Many of the important themes in Robinson Crusoe are embodied in the title character and in his interaction with Friday. Through the story of Crusoe’s sojourn on the island, Defoe comments at length on several social and philosophical concepts. The novel is an allegory for a progression from spiritual alienation to salvation in that Crusoe’s life moves from rebellion to punishment to conversion and finally to deliverance. All through the book a moral sense is constantly kept. It. starts when Robinson defies his father’s advice, gets in trouble, is enslaved, shipwrecked, and on every occasion, he gets and learns the best of it. In fact, Crusoe feels like a real sinner. He fails to see the signs of God sent him. He is the select who receives the grace of God all the time. Finally, as a Puritan soul testing a solitary ordeal on the deserted island, Crusoe realizes that internal matters in life prevail over external ones. From this moment onwards, and without feeling homesick or missing his civilized society, basically the protagonist desires to be relieved from his past sins. His communion with God is established and he becomes a practicing Christian.
But Robinson Crusoe is also an economic document, with its focus on the taming of a wild environment, its portrayal of Crusoe as a man who keeps a careful record of his projects and crops, and its depiction of the colonial impulse in Crusoe’s education of Friday. Crusoe embodies the conquest of North American people, the domination of nature, the transformation of wilderness into a culture, and eventually, the victory.
The theme of colonization is also present in the novel. In fact, Defoe’s protagonist Crusoe has been looked upon as a prototype colonizer. The way he establishes his physical, as well as cultural dominance over the island and the way he treats Friday, establishes him as a colonizer. The idea of colonization is mainly articulated when Friday is rescued from the cannibals. From this moment, a complex relationship is developed through Robinson’s interaction with Friday. Crusoe wishes many times to have companionship, but a companionship under his dominance, as he thinks to kill Friday if he does subject to his will. Finally, violence is not needed because Friday submits Robinson’s orders in gratitude for having been rescued. Friday voluntarily accepts a lifelong servitude under a mutual verbal agreement. In the book, Friday’s Europeanisation, accepting English customs and religious concepts, symbolizes the process of colonialization.
Another interesting subject of Robinson Crusoe is the strong spirit of survival through the anxious solitude and struggle of a shipwrecked man who has to face a new life and domain of nature. The novel is a grappling story of a man’s continuous struggles for survival. Crusoe never gives up; he is a strong-willed man. He eventually succeeds and established his dominance on the island.
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