Robinson Crusoe is considered to be Daniel Defoe's masterpiece because the protagonist was a real middle-class hero. And his rest four novels manifest Defoe's deep concern for the poor and the unfortunate in his society. Please try to discuss their social significance.
【正确答案】：Robinson Crusoe is supposedly based on the real adventure of an Alexander Selkirk who once stayed alone on the uninhabited island for five years. Actually it is an imagination.
In Robinson Crusoe, Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a naive and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man, tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life. Robinson is a real hero: a typical 18th century English middle-class man, with a great capacity for work. inexhaustible energy, courage. patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles. in the struggle against the hostile natural environment. He is the prototpe of the empire builder. the pioneer colonist. In describing Robinson' life on the island. Defoe glorifies human labor and the Puritan fortitude.
His four novels deal with the personal history of some hero or heroine, usually a whore, a pirate. a pickpocket. a rogue or some other criminal. Their history is traced from their unfortunate childhood through their many vicissitudes in life. to their final prosperity or repentance and death.
The all-powerful influence of material circumstanc or social environment upon the thoughts and actions of the hero or the heroine is highlighted. The struggle of the poor unfortunate for mere existence. mixed with their desire for great wealth, comes into conflict with the social environment which prevents them from obtaining the goal under normal circumstances and thus forces them into criminal actions or bold adventures.
