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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Robinson Crusoe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Christianity and Divine Providence
Society, Individuality, and Isolation
Advice, Mistakes, and Hindsight
Contentment vs. Desire and Ambition
Strangers, Savages, and the Unknown
Summary
Analysis
Robinson moved all of his things into this new dwelling and made a smaller tent within his large tent to better protect him and his things from any rain. While he was constructing and improving this dwelling (including building a cellar and carving a kind of cave into the rock at the back of the plateau), a storm came and Robinson feared that his stores of gunpowder might be struck by lightning.
Separated from society, Robinson struggles to survive against the forces of nature. On the island, he actually builds his own life, not relying on anyone else to help make his new home.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
After the storm, Robinson put his gunpowder into small containers and stored them all separately, so that if one exploded, he wouldn't lose everything. He explored around the island a little bit and hunted some goats for food.
The unknown island ends up not containing dangerous beasts or savages, but rather supplies Robinson with goats for food. This, again, can be seen as an act of Providence.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
Robinson was pessimistic about his chances for being rescued and thought that it was a "determination of Heaven" that he would die there. He cried and questioned "why Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures." But he cheered up when he thought of his shipmates that had drowned and reflected that he alone had at least survived and was able to get so many provisions from the ship.
Robinson already sees the events of his life as determined by God, but does not yet see divine providence as ultimately good. He still laments his fate on the island, despite the miracle of his being saved from the shipwreck to an island lacking predators and full of things he can use and eat.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
