Daniel Defoe shipwrecks Robinson Crusoe on a desert island, leaving him stranded for twenty-eight years. Rather than succumbing to his primal urges and animalistic tendencies when alone, Crusoe maintains his humanity by establishing dominance over his island environment. Crusoe's adaptability juxtaposes the unchanging nature of the island's animals and cannibals. However, Crusoe's isolation on the desert island is not Defoe's first example of human mastery. Early in the story, after being captured by the "Turkish Rover of Sallee," Crusoe plans and executes a daring escape from slavery (17). His escape represents Defoe's introduction of adaptability, and Crusoe's dominance over Xury illustrates mastery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay When Crusoe analyzes his survival after the shipwreck, he is distraught by his isolation, but also grateful for his survival. Likewise, Crusoe is lucky enough to be chosen as a reward by Sallee's captain. Although he does not feel lucky when he enters servitude, the alternative of "carrying the country to the emperor's court" to probable death is certainly less desirable (17). Certainly, Crusoe feels “perfectly overwhelmed,” and as if “the Hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was lost without redemption” (17). Crusoe's pessimism is understandable and fundamentally human. After all, no one can constantly maintain Odysseus' optimism. Crusoe's attitude quickly shifts away from negativity, after being enslaved, as he examines his situation and begins to adapt; “I only meditated on my Flight” (18). First, he “hopes that he [the captain] will take me with him when he goes to sea again, believing that it will one day be his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portuguese warship; and that then I should be fixed on Liberty” (17). When Crusoe is left on “Shoar to tend his little garden,” he begins to invent different escape plans (18). For two years, no method seemed to have any probability of success until the Captain put Crusoe in charge of fishing offshore in a longboat equipped with a “Compass and Provisions” (19). When Crusoe is deployed in the well-stocked longboat, with only a Moor and the slave Xury, “notions of Crusoe's deliverance rushed into my thoughts” (20). He slips provisions and tools onto the boat, then pushes the Moor overboard once far from shore. Crusoe, who had been passive and dependent until then, immediately transforms into a self-confident and risk-taking man, ready to "shoot you in the head" if the Moor does not swim back and allow for Crusoe to escape (21). ).With the Moor to the sea, Xury is the only remaining obstacle. Crusoe's options include pushing Xury into the water, embracing him as a mate, or confining him to servitude. He chooses the latter solution, threatening to “throw you into the sea” if Xury does not “caress your face to be faithful to me” (21). In response, Xury “swore to be faithful to me and to travel the world with me,” thus clearly defining their master-slave relationship (21). Defoe uses Crusoe's training of racial domination to reiterate human adaptability. Additionally, the ease with which Crusoe imposes servitude on Xury sets a precedent for Friday's virtual slavery later in the story. However, Crusoe's relationship with Xury, and later Friday, does not easily fit into a black or white color binary because Crusoe regresses from his racist mindset.