The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe · Chapter
VII: Agricultural Experience explained
Crusoe marks one year on the island, establishes a Sabbath, and begins systematic farming.
What happens
Crusoe marks one year on the island, establishes a Sabbath, and begins systematic farming. He experiments with sowing barley and rice, learning the proper seasons through trial and error. He also explores the island, discovering a fertile valley with grapes, limes, and lemons, and builds a bower there, though he decides to keep his main habitation near the sea.
Themes in this chapter
Mastery Over Nature
Crusoe learns to cultivate crops and adapt to the island's climate, demonstrating human ingenuity and control over the environment.
Providence and Divine Justice
Crusoe observes a solemn fast and confesses his sins, viewing his isolation as a divine judgment and seeking mercy.
Self-Reliance and Individualism
Crusoe's solitary experiments in farming and exploration highlight his self-sufficiency and independent problem-solving.
Characters to notice
- Robinson Crusoe
Reflects on his first year, experiments with agriculture, and explores the island's interior.
Key passages
“I kept this day as a solemn fast, setting it apart for religious exercise, prostrating myself on the ground with the most serious humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledging His righteous judgments upon me, and praying to Him to have mercy on me through Jesus Christ”
Crusoe observed the anniversary of his landing as a day of fasting and prayer, humbly confessing his sins and seeking God's mercy.
This marks Crusoe's first formal religious observance on the island, reflecting his growing spiritual awareness.
“I found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days. I kept this day as a solemn fast”
After counting the notches on his post, Crusoe realized he had been on the island for exactly one year and decided to observe the day with fasting.
Crusoe's method of tracking time underscores his systematic approach to survival and his need for order.
“I dug up a piece of ground as well as I could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into two parts, I sowed my grain; but as I was sowing, it casually occurred to my thoughts that I would not sow it all at first, because I did not know when was the proper time for it”
Using a wooden spade, Crusoe prepared a plot and sowed his grain, but wisely reserved some seed due to uncertainty about the planting season.
This cautious approach demonstrates Crusoe's growing practical wisdom and willingness to learn from experience.
“I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England”
Crusoe felt like a sovereign ruler over the island, claiming ownership as absolute as any English landowner.
This passage reflects Crusoe's sense of dominion and the colonial mindset of claiming uninhabited lands.