Robinson Crusoe: A Synopsis

Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe, was published in 1719 and is widely considered to be the first modern novel in the English language. The book is a fictional autobiography of a castaway (the title character) partially inspired by the real life Alexander Selkirk. Crusoe spends 28 years on a remote tropical island off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean before being rescued. One can assume that the island Crusoe is stranded on is Tobago as he explicitly states that he believes he can see the island of Trinidad. This is also consistently reinforced through Crusoe's descriptions of the landscape, vegetation, and animals that he encounters. For example, he mentions the presence of wild cocoa trees; a plant species located on the island of Tobago.

"...the mighty river Orinoco in the mouth of which river, as I thought afterwords, our island lay; and that this land which I perceived to the west and north-west, was the great island Trinidad, on the north point of the mouth of the river."

"I saw here an abundance of cocoa trees, orange, and lemon trees and citron trees..."

With only leftover remnants of his previous civilization courtesy of a shipwreck, Crusoe must come face to face with nature against a man accustomed to civilization. Crusoe almost instantly feels basic survival instincts manifest themselves as he climbs into a tree to prevent attack from wild animals. It isn't long before Crusoe becomes anxious to start building and begins to re-establish the so called "order" and civilization he is accustomed to as he forces his way on nature and begins to manufacture actual dwellings like a hut and a tent.