Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts: Robinson‘s youth and the time up to his shipwreck; his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; and his life and adventures after being rescued from the island. It was published in 1719, and set in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.
The first part of the novel relates that, against the advice of his father, Robinson wishes to go to sea. He does so and after a false start has some success, but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.
Most of the novel tells of Robinson‘s life on the island – how he survives and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment after reading the Bible, and how he meets Friday; and finally, how he leaves the island after rescuing some Spanish sailors and putting down a mutiny.
The anticlimactic third part of the novel tells how he becomes wealthy through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, his travels through the continent, and last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.
The illustrations are by N.C. Wyeth.
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