On the Obbligato Role of Friday in Robinson Crusoe

Journal of Frontiers of Society, Science and Technology                         DOI: 10.23977/jfsst.2021.010625
Clausius Scientific Press, Canada                                                    Volume 1, Number 6, 2021

     On the Obbligato Role of Friday in Robinson Crusoe
                                               Tursun Khamarniyaz
                School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

          Keyword: Robinson Crusoe, Friday, Non-slave, Identity

          Abstract: As a widely read adventure story, Robinson Crusoe became a runaway best seller
          and continues to remain one of the most popular and high reputation. Indeed, it also did
          and still catches critics’ eyes throughout the literary world for its uniqueness in many
          aspects. Critics including Ian Watt, John Bender, Leopold Damrosch, and many others
          made their views about its structure, autobiographical value, human power, Christianity,
          Friday’s religion, Robinson’s identity as a master and his controlling power on the island.
          However, it is noticeable that there are barely views about Friday’s identity except
          mentioning him as a slave. However, Friday should not be seen just as a slave. This paper,
          focusing on Friday’s indispensable existence and significant identity in this novel, briefly
          argues his three inseparable roles as rescuer, companion and friend with textual analysis.

1. Introduction

   First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe is a book that marks the beginning of realistic fiction
writing in modern English literature. Based on the authentic experience of the explorer Alexander
Selkirk, Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)’s simple plot and autobiographical narrative style gained great
popularity when it first came out. The main character Robinson Crusoe, an Englishman, is
shipwrecked in a lonely tropical island. He builds himself a hut, grows his own food, and becomes
self-sufficient. After 23 years he meets with a group of cannibals and rescues one of their prisoners,
a young native man whom he calls Friday to remember the day that he found him. Crusoe and his
“man” Friday became more and more close but still in a “master and slave” relation. During the
time being together, they overcame many obstacles and hard times, finally became indispensable
part of each other’s life. From the textual plot, it is easy to find that Friday is represented as slave
and Crusoe as a master of this island. However, Friday acted as a perfect rescuer, social companion
and a grateful friend, which will be discussed respectively as the main core of this paper.

2. Perfect Rescuer

   As a very crucial figure to the story itself, Friday is a perfect rescuer first of all. It is obvious that
the story tells us Crusoe rescued Friday from three barbarians in a sever slaughter. Friday was so
thankful for that unexpected help. However, if we take a step back and consider the situation from
Crusoe’s point of view, it is not hard to notice that Friday rescued Crusoe from death as well. To be
more specific, Friday reduced his fear and brought human social contact to him. There many
evidences that can support this view. Crusoe’s fear should be the first element to take account.
   Cut off from the human world, Crusoe’s mind is dominated by fear. He was constantly trembling
with fear and it was thirteen years before he dared to prospect his all island. Upon reaching this

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island, Crusoe might be expected to express some joy at his salvation from the sea. Instead, his first
reaction was big panic and says:
    “After I had solaced my mind …, I began to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in; I
had a dreadful deliverance; for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat or
drink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger or
being devoured by wild beasts; and that which was particularly afflicting to me was, that I had no
weapon, to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a
word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box. This was
all my provisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind, that for a while I ran about
like a madman. Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be my
lot if there were any ravenous beasts, and consider the next day what death I should die.”(p 36)
    Crusoe’s reactions and monologues show that his life started with fear not with joy of
deliverance from the dark storm. Starting from the first day that he found himself on this island, fear
of loneliness and unknown accompanied him. Interestingly, Crusoe usually returns to this memory
throughout the whole work, which proves that he has been living with countless fears and panic.
During the coming days, it even did go worse. His fear controls all of him, during the night and day,
almost gone creasy mentally. He says “I ran about the shore wringing my hands and beating my
head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying out, ‘I was undone, undone!’ till, tired and
faint, for the fear of being devoured.”(p 51) His mind was dominated by fear and he was so
frightened by the unknown around him. Everything surrounding him was dangerous hazard to him,
so all they can bring was devastating horror and disturbance in mind.
    When Crusoe was dreadfully frightened and controlled by the state of total fear, he started to
expect and pray his God for “a servant, and perhaps a companion, or assistant” (p 146). It is
necessary to mention that Crusoe was expecting a companion out of fear not desire of controlling as
a master. While he was living in unstable fear, Friday showed up magically. Friday came to
Crusoe’s life like a gift from Crusoe’s God as he prayed. I believe that Friday’s arrival was the
climax of the whole story. Because before that, Crusoe almost went mad and became a crazy live on
the unknown island, and it is unpredictable what would happen to Crusoe if Friday did not appear.
After possessing Friday, Crusoe started to desire for controlling power, so he made Friday as his
slave in the first place. In this way, he can feel himself not jus as human again but a superior man
on this island. Crusoe’s fear was reduced by Friday and brought a human voice to him as Crusoe
wished for long time, which is the crucial to while story.
    Besides, Friday also brought survival to Crusoe. After rescuing from his fears, Friday brought
hope to Crusoe to live. Before Friday’s show up, Crusoe was living like an animal with some beasts
on this island. He almost lost his human nature for not having a social communication and
interaction. The first gestures and body language with Friday for communicating made him to think
himself as a human again. Of course, Friday’s obedience made Crusoe more safe and much
powerful, especially in psychological and spiritual way. So it is obvious that Friday also brought
Crusoe psychological survival.
    It is Friday who ended Crusoe’s state of solitude. Only the arrival of Friday relieves him from his
fear and returns him to the state of peaceful mind, and ends his brutal solitary life “live in the
constant snare of the fear of man” (p 118). Besides, when he first heard Friday’s sound after a long
time of not hearing any human voice, he was so pleasant to hear the first sound of a man’s voice
and so glad to use his tongue again in more than 20 years. There is no doubt that Friday is the one
who is a real rescuer who magically appeared in a perfect moment in the story.

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3. Social Companion

    Man is a creature just like any other livings on the earth, and they are also different because of
the competence of social interaction. Also, to be a human, the social community matters the most. It
is the people who are core to establish a social community as members. To form a certain human
society, there should be at least two human lives to interact with each other. Before Friday’s arrival,
Robinson Crusoe, as the only man, lived just like any other natural creature as a part of that
unknown island. There were no talk, no social communication, no any evidences as a social man in
a social community but just a natural live with other natural creatures such as beasts and fowls.
Indeed, Crusoe’s nature is bestial (Maximillian E. Novak, 1963) before Friday’s arrival. When he
notices the lack of “society”, he prayed for a company from his God, and the “comely handsome
fellow, perfectly well made with straight limbs, no too large, tall and well shaped” (p 148) creature
comes to his “country” as he says. The nature of human being is social attribute. Friday as the
second human on this island naturally formed a certain society of two men, and changed the natural
island into a human society. Crusoe also started to feel his humanity by repeatedly mentioning his
God and religion, and live like a social man in a human society. Then, the first talk with Friday and
his “yes, yes,” (p 154) response including many other following discourses with him brought
Crusoe the satisfaction of being a social human. Thus, with the coming of Friday, comes the social
life to Crusoe, and finally he enters the social state of human.
    Also, it was Friday himself who embodied Crusoe with an identity as human. Identity is a human
sign given or recognized among the public as one of them. The names or callings have a lot to do
with one’s human recognition. Almost all the lives in this human society have their own signs to be
recognized as their appellation, for instance, we call animals as cow or elephant, plants as tomato or
potato, and human also and should have names to be called or known by others. Before Friday’s
show up, Crusoe has been seen as a creature without any identity on this island, so similar to other
animals. Because there is no one to see him as human or call him in human way. Indeed, He has no
identity as a human for there is no other man to react with and prove him as a person. With great
effort, Crusoe taught Friday to call him “master”, for the agenda of getting his human identity and
controlling power of possession. However, he knows he does not see himself as a master from
bottom of his heart. He just wanted to be known as somebody by someone and turn to civilization
life. This, all of sudden, made Crusoe powerful, visible and recognizable with an identity.
    Besides bringing him a recognizable identity as human, Friday also brought much joy and
pleasant atmosphere to this little society formed by two people. The time spent with Friday was the
best time of his on the island for Crusoe. As for him, Friday made it was the pleasantest year of all
the life he led in this place as he says. There are many other words to prove this. “To my new
companion, I was greatly delighted with him” (p 152) and “the hours between Friday and me was,
such as, made the three years which we lived there together perfectly and completely happy, if any
such thing as complete happiness can be formed in a sublunary state” (p 159) show that he confirms
the time with Friday was the real life time for Crusoe after gaining his human identity, indicating
Crusoe’s changing attitude of treat Friday as a companion rather than a salve or owned property.
    Obviously, human communication and behaviors with Friday made Crusoe more of a pleasant
social human and powerfully superior to the nature. In a word, Friday is a social companion who
embodied Crusoe with social nature and human identity with various pleasant times.

4. Grateful Friend

   Throughout the story, Crusoe and Friday started to establish a deeper connection. They became

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one integral part of each other rather than a master - slave relationship as some critics mentioned.
From the text, it is noticeable that Friday is more than a rescuer and social companion which I
argued before. According to Crusoe’s words, Friday is someone equal to him to some extent. He is
also someone challenging, even someone better than him, when it comes to the matter of religion.
There are plenty of examples to prove this.
    First of all, let’s look at some monologues of Crusoe. He says “bless God for it, that we were
equally penitent, and comforted, restored penitents” (p 159). It is obvious that Crusoe himself
admitted and thought of Friday as someone equal. Then, He also says Friday “was now a good
Christian, a much better than I” (p 159), which refers that Friday is being better human than him
when it comes to his religion according to his own words. This also indicates that Crusoe does not
get jealous about Friday being better that him, because it is him who wanted him to get improved as
a civilized man. In an incident, Crusoe also expresses his challenge to him by asking a religious
question:
    But, says [Friday] again, if God much strong much might as the Devil, why God no kill the
devil, so make him no more do wicked? I was strangely surpriz’d at his Question…, and I could not
tell what to say, so I pretended not to hear him, and ask’d him what he said. (p158)
    Despite the depth of Crusoe’s religious knowledge, when facing questions came from Friday, he
felt hard to answer and challenging. To Friday’s theological question regarding God’s hesitation to
simply vanquish the devil, Crusoe finally answered by all means. Friday once again asked another
question, to which Crusoe could not answer except with heavy Christian say and angrily shifting the
topic. So Friday was permitted to communicated equally and his curiosity brought challenges and
threats to Crusoe’s religion.
    Also, Friday should be seen as an inseparable friend. He is more than someone better of
challenging. Text reveals that they have deep feelings to each other. Friday’s unfeigned honesty
appeared to him more and more every day, touched him and moved his heart. By which, he began
really to love Friday. He also believes Friday loved him more than it was possible for him ever to
love anything before. Then, along with the days together, Crusoe started to call Friday “ friend”,
saying “both as a religious Christian and as a grateful friend, as appeared afterwards to my full
satisfaction” (p162). They became friends to each other, even if Friday calls him master without
knowing what it means. More importantly, Crusoe also did not use the word “slave” after he started
to talk and uses often “my men”, which is enough to prove Friday is not just a slave in the eye of
Crusoe.
    Interestingly and importantly, if Friday is a slave, why would not he leave when he got his
freedom to go back to his own country? The answer is that he never thought himself as a slave of
Crusoe. Friday would not leave from Crusoe and this island and go back to his country, when he
was allowed to do so, even if he desires to his own country and people. He cries and insists they
leave together, or he would not leave him alone and leave from this island. Friday says “wish be
both there, no wish Friday there, no wish Master there.”(p163) He would not think of going back to
his own country without Crusoe. He gives a hatchet to Crusoe and says “take, kill Friday, no send
Friday away no Master.”(p164) He saw tears in Friday’s big eyes and discovered the utmost
affection in him. So if he is a real slave, he would have left happily when he got his freedom.
However，he did not, which is enough to prove that Friday is a grateful friend who is equal or
better, sometimes challenging to Crusoe, finally became lovable, honest and inseparable social
companion.

5. Conclusion

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All in all, Robinson Crusoe has a profound impact not only on the creation of British and
European realistic novels, but on all literatures throughout the world. As one of the main characters,
Friday plays an indispensable role in this autobiographical story. From his appearance to the end,
Friday became one essential part to the plot in this adventure story. Personally, I believe that if there
was no Friday, the whole story would not be complete and gain such great reputation in world
literature. In the first place, he rescued Crusoe from his countless fears which came from the total
strange island and brought him psychological survival. Then, he also made it a social community
for two persons, and embodied Crusoe with human identity by calling him master as his name.
Also, he became an integral part of Crusoe’s life and gradually established a great relationship with
each other. In another word, Friday is more than a slave -- he is a rescuer who showed up on time,
then a social constant companion, finally an inseparable friend! Robinson Crusoe is created on the
basis of a real sailing story. It is a successful and widespread work of realism throughout the world.
It has also been seen as the picture of the development of the entire human history by some
literature critics, which makes Defoe himself with his Crusoe and Friday immortal ones globally, as
one of the most canonized major works of world literature.

Notes

  All textual notes on this paper are quoted from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. 2nd. Ed.
Michael Shinagel. New York& London: W.W. Norton& Company, 1994.

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