Robinson Crusoe

Chapter-by-chapter summary

Spoiler warning: this section covers the whole plot, including the ending. The original novel has no chapter titles, so the story is split here into its natural parts.

Part 1: Running Away to Sea

Robinson is born in York in 1632 to a merchant family whose father came from Germany. His father begs him to stay in the safe middle of society, which he calls the happiest place to live. Robinson refuses, and in 1651 he boards a ship at Hull. A storm nearly sinks it, and he swears to go home, but the fear fades as soon as the weather clears. He sails again. This matters because the whole book grows out of this one act of disobedience, which Robinson later reads as the start of his punishment and, in the end, his education.

Part 2: Pirates, Slavery and Brazil

On a later voyage, pirates from Salé on the North African coast capture Robinson's ship, and he becomes a slave. After about two years he escapes in a small boat with a boy called Xury. They sail down the African coast until a Portuguese ship picks them up. The captain buys the boat, and Xury agrees to serve him for ten years before being freed. In Brazil, Robinson buys land and grows sugar and tobacco. This part matters because it shows his luck, his business sense and his casual attitude to selling another person's service, which modern readers question.

Part 3: The Shipwreck

After four years in Brazil, Robinson joins a voyage to Africa to bring back enslaved workers for neighbouring planters. A storm wrecks the ship, and every other man drowns. Robinson is washed ashore on 30 September 1659 and spends the first night in a tree. Over the next days he builds a raft and carries food, tools, guns, gunpowder, sails and rope from the stranded ship before the sea breaks it up. This matters because those salvaged goods make survival possible, and his habit of listing what he has, good and bad, becomes the way he fights despair.

Part 4: Building a Life

Robinson chooses a spot against a cliff, builds a wall of stakes and a tent, and enlarges a cave behind it. He cuts a notch in a post every day to keep the calendar and keeps a journal until the ink runs out. He hunts and then herds goats, makes pots and bread, and by chance finds barley sprouting from husks he had shaken out of a bag. He sews clothes from goatskin and teaches a parrot, Poll, to speak. This part matters because it turns the island into a workshop and shows that patient labour can create a kind of order and comfort.

Part 5: Fever and Faith

Robinson falls ill with a fever and has a terrifying dream. For the first time he opens the Bible he rescued from the ship, reads a verse about calling on God in trouble and begins to pray. He starts to see his island as a place where he has been spared rather than punished. Soon after, he explores the island, finds a fertile valley and builds a second home there. His large canoe turns out too heavy to launch, and a smaller boat is swept out by a current. This part matters because it is the moral turning point of the book.

Part 6: The Footprint

After many years alone, Robinson is walking towards his boat when he sees the print of a bare human foot in the sand. He runs home in terror, barricades his fort and hardly sleeps for several nights, wondering if it belongs to a devil, a savage or himself. He later finds the remains of a cannibal feast on the shore. He plans to attack the visitors, then questions whether he has any right to judge or kill them. This matters because the first sign of other people breaks the safety he built and tests his conscience.

Part 7: Friday

When a group of captors brings prisoners to the island, one man breaks free and runs towards Robinson's side of the island. Robinson shoots his pursuers and saves him. He names the man Friday, after the day of the rescue, and teaches him English and his own faith. Friday becomes a loyal companion who learns quickly, and for the first time in years Robinson has someone to talk to. This matters because their friendship, and the way Robinson treats Friday as a servant to be taught, is the part of the book that readers now discuss most.

Part 8: Rescue and Return

Robinson and Friday save two more prisoners, Friday's father and a Spanish sailor. Before a plan to leave can be finished, an English ship arrives carrying a captain held prisoner by his own mutinous crew. Robinson and Friday help the captain retake the ship, and in return he offers them passage. Robinson leaves after 28 years, 2 months and 19 days. Back in England, he finds his parents dead but learns that his Brazilian plantation has made him rich. This matters because the ending rewards his patience, and it shows the island has changed him but not his wish to prosper.

Characters

• Robinson Crusoe: The narrator, born in York. He is restless, practical and stubborn, and he keeps lists, journals and accounts. Over 28 years alone he changes from a young runaway into a careful, prayerful and self-reliant man.
• Friday: A man rescued from a rival group on the island. He is quick, cheerful and loyal. He learns English, helps Robinson rebuild a boat and becomes his only close companion, though Robinson sees himself as master and teacher.
• Xury: The young servant who escapes with Robinson from slavery in North Africa. He is brave, practical and loyal, and he volunteers to risk his own life for Robinson before they are rescued at sea.
• The Portuguese captain: The kind sea captain who rescues Robinson and Xury and helps Robinson settle in Brazil. Years later he looks after Robinson's money, which makes the final return home possible.
• Robinson's father: A prosperous merchant who warns his son against a life at sea. His advice sets up the book's central theme of wanting more than one has, and Robinson often recalls it in his lonely years.
• The captain's widow: The widow of the ship's captain who befriended Robinson on his first voyage to Africa. She safely keeps his money in London and represents the honest, steady side of his old life.
• The Spaniard: One of the prisoners Robinson and Friday rescue. He is reasonable and careful, and he agrees to go and bring his shipwrecked countrymen to join Robinson's plan to leave.
• Friday's father: The second rescued prisoner. Friday is overjoyed to find him alive, and his joy shows Robinson a family bond that mirrors the one he abandoned in England.
• The English captain: The captain of the ship that arrives near the end. His own crew has seized his ship, and Robinson earns his gratitude by helping him regain control and by securing passage home.
• Poll: Robinson's parrot, taught to say his name. Poll is a small piece of comfort in the long solitude, and the sound of his own name startles Robinson back to life.

Writing about this book

A report on Robinson Crusoe works best when it follows one question through the story rather than retelling every event. These starting points may help you decide.

• Crusoe lists the good and the evil of his situation. What does this habit say about how he copes with fear, and is it a sign of strength or of avoiding feeling?
• He calls himself a king of the island. What does the book accept and what does it ignore in his treatment of Friday, Xury and the enslaved workers in Brazil?
• Compare Robinson at the start with Robinson at the end. Which of his beliefs changed, and which stayed the same?
• Can a person be truly alone if they keep a calendar, a journal and a prayer? What do these routines protect?

Choose one question, pick two or three scenes as evidence, and say in your own words what you think. Your own view matters more than a perfect summary.