Robinson Crusoe Flashcards
“I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a mans naked foot on the shore… “
“I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a mans naked foot on the shore… I stood like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen an apparition”
“The calamities of life were shared amongst the upper and lower part of mankind…”
“The calamities of life were shared amongst the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters”
“You will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments…”
“You will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments till your fathers words are fulfilled upon you”
Sailor speaking to young Crusoe after his first sea voyage
- there is destiny in Crusoe’s father’s wisdom which Crusoe lacks the resolution to avoid
“I went on board in an evil hour…”
What is so important about this date?
“I went on board in an evil hour, the 1st September 1659”
This is the date rebelled against his father to satisfy his ‘own interest’
“I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might…”
“I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might, but neither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea”
Microcosm of Crusoe’s life
- he is in perpetual battle against forces greater than himself
“Not one…”
“Not one soul saved but myself”
- Crusoe beginning to feel as though he has been chosen / delivered to salvation
Soul saved = has biblical connotations of redemption and saviour
“I found at last that I…”
“I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have made it”
The Georgian world is a world of things - people became conscious of materials and objects
Labour is redemptive for Crusoe
He sees utility in the world and believe he can extract from nature whatever he desires
John Locke on the nature of property?
Each man has a ‘property’ in his own ‘person’
- by removing an object from the ‘natural state nature has left it in’ man his mixed his own labour with the object and therefor exercises complete possession of it
Crusoe’s creation of goods through farming fulfils Lockian notion of extracting property from labour
“What authority, or call I had, to pretend to be judge…”
“What authority, or call I had, to pretend to be judge, and executioner upon these men as criminals”
Crisis of agency
- Crusoe’s questioning his authority and whether he can take another’s life
“I went on board in an evil hour…”
What is so important about this date?
“I went on board in an evil hour, the 1st September 1659”
This is the date rebelled against his father to satisfy his ‘own interest’
“I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might…”
“I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might, but neither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea”
Microcosm of Crusoe’s life
- he is in perpetual battle against forces greater than himself
“I made him know…”
“I made him know his name should be Friday”
Arbitrarily named after a day? Crusoe trying to stamp his ownership of his captive onto the calendar - time
“His very affections were ty’d to me…”
“His very affections were ty’d to me, like those of a child to a father”
Language of paternity
“I was king, and Lord…”
“I was king, and Lord of this country indefeasibly”
- signs of Crusoe sanity diminishing
“If I could convey it…”
“If I could convey it, I might have it”
