Chapter One  Positive Factors of His Characters

1.1 Positive Emerging Bourgeoisie 

In Robinson Crusoe, Defoe vividly shows pioneering consciousness and spirit of adventure of the British capitalist primitive accumulation period, and successfully creates an ideal hero image of the small and medium-sized bourgeois--Robinson. The plot is not complicated: Robinson was born in a merchant family. Reluctant to be like his parents, he was addicted to the overseas life full of adventure and challenge. In spite of strong opposition and imcomprehension, he resolutely gave up easy life but sailed and adventured without permission from his parents. He went through numerous difficulties and dangers every time. Because of the rocks, he survived alone, drifting to a deserted island of South America. There, he lived with his labor doggedly for 28 years. The novel says a lot about his life there.

On the island he has built a shed, made humble cooking utensils, hunted for food and still managed to grow food, made bread, domesticated animals and sewed clothes. With his sharp mind, energetic power and industrious hands, he created his own colorful life. He tried to overcame difficulties and made it serve for himself. 

Stranded on a desert island after 12 years, he found the cannibal on the neighboring island who left footprints. After a long time, he successfully saved a cannibal who was about to be killed. And the day he was saved was Friday so Robinson named him "Friday". He made him his servant, taught him English and  converted him to Christianity and become a "civilized". After a few years during a British ship, the ship sailor mutinied.Captain and two loyal sailors had no place to go but the island. Robinson and "Friday" kindly helped the captain take the boat back home. Later, Robinson had usually visited the island. He continued to cultivate and became the ruler of the island.

Robinson was in the desolate island, but he did fully show a new bourgeois positive characteristics. He is a in the rising period of the bourgeoisie. Defoe gave Robinson all sorts of human traits, such as courage, intelligence, enthusiasm, adamancy and optimism; There are also adventurer’s constant pursuit, exploration and the spirit of hard work.

1.2 Time Treasure

On the desert island, Crusoe never stopped working. And he saw "Friday" as a tool to help him do more work to enrich his wealth. For Robinson, pastime is not an enjoyment but guilt. The Puritan spirit and work enthusiasm seem almost impossible to understand nowadays. Di Kerri ever did such description about this kind of spirit: "When you find yourself in the morning of a day still in bed, then arouse yourself. You should have thought of that you also have responsibility. You should accomplish something that belongs to you in the years. You should make sure that your characteristics and acts are like a man." Similarly, Robinson has also issued the same feeling: "It is of no use that a man just sits and dreams things that himself couldn’t realize." This is the "absolute truth".

1.3 Enterprising Spirit and the Courage to Pursue Dreams

Robinson always wanted to challenge himself to discover the new world. He left the comfortable life of his middle-class family to realize his dream. If he lived in his hometown, he "is likely to have the opportunity to rely on relatives’ introduction. And based on the society, he is expected to rely on his own hard work and diligence to earn a comfortable and happy life", "He didn't need pesters to live the slavish life for daily bread. And he would not have made the exhaustion of body and mind without a moment's peace because of difficulties. And he also need not have tasted the bitter and heart pain because of desire and the ambition to make a fortune. He could have just lived a happy life, tasted the sweet of life and had his own happiness." Many people persued such a life all their life long, but Robinson is different. The dream of him is to explore the world and gain a lot of money. In the way to realizing his dream, he always told himself to be extraordinary and never stopped his steps to persue. He always wanted to overcome difficulties to discover the new world and enjoyed the excitement. The idea was not on the spur of the moment, but was his dreams as a boy. To make his dream come true, he never listened to his parents. So Robinson chose a different way of life from his parents and went overseas to experience the sea travel full of the difficulties. Then through his own efforts, finally a plantation was owned by him in Brazil. And he lived there for a long time with hard work. But he still was not satisfied with such a life. Finally, he went outside with someone else to explore a bigger world. We can see from this that he has a spirit of not being content with the reality and the courage to realize his dreams. 《鲁滨逊漂流记》人物性格的双重性和局限性(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_44848.html