Fiction is defined as "made up or false", however fictional texts can represent reality; the authors created the illusion of real life through fiction by obscuring unreality by using realistic events. Robinson Crusoe is an example of this, with Daniel Defoe stating that the text is a work of non-fiction for a year after publication, citing himself as the editor. Works of fiction are often constructed from life, which is why they reflect a sense of realism. Being realistic means representing "things in a way that is true to life"; authors can create texts with elements that are true to life, but simply not true. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The aspect of reality is shown mostly through the way Crusoe asserts himself while abandoned. He collects useful goods from the ship, then tries to craft items he was unable to acquire, such as pots for storing corn. This process is described in great detail, making readers feel as if Crusoe actually experienced it. Defoe also writes how Crusoe initially failed in this endeavor. «The reader would make me feel sorry for the bad things I've done; I couldn't make more than two large, ugly earthen things out of them in about two months' work of which they fell to pieces. Crusoe's misfortunes prove that he is human; whether it is a human being who existed in reality or exclusively in the text. If all his attempts had succeeded the first time, readers might immediately have been able to tell that the story was falsified, so Defoe constructs him as a flawed protagonist, partly to make him more appealing but mostly to show how easily Crusoe could be a "real man". Defoe makes Crusoe live a solitary life, surviving using basic human instinct; this creates a survival story rather than an adventure story that is more relatable – and therefore more realistic. Fiction obscured to appear as reality is shown in Robinson Crusoe. Eighteenth-century authors "concealed fiction by confining it within the confines of the credible" - done by Defoe. Although dwelling on a deserted island seems unlikely, Crusoe's isolation is understated to seem plausible, particularly shown in the beginning of Crusoe's habitation on the island. Crusoe says that his first night was spent in a "tree apartment." Sleeping in a tree creates the image of being truly stuck, a tree being his only source of shelter. This gives credibility to Crusoe's tale by showing his loneliness and how he is forced to resort to his own wits to live. Defoe obscures the implausibility by focusing the reader on Crusoe's human characteristics, such as his desire to survive. However, this practice reveals the pretense, establishing the idea that "revealing and concealing the pretense are the same process." The diary section shows this, as it was intended to add authenticity, but was taken away from it. Crusoe begins his journal to keep track of life on the island, however it becomes an aid in his tale, rather than a part of it. The diary is initially a day-by-day account, but extremely detailed as if Crusoe was simply living it without telling it. Then he also begins to straddle tenses as he returns from the past to the present, with the "current" Crusoe chiming in with further details. Crusoe writes "I worked", rather than work. The "worked" past tense shows that Crusoe is not writing the diary in the moment, but after the fact. Crusoe is often considered an unpleasant character due to his insensitivity and his..
tags