Resumo de Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719, at the beginning of a century
that witnessed great changes in the economic order. The rise of
capitalism throughout the period exposed individuals to a system of
evaluation that differed quite a bit from aristocratic tradition.
Instead of an individual?s place in society being determined at birth,
and being wholly related to their family name and rank, people entered
professions and new social arrangements based not on family or church,
but on their work. A relevant example of this is the fact that we don?t
learn much at all about Robinson?s family -- he abandons them in
England within the first few pages of the book -- which indicates
precisely the degree to which family and other collective relations
were taking a back seat to the elaboration of the individual. The
shift from an aristocratic order to a capitalist system was a
complicated one, and it would be difficult -- not to mention futile --
to attempt to pinpoint the precise moment of transition. But
nonetheless, the century witnessed great changes, such as the rise of
print culture, the first copyright legislation, increased
industrialization, and a shift from focus on community to an emphasis
on autonomous individualism. Defoe is said to be one of the first
writers to represent this kind of economic individualism, and Robinson
Crusoe -- his first novel -- is one of the best places to see this at
work. Homo Economicus (?economic man?) was the symbol used to
discuss the new individualism of the eighteenth century -- one which
depended explicitly one an individual?s participation in a newly
competitive, credit-based marketplace. Robinson, Defoe?s protagonist,
spends the opening sections of the novel in heavy pursuit of money. He
readily admits to the reader his reasons for travel: it is more
profitable to trade with indigenous peoples of non-Western cultures,
since they value goods differently than Europeans do. It is possible,
then, to trade trinkets that Westerners place little stock in -- like
buttons and baubles -- for gold and precious stones. Getting more for
one?s money than it is ?worth? is one of the prime directives of a
capitalist economy, and Robinson is hooked on it from the moment he
makes his first trade. With the money he makes from trading, he?s able
to buy a plantation in Brazil and begin reaping great profit. Even
romantic love is secondary to economic gain. Living alone on the
island, of course, Robinson doesn?t have opportunity for romance. But
he doesn?t worry about it much, either. While long passages are devoted
to his reflections on how being away from Europe has changed his ideas
of what?s valuable -- he has no need for money, for example, but finds
an old burlap sack a much more useful item -- there is not a single
moment of reflection on or longing for love. Critics have suggested
that Defoe saw romantic love as an obstacle to economic advancement,
since it is commonly held that romance does not follow logical
dictates, while market practices are assumed to hold to some sort of
logic or calculation.

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