Robinson Crusoe : The Aftermath

First Part

The coolness of the dawn woke me up that summer morning when we were approaching York. I had decided to sleep on the deck of the boat so that, as soon as I opened my eyes, I could get that same vision I had kept for 35 years. While the three mast ship entered the bay, I thought of what the future could have for me here. My emotions were mixed after so much time away. I was happy to return to my country but at the same time, I had a mixture of other emotions inside me. I was grateful because god gave me the opportunity to survive after all, but I also felt fear; fear for the unknown. I would probably not have the opportunity to look my parent's in the eyes and ask them for forgiveness for leaving without telling them anything, as if I was escaping from some sort of curse.

If back then, I had only known what fate had in store for me? Damn!

If only I had listened to my father’s warning of the dangers of the sea, but we all know that young people do not listen to advice of older people, until it is too late to revert the situation and they have to taste the bitterness of failure.

In the distance, I can see Friday standing on the prow of the ship, with the wind blowing through his long black hair. He is smiling. His perfect smile contrasts beautifully with his dark cinnamon skin. He irradiates joy and he still seems to be amazed by civilization, in spite of already having discovered several other ports before York. I fear for him.
During the trip and after I started to have more contact with the rest of the world I noticed that my perception of him was different from the rest of the people.
Before the shipwreck, I had been involved in the slave trade myself but all these years of sharing together had radically changed my ideas about it.

How could I transmit to the rest of the world all the devotion and loyalty that he gave me during all these years?

How I could I make them see that he taught me the secrets of nature and that in his environment he is as wise as the wisest philosopher of the ancient Greece.

He has been my only companion for the last 11 years and I have developed strong feelings for him. He is my best friend and sometimes he feels like a son to me. He is probably the only person I have left in this world but others see him as a savage, an inferior being, using a colonial-ethnocentric argument that is just a bad attempt to hide the ignorance and fear to the unknown with the pretext of superiority. A reflection that makes evident their own insecurity.

How good it would be if every human being could experience life away from their own comfort zone, a completely different environment, that would teach them about other people from other latitudes but most importantly it would reflect those impressions onto themselves. Just like the mirror we face every morning.

The port was full of people waiting for our arrival. After the civil war between parliament and the king in 1642-1646 people became interested in news and my story had arrived in England before Friday and I arrived. When we descended down the gangplank the people looked at me and Friday with curious eyes. Among them, there were lots of journalists and our story seemed to be a big story.
-How did you manage to survive on the island for so long Crusoe?

-Is this savage one of the island’s inhabitants? They asked.

I answered the questions politely until one of them asked…

-How does it feel to eat human flesh? That question was like an arrow that pierced my chest.

-Who told you that I have eaten human flesh? I asked.

The crew saw skulls and bones on the beach the day they rescued you and everybody knows that in that part of the world eating human flesh is a common practice.
-Did this savage introduce you to cannibalism Crusoe?

-Don’t you feel any guilt after performing such a practice? You, sinners!

-You children of evil! Repent of your sins or we, in the name of the divine god, will make sure that your sinful souls will be punished!

Friday looked at me without understanding what was happening. I could read fear and anguish in his eyes. The only other time I saw the this expression in his eyes was during our first encounter right before he kneeled down at my feet and set my foot over his head as a symbolic way of swearing to be my servant forever. After that and during all the years we lived together on the island, I never saw him fearing anything. It was a nightmare of an arrival and definitely not a good start.

Second Part

While the captain served us some brandy to calm down our nerves after this traumatic experience, he gave us an update on the latest social and political developments in the country. In 1687, when we arrived in England, it was a period of religious agitation and confrontation among Catholics and Protestants, thus a period where religious fanaticism was common.

The captain explained to us that apparently the rumor about our alleged practice of cannibalism spread very quickly and got to some religious fanatics. That together with the common prejudice associating dark skinned people with evil forces, had resulted in such a welcome. He warned us to be careful because these groups were dangerous.
Soon, I learned that my parents were not alive anymore. I also found out that my father had left me all his wealth but since no one had heard from me for more than 30 years they assumed I was dead and The Crown took it all. I still kept some of the little treasure of coins that I found in the shipwreck long ago on the beach of the island but knew that will not last too long. The accusations of cannibalism against us were very bad publicity for me and Friday and would make the mission of getting a job more difficult.

During the first two weeks since our arrival, I could realized how much the world had changed in 35 years. I had been completly absent from it, and this absence had affected my perception of how the world was and how it should be. Also, during this period of assimilation to society that we were experiencing, I noticed a radical change in Friday. He had become a bit taciturn and he was not smiling as much as he used to. His enthusiasm for the civilized world had diminished. Every time I looked into his eyes I felt that they seemed to ask for a good reason to be where we were. I think, he could also perceive the internal conflicts I had in me.
I felt responsible for him. I felt that I had taken him out of earthly paradise and brought him to hell. I thought a lot of what was coming and I realized that it could be a bit dangerous to make our friendship too evident for “the civilized society”.To avoid more trouble, I decided to feign a more accentuated master / servant relationship, something that had never existed between us, but that could be the only way to justify to be close to my only friend.

After several weeks of knocking on doors without getting a positive answer, we decided to take the only existing possibility, which was to work at the docks loading and unloading ships with all sorts of cargo. So far we had rejected this possibility because for us it was the worst place to go to after the incident during our arrival but we needed to work.
From the very beginning, I could feel the hostility in the air, although it was not implicitly manifested. I knew that as soon as a good opportunity arose, it would be used against us. That opportunity came when I called Friday aloud.
-Did you hear that? , “Friday”! screamed mockingly one of the three guys working in the store room.
-Hi Friday! Nice to meet you! I’m Saturday and this is my friend Wednesday, the other replied, laughing.
-What a stupid name you have savage! said the third one that looked more threatening.
-You are the savage ones! Why do you not just respect this fellowman!I intervened.
- Hey, Why don’t you mind your own business!? Why do you have to intervene for this savage? added the one closer to me, grabbing me from the back and putting a knife on my neck. Friday scared, reacted promptly in my defense and grabbed one of those iron bars used to open wooden boxes and knocked my aggressor down.
-The hit was so violent that I had no doubt that he killed him instantly. When the other two saw the violent reaction from Friday they got scared and they just attempted to assist the unconscious man while shouting for help. From that moment on we became fugitives and that was the end for us living among civilization.

It is the end of another day.Im lying down in my hammock writing my diary while in the distance I can see Friday trying to catch some fish for dinner. The development of the events hastened the decision to leave civilization after a very short time. It was enouhg for us to realize that we did not fit in there. We left England with the help of the captain who smmugled us away. After two months back here on our island and eight months since we managed to escape, I can see that Friday has recovered the bliss for life; this is the world he belongs to and here and only here he can be himself. As for myself, I realize that after 30 years away from the civilized world. This place is where I belong now and I do not think, I will ever leave it. However, I do worry that one day the world will become smaller and those strange ideas of superiority will reach this island, this beach; to stay.