robinson crusoe book review

'Robinson Crusoe' Review

Daniel Defoe's Classic Novel About Getting Stranded on a Desert Island

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Have you ever wondered what you would do if you washed up on a deserted island? Daniel Defoe dramatizes such an experience in Robinson Crusoe ! Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was inspired by the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who went to sea in 1704.

Selkirk requested that his shipmates put him ashore on Juan Fernandez, where he remained until he was rescued by Woodes Rogers in 1709. Defoe may have interviewed Selkirk. Also, several version of Selkirk's tale were available to him. He then built on the story, adding his imagination, his experiences, and a whole history of other stories to create the novel for which he has become so well-known.

Daniel Defoe

In his lifetime, Defoe published more than 500 books, pamphlets, articles , and poems. Unfortunately, none of his literary endeavors ever brought him much financial success or stability. His occupations ranged from spying and embezzling to soldiering and pamphleteering. He had started out as a merchant, but he soon found himself bankrupt, which led him to choose other occupations. His political passions, his flare for libel, and his inability to stay out of debt also caused him to be imprisoned seven times.

Even if he wasn't financially successful, Defoe managed to make a significant mark on literature . He influenced the development of the English novel, with his journalistic detail and characterization. Some claim that Defoe wrote the first true English novel: and he's often considered to be the father of British journalism.

At the time of its publication, in 1719, Robinson Crusoe was a success. Defoe was 60 when he wrote this first novel; and he would write seven more in the years to come, including Moll Flanders (1722), Captain Singleton (1720), Colonel Jack (1722), and Roxana (1724).

The Story of Robinson Crusoe

It's no wonder the story was such a success... The story is about a man who is stranded on a desert island for 28 years. With the supplies he's able to salvage from the wrecked ship, Robinson Crusoe eventually builds a fort and then creates for himself a kingdom by taming animals, gathering fruit, growing crops, and hunting. The book contains adventure of all sorts: pirates, shipwrecks, cannibals, mutiny, and so much more... Robinson Crusoe's story is also Biblical in many of its themes and discussions. It's the story of the prodigal son, who runs away from home only to find calamity. Elements of the story of Job also appear in the story, when in his illness, Robinson cries out for deliverance: "Lord, be my help, for I am in great distress." Robinson questions God, asking, "Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus used?" But he makes peace ​and goes on with his solitary existence.

After more than 20 years on the island, Robinson encounters cannibals , which represent the first human contact he's had since being stranded: "One day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand." Then, he's alone — with only the brief far-off view of a shipwreck — until he rescues Friday from the cannibals.

Robinson finally makes his escape when a ship of mutineers sail to the island. He and his companions help the British captain to take back control of ​the ship. He sets sail for England on December 19, 1686--after spending 28 years, 2 months, and 19 days on the island. He arrives back in England, after being gone for 35 years, and finds that he is a wealthy man.

Loneliness and the Human Experience

Robinson Crusoe is the tale of a lonely human being who manages to survive for years without any human companionship. It's a story about the different ways that men cope with reality when hardship comes, but it's also the tale of a man creating his own reality, rescuing a savage and fashioning his own world out of the untamed wilderness of a desert island.

The tale has influenced many other tales, including The Swiss Family Robinson , Philip Quarll , and Peter Wilkins . Defoe followed up the tale with his own sequel, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe , but that tale was not met with a much success as the first novel. In any case, the figure of Robinson Crusoe has become an important archetypal figure in literature — Robinson Crusoe was described by Samuel T. Coleridge as "the universal man."

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Review: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

At 19 we all argue with our parents thinking we know better so it is of little surprise that the young Robinson Crusoe back in 1651 ignored the well-meaning advice of his father, and joined a ship heading from Hull to London.

During this voyage, however, fate struck a nasty blow and the weather worsened leaving the ship stranded in waters near Yarmouth. After several days the weather refused to abate and the ship, unfortunately, could not take the constant pounding. Fortunately for many onboard including Crusoe a ship nearby had noticed their distress signal and sent a small boat to rescue them.

For many, after an experience like this, they may reflect and return home with their tail between their legs and admit that perhaps their father was correct. Robinson Crusoe however, had other ideas. When onboard the sinking ship he had prayed to God asking to survive and if he did he would return to the family. Just a few days on dry land though led to other thoughts. It appears he had forgotten how he felt during the awful weather on board and instead of heading home to Hull he decided to join a ship heading for Africa.

The first voyage he embarked on to Africa was a seemingly successful one that saw him returned safely so he decided to remain with the ship. Unfortunately, the captain passed away, and the man taking over was not quite such a good seafarer. During the next journey, the vessel Robinson Crusoe was on was attacked by pirates and while most of the crew perished he was taken and made a slave.

For two years he worked for his master until an opportunity arose to escape which he did successfully and ended up in Brazil where he brought a patch of land to grow sugar cane.

It would appear however that Crusoe is not the brightest of individuals or perhaps cannot see his own failings because after 4 years working on his now quite successful plantation, greed has got the better of him. He has mentioned in passing to others the ability to buy slaves in ‘Guinea’ which is still quite an unknown thing at this time in Brazil. So when the offer of a trip across the seas to procure these slaves comes up Crusoe jumps at the change to join the expedition on the promise that he will gain many for himself.

This time, however, Robinson Crusoe’s luck seems to have run out with the ship sailing directly into a hurricane and pushing them towards the Caribbean islands. With the ship wreaked eleven souls climb abroad the life raft but do not make it to shore. Crusoe seems to be the lone survivor of this tragic wreckage.

“I walk’d about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in my contemplation of my deliverance,..reflecting upon my comrades that were drown’d, and that there should not be one soul sav’d but myself; as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoes.. “(Page 81)

To begin with, his spirits were high. The ship, wrecked just offshore, was within swimming distance so daily Crusoe would swim out to recover as many supplies as possible. He even created a weatherproof shelter and a safe surround to protect himself against predators.  However, after a freak storm the ship was completely washed away and with that Crusoe’s mood changed and it takes all his energy to try and drag himself back out of his depressive state.

“Well, you are in a desolate condition, ’tis true, but pray remember, Where are the rest of you? Did not you come eleven of you into the boat, where are the ten? Why were not they sav’ d and you lost?” (Page 97)

As you progress through the narrative Crusoe’s monologue often reads like manic ramblings of someone going insane which quite possibly would happen if you were stranded all alone with no one else for company. But he also seems to possess the ability to adapt quickly to his surroundings. Of course, we don’t gain the full background to his skills before he embarks on his life as a sailor and explorer but you get the sense that he is from a privileged background and therefore would not normally work with his hands so he seems far more able then you would probably expect – cutting down trees, creating wicker baskets and pots made of clay, making spades and other tools out of very little.

After so long alone, he becomes so comfortable in his surroundings that he lets his guard down. That is, until one day he sees a footprint in the sand he is certain isn’t his. We then have an extended monologue about how he is worried that savages will come onto the island, find and eat him for he was convinced that anyone coming onto the island was, in fact, a cannibal.

He would spend hours, weeks and years thinking about how he could, should he need to, kill as many of them as possible should they discover his hiding place.

“… but all was abortive, nothing could be possible to take effect, unless I was to be there to do it my self; and what could one man do among them, when perhaps there might be twenty or thirty of them together, with their darts, or their bows and arrows, with which they could shoot as true to a mark… “(Page 200)

These thoughts continued for years, both consciously and in his dreams. Then, one day, after 25 years of solitude, while observing a group of savages, Robinson Crusoe saw one of the captives break away, running for his life.

“I was call’d plainly by Providence to save this poor creature’s life ; I immediately run down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetch’d my two guns, for they were both but at the foot of the ladders,… And getting up again, with the same haste, to the top of the hill… “(Page 233)

This is our first introduction to Friday, a character probably just as memorable as Robinson Crusoe in this narrative. Up until this point, it has been one very long, and at times, dragging monologue of how one man comes to survive on an island. Don’t get me wrong, if such a thing could happen, we should all be in awe of the survivor but it did, at times, cause the plot to become a bit of a bore.

For the remaining chapters, we read about how Crusoe taught man Friday how to speak English and complete all the tasks asked of him. We also read about their unlikely saviours and how they finally escape the island after nearly 28 years.

My Thoughts on Robinson Crusoe

I really wanted to enjoy this novel for many reasons. Firstly, the story is meant to be based on the real-life travels and disasters of Alexander Selkirk , a Navy officer who lived as a castaway for four years on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific, and secondly, many literary historians have singled out Robinson Crusoe as the first instance of a realistic English novel.  Finally, I initially picked the novel up to read for the first time in 2019, exactly 300 years since it was published so it was a big milestone for the book.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I really wanted to enjoy the narrative, and at times, I loved reading about how someone could live in solitude for so long developing their survival skills but at other times the monologue of Crusoe’s experiences became so monotonous I struggled to continue.  Possibly because of the time in which it was written, it is also heavily laden with religious references which could be extremely off-putting for people. Finally, there is a strong theme of slavery running throughout which was fundamentally difficult to read. Crusoe went from wanting slaves to becoming a slave himself. The element I struggled with however was the fact that after his own treatment he was quick to enslave others again for his benefit.  Surely, after you have been oppressed yourself, the last thing you would want to do would be to treat someone else in a similar manner.

Of course, Defoe’s plot is fictional and therefore he was probably not expecting people 300 years later to pull his narrative apart and look for underlying meanings in the way we often do today.

On the surface, it is a travelogue full of descriptive episodes and exploration of different countries and continents which I know many will enjoy.

Did you enjoy this article? Then PIN it for later…

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The main content creator at Travelling Book Junkie who loves all things book related. If lost, she can always be found in the nearest bookshop or library and is known for following in the footsteps of famous writers whether that be to a local cafe or to the top of a mountain. She loves to explore countries through the pages of a book before visiting anywhere to further understand their culture and traditions.

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A Summary and Analysis of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Robinson Crusoe, often called the first English novel, was written by Daniel Defoe and published in 1719. The novel is the tale of one man’s survival on a desert island following a shipwreck. Published in 1719, the book didn’t carry Defoe’s name, and it was offered to the public as a true account of real events, documented by a real man named Crusoe. But readers were immediately sceptical.

In the same year as the novel appeared, a man named Charles Gildon actually published Robinson Crusoe Examin’d and Criticis’d , in which he showed that Crusoe was made up and the events of the novel were fiction. The name ‘Crusoe’, by the way, may have been taken from Timothy Cruso, who had been a classmate of Defoe’s and who had gone on to write guidebooks.  

What follows is a short summary of the main plot of Robinson Crusoe , followed by an analysis of this foundational novel and its key themes.

Robinson Crusoe : summary

The novel, famously, is about how the title character, Robinson Crusoe, becomes marooned on an island off the north-east coast of South America. As a young man, Crusoe had gone to sea in the hope of making his fortune. Crusoe is on a ship bound for Africa, where he plans to buy slaves for his plantations in South America, when the ship is wrecked on an island and Crusoe is the only survivor.

Alone on a desert island, Crusoe manages to survive thanks to his pluck and pragmatism. He keeps himself sane by keeping a diary, manages to build himself a shelter, and finda a way of salvaging useful goods from the wrecked ship, including guns.

Twelve years pass in this way, until one momentous day, Crusoe finds a single human footprint in the sand! But he has to wait another ten years before he discovers the key to the mystery: natives from the nearby islands, who practise cannibalism, have visited the island, and when they next return, Crusoe attacks them, using his musket salvaged from the shipwreck all those years ago.

He takes one of the natives captive, and names him Man Friday, because – according to Crusoe’s (probably inaccurate) calendar, that’s the day of the week on which they first meet.

Crusoe teaches Man Friday English and converts him to Christianity. When Crusoe learns that Man Friday’s fellow natives are keeping white prisoners on their neighbouring island, he vows to rescue them. Together, the two of them build a boat. When more natives attack the island with captives, Crusoe and Friday rescue the captives and kill the natives. The two captives they’ve freed are none other than Friday’s own father and a Spanish man.

Crusoe sends them both off to the other island in the newly made boat, telling them to free the other prisoners. Meanwhile, a ship arrives at the island: a mutiny has taken place on board, and the crew throw the captain and his loyal supporters onto the island.

Before the ship can leave, Crusoe has teamed up with the captain and his men, and between them they retake the ship from the mutineers, who settle on the island while Crusoe takes the ship home to England.

Robinson Crusoe has been away from England for many years by this stage – he was marooned on his island for over twenty years – and his parents have died. But he has become wealthy, thanks to his plantations in Brazil, so he gets married and settles down. His wife dies a few years later, and Crusoe – along with Friday – once again leaves home.

Robinson Crusoe : analysis

Robinson Crusoe is a novel that is probably more known about than it is read these days, and this leads to a skewed perception of what the book is really about. In the popular imagination, Robinson Crusoe is a romantic adventure tale about a young man who goes to sea to have exciting experiences, before finding himself alone on a desert island and accustoming himself, gradually, to his surroundings, complete with a parrot for his companion.

In reality, this is only partially true (although he does befriend a parrot at one point). But the key to understanding Defoe’s novel is its context: early eighteenth-century mercantilism and Enlightenment values founded on empiricism (i.e. observing what’s really there) rather than some anachronistic Romantic worship of the senses, or ‘man’s communion with his environment’.

And talking of his environment, Crusoe spends the whole novel trying to build a boat so he can escape his island, and leaves when the first ship comes along. While he’s there, he bends the island’s natural resources to his own ends, rather than acclimatising to his alien surroundings.

In this respect, he’s not so different from a British person on holiday in Alicante, who thinks speaking English very loudly at the Spanish waiter will do the job very nicely rather than attempting to converse in Spanish.

This tells us a great deal about Robinson Crusoe the man but also Robinson Crusoe the novel. It was written at a time when Britain was beginning to expand its colonial sights, and it would shortly become the richest and most powerful country on earth, thanks to its imperial expeditions in the Caribbean, Africa, and parts of Asia, notably India.

Crusoe embodies this pioneering mercantile spirit: he is obsessed with money (he even picks up coins on his island and keeps them, even though he cannot spend them), and takes great pleasure in the physical objects, such as the guns and powder, which he rescues from the wreck. Man Friday is, in the last analysis, his own private servant.

But was Robinson Crusoe the first such ‘Robinsonade’? Not really. This, from Martin Wainwright: ‘There is a tale for our troubled times about a man on a desert island, who keeps goats, builds a shelter and finally discovers footprints in the sand. But it is not called Robinson Crusoe. It was written by a wise old Muslim from Andalusia and is the third most translated text from Arabic after the Koran and the Arabian Nights.’

That book is The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan , known as the first Arabic novel (just as Robinson Crusoe is often cited as the first English novel), written in the twelfth century by a Moorish philosopher living in Spain.

Yes, Robinson Crusoe wasn’t the first fictional narrative to take place on a desert island, although it has proved the most influential among English writers.

Although Defoe is widely believed to have been influenced by the real-life experiences of the Scottish man Alexander Selkirk (who spent over four years alone on a Pacific island, living on fish, berries, and wild goats), one important textual influence that has been proposed is Hai Ebn Yokdhan’s book.

Severin cites the case of a man named Henry Pitman, who wrote a short book recounting his adventures in the Caribbean (not the Pacific, which is where Selkirk was marooned) following his escape from a penal colony and his subsequent shipwrecking and survival on a desert island.

Pitman appears to have lived in the same area of London as Defoe, and Defoe may have met Pitman in person and learned of his experiences first-hand. It is also revealing that both men had taken part in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 (in the wake of which, at Judge Jeffreys’ infamous ‘Bloody Assizes’, Defoe was lucky not to be sentenced to death).

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2 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe”

Ummm.. who was “the wise old muslim”? What was the book? Another precursor is Henry Neville’s The Isle of Pines, pub;ished a few years earlier. https://www.cbeditions.com/GoodMorningMrCrusoe.html for another intreresting history and meditation on RC.

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Book of a Lifetime: Robinson Crusoe, By Daniel Defoe

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Over the years, Robinson Crusoe has become my best-loved novel. I feel happy when I see it on a shelf, on a bus, in somebody's hand, even my own, old copy now on the desk, a beautifully illustrated edition inscribed "Peter from Mum 1919". Crusoe was never meant to be a children's book and I didn't begin to understand it until I had written novels. Defoe was nearly 60 when he wrote it, and he wrote at tremendous speed in the midst of his tumultuous life, section by section with a hungry public waiting, as Dickens's readers did. Dickens hated Robinson Crusoe. He said it had never made anyone laugh or cry.

Well, I suppose we know what he meant. Fashion changed. Defoe came to be thought of as a journeyman, the book unsubtle, repetitive and too long. It may have been "the granite rock on which all English fiction is based", but Defoe was thought a primitive. Even in the 1980s, when I was writing Crusoe's Daughter, the head of literature at an Oxford college said to me, "Of course, I would never teach Crusoe."

Next, everybody began to find sinister sides: racism, anti-feminism, the glorification of the oligarch. It has become usual in modern Crusoe novels to demonise the hero and make Man Friday the fairy prince.

But the book, like the Odyssey, has a life of its own. It was frequently adapted "for children" and into plays, films, opera even Crusoe on Ice! There's a beloved children's book, The Dog Crusoe. Each year, he makes a wonderful panto.

Like Odysseus, Crusoe can be ridiculous, but both are brave and enduring. Both are filled with lust - lust for travel and adventure. After 30 years on the island, Crusoe is off again!

Defoe was not well-travelled. He was born in east London and died, running from creditors, in Bunhill Fields. He'd never seen the coast of Sallee or met a cannibal. He lived in shadow the dark alleys that Coetzee describes in Foe. His bust used to stand in Walthamstow Public Library; it is now in a museum. He was a toad of a man who sometimes worked as a back street government spy.

Yet Robinson Crusoe is bathed in sunlight. He is more honest than Odysseus was and straightforward as he is brave. Yet he can be pathetically insecure. After seeing a human footprint in the sand, he hides for two years! He passionately calls on God but seldom thinks about the family he abandoned. Sex does not seem to occur to him except once, when he finds himself fancying Friday and hastily recovers himself. The island where Crusoe is "lord of all he surveys", for all its shining beauty, he hates. There is not a trace of the romantic in Crusoe or in Defoe. When at last he is rescued he says little, sheds simple tears. No, academics cannot teach Crusoe. You can't "teach" a rock anything.

Jane Gardam's 'The People on Privilege Hill' is published by Chatto & Windus

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Robinson Crusoe

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Robinson Crusoe , novel by Daniel Defoe , first published in London in 1719. Defoe’s first long work of fiction, it introduced two of the most-enduring characters in English literature : Robinson Crusoe and Friday .

Crusoe is the novel’s narrator. He describes how, as a headstrong young man, he ignored his family’s advice and left his comfortable middle-class home in England to go to sea. His first experience on a ship nearly kills him, but he perseveres, and a voyage to Guinea “made me both a Sailor and a Merchant,” Crusoe explains. Now several hundred pounds richer, he sails again for Africa but is captured by pirates and sold into slavery. He escapes and ends up in Brazil, where he acquires a plantation and prospers. Ambitious for more wealth, Crusoe makes a deal with merchants and other plantation owners to sail to Guinea, buy slaves, and return with them to Brazil. But he encounters a storm in the Caribbean, and his ship is nearly destroyed. Crusoe is the only survivor, washed up onto a desolate shore. He salvages what he can from the wreck and establishes a life on the island that consists of spiritual reflection and practical measures to survive. He carefully documents in a journal everything he does and experiences.

After many years, Crusoe discovers a human footprint, and he eventually encounters a group of native peoples—the “Savages,” as he calls them—who bring captives to the island so as to kill and eat them. One of the group’s captives escapes, and Crusoe shoots those who pursue him, effectively freeing the captive. As Crusoe describes one of his earliest interactions with the man, just hours after his escape:

At last he lays his Head flat upon the Ground, close to my Foot, and sets my other Foot upon his Head, as he had done before; and after this, made all the Signs to me of Subjection, Servitude, and Submission imaginable, to let me know, how he would serve me as long as he liv’d; I understood him in many Things, and let him know, I was very well pleas’d with him; in a little Time I began to speak to him, and teach him to speak to me; and first, I made him know his Name should be Friday , which was the Day I sav’d his Life; I call’d him so for the Memory of the Time; I likewise taught him to say Master , and then let him know, that was to be my Name. ( Robinson Crusoe , ed. by J. Donald Crowley [Oxford University Press, 1998]).

Crusoe gradually turns “my Man Friday ” into an English-speaking Christian. “Never Man had a more faithful, loving, sincere Servant, than Friday was to me,” Crusoe explains. Various encounters with local peoples and Europeans ensue. After almost three decades on the island, Crusoe departs (with Friday and a group of pirates) for England. Crusoe settles there for a time after selling his plantation in Brazil, but, as he explains, “I could not resist the strong Inclination I had to see my Island.” He eventually returns and learns what happened after the Spanish took control of it.

Defoe probably based part of Robinson Crusoe on the real-life experiences of Alexander Selkirk , a Scottish sailor who at his own request was put ashore on an uninhabited island in 1704 after a quarrel with his captain and stayed there until 1709. But Defoe took his novel far beyond Selkirk’s story by blending the traditions of Puritan spiritual autobiography with an insistent scrutiny of the nature of human beings as social creatures. He also deployed components of travel literature and adventure stories, both of which boosted the novel’s popularity. From this mixture emerged Defoe’s major accomplishment in Robinson Crusoe : the invention of a modern myth . The novel is both a gripping tale and a sober wide-ranging reflection on ambition, self-reliance, civilization, and power.

Robinson Crusoe was a popular success in Britain, and it went through multiple editions in the months after its first publication. Translations were quickly published on the European continent, and Defoe wrote a sequel ( The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe ) that was also published in 1719. Defoe’s book immediately spurred imitations, called Robinsonades , and he himself used it as a springboard for more fiction. (For a discussion of Robinson Crusoe in the context of Defoe’s writing career, see Daniel Defoe: Later life and works .) Robinson Crusoe would crop up in Jean-Jacques Rousseau ’s Émile (1762) and in Karl Marx ’s Das Kapital (1867). The novel The Swiss Family Robinson (translated into English in 1814) and the films His Girl Friday (1940), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), and Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) are just a few of the works that riff—some directly, some obliquely—on Defoe’s novel and its main characters.

Some critics have debated Robinson Crusoe ’s status as a novel per se: its structure is highly episodic, and Defoe’s uneven narrative pacing and niggling errors—a goat that is male, for example, later becomes female as circumstances demand—suggest that he may not have planned or executed the work as a single unified whole. In many ways, however, its heterogeneity—the fact that it draws together features of the genres of romance , memoir , fable , allegory , and others—argues that novel is the only label large enough to describe it. Robinson Crusoe is best understood as standing alongside novels such as Tristram Shandy and Infinite Jest , all of which expand the novel’s possibilities by blurring its boundaries.

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Book Review: ROBINSON CRUSOE

Number of Pages:  320

Publisher:  Modern Library

Release Date:  1719

“Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being.” – Goodreads.com

Let me start by saying that my initial expectations for this novel were not high. To be honest, I really didn’t think I would enjoy it at all when I first saw it listed on the syllabus of my Introduction to Literature class. All I knew about the story was that a man gets stuck on a deserted island and that the novel was him narrating his experiences there. Beyond that basic premise of the plot, I had no idea what it was about. His survival story alone didn’t appeal to me very much, mostly because I’ve read so many survival stories and seen so many movies about survival (and nothing can compare to Lost! ). It might have been exciting back in the eighteenth century, but now– unless they’re done incredibly well– these types of stories tend to feel unoriginal and overused. All in all, I really was expecting to have to force myself to trudge through the boredom, monotony, and triviality I thought this novel would exude.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that I actually enjoyed reading this book! It’s certainly not my favorite book of all time, but it provided such food for thought that I couldn’t help but look forward to discussing it in class and seeing what new layers of meaning our analysis could uncover. Crusoe’s story is one of survival, but it is not about survival solely in the physical sense. The story soon transforms into a discussion about religion and whether or not God is controlling our fates or if our futures are simply the consequences of our actions. This twist in focus was unexpected, yet it made the story much more interesting. I’m not very religious myself, but I think learning and thinking about religion is fascinating. It’s interesting to notice how people tend to embrace religion or spirituality in general when confronted with dire situations, such as Crusoe’s isolation on the island.

It’s a wonder that Defoe was able to write such a sizable, detailed novel in which, for the majority of the time, there is only a single character. Crusoe’s narration certainly adds intrigue to the story, mostly regarding the details that Crusoe chooses to emphasize or omit entirely. He’s clearly writing for an audience, but whether or not that audience is himself or other people is sometimes hard to conclude. An argument can be made that in narrating the story he is trying to remake himself in the eyes of others; however, it can also be suggested that he is attempting to convince himself of his new image and keep himself sane while on the island. Although this novel seems fairly simple at the outset, it’s actually quite complex and worth reading closely.

As a character, I didn’t find Robinson Crusoe to be all that agreeable. Sure, he has many flaws that make him easy to relate to as a human being, but being inside of his head for so long does grow wearisome after a while. His meticulous descriptions of caring for goats, constructing his shelter, and other tasks are frequent and rather dry, much to my chagrin. By far my favorite parts were Crusoe’s inner rambles and debates, particularly regarding  religion and the savages of which he was terribly afraid. Not only were these parts the most interesting to read, but they also showed the effect that being isolated on the island had on him. He doesn’t talk much about physical distress, apart from when he gets very sick, but it’s clear that he struggles mentally and emotionally with his place on the island.

In fact, I even wrote my midterm paper on  Robinson Crusoe . In my paper I argued that Crusoe attempts to create a sense of civilization on the island and reconnect with his past as a civilized man in English society in order to separate himself from the wildness of the savages. If any of you have read this novel before I’d be really interested in hearing your thoughts on this thesis– do you agree? Disagree? Have a different opinion? I’d love to know!

Overall, I must admit that Defoe surprised me with  Robinson Crusoe.  It’s a solid novel– not one of my favorites, but surely worth reading. The slow pace and exhaustive amount of detail in the novel are countered by the interesting narration and themes of religion and morality, thus balancing its weaknesses with its strengths. I’m glad it was required reading for my Introduction to Literature class because otherwise I might never have picked up this often underestimated classic novel.

My Rating:  :0) :0) :0) 3 out of 5 smileys

Would I recommend it to a friend?:  Yes, bearing in mind that it is a rather slow-paced and character-driven novel. It’s not for those who prefer constant action and adventure to contemplative thought, but I wouldn’t automatically discount it.

Have you ever read this book before? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments section below!

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8 responses to “Book Review: ROBINSON CRUSOE”

I loved reading this one as a child. I hope to visit it again soon. I partially agree with you that he was trying to act more civilized. But there are instances where he enjoyed the freedom he was granted from the monotony of a routine civilized life. He greatly enjoyed such moments. I am sorry I cannot quote specific passages because my memory fails me. You would be able to connect to it as you recently read the book. But yes, he did want to keep his part of sanity intact which is why he tried to root to the lessons of civilisation which he was accustomed to before the isolation happened. It is as if he was finding his own balance from the chains that held him before and the freedom that beckons him in unlimited forms. His trying to have a civilised routine can also be seen as the best and efficient way he could survive in an unknown land.

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I definitely agree with you about Crusoe also wanting to be free from civilization in some senses. I think the simple fact that he was so isolated gave him the liberty of being completely independent on the island, which then fostered some of his desire for a more relaxed lifestyle. You bring up a good point about him wanting to find balance in living on the island– I feel like if I was in Crusoe’s place, I would act in a similar way. (Although I doubt I would have nearly as much success!)

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I still have to read Robinson Crusoe. There is no telling how this book will come across to me. I thought that I only liked fast past stuff for the longest time, but I have read several books where the pacing is slower and turned out to be a favorite. Great review.

Thanks! I definitely liked it more than I thought I would, so hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise to you as well!

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Better Books!

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

A quick book review.

Introduction

This week we discuss the (in)famous and world-renowned adventure tale, Robinson Crusoe . Often cited as the first modern novel published in English, this work is the tale of a man struggling to survive in extraordinary circumstances, wrestling with fate and providence.

I’ve seen many discuss Robinson Crusoe as a story for children. While the story is simple enough, the book is not for children; unless those children happen to be particularly adept readers. This is a difficult book that explores many themes, some of them of a more mature nature.

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Many people think they know this book. The tale of a man stuck on an island trying to survive… what else is there to know? But there is a lot in this book that people don’t realize is there. For example, did you know that Crusoe is captured and enslaved early in the novel? Did you know that he is shipwrecked more than just the one time? Also, there are bears and wolves; but not where you’d expect.

One main question this book explores is just how much does one person need? Let’s dive in.

Robinson Crusoe’s father wants him to take the “middle way,” to live a middle-class life in comfort and be content. Instead, after he comes of age, Crusoe sets out to sea in search of adventure. Through his early voyages he is shipwrecked, captured and enslaved, escapes slavery, and becomes a plantation owner in Brazil. Ironically enough, he ends up shipwrecked on the infamous island while on a voyage to purchase some slaves. This island is where the familiar part of the story takes place.

Crusoe survives alone on the island for 28 years, during which he builds a life for himself by salvaging supplies from the wreck, hunting, farming, and domesticating animals. He also undergoes a spiritual journey, reflecting on his life and God’s providence. Crusoe’s mind is eventually shattered as he comes across a single human footprint in the sand that isn’t his. Who made that footprint? His solitude is then broken when he encounters a group of indigenous cannibals and rescues a man he names Friday, who becomes his loyal companion.

Themes of survival, self-reliance, isolation, and solitude are the ones that immediately come to mind when one encounters Robinson Crusoe . His years alone lead him to much introspection, confronting his own beliefs on God and fate. Ultimately he is able to find gratitude because he knows that his situation could have been much worse.

Under the surface however, deeper themes emerge. European civilization is contrasted with that of the indigenous peoples near the island. Controversially (in our time), Defoe depicts the indigenous tribes as savages and cannibals. Many people read this as an example of Defoe’s hatred towards these people, but I’m not wholly convinced. Ultimately, Crusoe saves one of these “savages” and they become life-long companions. There’s a certain echo of equality there even if unintentional on Defoe’s part. Crusoe, and Defoe for that matter, are no saints; but I don’t think one can totally disregard their stories because of that.

Crusoe’s approach to the island as a place to be cultivated and managed reflects the economic individualism of the emerging capitalist society at the time. He certainly feels that because he improved the island that it is his own personal enterprise, and as he encounters various people on “his island” this becomes more obvious.

I think however, that Defoe is mostly focused on Crusoe’s religious and spiritual journey. Initially, Crusoe is not particularly religious. However, his isolation on the island (with a copy of the Bible) leads him to reflect deeply on his life and actions. He begins to see his survival as a sign of divine intervention and is grateful for it.

In short, Defoe attempts to explore a lot of interesting themes with this simple tale. How he succeeds or fails in these explorations is up to each reader.

Writing Style

Robinson Crusoe is told in the first person and after the fact. Crusoe regularly spoils the story for the reader. He’ll say things like “I’ll explain how I got off the island later,” or “if you wait, I’ll explain some of the adventures I have after I get off the island.” Thus, this story lacks the suspense and tension one might assume a deserted island survival tale would have.

I read the Norton Critical Edition paperback. This version does not have chapter breaks. The dialogue does not have quotation marks or separate paragraphs. Defoe’s sentences and paragraphs are quite long. Words are frequently capitalized mid-sentence and seemingly at random. He also uses many strange contractions; o’er instead of over for example. The language and spelling are a bit unapproachable as well.

Like I said earlier, this is not an easy book to read. It’s not difficult like Faulkner or Pynchon, but it’s not easily accessible like Stephen King either. It took me quite a while to get used to the style enough to build momentum and get my reading pace to where it would normally be. For example, here’s a single sentence from early in the novel:

Being the third Son of the Family, and not bred to any Trade, my Head began to be fill’d very early with rambling Thoughts: My Father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent Share of Learning, as far as House-Education, and a Country Free-School generally goes, and design’d me for the Law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to Sea, and my Inclination to this led me so strongly against the Will, nay the Commands of my Father, and against all the Entreaties and Perswasions of my Mother and other Friends, that there seem’d to be something fatal in that Propension of Nature tending directly to the Life of Misery which was to be-fal me.

The story is told in a mostly linear fashion. It’s a simple enough story for one to enjoy. Shipwrecks, survival, gunfights, sailing, battling nature, etc. But somehow Defoe makes this all rather boring.

At one point in the novel after Crusoe relates his first few weeks on the island, he then prints his journal entries for those same weeks! So the reader must sit through the same portion of the story twice. I think the whole tale would’ve actually been better told exclusively through journal entries. Crusoe had enough gunpowder for 28 years of constant hunting, why couldn’t the author have also given him enough ink and paper for the same?

Besides the religious and spiritual journey that Crusoe goes through, there is not much character growth here. Crusoe doesn’t realize slavery is wrong after becoming one himself. He doesn’t ultimately decide to settle down into a stable, middle-class life after escaping the island. He goes on more adventures. And there is nothing in the book about the mental trauma one would go through during a 28-year isolation on a deserted island.

The film Castaway with Tom Hanks told a similar story, but it was done better in every way.

What characters?

There’s Crusoe who we have discussed already and then there are only side characters mostly tangential to the story.

The only other character worth any discussion is Friday, a native man whom Crusoe rescues from a group of cannibals. As a result of said rescue, Friday becomes a loyal servant and companion to Crusoe; their relationship representing the cultural and racial dynamics of the time. Ultimately Crusoe teaches Friday English and converts him to Christianity.

Friday is depicted as a more emotionally expressive and vibrant character than Crusoe. He has a joyful reunion with his father that contrasts with Crusoe’s more reserved nature. Friday is warm and Vibrant. I’d rather read a book about him.

The Ending [spoilers ahead but come on, the book is 300 years old]

The story is thus: Crusoe disobeys parents and goes on adventures; Crusoe is marooned on deserted island for 28 years; Crusoe escapes the island; Crusoe gets his affairs in order; Crusoe goes on more adventures some of which he describes in detail and some of which he leaves for later.

The ending is a bit jarring. One would expect it to end after Crusoe escapes and starts getting his life back together, but it goes on. He gets his financial situation figured out and then starts travelling all over the world again, eventually taking the ship back to “his” island. He fights some bears and wolves while travelling through France or something. I don’t really know. By this point I was just trying to finish the thing.

Essentially the book ends with Crusoe telling you that he’ll recount more adventures someday… in a future book. No thanks.

My Rating: 2 out of 5. I probably won’t read this one again for a long time.

If you’d like to see how I rate books and what each number on my scale means to me, you can click here . In short, a 3 is a good book that meets all of my expectations, so a 2 isn’t that bad.

There’s a good adventure story somewhere in here. The difficulty of the writing style combined with the unlikability of the narrator put me off of this one a bit. I stuck with it because Robinson Crusoe has stood the test of time as a massively influential classic work of literature. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t plan to do so again anytime soon.

**Note: I’m using affiliate links for all titles recommended in this post. If you buy books through these links, I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Help support this Substack!**

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Reading Classics: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

25/06/2013, CelineNyx, Review , 12

I read this book as part of the Classics Club Challenge – I challenged myself to read fifty classics picked by me in the next three years. To find out more, you can see my list or visit the Classics Club website .

Title: Robinson Crusoe Author: Daniel Defoe First Publication: 1719

Project Gutenberg Robinson Crusoe (free download) The Book Depository (€2.44 / $3.29 + free shipping)

This book. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a classic this much. Even when I was reading Kafka, which made me feel terrible, I still had a lot of respect for the book because it blurs the line between fiction and reality to such an extend that you feel debased and uncomfortable. I don’t really have any respect for Robinson Crusoe .

The main thing that puzzles me is how this book turned into the thousands of survival adaptations. How?! Robinson doesn’t have to fight to survive. He has a whole damn ship on his shore with enough supplies for years. He has a dog and a parrot and cats to keep him company, some bibles to read when he’s bored, enough gunpowder to last him for thirty years, enough rum and other booze for about twenty years, tobacco to smoke… The only thing he’s missing is some more clothes, but who cares about those in the Caribbean anyway.

Now on to my greatest annoyance in the entire book of Robinson Crusoe , namely Robinson Crusoe. I wanted to take one of his guns and hit some sense into that guy. He is an ungrateful, rebellious, self-pitying, racist, imperialist, bigot fool that deserves every hardship he comes across. I was also very much annoyed by how he handled his religion. Basically he only remembers that he’s in the hand of God when everything is well. The moment something goes wrong (he’s also completely paranoid – one footprint throws him into a fit for two years ) he forgets about God and Providence and everything he said to hold so dear. If it was just this personal problem, I would have been okay with it. But the moment he gets slaves (because of course he gets slaves) he has to “save their souls” and turn them into Christians. What?! He’s the worst Christian ever himself, yet he feels like he has to turn everything that moves into a Christian? Ugh.

And there are slaves. They all want to be his slaves of course.

At one point near the end he mentions shipping off a few women for his men on the island. That was about the moment I knew I didn’t want to read this book ever again.

A quote wonderfully describing why I couldn’t stand Robinson:

My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole country was my own property, so that I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected – I was absolutely lord and lawgiver – they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me. It was remarkable, too, I had but three subjects, and they were of three different religions – my man Friday was a Protestant, his father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist. However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions.

Gee Robinson, how nice of you to allow different religions in the island you yourself decided is yours, over subjects that are stuck there with a gun wielding megalomaniac Englishman.

Robinson Crusoe is probably a good example of how people thought during that particular time period – but if that’s so, I don’t care for that time period.

book review , classic , classics club , daniel defoe , reading classics , robinson crusoe

‹ Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown Doing the Math – Again ›

Book Review: Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is an incredibly fun novel to read. It is a fictional autobiography about the character Robinson Crusoe and his adventures while shipwrecked on an island. While the book does use some confusing language at times, the creative results it produces are greatly entertaining. The book starts slow, however, the pacing of the book almost depicts the exact development of Crusoe through his stagnant start and then a life of adventure later on. Around a third into the book, Robinson Crusoe simply states that he would focus on only the important parts of his adventure due to his lack of ink. It is at this point where the book starts to shine, and Robinson's island survival starts to mix supernaturalism and realism. The novel does not have any super deep themes and rather opts to just tell a straightforward story, unlike many modern island survival novels that attempt to be thought-provoking. Overall, the novel was a fantastic read. I would recommend this book to any person that enjoys adventure and survival.

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ROBINSON CRUSOE

by Daniel Defoe & developed by Bee Gang ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2011

Readers themselves will be in need of rescue from this abominable adaptation.

A drastically abbreviated and uncommonly inept version of the classic survival tale.

Crusoe’s paraphrased narrative sweeps through the original’s major events up to the stranded traveler’s rescue—then on the last page suddenly cuts to a scene from Defoe’s lesser-known sequel for a one paragraph account of Friday’s death. The classic tale has been slashed to 15 screens of large text that is well-stocked with typos and interleaved with clumsy, sometimes irrelevant tilt- or touch-sensitive cartoon illustrations. Interactive effects include a “shooting gallery” in which the rifle points away from the moving pirate and a platter that inexplicably slides back and forth on the table in Crusoe’s shack. There are several screens on which foliage that can’t be completely moved aside covers parts of the text, and the superfluous firelit set of grimacing “cannibals” and flickable skulls have nothing whatsoever to do with the accompanying narrative. Furthermore, the menu’s index icon opens a tiny window almost impossible to scroll, and (in this version) the change-language icon shows only an option for English.

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2011

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bee Gang

Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever. 

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it. 

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0312369816

Page Count: 164

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

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From the tía lola stories series , vol. 1.

by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.

Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán. 

When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana , Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios , but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturas while letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa —the mother tongue.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-375-80215-0

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

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“Americans want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class .” ¶ Middletown ¶ “A leader who understands the middle class because she grew up in the middle class .” ¶ midlist ¶ “We have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class .” ¶ middlebrow ¶ “We are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from.” ¶ mid ¶ “Everyone in Middletown runs absorbed in keeping his job or raising his wages, building his home, ‘boosting’ his club or church, educating his children.” ¶ middle of the pack ¶ “Kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great.” ¶ middle of the road ¶ “If any human being, man, woman, dog, cat or half-crushed worm dares call me ‘ middlebrow ’ I will take my pen and stab him, dead.” ¶ middle seat ¶ middle age ¶ “A tepid ooze of Midcult is spreading everywhere.” ¶ middle school ¶ “We have entered the golden age of Mid TV.” ¶ middle finger ¶ Middle Ages ¶ “Be careful: these are dangerous streets for us upper-lower-middle-class types.” ¶ “Americans want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class .” ¶ Middletown ¶ “A leader who understands the middle class because she grew up in the middle class .” ¶ midlist ¶ “We have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class .” ¶ middlebrow ¶ “We are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from.” ¶ mid ¶ “Everyone in Middletown runs absorbed in keeping his job or raising his wages, building his home, ‘boosting’ his club or church, educating his children.” ¶ middle of the pack ¶ “Kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great.” ¶ middle of the road ¶ “If any human being, man, woman, dog, cat or half-crushed worm dares call me ‘ middlebrow ’ I will take my pen and stab him, dead.” ¶ middle seat ¶ middle age ¶ “A tepid ooze of Midcult is spreading everywhere.” ¶ middle school ¶ “We have entered the golden age of Mid TV.” ¶ middle finger ¶ Middle Ages ¶ “Be careful: these are dangerous streets for us upper-lower-middle-class types.” ¶ “Americans want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class .” ¶ Middletown ¶ “A leader who understands the middle class because she grew up in the middle class .” ¶ midlist ¶ “We have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class .” ¶ middlebrow ¶ “We are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from.” ¶ mid ¶ “Everyone in Middletown runs absorbed in keeping his job or raising his wages, building his home, ‘boosting’ his club or church, educating his children.” ¶ middle of the pack ¶ “Kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great.” ¶ middle of the road ¶ “If any human being, man, woman, dog, cat or half-crushed worm dares call me ‘ middlebrow ’ I will take my pen and stab him, dead.” ¶ middle seat ¶ middle age ¶ “A tepid ooze of Midcult is spreading everywhere.” ¶ middle school ¶ “We have entered the golden age of Mid TV.” ¶ middle finger ¶ Middle Ages ¶ “Be careful: these are dangerous streets for us upper-lower-middle-class types.”

The ‘Middle’ Is a Muddle

Everybody loves the middle class. Nobody wants to be mid, or middling. “Middle” is a tricky word.

By A.O. Scott

Are you middle class? Am I? Is everybody?

In American politics, “ middle class ” doesn’t just name a particular segment of the population, a demographic group whose votes are necessary to electoral success. It represents an ideal, a moral principle, a set of values and interests that are not particular but universal.

At the Democratic convention, the phrase seemed to pop up in every other speech. Full-throated tributes to the middle class were offered by, among others, a governor who is also the billionaire scion of a hotel empire, an actor who happens to be a son and grandson of Hollywood moguls, and a congresswoman who once worked as a bartender.

“Americans want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class .” — Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois

“A leader who understands the middle class because she grew up in the middle class .” — the actor Tony Goldwyn

“We have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class .” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

And also, of course, by Vice President Kamala Harris, a daughter of an economist and a medical researcher, who was portrayed by speaker after speaker as both a product of the middle class and its champion.

“We are charting a new way forward. Forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class because we know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. And I’ll tell you, this is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from.” — Vice President Kamala Harris

Allegiance to the middle class doesn’t define the left or the right; it transcends such divisions. Political parties are expected to move to the center, and to prioritize the needs of Middle America , which both is and isn’t a geographical designation.

Nearly a century ago, the sociologists Helen Merrell Lynd and Robert Staughton Lynd called their classic study of the American heartland “ Middletown .” It was about Muncie, Ind., but there are plenty of actual Middletowns out there. The one in Ohio is Senator JD Vance’s hometown.

“Everyone in Middletown runs absorbed in keeping his job or raising his wages, building his home, ‘boosting’ his club or church, educating his children.” — Helen Merrell Lynd and Robert Staughton Lynd, “Middletown”

The middle is everywhere. Which, when you stop to think about it, is odd, even illogical. The creme may be the best part of the Oreo, but it exists only in relation to the wafers that surround it. If it’s only middle, it isn’t a cookie at all, just a blob of sweet goo.

That may be why politicians seek out the middle so eagerly.

“Kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great.” — Daniel Defoe, “Robinson Crusoe”

The rest of our culture often goes in the opposite direction. In art, up high is where the masterpieces are; down low is where the fun is.

The middle — the midlist , the middlebrow , the just plain mid — is a dead zone. Average. Ordinary. Common. Median. Mediocre. Meh.

“If any human being, man, woman, dog, cat or half-crushed worm dares call me ‘ middlebrow ,’ I will take my pen and stab him, dead.” — Virginia Woolf

“A tepid ooze of Midcult is spreading everywhere.” — Dwight Macdonald, “Masscult and Midcult”

“We have entered the golden age of Mid TV.” — James Poniewozik, The New York Times

The middle is not good enough to be great, not bad enough to be trash, and thus comes in for a special kind of contempt. Middle of the pack . Middle of the road . Middle seat. Middle school is miserable, and so is middle age . So were the Middle Ages !

Which, as it happens, is when the middle class got started, as a kind of catchall category between the established feudal ranks. There were people who owned the land and people who worked on it, and then there were people who did other things. Across Europe, those merchants, manufacturers and, well, middlemen tended to congregate in market towns. The French word for that kind of place was bourg , and so this class of non-peasants and non-aristocrats came to be called the bourgeoisie .

“Full of seething, wormy, hollow feelings rather nasty — How beastly the bourgeois is!” — D.H. Lawrence

“The bourgeoisie , during its rule of scarce 100 years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together.” — Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Everybody hates the bourgeoisie. Maybe not everyone, but you rarely hear “bourgeois” used as a compliment. The word connotes priggish respectability, pomp and pretentiousness, a way of life lacking the elegance and distinction — the class — of the old landed elite. It also referred to the ruling class, the factory owners and capitalists whose historic antagonists were the workers they employed, also known as the proletariat.

That isn’t a word you hear much anymore. Working class — a term favored by some of the speakers at the Republican convention as well as a few Democrats — is now a synonym for middle class, which only heightens the contradiction. The modern-day middle class now somehow includes both sides of the historical class struggle.

“Be careful: These are dangerous streets for us upper-lower-middle-class types.” — Homer Simpson

The middle is divided against itself — an aspirational ideal and a default setting, a state of equilibrium and a place to get stuck. The center cannot hold.

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