Robinson Crusoe the American Continent Research Proposal

Not all of the Europeans that went to America had been persecuted in their home countries, and there had been several reasons for why people chose to leave. While some merely wanted a life of adventure on an unknown continent, others searched to take the word of God further by Christianizing the Native Americans. Religion is also present in Robinson Crusoe, as Crusoe converts Friday to Christianity and teaches him about God and faith.

Along with exploring the American continent, Europeans frequently interacted with the natives. The Native Americans firstly regarded white people as being Gods coming to save them after ages of misfortune. Most colonists took advantage of the kindness showed by the Indians and robbed them of their fortunes and of their land.

Similar to Crusoe, white people came and imposed their rule over the natives, as the latter did not initially show any resistance. Later on, natives had been obliged to convert to Christianity and to learn the languages spoken by whites.

A reason that contributed to the belief that the Native Americans were savages had been that they performed human sacrifices and that they had been reported of being cannibals.

Dafoe's Friday is quite similar to the normal Native Americans that had been persecuted by their conquerors. While it appears that Crusoe had saved Friday from the hands of the cannibals, he in fact enslaved the man himself.Friday does not have much to say and nor does he attempt to show any resistance to Crusoe's orders. He was aware of his condition, so that he unconditionally accepted Crusoe as his master. When Crusoe and Friday first met, the latter had been in a desperate situation, and he would have been ready to accept everything in order to save his life. The Native Americans were also believed to be desperate when the colonists arrived because of the fact that they did not have enough resources to sustain themselves. The simplicity with which Friday and the Native Americans submit to Crusoe and respectively to the Europeans bring more self-confidence to the colonists that their religion and their skin color truly are superior.

Crusoe leaves the island as a conqueror and as a ruler, with the belief that he had been victorious in saving the island and its inhabitants. Europeans also feel triumphant in America, with all of the natives being their subjects, and all of the lands belonging to them because of their superiority and not because they used the right of the most powerful who disposes of any resource one finds, regardless of who used it before.

Works Cited

Dafoe, Daniel & Roscoe, Thomas. "Robinson Crusoe." Cochrane and Pickersgill, and J.….....