Jack Rowan
Mrs. Wood
11th grade AP English
August 5, 2013
Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe is a Fiction book about an adventurous Englishman who had dreams to pursue his love of sailing. Despite his father’s encouragement to study law, he chased his dream. Although Crusoe had early troubles in this career, he pushed through and stuck with it. He had financial success with the next trip and his hard work seemed to be paying off. As his life and his roller coaster career continued, he worked his way into serious trouble. As a slave trader on the way to West Africa, his ship wrecks and he is the only survivor on what he thinks is an abandoned island. Throughout his stay he makes due as hours turn into days and days turn into years. He had to survive in harsh conditions while at the same time, avoiding cannibals on the island. After a long stay on the island he boards a ship and heads back to England where he finds out his colony in Brazil has been very prosperous. He then sold his land there and benefitted greatly from it. However, while he was away his learns that his whole family passed away except for two sisters. Finally he departs again for the East Indies to revisit his island. The Spaniards had been taking great care of it. Robinson Crusoe is an inspirational book that teaches you to follow what you believe in and never give up on your dream. I really enjoyed this book. It showed me a lot about hard work and dedication. Robinson Crusoe was the perfect example of someone who pushed through adversity for the love of what he did. However, it did take me a little to get into this book. Once he got into the sailing and the hardships that came across him, I was immediately engaged. Reading about Robinson Crusoe and his sailing adventures was intriguing. While I read this book I felt a variety of emotions ranging from sadness to excitement to determination. I felt as if I was rooting him on the whole time. Although sailing was not an easy task, Crusoe still loved it for what it was. If he had bad fortune one day he put it behind him and looked forward to the next day. This evidence proves that perfectly. “I had slept very well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick but very cheerful, looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before…” (Defoe 11). This quote from the book shows how he was very optimistic about sailing. Even though he was sick the day before, he allowed himself to get a good night of sleep so he could be ready for the next day. Also, even though the sea was rough and not ideal he pushed through and made the best out of it. This trait is almost mandatory in the profession that he was in. If you can’t forget about misfortune in the sea then you are going to have a tough time doing that job. Robinson Crusoe took a risk by not listening to his father. However, it paid off for him in the end. “I walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapped up in the contemplation of my deliverance...reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be one soul saved but myself…” (Defoe 47). Thos passage tells us how lucky Crusoe was. His ship had crashed and he was the only one that survived. Instead of