karl@dartvax.UUCP (S. Delage.) (08/05/84)
Robinson Crusoe doesn't have much to do with the sea. In fact, as far as I could tell, it is an excellent advertisement for not wanting to live in those times, and not much else. What is the first things Crusoe does when he gets on the island? Starts building a wall, to keep savages out. Tries to find guns, so if they get past his wall, he can shoot them. Praises God for His mercifulness and bounty, when he had never been religious before. The religion goes to amazing lengths towards the end of the book, when he meets up with the so-called heathen Friday, a cannibal who takes to Christianity, and servility, like he was born to it. The thought that perhaps Friday was not destinied to be a servant never entered Crusoe's mind -- presumably as it never entered Defoe's. Lots of English classes read it. Without them, one would think it would have been out of print for several hundred years. dartvax!karl karl@dartmouth
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (08/06/84)
Tch, tch. Once again I find myself disagreeing with someone who finds one
of the classics a colossal bore.
You're right that Robinson Crusoe's New World paranoia and his treatment of
Friday won't stand up to much scrutiny; unlike "Moby Dick," the book doesn't
have a lot of depth. But didn't you ever build a treehouse when you were a
kid? It's the same fantasies of self-sufficiency that make "Robinson Crusoe"
a fun book to read. I wouldn't call it a great book, but it's certainly one
that I'm glad I've read.
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle