Robinson Crusoe

 

"Evil: I am cast upon a horrible desolate Island, void of all hope of Recovery. 

Good: But I am alive, and not drown'd as all my Ship'd Company was."

          A book of the old 17th century, Robinson Crusoe centers around a man who, against his family's wishes, has his heart set on travelling across the seas. Early on in the book, he is equipped with skills and techniques relating to the process of trade, profits, and a general experience in handling the rules of the sea. He is quick to assimilate and adapt to new methods. However, all is lost when he experiences a shipwreck one day on his expedition to West Africa, and finds only himself stranded on an island. With only remaining resources from the ship to last, Crusoe must devise a way to survive... alone. 

                Though it might at first glance seem like an ordinary tale of adventure from a single point of view, Robinson Crusoe deals with the deepest, rawest aspect of human life. When stripped off of everything, Defoe accurately portrays man dealing with the verge of insanity, despair, will to live, and an ordeal of faith. A civilization within a solitary man. Defoe leaves the readers wondering how we take for granted the web of society we are in and how unimaginably bare and helpless the current generation would be in if thrown in the same condition as Crusoe. For me, this thought went so far as how I am the product of my ancestors who had miraculously survived through a tireless cycle of survival. It is  truly a powerful story.