Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe
Contributed by Tennie Sauls
Chapter 6
Summary

In chapter six, the journal entries continue, and Crusoe recalls the six weeks he works at gathering resources and supplies from the shipwreck. He discovers more and more ways to get food, for example catching a dolphin and a sea turtle and its eggs. He returns to the shipwreck several more times and tries to get the remaining resources and things that might help him in the future, like iron bolts.

As summer approaches, it rains a lot and the wind blows strongly. Crusoe falls very ill with strong headaches, shivering and fever. He once more turns to God and prays for his condition to be over. After seven days of illness, Crusoe has a dream about a strange man which he calls a vision. The man descends from the sky with a spear in his hand and threatens to kill him because he shows no repentance. “‘Seeing all these things have not brought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die;’” (Defoe 112). After the dream, Crusoe reflects upon his life and recalls all the occasions in which he was ungrateful towards the good things that happened to him, like the Portuguese captain’s kindness and how he has survived on the island. He also realizes that he had been “thoughtless of a God or a Providence, acted like a mere brute, from the principles of nature” (Defoe 113). Once again, he believes that the earthquake and hurricane were the revenge of nature and his time in slavery and on the island punishment from God for his sins. Surviving his illness, Crusoe begins to get closer to God again and reads the Bible he took from the ship. In reading a particular verse about God helping those who ask Him for help, Crusoe understands the importance of having his soul saved rather than asking God to physically save him from the island. He is distracted by the heavenly revelation and starts to think differently about his situation. “My condition began now to be, though not less miserable as to my way of living, yet much easier to my mind” (Defoe 124).

Analysis

In this chapter, the theme of religion in connection with repentance, sin and providence is very strong again. His illness makes Crusoe realize that the way he has lived his life thus far, beginning with him ignoring his father’s advice, was rather wicked and ungodly. He recalls every bad thing that happened to him since then: the storm at Yarmouth, the pirates, him being a slave, the natural disasters and him being stranded on a deserted island. He believes those things are God’s way of making him pay for his sins and for not being grateful for the good things that have happened to him. As he survives his illness, Crusoe finds a new way of letting God into his life again, starting to read the Bible and paying more attention to the way he acts and carries himself.

Crusoe generally tends to be very harsh on himself when it comes to the topic of religion and sins. He is not a bad person per se and even by Christian standards his supposed sins, not listening to his father’s advice and instead building himself a life of his own, based on his dreams, are not too bad. He has never stolen, rarely lied, never killed anyone and never engaged in piracy which would not have been too uncommon, considering how much time he spent on sea. The only thing he has done which would, by today’s standards, be considered morally wrong is the sale of Xury and the intention of buying slaves for his plantation. In Defoe’s time, this was not considered immoral or a sin. Crusoe’s worries grow from the Protestant belief, as opposed to the Catholic belief, that his lack of faith and him not being grateful towards God are the real sins he commits. He feels guilty and the guilt overshadows his whole being, so when he turns to reading the Bible and practicing religion again, he immediately feels better and becomes stronger, even feeling comfortable on the island.

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