Pope Francis recently labeled as “not Christian” those who build walls but not bridges. By this standard, the walls, both literal and metaphorical, being advocated by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz bring their own Christianity in doubt. An examination of the walls build by Robinson Crusoe, however, shows how Christians have rationalized walls.
Tag Archives: Robinson Crusoe
On the Pope, Walls, and Robinson Crusoe
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Daniel Defoe, Donald Trump, Immigration, polarization, Pope Francis, prosperity theology, Ted Cruz, walls Comments closed
Fences Entrap Rather than Protect
“Robinson Crusoe” functions as a parable about America’s fear of immigrants.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged anti-immigrant hysteria, borders, Daniel Defoe, fences, Immigration, paranoia Comments closed
In Solitary Others We See Ourselves
When a Maine hermit is arrested after 27 years in solitude, we project our stories upon him.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Something", Daniel Defoe, Harper Lee, loneliness, Mary Oliver, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
My Son Marries into Crusoe’s Island
Robinson Crusoe’s island may well be the home country of my new daughter-in-law.
Novels and Baseball Fans, Fixated on Time
As I watched the amazing day of baseball last Wednesday, I found myself thinking (being the literature nerd that I am) that the English novel was invented to do justice to reality when it got this dramatic and complex.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Baseball, Charles Dickens, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Lawrence Sterne, Sports, Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy Comments closed
Crusoe, A Parable for Our Time
I have been teaching Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in an Introduction to Literature class and am struck once more by how important a book it is. I say this even though it is not read or taught as much as it once was. Robinson Crusoe continues to be relevant because it goes right to the […]
Is Father-Son Conflict Inevitable?
I had an interesting conversation with my two sons yesterday as we drove them and my daughter-in-law to the Portland airport, marking the beginning of the end of our summer vacation. The conversation began with me wondering why there weren’t works of literature that accurately capture the kind of father-son relationship that I feel that […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Cormac McCarthy, Daniel Defoe, David Copperfield, fathers and sons, Great Expectations, Hamlet, Henry IV, Homer, Human Stain, Lawrence Sterne, Nicholas Nickleby, Odyssey, Oedipus, Oliver Twist, Philip Roth, Road, Shakespeare, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison, Tristram Shandy Comments closed
