3. Defoe uses symbols that connect directly to the challenges of building a life in a wild and pristine land. Robinson Crusoe's guns, tools, boats, and calendar are symbols of his efforts to build a home and a civilization where there was nothing before, except wilderness.
4. Characters
4.1. Robinson Crusoe
4.2. Friday
4.3. Robinson Crusoe's friend
4.4. Robinson Crusoe's wife
4.5. English captain
4.6. Friday's father
4.7. The Moor
4.8. Mr. Crusoe
4.9. Mrs. Crusoe
4.10. The pirate
4.11. Portuguese captain
4.12. The Spaniard
4.13. Wells
4.14. The widow
4.15. Xury
5. In Robinson Crusoe, the title character recounts his life and adventures, starting from his youth in York, a city in the north of England. There, young Crusoe grows up in a comfortable middle-class family. His father cautions him against aspiring for more, declaring the "middle state" of life to be the best state, a situation that is "the most suited to human happiness." However, motivated by sheer restlessness, Crusoe disregards his father's advice and joins a sea voyage to London, from whence he hopes to travel farther. Throughout the novel, Crusoe seems to be running from something rather than being actively drawn toward something new.
