Daniel Defoe has Robinson Crusoe shipwrecked on a desert island, leaving him stranded for twenty-eight years. Rather than succumb to his primal impulses and animalistic tendencies while alone, Crusoe maintains his humanity by establishing dominion over the surrounding island. Crusoe's ability to adapt 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 "Sallee's Turkish Rover," Crusoe plans and executes a daring escape from slavery (17). His escape represents Defoe's introduction of adaptability, and Crusoe's dominion over Xury illustrates mastery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay When Crusoe analyzes his survival of the shipwreck, he is shocked by his isolation, but also grateful for his survival. Likewise, Crusoe is fortunate enough to be chosen as a prize by the Captain of Sallee. Although he does not feel lucky when he enters servitude, the alternative of being "brought into the country to the Emperor's court" to a probable death is decidedly less desirable (17). Of course, Crusoe feels "perfectly overwhelmed" and as if "the Hand of Heaven had overtaken me and I was destroyed without redemption" (17). Crusoe's pessimism is understandable and fundamentally human. After all, no one can consistently maintain such optimism as Odysseus. Crusoe's attitude soon shifts away from negativity, after being enslaved, as he examines his situation and begins to adapt; "I meditated on nothing but my escape" (18). First, "he hopes that he [the Captain] will take me with him when he goes to sea again, believing that sooner or later it would be his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portuguese man of war; and that then I should be fixed to Liberty" (17). When Crusoe is left on “Shoar to tend his little garden,” he begins to devise several escape plans (18). For two years no method seemed to have any chance of success until the Captain gives Crusoe the responsibility of fishing offshore in a longboat equipped with "Compass and Provisions" (19). When Crusoe is deployed in the fully stocked longboat, with only a Moor and the slave Xury, Crusoe's "notions of liberation" darted into my thoughts (20). He puts supplies and tools on the boat and then pushes the Moor into the sea once he is away from shore. Crusoe, who had hitherto been passive and dependent, immediately transforms into an assertive, risk-taking man, willing to "shoot you [Moor] in the head" if the Moor does not swim back and allow Crusoe to escape (21) .With the Moro at sea, Xury is the only remaining obstacle. Crusoe's options include pushing Xury into the water, embracing him as a companion, or confining him to servitude. He chooses the latter by 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 go into all the world with me,” thus clearly defining their master-slave relationship (21). Defoe uses Crusoe's racial dominance training to reiterate human adaptability. Furthermore, 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 binary because Crusoe regresses from his racist mindset and embraces companionship. Here the company is an adaptation. When conversing about the dangers of lions with Xury, Crusoe observes:.