Robinson Crusoe
When I was in grade school, I read the Great American Classic version of Robinson Crusoe. Today, I finished listening to the full version, and below are notes I took to test my comprehension.
Chapter 1
- Crusoe contemplates what he wants to do with his life; he desires to see the world, to go to sea
- His father advises him to live a comfortable life in the middle of society — a life at sea is either for the downtrodden or those burdened for great things
- Crusoe, despite his parents requests, decides to take a free voyage at sea to test his theory
- The voyage and the weather are treacherous, but he survives those first days at sea and wanders home still question what he wants to do
Chapter 2
- Crusoe goes out to sea again and becomes a merchant trader
- The captain of the ship Crusoe is on dies, and his widow agrees to keep Crusoe’s money
- On a subsequent voyage, Crusoe’s ship is taken by Moorish pirates and he is taken as slave
- Crusoe, while in servitude and fishing for his new master, escapes at sea with another young slave named Zuri
- Crusoe and Zuri take the small fishing vessel down the coast of Africa
Chapter 3
- While going along the coast of Africa, Crusoe and Zuri come upon some Africans
- While interacting with the friendly Africans, they are able to acquire food, water, and animal skins
- Later, Crusoe and Zuri come upon a Portuguese ship that takes them in
- The captain agrees to take Crusoe to Brazil, stating he would hope for the same treatment if he were in a similar lot; he also agrees to take Zuri as a slave, but offer him his freedom after 10 years if he pledges to become a Christian
- Once in Brazil, Crusoe is able to acquire some land by selling the animal skins he acquired in Africa
- With the acquired land, Crusoe starts a sugar and tobacco farm
- Crusoe does well for himself as a farmer, but he is drawn back to the sea with fellow farmers in Brazil who want to sail to Africa to acquire some slaves
- During that voyage, the ship is blown northwards off course
- Even worse, the ship eventually must be abandoned, and while paddling towards an unknown shore, the sailors and their smaller ship are overtaken by the waves
- The waves destroy the ship and all the sailors, except for Crusoe who is washed up onto an unknown shore
Chapter 4
- Crusoe awakes on the shore and finds that the ship which he abandoned has run aground a mile or so away, but hasn’t sunk or been destroyed completely
- For the first 11-12 days, Crusoe goes to the ship, gathers provisions, tools, and equipment and brings them back ashore
- Crusoe fashions himself a tent, and then later a little home which he fortifies with a fence for fear of any wild beasts or humans which might attack him
- Each day Crusoe walks around to see where he is — he learns that he is on a small island, with no signs of human inhabitants, but with some goats and birds and wildlife
- Crusoe tracks days, writes in a journal, contemplates his lot, fashions a table and chair, continually improves his tent/cave structure, and many other day-to-day activities as he learns to live on the island
Chapter 5
- Crusoe recaps his first days and weeks on the island
- Crusoe begins to grow crop accidentally when he throws what was left of some bird feed out and then springs barley and rice
- Crusoe plans to build a new home that is not learned against the rock where he currently is… he does this because his little area under the rock keeps falling in, especially after an earthquake that he experiences
- Crusoe gives thought to trying domesticate the islands goats as well as growing crops
Chapter 6
- After the earthquake, some of the shipwreck becomes exposed and Crusoe begins harvesting more of its timbers, nails, and metal
- Then, Crusoe gets sick and goes in and out of feeling well and feeling like death
- During the sickness, Crusoe has a spiritual awakening, and he begins to read one of the Bibles that he took from the ship as well as pray intentionally
- Crusoe asks for forgiveness of sin, forgiveness for his past life, and thanks God for delivering him from sickness, the shipwreck, and sin; he begins to see his condition differently, and finds some peace despite his circumstances
Chapter 7
- Crusoe ventures to the middle part of the island and finds grapes and melons which he begins to dry
- Since Crusoe continues back to the fruitful area of the island often, he decides to build a second home there, but stays at his original home most often so that he may see if any ships pass and could save him
- Crusoe makes his first attempt at sowing his barley and rice, but it fails to grow because he plants it right before the dry season
- After one failed sowing, Crusoe learns the growing patterns of the island
- Crusoe marks his first year on the island, observes a fast, and then begins marking weeks so that he can regularly observe the sabbath
- Crusoe learns how to make baskets, and makes a bunch! Now he needs a pot
Chapter 8
- Crusoe contemplates where he is… in the Americas, near Brazil, or somewhere in between; he believes somewhere in between which means that cannibalistic savages may be about
- Crusoe domesticates a baby goat and a parrot that he starts teaching to speak
- Crusoe charts more of the island and begins growing corn
- Crusoe has to build fencing around the corn and scarecrows to keep the animals away from his corn; he then begins trying to figure out how he will make it into bread
Chapter 9
- Crusoe fashions clay pots and earthen ware for cooking
- Crusoe builds a ship but has great difficulty launching it because he didn’t really consider launching it when he started it
- Crusoe fashions himself some new clothes from the existing ones and the pelts he has taken; he finds the some covering is better than none against the heat and rain, and it actually keeps him a bit cooler as long as they are loose fitting
- Crusoe deeply contemplates his situation and finds himself increasingly thankful and content with his position on the island; he has what he needs, and what is of value is what is of use to him; for example, the coins he originally took from the ship now have no real use to him
- It is now Crusoe’s 3rd and 4th year on the island and he has dominion over it and a nice stock of harvest and tools
Chapter 10
- Crusoe fashions a new canoe and sails along the eastern shore of the island; the current almost takes him away from his island, but he manages to make it back go shore, park his ship, and walk all the way home
- Crusoe then takes a break from sailing and sets himself to master the occupations of his island — he gets really good at making round pots, makes more baskets, and then sets his mind to capturing and domesticating a flock of goats (his first she-goat has since died of old age)
- Crusoe builds traps and starts capturing goats who then domesticate well after they get hungry
- Crusoe builds a pen for his goats, and after a year or so has about 30-40 of them (enough for meat and then milk, cheese, and butter)
Chapter 11
- Crusoe considers again voyaging around the island, and building another canoe (one for one side of the island, one for the other)
- Crusoe discovers a human footprint! He freaks out
- Crusoe hides in his dwelling and considers where the print came from… is it his? A savage’s? The devil’s? Whom ever it is, he figures they most likely didn’t stay since he hasn’t seen another human in 15 years of being on the island
- After a period of hiding, he goes out to measure the print and finds that it certainly is not his, and out of fear and self preservation, he decides to fortify his dwelling even more to prevent someone coming in and taking him out
Chapter 12
- In addition to fortifying his dwellings, Crusoe now considers how to protect his goats
- He decides to split his flock into 3 groups, and so he begins to search about the island for secure places to fence them in
- After finding and building a secure pin for one group of the goats, he travels on the western part of the island — an area he hasn’t been to before
- Upon a hill, he looks out to see if he can see anything; he thinks he sees a boat, but he dismisses that and then goes back down the hill
- Once down the hill, to his horror, he finds human bones and skulls; he also finds an area where it appears fires have been lit — he believes this to be evidence of cannibal savages that sometimes come to the island to kill and eat their captives
- Running away in horror, Crusoe considers what to do… stay hidden is his first move, and he does that for awhile until he conjures up a plan that he will try to attack and kill the savages and perhaps save the captive
- But, after weeks of preparing and keeping watch of that side of the island, he decides that it would be sinful for him to take upon this act of judgement and murder them since these people had not wronged him; they are just victims to their depravity and they know not of which they do to be sinful
- He lays low for the rest of the chapter, but also discovers a perfectly hidden cave in which he decides to store his extra ammunitions and use as a hiding place if someone were to discover him
Chapter 13
- Crusoe is tending his “castle” on day and spots a fire near his side of the island — it is the savages, who are there to kill and eat a captive
- Crusoe confirms their cannibalism after they leave, finding human remains at their site; this leads him to worry and contemplate a future attack if they come back again
- After some time of watching for them, Crusoe gets distracted when one day he hears a gun firing from a Spanish ship in the distance
- Crusoe tries to signal to the ship only to find a day or so later that the ship has wrecked
- Crusoe ventures to the ship, finds no survivors except for a dog, and takes from it some provisions (some shoes, clothes, pots, money, etc) which he stashed in his new cave; the fetching a money demonstrates Crusoe still thinks of cares of a possible future beyond the island
Chapter 14
- Crusoe has a dream of saving a captive from the savages, and thus prepares himself to do so
- Then, after months of waiting, he spots savages on his doorstep and then the opportunity (like his dream) presents itself; one captive escapes and two savages come after him
- Crusoe shoots one of the savages, and then the captive, seeing Crusoe has saved him and being surprised to the point of frozen shock by the gun, comes to Crusoe and based on Crusoe’s instruction takes his sword as goes and kills the other savage
- Crusoe takes the captive in and names him Friday; Friday communicates his subservience to Crusoe and learns to call him master
- Crusoe makes clothes for Friday, provides him food, and begins to teach him to speak and to be useful to him on the island
Chapter 15
- Crusoe teaches Friday to eat other meats and foods like bread
- Crusoe teaches Friday about God, Jesus, redemption, and the Word of God (the Bible); Friday becomes a Christian
- Crusoe learns about Friday’s culture — the Caribbean peoples — and their customs, religion, and social structure
- Crusoe tests Friday’s loyalty by asking him if he would return to his nation and become a savage again, but Friday says he would not and that if he went, he wanted Crusoe to come with him to teach his people
- Friday also mentions that other Europeans had landed on his nations shores before and that they lived amongst his people
- Crusoe and Friday begin planning on how they might take a boat to Friday’s home island
Chapter 16
- Crusoe and Friday begin work on a big boat to take them to Friday’s islands
- Prior to launching the finished boat, a huge battle ensues when the savages come to the island with 3 prisoners to feast on including Friday’s father and a Spaniard
- Determined to save the prisoners, Friday and Crusoe descend upon the savages, killing 17 of 21 (the other 4 escape) and saving Friday’s father and the Spaniard
- Crusoe and Friday tend to Friday’s father and the Spaniard and nurse them to health
- The savages who escape tell their brethren that the island is cursed and not to return lest they be struck down by “the fire of the gods”
Chapter 17
- The Spaniard and Crusoe discuss the other Europeans on the savage’s islands; they determine that first they must grow a lot more barely and rice and prepare as-if all those Europeans would come to live on Crusoe’s island and then build a large ship to sail away back to Europe
- Crusoe and his 3 subjects prepare the fields and yield tenfold the bushels of barely and rice that he had prior; after this, the Spaniard and Friday’s father are given provisions and set off on one of the canoes to go and seek out and return with the other Europeans
- Some week or so after the Spaniard and Friday’s father depart, a group of English sailors arrive on the island with 3 prisoners; the three prisoners turn out to be the original captain and his shipmates… they have been mutinied against
- Crusoe and Friday save them while killing and capturing the mutineers
- Once saved, the captain and Crusoe discuss plans for how the might get the ship back or at least defend themselves against any group of the mutineers were from the main ship who come searching for their comrades
Chapter 18
- When more of mutineers arrive, Crusoe (now called “the Governor” by the posse of people in his command) and his allies are able to overtake them by waiting for them to split up and luring they around the island
- Crusoe and his allies are able to take back the main ship also… only taking 1-2 more lives in small scuffles
- All of the ship’s remaining crew who were not taken prisoner, swear allegiance to Crusoe and will follow his command; then Crusoe discusses plans with the original captain… Crusoe desires to take the ship back to England and to leave the 2 remaining prisoners on the island
- Crusoe instructs the 2 prisoners how they should live on the island if they want to survive and also to expect the Spanish convoy who may eventually come back if Friday’s dad and the Spaniard are successful in their mission
Chapter 19
- Crusoe arrives back in England to find most of his family has died or is too young to remember him
- Crusoe goes to Lisbon with Friday and meets the captain who rescued him the first time and has knowledge of his plantation in Brazil
- Crusoe learns that his plantation has grown considerably and he settles several financial dealings involving its profits; he then extends those profits and to both the Portuguese captain and the widow of his first captain back in England
- Then, Crusoe begins a land journey back to England (considering that same travel by sea to be too dangerous and not worth the risk)
- Their land travel back to England goes slowly because of heavy snow and several treacherous skirmishes with wolves and a bear
Chapter 20
- Once back in England, Crusoe sells his plantation, becomes wealthy, takes in two of his nephews, gets married, has some children, but ultimately has a calling for wanderlust to go back to his island
- Crusoe does voyage back to his island with one of his nephews and finds that Spaniards did indeed make it back to his island and that it is now inhabited with women and children, and that it has grown into a nice colony
- Crusoe then travels to Brazil to procure more things for his colony — cattle, craftsmen, and women who might be wives for the men on the island
- Then, the book ends of a cliffhanger… Crusoe says that he will save details of upcoming events for another story