Robinson Crusoe: Discourse on Individualism Or, Robinson Crusoe: The universal Representative, the person for whom every reader could substitute himself. Or, Robinson Crusoe invests every moment of life on the island with interest?

 Robinson Crusoe: Discourse on Individualism

Or,

 Robinson Crusoe: The universal Representative, the person for whom every reader could substitute himself.

Or,
 Robinson Crusoe invests every moment of life on the island with interest?

Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe has made a profound impression on readers as well as on whole cultures. Samuel Johnson, a demanding critic gave it a highest praise, “was there ever yet any thing written by mere man that was wished longer by its readers, excepting Don Quixote, Robinson Crusoe and the Pilgrim’s Progress?”Crusoe in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is not an ordinary individual who follows the average, rather he goes beyond the average acting independently choosing what he wishes and it is this distinctive individualism which appeals to the reader’s mind and focuses on the importance of individualism in the novel. Readers in love with him, admires him for his hair-raising adventures and sympathizes with him for his affliction. (Thus, the idea of individualism gets a powerful focus mainly through the portrayal of odd like character Crusoe in the end.) 1

(Coleridge acknowledges Crusoe as a universal figure, one who represents, “humanity in general; neither his intellectual nor his moral qualities set him above the middle degree of mankind...” He is “the universal representative, the person for whom every reader could substitute himself. But now nothing is done, thought, or suffered or desired, but what every man can imagine himself doing, thinking, feeling, or whishing for.”

James Beattie’s comment is also similar to Coleridge laying stress on universality of Crusoe’s character. According to Beattie, “Robinson Crusoe, though there is nothing of love in it, is one of the most interesting narratives that ever was written; at least in all that part which related to the desert island being founded on a passion still more prevalent than love, the desire of self- preservation; and therefore likely to engage the curiosity of every class of readers, both old and young, both learned and unlearned.”)2

(Crusoe is almost in every page of the book and the book is nothing but the life and experience of its protagonist. Crusoe is the center round which all the actions revolve and Defoe has invested “every moment of life on the island with interest” in the characterization of Crusoe.)3

Robinson Crusoe deals with the life of an individual character who earns to work his way up from the common middle position of life to a high one. Being not satisfied with the quiet middle station of life, Robinson seeks self- realization, so he refuses to lead a stable life or to remain inactive for any length of time, and as a result, he rejects his father’s advice to accept the middle position of life. His desire to go to the sea pushes him to leave home and go on voyages...............................................................

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