Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is the protagonist of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel, a shipwrecked sailor who survives alone on a tropical island for twenty-eight years.
The name has become shorthand for isolation and self-reliance: After the divorce, he lived a Robinson Crusoe existence in his cabin.
A Robinson Crusoe economy in economics describes a single-person model of production and consumption.
Destroyed vessel at sea
- castawayShipwrecked and stranded person
- maroonedLeft stranded and helpless
- desert islandIsolated landmass, no inhabitants
- voyageJourney by sea
exploration · seafaring · expedition · survival · discovery · uncharted · frontier · pioneer
Protected place or structure
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
- huntingPursuing wild game
- fishingCatching aquatic creatures
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
resourcefulness · improvisation · goatskin · stockade · harvest · pottery · agriculture · domestication
Complete separation from others
- lonelinessState of lacking companions
- seclusionVoluntary withdrawal from society
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- self-relianceDepending on oneself alone
faith · providence · reflection · meditation · despair · madness · prayer · Bible
One who keeps company
- servantOne employed to serve
- nativeOriginating from a place
- cannibalHuman flesh consumer
- rescueSave from harm
conversion · Christianity · master · loyalty · language · teaching · friendship · savage
- classicOf lasting excellence
- fictionImagined narrative work
- literatureBody of written works
- narrativeAccount of events
protagonist · first-person · realism · allegory · publication · English · readership · colonialism
shipwreck
Destroyed vessel at sea
- castawayShipwrecked and stranded person
- maroonedLeft stranded and helpless
- desert islandIsolated landmass, no inhabitants
voyage · exploration · seafaring · expedition · survival · discovery · uncharted · frontier · pioneer · odyssey
shelter
Protected place or structure
self-sufficiency · resourcefulness · improvisation · goatskin · stockade · harvest · pottery · agriculture · domestication · calendar
isolation
Complete separation from others
- lonelinessState of lacking companions
- seclusionVoluntary withdrawal from society
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
self-reliance · faith · providence · reflection · meditation · despair · madness · prayer · Bible · conversion
companion
One who keeps company
rescue · conversion · Christianity · master · loyalty · language · teaching · friendship · savage · civilization
Defoe
- classicOf lasting excellence
- fictionImagined narrative work
- literatureBody of written works
narrative · protagonist · first-person · realism · allegory · publication · English · readership · colonialism · imperialism
- Adventure BooksTreasure Island, The Hobbit, Hatchet, The Three Musketeers, King Solomon's Mines
- Legendary VoyagersOdysseus, Ulysses, Jason, Sinbad, Aeneas
- Sea Storiessea voyages, Odyssey, nautical tales, shipwreck story, pirate tale
- Voyage StoriesOdyssey, Gulliver's Travels, Treasure Island, Moby Dick, Life of Pi
- 18th Century WorksCandide, Gulliver's Travels, Pamela, Tom Jones, Dangerous Liaisons
- British novelsPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
Robinson Crusoeman about town
Fashionable social figure
socialite · social butterfly · Gatsby · networker · urbanite
Robinson CrusoeFriday
Fifth weekday
Caliban · noble savage · Pocahontas · Queequeg · primitive