Imagine yourself being stranded on an unhabited island alone. No food along with you, no money and no help. You are just the only human being on the island. How will you manage to survive and recover from desperation? Well, Robinson Crusoe could.

During the school holidays, my eyes are glued to the book entitled" Robinson Crusoe" written by Daniel Defoe. This novel is written in 1719 and the author was inspired to write this novel by a true story about a man, Alexander Selkirk who was rescued after spending about 3 years on a Pacific Island in 1709. This novel is about a magnificent classic of shipwreck and adventure.

-Story Background
The protagonist of this story is Robinson Crusoe who was born in 1632 and is his family's third child. Being not bred to any trade, Robinson Crusoe's mind started to fill with rambling thoughts and was very fond of sailing. But unfortunately, Crusoe's father determined that his son would become a lawyer. Undaunted, Crusoe once said in the novel that he "would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea." Still, his mother and father did not allow it. A year later, Robinson Crusoe decided to sneak away from his parents and accepted passage to London. He then left on September I, 1651. That was when a series of adventure and mishap began. To Crusoe's horror, the voyage started badly. His first ship was lost in a mighty storm, but he did not give up and tried again. Little did he know that his second attempt was even worse! To his utmost horror, he was abducted by pirates and sold into slavery. But he still eventually managed to escape and then travelled to Brazil, where he became a wealthy plantation owner. However, he could not resist himself from sailing again. Strong-willed, He decided to try another time. Once again, this voyage ended up in complete disaster. As a result, his ship was trapped in a great storm and it was lost in the sea. Being the only survivor of the shipwreck, Crusoe then found himself stranded on “The Island of Despair” which he called. To make matter worse, the island was not near any shipping routes. His adventure soon began as he was plunged into desperation without any help and support. He was alone to make a life for himself on the island.

-Story Summary
After Robinson Crusoe was left stranded on the island due to the shipwreck, he was in despair without any hope, but slowly as he was adapted to the island, he started to recover from desperation. To survive on the island, Robinson Crusoe began to gather food, such as grapes and melons. With patience and ingenuity, he constructed a fortress home and developed a farm. He domesticated animals and learnt to make the tools in order to continue living on the island. As the years past by, Crusoe improved his situation. However, he was lonely and he sought for companionship to no avail. He was alone on the island without human company for twenty-four years.

After more than 20 years on the island, Robinson Crusoe one day found a human foot print which he believed was not his, and he was scared to death by his discovery: he dicovered that he was actually surrounded by canibal barbarians living on the opposite shore of the island. Some time later, Crusoe witnessed a human sacrifice and saw one of the preys escaping from the barbarians. Eventually, he rescued the inhabitant of a nearby island from cannibals. Crusoe then named him "Friday" since he was rescued on a Friday. Since then, Friday became Crusoe's loyal companion. Friday was alos taught by Crusoe to speak English. In addition, he was also introduced to the Bible which was the only book Robinson found in his sunk and broken ship.
But for twenty-four years he has no human company - until one Friday, he rescues a prisoner from a boatload of cannibals.

Several years later, Friday once told Crusoe of the region where he used to live before. He mentioned that there were white bearded people, like Robinson Crusoe himself, that remains abandoned after another shipwreck. That was when Crusoe knew a mutiny on board left the captain of the ship marooned on the island. Crusoe and Friday then rendered aid to the Captain and his men to retrieve the vessel. Finally after 28 years stranded on the island, Crusoe was managed to return home to England with the help of the Captain and his men. In addition, Friday accompanied him home. When Crusoe was back in London again, Crusoe then learnt of the new life and the new civilization that had evolved since he was left stranded on an island for 28 years ago."

-My reflection
After reading this exciting, amazing novel, I had impressed by how the author written the novel. This whole novel is like a biography of Robinson Crusoe, telling his adventure in a diary format. I had been impressed by his style of writing. He could turn the story so exciting, amazing and unbelievable! From the novel, I had also learnt some important values such as perseverance. Despite Robinson Crusoe being left stranded alone on a deserted island, he could still survive and did not give up. This tells us that how he managed to cope with all the challenges and struggles. It also tells us how man cope with reality when they face challenges. Anyway, I really feel that this is a great, well-written novel and perhaps one of the finest literature works in the world. It is really worth-reading.

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