Critical View on Colonialism in Robinson Crusoe

Critical View on Colonialism in Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe was first published in 1719, whose author is Daniel Defoe. It tells a story of an Englishman named Robinson Crusoe, who is shipwrecked on an island. After felling restless, loneliness and deapair, he decides to strive for a better survival envirment,and finally manages to make the island of his own island.

In the book, Daniel Defoe portrays a vivid, positive English bourgeoisie at its early stage of development. But to read it critically, the positive portray of the English bourgeisie beautifies colonialism and slavery. After the shipwreck, he is alone on an inhabited island and he is confronted with lots of difficulties unexperienced and unimaginable so that he fells afraid. He knows that he is seperated from the civilized society. To his desperate, he has not enough tools and foods to live a normal life and even nobody he can ask for help. How desperate he is! Although Robinson Crusoe is once depressed, horrified, helpless and even desperate, he never give up his wish to survive. He says “It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be bad.” After that, he tries his best to survive. With his intelligence, he get everything out of the foundered ship and make full use of whatever he got from the ship and the island. There is no doubt that Crusoe manages to rebuild his new life and becomes his own king successfully. And we can’t deny that Robinson Crusoe is a genius who has made a lot of miracles on the island. That is to

say that he himself is a miracle. In this way, Robinson Crusoe is portryed as a hero who shows marvelous capacity for work, boundless courage and enegy in overcoming obstacles in face of difficulties and challenges. But in essence, this hero is typical of the rising bourgoeis class who eager to show their desire and capacity to set up colonies overseas for their own wealth and profits. Colonialism is prettied to be reasonable, encouraged and even legal in the eyes of the invaders.

At the same time, through the relationship with Friday and other fellows, Crusoe shows his mastery over the less developed people, which prettied slavery rooted in colonialism. Before Friday appears, Robinson Crusoe has dreamed to have a servant, or companion or assitant to help him. He accidently saves Friday from a group of savages, which makes his dream come true. And it turns out that Friday is a great helper and servant to him. Before teaching Friday to say “Yes” and “No”, he teaches Friday to say the word “Master” as his name, which embodies Crusoe’s superiority. From the beginning to the end since Friday shows up, Crusoe treats Friday as “his man”, a loyal and devoted servant. And he takes it for granted that Friday should show gratitude and loyalty to him. At the same time, Crusoe prides himself as a civilized human and civilizes Friday by converting him into a Protestant through the religious education. Critically speaking, Crusoe never considers Friday as a real friend or equal partner, which shows his desire for colonialism. And Friday , as a

slavery, is just a tool to realize his colonial dream. There are only profits between them and colonial people.

In a “praiseworthy” way, Daniel Defoe successfully portrays a good example of an ordinary people who proves individual power in face of social and natural difficulties and challenges. Robinson Crusoe is a hero that represents the rising English bourgeoisie class who successfully sets up his own colonial island. That encourages a great many bourgeois of Defoe’s time to pursue their colonial dream, which results in gteat disasters to the colonies. And the colonies are forced to invade into the so called civilization of western society.