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4th Theory and Early Castaways Today we talked about Henry Pitman, a surgeon who survived a shipwreck in the Caribbeans. His story was told by J. Taylor, and probably inspired Daniel Defoe. Then, we started thinking about early incarnations of a castaway, like Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey or Sinbad the sailor in the Arabian Nights . These heroes became universal, because humanity has always been fascinated by these themes (unknown lands, exploration, exile, survival, symbolic death and return). Warm UP Babylon acre synonymous of cities and decadence (reggae) isn't Babylon famous for... ?

  The Different Inspirations For Robinson Crusoe Today we studied the three first examples of the document.  First, we learnt about Alexander Selkirk, who was a Scottish sailor. Because he told his captain the ship was in a bad condition, we was punished. He was dropped ( marooned , or, abandoned ) on a desert island. He was saved five years later and returned a hero. Then, we learnt about Ibn Tufail's book, the Hayy Ibn Yaqdhan ( the Self Learnt Philosopher ). This novel is about a child on a desert island, who thinks about his situation, and his loneliness. Finally, we learnt about Robert Knox, who was sailor too, and survived a shipwreck ( when the ship is destroyed ). He became a slave on an island near Sri Lanka, and could escape only after 20 years.  Warm Up Achilles Trojan / Troy demigod Homer was a blind bard Zeus Aphrodite Homework: read the last theory (about Henry Pitman), and write a one sentence summary about it.  

The Real People Behind Robinson Crusoe At first, we thought (imagined) this text was about 4 different versions of RC, or 4 real people who were inspired by the book. But it was not the case ( ce n'était pas le cas ): The real point of the text is : RC was inspired by real people. why? because in the text, ... it is said "[these people and that] text [were] an important influence on Defoe's novel." So Daniel Defoe took these four stories, mixed them all together and created his novel, Robinson Crusoe . A castaway   -> un naufragé remote          -> lointain a travelogue -> un journal de voyage a diary          -> un journal (intime) a novel         -> un roman   Warm Up To choose, chose, chosen to boycott

Robinson Crusoe's Frontispiece He could be considered as a myth because we don't know if it's real. "written by himself" but it's a lie, Daniel Defoe wrote it. But he pretended it was an autobiography.  He could be considered as a hero because everybody thinks he's an explorer / in unknown lands.

 Today we thought about what a myth and a hero were. We defined these two words, using etymology. A HERO is a demigod for the Greeks ( ἥρως heros), someone who represents his own time.  A MYTH is a lie for the Greeks ( μῦθος, muthos ), something that doesn't exist, a creation of the mind. We took the example of Marylin Monroe. She didn't exist. Norma Jean Baker did (she had brown hair, a different nose, and was quite depressed). She was her own creation. Nowadays, we can still picture her in our minds. Moreover, she could be considered as a hero, because she represented her times pretty well (glamour, turning stars into heroes, untimely and dramatic death). Warm Up 1 Endorsement MVP started from scratch   Warm Up 2 dark side saviours a series charisma     a hero - symbolic character who was important for his time - mythological figure, achievement - a role model - a superhero ii - a courageous character - represents a myth - someone wh...