shows it very clearly:
33
full of project and undertakings beyond my reach; such as are indeed often the ruine of the best heads in business. (Robinson Crusoe, p.30)
Not only just that. Crusoe also could finally prove to himself that he could
reach the state in which his father had advised Crusoe by his own hard work, not
because of the society’s demand: the middle state, although he felt a kind of regret
because he reached this state very apart 5000 miles from the people he loved: his
parents, his siblings, and his friends.
… and for which I forsook my father’s house and broke thro’ all his good advice; nay, I was coming into a very middle station, or upper degree of the low life, which my father advised me to before; and which I resolved to go on with, I might as well ha’ staid at home, and never had fatigu’d my self in the world as I had done; and I used often to say to my self, I could ha’ done this as well in England among my friends, as ha’ gone 5000 miles off to do it among strangers and savages in a wilderness, and as such distance as never to hear from any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me. (Robinson Crusoe, p.28)
Despite his achievement for becoming a very wealthy person, Crusoe’s
greed became worse and worse. We knew that slave-trading at that time was very
popular, and many African people were employed mainly by the Spaniards and
Portuguese. They—the Spaniards and Portuguese—imported a vast number of
slaves to their colonies in South America, to cultivate the lands in the colony. The
agency who arranged the slave-import matters of course reaped a great sum of
gold because of the huge demands of slaves in the Spaniards and Portuguese
colony. Crusoe, whose mindset was very much trained to see profits in every part
of his life, smelled this as an opportunity to expand his business. In short terms, he
was tempted by the profit of slave-trading. Should he be wiser and patient, he
surely became a successful multi-millionaire. He said it in this passage:
Had I continued the station I was now in, I had room for all the happy things to have yet befallen me, for which my father so earnestly recommended a quiet retired life, and of which he had so sensibly describ’d the middle station of life to be full of. (Robinson Crusoe, p.30)
But the fact told another story. He then decided to quietly go to Africa, by
the company of four ships, to get slaves—the decision that he would soon regret.
He admitted that he was driven by his temptation and he regretted his reckless
decision in this passage:
But I was hurried on, and obey’d blindly to the dictates of my fancy rather than my reason; and accordingly the ship being fitted out, and the cargo furnished, and all the things done as by agreement, by my partners in the voyage, I went on board in an evil hour, the first of September, 1659, being the same day eight year that I went from my father and mother at Hull, in order to act the rebel to their authority, and the fool to my own interest. (Robinson Crusoe, p.32)
The reckless decision then turned into a big disaster when a great storm
crashed all of the company’s ships and only left Crusoe alive. He was so lucky to
be alive from that kind of disaster. Then, all of us know that Crusoe would
experience a lot of solitary years in his—soon to be—own independence
kingdom: the uninhabited island.
It is assumed that we have enough understanding of the second
characteristics of Crusoe. There is another significant characteristic of Crusoe that
35
3. A true hard worker
As the story continues, we must also be aware of this characteristic of
Crusoe, because it was shown obviously in the story. Being alone after he left his
home, then Crusoe must tried everything he could to survive. This created the
sense of hard-working in his subconscious. This characteristic can be firstly
recognized in the part of the story where Crusoe became a planter in Brazil, which
condition was described by Crusoe below:
In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. I had no body to converse with but now and then this neigbour; no work to be done but the labour of my hands; and I used to say that I liv’d just like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that has no body but himself. (Robinson Crusoe, p.27).
Seeing the conditions in the land of the Portuguese colony as a “desolate
island”, Crusoe did not give up easily. Then, he did everything he could to survive
in that condition. The next passage shows what steps taken by Crusoe to survive
as a plantation owner:
I had not been long here, but being recommended to the house of a good honest man like himself, who had an ingenio as they call it, that is, a plantation an a sugar house, I lived with him some time, and acquainted my self by that means with the manner of planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters liv’d, and how they grew rich suddenly, I resolv’d, if I could get the licence to settle there, I would turn planter among them, resolving on the mean time to find out some way to get my money which I had left in London remitted to me. I purchased as much land that was uncur’d as my money would reach, and form’d a plan for my plantation and settlement, and such a one as might be suitable to the stock which I proposed to myself to receive from England (Robinson Crusoe, p.27).
Here, the persistence and hard-working trait of Crusoe can be clearly seen.
He managed to learn every part about becoming a good planter from the
