By the
time Crusoe discovers a footprint in the
sand, he has been on the island for around eighteen
years. Although the novel
is filled with his many adventures and challenges of survival, this is
one of
the first times the reader is granted a glimpse into the psychological damage
isolation
has on a person. Crusoe is mainly concerned that perhaps he is not
alone on the island after
all. After finding the footprint Crusoe quickly
runs back to his fort,
looking behind
[him] at every two or three steps, mistaking every
bush and tree, and
fancying every stump at a distance to be a man.
Crusoe suddenly feels threatened and watched. Alone in his fort, Crusoe
begins
imagining what may have put the footprint there. His first thought is
that it is the devil
taunting him. His greatest fear is that it may be some
"savages" who, if they found
his boat, would want to kill and eat him. After
extensive prayer to God, Crusoe begins to think
that perhaps it was his own
footprint. After braving a trip to the footprint, however, he finds
the print
to be much larger than his own foot, which indicates that somebody else must
be
around. He then spends two entire years alone in his fort, unwilling to
venture outside the
walls.
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