Betteredge really takes Robinson Crusoe as his own Bible

Upon this point, the reason of why Betteredge so into Robinson Crusoe has still not yet got revealed.

Betteredge seems to have a religious faith in the Robinson Crusoe. By "converting", Betteredge is satisfied that more people can appreciate and join his religious faith in the book

I don't know why it's caught my attention, but I find it funny that it's always page one hundred and something, as if nothing's going on in the first hundred pages (or anywhere else)... Assuming the guy has perused the book through and through as he purports to, it's just odd to me that we keep getting information from the same, narrow range of pages.

It's a wild guess here, but maybe this is Collins trying to portray Betteredge's character as one who claims to be a know-it-all (Robinson Crusoe, women, the house affairs, etc.) but, really, has such a narrow and restricted view on life that he will always be surprised or caught wrong; that there isn't that much wisdom in him after all.

Hilarious. Reminds me of Ms. Clack and her tracts..

This is hysterical. I love how Betteredge takes obtuse passages of Crusoe as gospel--full of premonitions, and spiritual wisdom. Betteredge's Christianess may be questionable, but certainly not his Crusoeness. I love Collins use of pop culture in critiquing popular modes of religious thinking.

It's a fun game to follow up on these intertexts, even a bit. If you read the page or so that this quote is extracted from, you'll see that it's when Crusoe is regretting the way he'd started to build a boat, before thinking about how to get it to shore. Betteredge's analogy, then, is that he's bitten off more than he can chew: he's agreed to write this narrative, but soon finds it a very serious undertaking, since there are a lot of details to relate.

Does this reference to chapter-and-verse (so to speak) remind you of anything?

This is funny! I wonder how this mans obsession will pay off, and whether or not you would have had to read Robinson Crusoe, or been an English citizen in the 19th century to 'get the joke.'

If you look this up in Robinson Crusoe, you'll see that it extends a discussion of the capriciousness of Providence, which Betteredge has just been discussing.

http://enlightenmens.lmc.gatech.edu/items/show/90

• That item is simply a portrait of John Locke. The relation is that the word "mind" is very relevant to all the work accomplished by Locke, as he spent most of his life as a renowned philosopher.

Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

http://enlightenmens.lmc.gatech.edu/items/show/526

• This item is an excerpt from Oroonoko in which Aphra Behn is describing his physique. What is extremely ironic is that in that excerpt he is being described as almost god like, but he ends up suffering from illness, similar in fashion to what Crusoe is depicting here.

Behn, Aphra, and Adelaide P. Amore. Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave: a Critical Edition. University Press of America, 1987. Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

http://enlightenmens.lmc.gatech.edu/items/show/332

• This item relates to the artifact in that it is a map illustrating towns and villages described throughout the rest of the book.

Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

http://enlightenmens.lmc.gatech.edu/items/show/129

• This word reminded me of the part of Oroonoko in which he is held captive on a ship and then sold into slavery.

Behn, Aphra, and Adelaide P. Amore. Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave: a Critical Edition. University Press of America, 1987.

Here, Crusoe parallels “God” and his “Father”. This hints at him holding them up to similar pedestals.This peculiar way of comparing them is also evidently seen in the bible, where Jesus- being crucified- exclaims out to his Father (who is also “god”) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” In another passage he similarly shouts”My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”, while being crucified. Here, Jesus uses both “God” and “Father” interchangeably. This parallel between crusoe and Jesus demonstrates how Crusoe’s character is mirroring Jesus. This shows us how, although an early novel, the narrative still contains similar plots and characters to traditional pre-novel pieces of literature- in this case being the bible.

“BibleGateway.” Mark 4:35-41 NIV - - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4:35-41&version=NIV. “BibleGateway.” Luke 23:46 NIV - - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23:46&version=NIV. Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

The words conscience and mind bring about ideas that can be noted in John Locke’s text: *An essay concerning Human Understanding.* In book two, Locke explains how thoughts come to be. He believes that “All ideas come from sensation or reflections”. In this specific case, the ideas being expressed in this excerpt are rooted in reflection, as Crusoe is thinking on how and why he dared to actually leave his parents the way that he did. Much of this is seen throughout the whole narrative as it is written in the view of Crusoe. Nonetheless, it demonstrates how this story is evolving from simple story telling in the perspective of an outsider to the actual recount of the person living it in their own words.

John Locke, The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 1. 2/12/2020. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/761 Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

An unfamiliar word, I searched the definition to better understand the excerpt. One definition according to the OED: An earnest or humble request. Also: the action of making such a request; supplication. Here he uses a word with a very innocent connotation to describe what his mother has asked of him. In most traditional texts, prior to the novel, women always seemed to be portrayed as innocent and truthful. His mother is being portrayed here in that exact manner. As a result, this further enhances the idea that this text still contains elements of traditional pre novel texts.

"entreaty, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2019, www.oed.com/view/Entry/62972. Accessed 12 February 2020.

Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

This reminds me of the story in the bible of the prodigal son. In this story, a young man leaves his family and completely wastes his inheritance. Ultimately, he returns home and his father accepts him with open arms, throwing him a huge welcome back party. Saying ”For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”. When crusoe says he feels guilty for having left his “duty” to God and his father, it almost sounds exactly like the prodigal son apologizing to his father upon returning home:‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son”. This illustrates how Robinson crusoe indeed mirrors the bible, which considered a traditional text, although it is still considered one of the earliest novels.

Luke 15 NIV, biblehub.com/niv/luke/15.htm. Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

This seems like a huge contrast to the story of Fantomina, where she seemingly never reflects upon why she is pursuing sir Beauplaisir and feels no shame in constantly scamming him. This can be noted in the story where she immediately leaves the place she's staying at when she hears Beauplaisir leaves “and in that Time provided herself of another Disguise to carry on a third Plot”. Here Fantomina doesn't give her plan of scamming him a second thought, and displays absolutely no remorse. The juxtaposition of both of these characters and their stories demonstrate how distinct these stories truly are. In Fantomina, we see a very different type of story, completely apart from stories that existed at that time. Robinson crusoe seems to have more of a traditional story vibe, having aspects that reflect the bible. Robinson Crusoe demonstrates how some early novels still maintained traits from traditional literatures and Fantomina demonstrates the beginning of distinct genres and perspectives coming into play within the narrative.

Haywood, Eliza. “Fantomina.” Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze., digital.library.upenn.edu/women/haywood/fantomina/fantomina.html. Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

This phrase really mirrors the story in the bible of Jesus calming the storm while on a boat. That story can be found in Mark 4:35-41 New International Version (NIV).The story consists of Jesus on a boat with his disciples, and while on a boat, a raging storm develops. The storm persists until the disciple wakes Jesus and he calms the storm saying, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”. The fact that both of these excerpts are so similar in plot demonstrates how prevalent traditional literatures, in this case the bible, heavily influence emerging novels of the time.

“BibleGateway.” Mark 4:35-41 NIV - - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4:35-41&version=NIV. Mowat, Diane, and Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford University Press Canada, 2008.

Marx refers to the thought experiment, common in economics, which is sometimes called Robinson Crusoe economics.

Doing "Robinson Crusoe economics" consists in imagining what can be learned, if anything, from a one agent economy that will provide insight into a real world economy with lots of agents.

A book made by Daniel Dafoe.

I would be interested in running a word co-location algorithm to analyze the adjectives and nouns used by the narrator when the invoking Robinson Crusoe. It would also be interesting to run a similar algorithm regarding the narrator's description of himself and his actions and examine the relationship between the sets of words.