"A storm at sea... a doomed ship... a sole survivor... here is Daniel DeFoe's immortal tale
of a young merchant seaman cast ashore on an uninhabited tropical island, destined to spend
twenty-four years in isolated loneliness. But more than a story of man against nature,
Robinson Crusoe is a penetrating study of a universal problem -- man against himself.
In this great work DeFoe introduces us to an immature Crusoe, floundering as aimlessly
through life as he later is to flounder helplessly in the grip of a savage sea. We
share his struggle for survival; feel his despondence at hearing no human sound but the echo
of his despairing prayers; suffer his hostility toward a God he feels has unjustly forsaken
him. And at the end of his long ordeal we witness a rebirth: We see a mature Robinson
Crusoe who has doggedly conquered his environment and rekindled his faith in his Saviour... a
Robinson Crusoe who has finally mastered himself."
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