Don't Be A Victim, Robinson Crusoe!

In the beginning of this story, Robinson Crusoe decides to be a sailor against his Father’s wishes and without his blessing. While on his first trip, a storm starts to blow and Crusoe becomes extremely scared and admits “I was…terrif’d in my Mind: I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the Judgement of Heaven for…abandoning my Duty…to God and my Father” (Defoe 7). However, Crusoe does not give any credit to God for concocting the storm or for saving him from it.

After Crusoe is shipwrecked on a deserted island, he begins to reflect on his condition and how miserable and without hope he is. George Starr observes, “With as yet no sense that he is an object either of Providential chastisement or care, Crusoe’s initial react

One major event that helps Crusoe’s faith to grow in God’s providence occurs when some savages come with prisoners to his island planning to kill and eat them. He is not quite sure what he should do in this situation; however, “What affords him peace of mind is…the discovery that he can rely on Providence for direction and support” (Starr 330). After some quick thinking, Crusoe manages to help one escape, and this man, whom Robinson calls Friday, pledges to be his servant for life (Defoe 147). Crusoe teaches him to speak English, and over time, he finally has a companion to talk to. Crusoe converses with Friday about their different beliefs in a deity, and testifies to him about how God has provided for him so richly. During one such conversation, Crusoe tries to explain to Friday the concept of the devil. He explains to Friday that God is much stronger than the Devil and that is why they worship God. Friday then asks Crusoe, “if God much strong, much might as the Devil, why God no kill the Devil so make him no more do wicked?” (Defoe 158). This question takes Crusoe by surprise, as if he has never considered this before. As Crusoe tries to answer this question, he realizes that there is much he has to learn about the nature of God. The addition of Friday in the story helps Crusoe to discover that God is still providing for him and helping him to learn more about the Christian life through his new friend (Defoe 158-59).

Early on, Crusoe almost starts to think that God has blessed him and is watching over him when he discovers that some barley is growing under a rock (Defoe 58). He reminds the reader that up until then he had not given any credit to God or religion for anything good that had happened to him. He had just figured that it all happened by chance. In Starr’s opinion, “…his efforts will be fruitless if he sets about them without a due regard for Providence” (Starr 327). Crusoe does submit, though, that “after I saw Barley grow there…I began to suggest, that God had miraculously caus’d this Grain to grow…and that it was directed purely for my Sustenance” (Defoe 58). But as he thinks on things, he remembers having shaken out a bag of corn and decides that the seeds must have fallen there and grown themselves. So he discounts the providence of God in this situation when he realizes that it would be common for the barley to grow if the seeds were planted. Retrospectively, Crusoe notes that he “ought to have been thankful for so strange and unforeseen Providence…for it was really the Work of Providence…that 10 or 12 Grains of Corn should remain unspoil’d” because if the seeds had landed anywhere else at that time of the season, the climate would have been too hot for them to survive in the dirt and would never have grown (Defoe 58).

After several years on the island alone, Crusoe di

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