Robinson Cruose and Alive Essay Example
AS Coursework – Lost – Part A
Extract A: from ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe pub. Oxford World Classics paperback 2007, page 110 first words ‘I had now brought my State of Life...’ to page 113 ending, ‘... I went away and was no more sad.’ (956 words)
Extract B: from ‘Alive’ by Piers Paul Read pub. Arrow paperback 2012, page 94 first words ‘Inside there was silence.’ to page 96 ending ‘... I’m all right’. (720 words)
The theme of ‘lost’ runs through both ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe and ‘Alive’ by Piers Paul Read. ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is a story about a young man who manages to survive for years without any human companionship on a lonely island after his ship crashes while ‘Alive’ provides a detailed account of the trials a group of rugby players and their flight companions underwent after their plane crashed into the Andes in 1972.
Despite the fact that he is alive and healthy, Crusoe fails to see the silver lining in his adverse situation. His loss of faith in God and in providence leaves him wallowing in self pity for a significant amount of the novel but this extract sees a change in his attitude as he ‘learns to look more upon the bright side of his condition, and less upon the dark side’ . The material things he had valued in his life in the Brazils were now of no use to him and this makes him change his values as he starts to see things in a different way.
Defoe writes ‘Robinson Crusoe’ from a protagonist’s point of view in the form of a memoir that makes the book more personal and direct. The sophisticated lexis Defoe uses adds formality to the novel and especially in this extract there is a wide range of polysyllabic words mostly in the lexical set of Religion e.g. ‘spread my Table in the Wilderness’ and ‘Hand of God’s Providence’ as Crusoe starts to realise how good God has been to him since he arrived on the island. The abstract nouns ‘wilderness’ and ‘providence’ are consistent with the books formal register. Defoe’s use of linguistic
Extract A: from ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe pub. Oxford World Classics paperback 2007, page 110 first words ‘I had now brought my State of Life...’ to page 113 ending, ‘... I went away and was no more sad.’ (956 words)
Extract B: from ‘Alive’ by Piers Paul Read pub. Arrow paperback 2012, page 94 first words ‘Inside there was silence.’ to page 96 ending ‘... I’m all right’. (720 words)
The theme of ‘lost’ runs through both ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe and ‘Alive’ by Piers Paul Read. ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is a story about a young man who manages to survive for years without any human companionship on a lonely island after his ship crashes while ‘Alive’ provides a detailed account of the trials a group of rugby players and their flight companions underwent after their plane crashed into the Andes in 1972.
Despite the fact that he is alive and healthy, Crusoe fails to see the silver lining in his adverse situation. His loss of faith in God and in providence leaves him wallowing in self pity for a significant amount of the novel but this extract sees a change in his attitude as he ‘learns to look more upon the bright side of his condition, and less upon the dark side’ . The material things he had valued in his life in the Brazils were now of no use to him and this makes him change his values as he starts to see things in a different way.
Defoe writes ‘Robinson Crusoe’ from a protagonist’s point of view in the form of a memoir that makes the book more personal and direct. The sophisticated lexis Defoe uses adds formality to the novel and especially in this extract there is a wide range of polysyllabic words mostly in the lexical set of Religion e.g. ‘spread my Table in the Wilderness’ and ‘Hand of God’s Providence’ as Crusoe starts to realise how good God has been to him since he arrived on the island. The abstract nouns ‘wilderness’ and ‘providence’ are consistent with the books formal register. Defoe’s use of linguistic