Robinson Crusoe

The last twenty-five pages of the novel chronicle Crusoe’s final days on the island, negotiating with prisoners of the English ship. They also chronicle Crusoe’s dealings with his plantation, upon Crusoe’s arrival in first Lisbon and then London, though not before encountering packs of wolves that Crusoe and other men must fight on their way through the French mountains. Crusoe leaves the island December 19, 1686, after spending twenty-eight years, two months and nineteen days there. He arrives in England June 11, 1687, thirty-five years after his first departure, to find his mother and father dead. Two sisters and two children of one of his brothers make up his remaining family. The master of the ship, whose captain Crusoe saved from mutiny, provides Crusoe with 200 pounds for Crusoe’s efforts.

Crusoe goes to Lisbon to learn about the status of his plantation in Brazil. The captain assures Crusoe the plantation is doing well, informing Crusoe its monies are donated to the King and to the poor by the trustees Crusoe assigned upon his initial departure. The captain tells Crusoe the trustees named the captain as benefactor in Crusoe’s great absence. Meanwhile, the captain was in debt to Crusoe:“470 Moidores of gold, besides 60 chests of sugar, and 15 double rolls of tobacco” (206-07). The captain was obliged to make use of the gold due to the captain’s misfortunes, for which Crusoe does not fault him. The captain repays 160 moidores. Crusoe accepts only 100; later, upon reclaiming his entire wealth, Crusoe gives the man much money: “I was too much mov’d with the honesty and kindness of the poor man […] remembering what he had done for me, how he had taken me up at sea” (207).

The captain helps Crusoe put his claims in concerning Crusoe’s plantation. From Brazil, there returns an account of production at the plantation, a balance which shows 1174 Moidores in Crusoe’s favor, and of the four years before the government took over its administration, which increased profits greatly, all the way to 3,421 Moidores. Crusoe is now a very wealthy man, as he also receives 1,200 chests of sugar, 800 rolls of tobacco, and scores of gold. “I might well say,” Crusoe reflects, “the latter end of Job was better than the beginning” (208).

After settling affairs at the plantation, and arranging to receive his annual income from it, Crusoe endeavors to return to England, where he lives for some time. To return, Crusoe chooses land travel over sea. The journey home is fraught due to severe cold weather and snow, as well as wolf attacks, which gravely injure the guide. At one point, Crusoe and his fellow travelers fight off 300 wolves and come close to losing their lives. Comic narrative relief arrives through Friday, who becomes excited when he spots a bear. Friday taunts the creature, causing the bear to chase him up a tree. Friday then shoots it.

Back in England, Crusoe contacts the widow of the captain from his first trip to Africa. Crusoe provides material wealth for the struggling widow. He donates money to the poor, and decides he is better off by becoming Roman Catholic if he wishes to again visit Brazil. In 1694, Crusoe’s nephew, who Crusoe sets up as a seaman, convinces Crusoe to go abroad. Crusoe travels as a private merchant to the East Indies, where he visits his old island and learns the sixteen Spaniards are getting along well, despite fights at time with indigenous peoples, including a time 300 Caribbeans almost destroyed the Spaniards’ new settlement on the island. Crusoe sails on to Brazil and sends women, men, livestock, and other cargo to the island, thus concluding the novel.