Tag Archives: Robinson Crusoe

On the Pope, Walls, and Robinson Crusoe

By Robin Bates | Published: March 6, 2016

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.

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Fences Entrap Rather than Protect

By Robin Bates | Published: July 9, 2014

“Robinson Crusoe” functions as a parable about America’s fear of immigrants.

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In Solitary Others We See Ourselves

By Robin Bates | Published: June 14, 2013

When a Maine hermit is arrested after 27 years in solitude, we project our stories upon him.

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My Son Marries into Crusoe’s Island

By Robin Bates | Published: July 3, 2012

Robinson Crusoe’s island may well be the home country of my new daughter-in-law.

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Novels and Baseball Fans, Fixated on Time

By Robin Bates | Published: October 3, 2011

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.

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Literature and Student Life Stories

By Robin Bates | Published: May 6, 2010

This post will have to be quick because it’s been a busy week.  I’ve been involved in marathon grading sessions, attended a full day of senior project presentations (including one that I mentored on Hans Christian Andersen), met with multiple students who are revising essays, and have just returned from a session where students read […]

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Crusoe, A Parable for Our Time

By Robin Bates | Published: March 2, 2010

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 […]

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Is Father-Son Conflict Inevitable?

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2009

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 […]

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