Analysis of Robinson Crusoe

SIMPLIFIED BOOK REPORT

ROBINSON CRUSOE

Arranged by :

Fitria (1500026011)

Mutiara Pratama Putri (1500026038)

Shella Antoro Putri (1500026040)

ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LITERATURE, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION

AHMAD DAHLAN UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

ROBINSON CRUSOE ANALYSIS

A.           THEME

·         Relationship with Nature.

Crusoe is a man at peace with Nature. He loves the sea and the outdoors. When he is marooned on the island and finds himself alone with only nature as his companion, he adapts easily. He is quick to use things from nature to help him survive.

·         Hardwork

The story tells us about a hardwork characteristic in the acts of Crusoe. He does not easily give up to achieve his dreams becoming a sailor.

B.            CHARACTER

There are two kinds of characters in this story:

1.     Main Character :

·         Robinson Crusoe

He is a man with many good characteristics. The example is he doesn’t easily give up to achieve his dream becoming a sailor, although his parents don’t agree with it. He has a really positive mind even if he is in bad situation, too. This is shown in page 32 when Crusoe tries to balance out the bad things with the good things.

2.    Minor Characters :

·         Crusoe Family

-        Parents

Crusoe has parents, that is father and mother. His Parents are the one who disagree with what has been dreamed by Crusoe. It is shown in first chapter.

“.... Life at sea is not for you!”

It’s the response of Crusoe’s father when Crusoe try to tell him about his desire to sail on the sea. It is in page 6 .

-        Brothers & sisters

Crusoe has two older brothers and two sisters. It is shown in the opening page of first chapter, on page 4.

“.... I found my two sisters, who were very happy to see me. Both were poor and lived out in the country. It made me sad to see that life had not been kinder to them. One of my sisters was a widow. The other had a husband who did not treat her very well.”

It’s one of the quotation in chapter 10 page 73 that explains about the future of Crusoe’s sisters.

-        Nephews

Crusoe has two nephews who are the children of the brother that he never know. It is shown in chapter 10 page 73.

“.... two sons of the brother I never knew were living in York”

In page 76, it is shown that one of his nephews becomes a sailor like him.

§  My friend

He is Crusoe’s friend who ask Crusoe to join sailing for the first time with him and his father who is captain of a ship. It is shown in first chapter on page 6.

·         Friday

He is a cannibal in the past who is saved by Crusoe and become Crusoe friend. It is shown in chapter 8.

C.            SETTING

There are many settings in the story :

·         Place

Ø  York in northern England (chapter 1, paragraph 1 “in the city of York, in northern England”)

Ø  London (chapter 1, paragraph 7 “he told me he was sailing that day on his father’s ship to London”)

Ø  Guinea, on the west coast of Afrika (chapter 2, paragraph 2 “I meet the captain of a trading ship that was going Guinea, on the west coast of Africa”)

Ø  Salle (chapter 2, page 13, paragraph 7 “ the pirates took us to a place called Salle, a port on the northern coast of Africa”)

Ø  On shore and little garden ( chapter 2, page 13, paragraph 8 “....he left me on shore to do housework and look after his little garden”)

Ø  The ocean and on board (chapter 3, paragraph3, “  I was now able to see a long way out over the ocean” and “ had we only stayed on board,....”).

Ø  On  the beach and on an island (chapter 3, paragraph 4, “ I sat down on the beach” and “most likely I was on an island, but...”)

Ø  A valley (chapter 5, paragraph 7 “....I came upon a valley I had never seen before”)

Ø  Brazil (chapter 2, page 14, paragraph 12 “ he told me that his ship was on its way to Brazil”)

Ø  Lisbon (page 74 “ I would have to travel to Lisbon...)

·         Time

Ø  1632, Crusoe is born (chapter 1, paragraph 1 “ I was born in the year 1632”)

Ø  Sept 1, 1651, Crusoe boards a ship bound for London (chapter 1, paragraph 10 “It was the first of September, 1651. I was board a ship bound for London”)

Ø  At 03:00 in the afternoon (chapter 2, paragraph 6 “ about at 03:00 in the afternoon they caught up with us”)

Ø  Sept  1, 1659  (chapter 2, paragraph 19 “ on September 1, 1659—exactly eight years after....)

Ø  On the 12th day (chapter 2, paragraph 20 “ on the 12th day, we were caughtin a terrible strom”)

Ø  Every Sunday (chapter 4, paragraph 15 “ I made a longer out for every Sunday”)

Ø  Sept 30, 1659, chapter 5, paragraph 14 “ On September 30, I had been to island for one year”)

Ø  On September 30, (chapter 5, last paragraph “On September 30. I fasteed and gave a special prayer of thanks to God for protecting me”)

Ø  On November 6, (chapter 6, paragraph 10 “ finally, on November 6, during my sixth year on the island....”)

Ø  For 24 years (chapter 8, paragraph 1 “ by this time I had been on the island for 24 years”)

Ø  In 1684 (chapter 8, paragraph 4 “ the, on day in 1684, I was looking out to sea through my telescope”)

Ø  For 28 years (chapter 9, paragraph 3 “ for 28 years I had not seen another English ship”)

Ø  Dec 19, 1686 Crusoe leaves the island (chapter 9, last paragraph “ it was December 19,1686. After 28 years, 2 month, and 19 days, I was finally leaving the island”)

Ø  June 11, 1687 Crusoe arrives back in England (chapter 10, paragraph 1 “ after a long sea voyage, Friday and I arrived in England on June 11, 1687”))

Ø  In 1694, Crusoe wife died. He go with his nephew and arrived at the island. (page 76-77)

D.           PLOT

·         Exposition   :

Robinson Crusoe is in the middle class family in england. He is the youngest children in his family. He used to enjoy sitting at the edge of the dock. There, he watches sailing ships set out to the sea. He wish that he could go with them, sailing the sea, because he wants to be a sailor. But, his father always wants him to be a lawyer not a sailor. When he was 18 years old, he dares telling his parents about his desire to live on the sea and have a journey as a sailor. Unfortunately, his father doesn’t agree with his decision. His father tellling him that life on the sea is hard, dangerous, and lonely so far from home. Life on the sea is not good for him. Eventhough his father telling that things to him, he still in his desire to have a journey in a sea. 

·         Complication          :

One day, he meets his old friend. His friend tell him that he will sailing with his father to London, and invited Crusoe to go with him. Crusoe accepts the invitation and go sailing with his friend without blessing from his parents. Then, Crusoe realize that his father was telling a truth. Living on the sea is not easy, because there is storm and other things that he never expects. He has ever been a slave when he sails to africa and lose in his fight with pirates. After he escape, he is taken by another sailor and live in brazil, where he works in a sugar plantation and for several years later he became the owner of a sugar plantation. But, his desiree to journey on the sea is stand still. His friends know it and his friends pay his whole trip to go back to the sea. And finally, he is back to sea and sailing again with some crews.

·         Climax                  :

In his journey, there is a hurricane. So, when he sees a land, he and his crews go down from the vessel and using longboat to go to the land, because they are afraid if the storm will come again and smashed their vessel. Unfortunately, there is a huge wave washes over and the boat flipped over. Every men are dying, he is the only man who is still alive. In this island, he tries to survive. He takes out the things from his vessel, and builds a camp. He also builds fortress. He makea some foods, clothes, and other things by hisselves. He makes all of this things for 28 years. He lives safe and happy even if he still feels lonely. Then, there is something that make him feel in danger. There is a footprints in his land. It means that he is not the only one who live in this island. Soon, he knows that the owner of the footprints are cannibals

·         Resolution   :

He saves one cannibal. His name is Friday. Then, Friday become his friend. After that they save two men from canibals and the two men become his friends. One of that two men is a captain of the ships. The captain help Crusoe and Friday back to england, exactly in York. But when he arrived in england, he knows that many things have changed. His parents had died, one of his sister became a widow, the other had a husband who treats her badly, and his nephews, the children from his brother, living in York. After that, he goes back to brazil and starts his business in sugar plantation. He sells his sugar plantation with 33.000 pieces of gold to a buyer then becomes a wealthy man. Then, he is married, takes care of his two nephews, and gives money to his two sisters. When his wife is died, he and Friday back to his island to see it. He divides his island into parts and gave it to five sailor. Finally, he and Friday live happily.

E.            POINT OF VIEW

Point of view in Robinson Crusoe is first person peripheral point of view. Because, the narrator tells the story and speaks about himself using first person pronoun, such as “I” and “me”.

F.            ATMOSPHERE OR TONE

The author tells the story realistically. It is realistic because the story just presents a journey of a sailor. So that it makes the story becomes a bit boring to read. There’s no a bit of fantasy in it which usually makes readers become interested in reading.

G.            SYMBOL

·         Friday

In some culture, Friday is the day which bring unlucky. In maritime circles, it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday (folklore). But here, Crusoe named the cannibal that he saves, Friday, and treats Friday well. He also changes him to be a good man. We think that the symbol here is bad luck is always come to crusoe in a journey on the sea but he never give up. He even makes his fails as something to learn and as a precious lesson

·         The name of Crusoe itself

The phrase of Crusoe and Cruise almost resemble, even their pronuncation is different. But, Cruise here has the meaning of “sailing”. So, we think that the name of Crusoe itself has a symbol. Maybe Robinson Crusoe was born to be a sailor.

H.           MORAL VALUE

·           We have to thank god for his kindness who give you a life, and all things that have been given to you.

·           Achieve your dream even though it is as high as the sky. Don’t lose your hope. Don’t make people determine your future, detemine your future by your desire.

·           Help the people if you can. You won’t know whether someday maybe you will need their help. Don’t forget that we are social creatures who can’t live alone and need help from other people.

·           Be brave and creative, don’t bewail your bad luck.

·           You will get the result of your effort. Effort is not useless.

·           Don’t easily give up on something.