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1、Analysis of Daniel Defoe and his master work Robinson Crusoe1. Introduction of the author and the background Daniel Defoe was born in the late 17th century. After the tremendous events of the 17th century, England entered a period of comparatively peaceful development. In the 18th century, the Europ
2、ean broke out industrial revolution. The main contradiction is between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The capitalism was generally established. And the social revolution also affected the literature style and the philosophy domain. England came into the age of enlightenment. People began to fi
3、ght the survivals of feudalism; at the same time they were prone to accept bourgeois relationships as rightful and reasonable relationships among people. Daniel Defoe was an important novelist in the English literature history. He was born in a small merchant family in London. He ran business in his
4、 early years. He was ever been in Spain, German, French, and Italy during this period. He had ever joined in the military of William Three who win the throne after the English bourgeoisie drove Stuart kings away in 1688. In 1692, Defoes business went bankrupt. He had to change his profession. After
5、he took part in his writing career, he was good at writing political essays and ironic poetry to fight against feudalism. He ever wrote essays to satirize the church. And he was punished by the government to the jail for 6 months. Defoes life was full of abundant experiences. He was from a lower bou
6、rgeoisie family. He devoted himself to his business, writing, and political movements all his life. However, he was not only a businessman, a writer, and a politician as we have known; he was also a jack-of-all-trade profited from his abundant life experience. His life was also full of frustration b
7、ecause of the bankrupted business and a frustrated political life. Defoe began to write novels when he was nearly 60 years old. Robinson Crusoe was an instant success, and Daniel Defoe became famous soon all over the Europe because of it.2. Brief introduction of the Robinson CrusoeIn the Robinson Cr
8、usoe, the author told about the adventurous and fantastic experience of Robinson. Robinson was the youngest son in his family. His parents wanted him to live a peaceful and quiet life because both of their elder sons had left them. However, Robinson was a man who loves adventure. His first voyage su
9、ffered a storm which made his ship submerged by the sea when he was only 19. But he didnt give up his dream of exploring. In his following expeditions, he has ever been to Africa, Morocco, and Brazil. During this period, he had accumulated some property. After these perils and adventures, he then de
10、termined to explore to Africa again to barter cheap trinkets for gold and procure slaves with his fellows. Unfortunately their ship came across a serious storm on the way to Africa and wrecked off the coast of an uninhabited island. All the sailors were dead except Robinson. He was taken to a desola
11、te island by the storm. From then on, Robinson began his unbelievable life on the island. Robinson had lived on the island for 28 years. During the 28 years, he experienced all kinds of difficulties: the poor living conditions; natural disasters such as earthquake, tsunami, and storm; disease; and u
12、nbearable loneliness. There he had to build house, hunt wild animals, plant crops for surviving. And he had to be accustomed to the climate on the island. At the same time, he must learn to how to protect him when the nature disaster and disease came across. Above all, the most difficult to him is t
13、o bear the long time loneliness. At first, he kept a diary everyday, until he saved a native who named Friday by Robinson. Finally, Robinson and his servant Friday left the island back to London under the help of a captain who he had ever saved. Robinson lived a normal life in London until many year
14、s later. He missed his island so much that he went back to the island he had ever lived for 28 years again. 3. Analysis of the novels theme and writing techniques No matter what kinds of evaluations the critics give, Robinson Crusoe is always a masterpiece which is popular with any class people arou
15、nd the world. There are two reasons why it is so famous. One is the articles theme, the other is Defoe broke out the traditional writing style; Robinson Crusoe is one of the important works of the early realistic novels in the English literature history. First, the reason why this work is so famous
16、is because of the novels theme: it compliments the spirit of the bourgeoisie. The hero of the novel is not only an ordinary worker, but also a capitalist and a colonist. On one thing, Robinson was born in a middle class family, he represented the ordinary people. His hard working, bravery, and deter
17、mined mind praised the lower class workers in some degree. Thats why the novel can be so popular even with the sailors, soldiers, merchants, and craftsmen. On the other thing, Robinson was a capitalist. His spirit of adventure and hardworking represented the bourgeoisie. For examples, when he stayed
18、 on the island alone, he said to himself that the entire island was owned to him, and when the Fridays father and some other Spanish came up, he felt he was the monarch of these men and he felt satisfied with his citizens obedience. Even after he went back to London, he returned to the island to ins
19、pect his citizens and rented the lands to the migrants. Robinson showed the capitalists spirits of adventuring and exploring, pursuing wealth and depriving. Second, the writing skill is also the reason why this work is so famous. Defoe broke out the traditional writing style, he used realistic writi
20、ng technique. Robinson Crusoe showed realism in three aspects. 1) First of all, this novel was based on the real experiences of Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned in the island of Juan Fernandez off the coast of Chile and who had had lived here in solitude for five years. Defoe was amazed by h
21、is story and he was also very interested in it. So he changed the Alexanders experiences into an art work. Meanwhile Defoe wrote it in the first person which made the novel more authentic. And it also made the readers not only appreciate the art work, but also sense the heros behaviors and ideas in
22、his situation at the same time. 2) Second, there are specific dates and background in the novel which made the novel more realistic. For example, the author began the article with “I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a forei
23、gner of Bremen who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise and, leaving off his trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual
24、 corruption of words in England and we are now called, nay, we called ourselves, and write our name Crusoe, so many companions always called me ”, we can conclude from this paragraph that the author not only told the readers the specific dates, places, but also his familys history. That made the art
25、icle not so much as a novel as a biography. 3) Finally, the author was adept in writing the specific details which can also make the novel seem more realistic. For example, when Robinson was trapped into the island, the author wrote specifically the things what Robinson took from the ship which wrec
26、ked by the island, such as the food, the wine, the timber, the clothes, the guns. And even the axes and the nails such trifles were also written by Defoe clearly. 4. Conclusion Daniel Defoe is one of the most important realistic writers in the English literature. Because of the effects of the enligh
27、tenment and the abundance life experiences, Defoe broke out the ancient traditional ideas of literature. In his works, he paid more attention on the daily life of the ordinary people. And thats one of the reasons why Robinson Crusoe is so important in the literature history. And Robinson is not only the representation of the hardworking capitalism but also the representation of the Romans sea culture_ exploring and adventure. The novel is also meaningful in the cultural domain. So there is no doubt that Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe is so popular around the world.
