Essay Database

Daniel Defoe is credited with writing the first long fiction novel in literary history. Drawing from established literary genres such as the guide and providence traditions and the spiritual biography, Defoe endeavored to illustrate the life of a man who "tempted Providence to his ruine (Defoe 13)" and the consequences of such actions. While stranded alone on an island the character of Robinson Crusoe seems to have a religious epiphany about the role of Providence in …

…reflect more someone "meerly thoughtless of a God, or a Providence; act[ing] like a meer Brute from the Principles of Nature, and by the Dictates of common sense only," what Crusoe thought he was steering away from. Also, the reader has no standard to measure Crusoe's word with, yet another reason to question the reliability of Crusoe as a narrator. Ultimately, his conversion comes in light of tragedy and leaves when things go right.