Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is the best example of a new idea of modern man. Why?

Crusoe is
an example of the modern man because he represents an ordinary person who makes his own way in
the world. His whole story can be read as one of upward mobility. He lands in a situation which
is adversarial, stranded on a deserted island, and makes the best of it through his hard work,
wit, and ingenuity. By carefully retrieving what he can salvage from the submerged ship,
cultivating wild grapes and other crops, hunting, and building, he makes the island his own
kingdom. This is entirely opposed to old-fashioned notions of hereditary inheritance and
entitlement from birth. A reader does not simply have to watch...