pag 188 à Do you know Robinson's story?

"Robinson Crusoe" is a novel inspired on the story of Alexander Selkirk. Robinson, the main character of the story, comes from York and his dream is to travel. So he leaves his family to make his own fortune travelling around the world. During his second voyage he has been imprisoned by the Moorish Pirates and made a slave by them. After some years he sails to African coasts; here a Portuguese captain took him to Brazil, where he became a plantation owner. Few years later he makes an expedition because he wanted to bring slaves from Africa, but he shipwrecked during a storm and he was dragged by water on a desert island, where he remained for 28 years. 

After twelve years of solitude he finds a human footprint on the ground and after he discovers Indian cannibals which normally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. 

One day Robinson meets Friday, who later became his servant; so he teaches Friday some English and Christians traditions.                                                                                                                                                          

Then another ship of savages arrived with three prisoners and Robinson with Friday can save two of them. Finally Crusoe was brought back to England, where he discovers that his plantation had made him rich.

pag 190

Crusoe's Island

Comprehension

•1)    After having been on the Island for about ten days, what very important things does Robinson still need?

After having been on the island for about ten days, Robinson needs a sense of time, books, paper, ink and a pen.

•2)   What are the consequences of the lack of them?

The consequences are the lost of date and time.

•3)   What does he do to solve the problem?

To solve the problem he cuts with a knife a large piece of wood in order to make a sort of calendar.

•4)   Later on Robinson makes many trips to the abandoned ship lying off the coast and brings many things ashore, but what does he still mostly miss?

He misses a lot the company of someone to talk.

Interpretation

•1)    Read the first four lines again. What details strike you as rather unusual in a work of a fiction?

Right from the start the reader can notice that the extract is full of detailed references to science, geography and astrology.

•2)   Now read the very beginning of the novel. In what way is it similar to the beginning of T1?

The beginnings of the two extracts are very similar because both of them present detailed descriptions.

•3)   The first two questions in this section helped you focus on one of the features of Defoe's most important innovation, his narrative realism, which derived from his long practice as a journalist. What do you think is the effect of such a style?

Using narrative realism the writer is able to describe in a very realistic way the situation of the main character, and make the reader better understand Robinson's feelings.

•4)   What kind of vocabulary does he use: emotional, concrete, abstract, ordinary, refined, ...?

Defoe uses a strange language, with a lot of scientific and geographic words.

•5)   Does he use long or short sentences? Are they simple or complex?

The writer uses long sentences which are a little complex and elaborate, without many punctuation marks.

•6)   He uses repetitions and long lists. Can you find some examples of them?

From line 17 to 33 he makes a long and detailed description of what he founded on the ship.

•7)   Do all these features make his tale clearer or more difficult to understand?

All these features make the tale clearer, but they are used in an excessive way.

•8)   Is the story told in the first or in the third person? How does this narrative choice contribute to Defoe's realism?

The story is told in the first person and this conveys the character closer to the reader.

•9)   What is your reaction to Defoe's narrative style? Are you curious to go on, bored, interested, deeply involved, ...?

I think that Defoe's narrative style is particular and very detailed but at the same time it is a little boring. On the other hand all the lists the writer makes, contribute to make the text clearer.