Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Footprint
Crusoe’s shocking discovery of a single footprint on the
sand in Chapter XVIII is one of the most famous moments in the novel,
and it symbolizes our hero’s conflicted feelings about human companionship.
Crusoe has earlier confessed how much he misses companionship, yet
the evidence of a man on his island sends him into a panic. Immediately
he interprets the footprint negatively, as the print of the devil
or of an aggressor. He never for a moment entertains hope that it
could belong to an angel or another European who could rescue or
befriend him. This instinctively negative and fearful attitude toward
others makes us consider the possibility that Crusoe may not want
to return to human society after all, and that the isolation he
is experiencing may actually be his ideal state.
The Cross
Concerned that he will “lose [his] reckoning of time”
in Chapter VII, Crusoe marks the passing of days “with [his] knife
upon a large post, in capital letters, and making it into a great
cross . . . set[s] it up on the shore where [he] first landed. .
. .” The large size and capital letters show us how important this
cross is to Crusoe as a timekeeping device and thus also as a way
of relating himself to the larger social world where dates and calendars
still matter. But the cross is also a symbol of his own new existence
on the island, just as the Christian cross is a symbol of the Christian’s
new life in Christ after baptism, an immersion in water like Crusoe’s
shipwreck experience. Yet Crusoe’s large cross seems somewhat blasphemous
in making no reference to Christ. Instead, it is a memorial to Crusoe
himself, underscoring how completely he has become the center of
his own life.
Crusoe’s Bower
On a scouting tour around the island, Crusoe discovers
a delightful valley in which he decides to build a country retreat
or “bower” in Chapter XII. This bower contrasts sharply with Crusoe’s
first residence, since it is built not for the practical purpose
of shelter or storage, but simply for pleasure: “because I was so
enamoured of the place.” Crusoe is no longer focused solely on survival,
which by this point in the novel is more or less secure. Now, for
the first time since his arrival, he thinks in terms of “pleasantness.”
Thus, the bower symbolizes a radical improvement in Crusoe’s attitude
toward his time on the island. Island life is no longer necessarily
a disaster to suffer through, but may be an opportunity for enjoyment—just
as, for the Presbyterian, life may be enjoyed only after hard work
has been finished and repentance achieved.
