When Robinson Crusoe, a novel by Daniel Defoe was first published, many people believed that Robinson Crusoe was a real person, and the book, a travelogue of true incidents. The book is told in an autobiographical tone.
Though we do not know if there was someone named Robinson Crusoe for real, the story is believed to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island.
Robinson Crusoe is a headstrong young man who ignores his family’s advice and leaves his comfortable middle-class home in England to go to sea.
Though his initial experiences at the sea are not so favourable, his perseverance makes him a successful merchant.
During one of his voyages, he encounters a storm in the Caribbean, and his ship is nearly destroyed. He survives the shipwreck and spends almost three decades on a remote island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad.
Crusoe departs from the island with Friday, his trusted servant. He goes to England with a group of pirates.
Though he leads a settled life for a while after selling his plantation in Brazil, he is never able to resist his temptation to go back to the island.
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