Crusoe savage man
Crusoe savage manThe book Robinson Crusoe1 written by Daniel Defoe is about a young man who learns about the real world by "traveling the seas," in doing so he skips the "middle station" of his life and away from the safety nets of his parents. Jean-Jacques Rousseau author of, The First and Second Discourses2, describes the savage man as he perceives him to be. In "Robinson Crusoe," Robinson in one of his travels leaves him stranded on a deserted island. This is the setting where some may consider that Robinson Crusoe becomes a model of Rousseau's savage man. Both of these books were published in the Eighteenth Century, with less than thirty years between them. The time period of which these books were written coincide with each other. The basis, which Robinson Crusoe was written, was the idea of capitalism and discovering the New World. The First and Second Discourses was written with the idea of the New World's people, for example the "Caribs" of Venezuela.
Rousseau refers to the savage man as having desires for food, physical needs, to be at ease, and not to be in pain. When Robinson owned his own plantation he only produced the quantity he needed to survive. That fact coincides with Rousseau's idea of the savage man, but after two years Robinson produces a larger quantity to sell for profit. This course of action can be associated with capitalism and being prepared for the future. This is not what the "savage man" in Rousseau's discourses is associated with. Instead he is concerned with what is necessary for survival and repose at his present state of being. As with the plantation, Robinson makes preparations for the future, when he is stranded on an island. Robinson does this by first gathering all the supplies that he could from the remains of the ship onto a raft he made. Then he stores them in caves. When the caves were filling up he used his ingenuity to create tunnels in the caves to create more space. The items that he took off the ship were not all crucial at the moment to have. Those items that were not crucial were taken so in case he needed them he would have them. This is another example how he plans for the future. Some of the items that were extracted from the ship included biscuits, rum, cheeses, corn, ammunition, and guns. Robinson also found money in the form of gold and silver. Even though he was stranded on an island he took the money. The reason for doing so is because mentally he still values gold and silver. Robinson's concern with food also works in the same way. Once he discovered that goats inhabit the island, he killed one for food. Later, he constructed a hedge for enclosing herd of...
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