Friday, January 9, 2009
Reading from pages 1-58
This first section of reading took some getting used to. I am not used to reading the style in which it is written – I found myself rereading many parts. This story starts off with finding out that Robinson Crusoe had changed his name. Crusoe also has 2 older brothers – one of them had been killed at war. Crusoe’s father had been trying to influence him to go into a certain career, a career that Crusoe wanted nothing to do with. Crusoe’s father wanted him to become a lawyer. Crusoe wanted to join the army, he wanted to go to sea. However, without his father’s consent he could not go because he was too young. His father did not want him to go to sea because he had already lost one son and didn’t want to lose another one. After a year goes by, Crusoe becomes of age and decides to fulfill his dreams and ventures out to sea….without telling ANYONE. Not even his mother or father. Crusoe from here on went on several adventures. In his first adventure we see him react to fear. They hit a storm, causing him to fear for his life. We then see Crusoe’s true feelings. “I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again…” Crusoe often references to God for protection on these voyages. Although God “protected him” on this voyage and kept him alive, Crusoe decided to go on many more. We also see him have feelings of regret. If he feels as though he has done wrong going against his father’s wishes and if he has fear of dying – then, why does he continue on these dangerous adventures?
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Great first blog, Lauren. You raised a number of very interesting concepts from the initial chapters of the book. 1) How much should we follow the advice of our parents and mentors? 2) How much was his father's advice based on the fear of losing another son and not on his understanding of Robinson's dreams and desires? and finally 3) What motivates some people to seek adventures even in the face of obvious danger? Great ideas to ponder. We'll see how Dafoe answers them in this novel, and I'm looking forward to reading more about your reactions as well.
ReplyDeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteI have never read this book, so I am curious to see how your thoughts develop about it. I wonder if the style will become second nature for you as you read more? Will you like Crusoe? I have a hard time reading books where I do not like the protagonist, so I wonder how your feelings about him will develop as you watch his choices.
Like Ms. Nobles I have never read Crusoe. However, one of my favorite genre's is the adventure biography/autobiography. I really enjoy reading about what choices individuals make when faced with environmental obstacles. The one that stands out to me is an autobiography by Aaron Ralston. In his book he reveals that due to a lack of respect of the buddy system and informing his family of where he is going he finds himself in a situation where he is forced to cut off his own hand. He goes into detail in which he too makes the same promises to God and regrets decisions he as made regarding his relationships with family members. After he makes it out alive he goes back to taking great risks in nature. I therefor too have to ask the same question time and time again in these types of stories, why do these people continue on these dangerous adventures?!!! I guess they can't get enough of the adventure adrenaline and will just keep taking chances until they don't make it out. I am looking forward to finding out what happens to Mr. Crusoe.
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