ROBINSONE crusoe (character list)

Character List

Robinson Crusoe :- The novel's protagonist and narrator. Crusoe begins the novel as
a young middle-class man in York in search of a career. He father recommends the
law, but Crusoe yearns for a life at sea, and his subsequent rebellion and decision to
become a merchant is the starting point for the whole adventure that follows. His
vague but recurring feelings of guilt over his disobedience color the first part of the
first half of the story and show us how deep Crusoe's religious fear is. Crusoe is
steady and plodding in everything he does, and his perseverance ensures his survival
through storms, enslavement, and a twenty-eight-year isolation on a desert island.
Friday :- A twenty-six-year-old Caribbean native and cannibal who converts to
Protestantism under Crusoe's tutelage. Friday becomes Crusoe's servant after Crusoe
saves his life when Friday is about to be eaten by other cannibals. Friday never
appears to resist or resent his new servitude, and he may sincerely view it as
appropriate compensation for having his life saved. But whatever Friday's response
may be, his servitude has become a symbol of imperialist oppression throughout the
modern world. Friday's overall charisma works against the emotional deadness that
many readers find in Crusoe.
The Portuguese captain :- The sea captain who picks up Crusoe and the slave boy
Xury from their boat after they escape from their Moorish captors and float down the
African coast. The Portuguese captain takes Crusoe to Brazil and thus inaugurates
Crusoe's new life as plantation owner. The Portuguese captain is never named—
unlike Xury, for example—and his anonymity suggests a certain uninteresting
blandness in his role in the novel. He is polite, personable, and extremely generous to
Crusoe, buying the animal skins and the slave boy from Crusoe at well over market
value. He is loyal as well, taking care of Crusoe's Brazilian investments even after a
twenty-eight-year absence. His role in Crusoe's life is crucial, since he both arranges
for Crusoe's new career as a plantation owner and helps Crusoe cash in on the profits
later.
The Spaniard :- One of the men from the Spanish ship that is wrecked off Crusoe's
island, and whose crew is rescued by the cannibals and taken to a neighboring island.
The Spaniard is doomed to be eaten as a ritual victim of the cannibals when Crusoe
saves him. In exchange, he becomes a new “subject” in Crusoe's “kingdom,” at least
according to Crusoe. The Spaniard is never fleshed out much as a character in
Crusoe's narrative, an example of the odd impersonal attitude often notable in Crusoe.
Xury: - A nonwhite (Arab or black) slave boy only briefly introduced during the
period of Crusoe's enslavement in Sallee. When Crusoe escapes with two other slaves
in a boat, he forces one to swim to shore but keeps Xury on board, showing a certain
trust toward the boy. Xury never betrays that trust. Nevertheless, when the Portuguese
captain eventually picks them up, Crusoe sells Xury to the captain. Xury's sale shows
us the racist double standards sometimes apparent in Crusoe's behavior.
The widow: - Appearing briefly, but on two separate occasions in the novel, the
widow keeps Crusoe's 200 pounds safe in England throughout all his thirty-five years
of journeying. She returns it loyally to Crusoe upon his return to England and, like the
Portuguese captain and Friday, reminds us of the goodwill and trustworthiness of
which humans can be capable, whether European or not.
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By\OMAR AHMED MAHMOD \