Key Points and Difficulties ()

To understand Daniel Defoes artistic features () Approaches to read novels () Characterization in Robinson Crusoe () Multiple interpretations of theme in Robinson Crusoe ()

I. Biographical Introduction
was born in London in a butchers family, not obeying his fathers will, he developed his interest in business, though his business underwent many ups and downs, yet he was never beaten; He never went to university, but he received a good education in one of the best Dissenting academies His marriage with an heiress named Mary Tuffley brought him the sizeable fortune of 3,700 pounds as dowry. When he died in 1731, he left his wife and daughters fairly well provided. His quick mind, abundant energy and never-failing enthusiasm always brought him back on his fleet after a fall.

II. Five Facts to be Remembered

Defoe was a jack-at-all-trades, who developed his interests largely with the working classes. He was a radical Non-conformist ()in religion, and was intended by his father for the independent ministry. Defoe was a journalist and pamphleteer. Be good at making good story Defoe knew prison life. At the age of nearly 60, he turned to fiction and wrote the great work by which he is best remembered. Robinson Crusoe earned him good reputation and fortune as well.

III. Artistic features

Defoe had a gift for organizing minute details in such a vivid way that his stories could be both credible and fascinating. His sentences are sometimes short, crisp and plain, and sometimes long and rambling, which leave on the reader an impression of casual narration. His language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular. There is nothing artificial in his language: it is common English at its best. His novels enjoyed great popularity among the middle class.

Lead-in Questions
1. Will you follow your parents suggestions or make your own decision in choosing future job? 2. Do you want to live in an isolated island? Why or why not? 3. What do you know about Robinson Crusoe?

IV. Approaches to Read Novels

Narrator/ point of view (the first person and the third person, the omniscient point of view) Characterization --Protagonists and antagonists Foreshadowing / setting Rising conflictclimaxfalling action Motif / Tone and theme / Symbols

V. A Case Study of Robinson Crusoe

The full title should be The Life and Strange Surprising Adventure of Robinson Crusoe. It is based upon the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, or Seleraig, who had been marooned in the island of Juan Fernandez off the coast of Chile and who had been lived there in solitude for five years. However, Defoe himself didnt acknowledge this resource.

The Major Points in Robinson Crusoe

setting (time) --From 1659 to 1694 setting (place) --York, England; then London; then Sallee, North Africa; then Brazil; then a deserted island off Trinidad; then England; then Lisbon; then overland from Spain toward England; then England; and finally the island again Narrator: Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist Point of view: the first and third person Foreshadowing and symbols

Characterization
Robinson Crusoe Self-independent; perseverant; inspiring and innovating, adventurous, colonial mind; practical He is no flashy hero or grand epic adventurer, He does not boast of his courage in quelling the mutiny, and he is always ready to admit unheroic feelings of fear or panic, as when he finds the footprint on the beach. Crusoe prefers to depict himself as an ordinary sensible man, never as an exceptional hero. survival instincts

Friday: The first nonwhite character to be given in a realistic

and individual portray Q: Why was he named Friday?

Q: What kind of a person is Friday? Obedient, friendly, kind and humane

Q: Compare Robinson and Friday, what are their differences?

Footprint
Questions 1.What does Crusoe react on his sudden discovery of a footprint? 2. What is the symbolic meaning of footprint?

The Symbolic meaning of the footprint

Crusoes shocking discovery of a single footprint on the sand is one of the most famous moments in the novel, and it symbolizes our heros conflicted feelings about human companionship. Crusoe has earlier confessed how much he misses companionship, yet the evidence of a man on his island sends him into a panic. Immediately he interprets the footprint negatively, as the print of the devil or of an aggressor. This instinctively negative and fearful attitude toward others makes us consider the possibility that Crusoe may not want to return to human society after all, and that the isolation he is experiencing may actually be his ideal state.

Crusoe Saves Friday from the Cannibals

Q:What is Crusoes motivation to save Friday from the cannibals? Q: Being cultivated by Crusoe, Friday lost his own national identity at the same time. Do you agree this statement? (master/slave; white/ non-white; Christianity/ barbarous eating group) the center of Europe ()