The religious dimension of Crusoe’s ordeal reaches its
climax in his final salvation and reward. Crusoe so easily reclaims
his earlier fortune—and, indeed, finds it so immensely multiplied—that
the restoration of his possessions seems more like a miraculous
windfall—manna from heaven—than mere good luck. We sense that Crusoe
imagines God to be rewarding him for his devout patience, especially
when he explicitly compares himself to Job: “I might well say now,
indeed, that the latter end of Job was better than the beginning.”
For Crusoe, the shipwreck, the decades of isolation, and the final
rescue have not been merely events in a long adventure story, as children
read it today, but elements in a religious or moral tale of instruction.
Specifically, it is a Protestant tale, with its emphasis on the
virtues of independence, self-examination, and hard work. Crusoe
underscores this Protestant aspect by mentioning twice that he does
not go to Brazil because he would have to convert and live as a Catholic
there. Implicitly, Crusoe makes his survival into proof of God’s
approval of his particular faith.
Crusoe’s story is often read in modern times as an allegory
of colonialism, and there is much in the last chapters to defend
this view. Friday’s subjugation to Crusoe reflects colonial race
relations, especially in Crusoe’s unquestioning belief that he is
helping Friday by making him a servant. Moreover, colonial terminology
appears. When dealing with the hostile mutineers, Crusoe and the
captain intimidate them by referring to a fictional “governor” of
the island who will punish them severely. This fiction of a governor
foreshadows the very real governor who will no doubt be installed
on the island eventually, since Crusoe has apparently claimed the
territory for England. The prosperity of the island after Crusoe
leaves it is emphasized in the last chapter: it is no longer a wasteland,
as when he first arrives, but a thriving community with women and
children. This notion of triumphantly bringing the blessings of
civilization to a desolate and undeveloped locale was a common theme
of European colonial thought. Indeed, Crusoe explicitly refers to
this community as “my new colony in the island,” which makes us
wonder whether he really considers it his own, and
whether it is officially a colony or merely figuratively so. In
any case, Crusoe has turned his story of one man’s survival into
a political tale replete with its own ideas about imperialism.
