Robinson Crusoe was born in York in the year 1632 to a family who were not rich and not poor but were in the middle station. His father was an immigrant and had a trade but since Robinson Crusoe was the 3rd son he had not been placed in a trade yet so he got it into his head that he wanted to go adventure at sea. His father did not like this idea and one day had a talk with him, telling him, in no uncertain terms that he would not support his son's desires to go to sea. He told his son that he should stay home and live a good life by learning a trade and by the fact that his family was respectable; he would have enough to get by comfortably so that he was never wanting for necessities but not so much that he would be embarrassed by pride and ambition. His father thought that this middle station was the best place to be, and that both lower class people and even kings envied this position. He made a very emotion plea to his son, saying that he could not let him go without making it known that he did not approve of his adventures. He even said that the Lord would not bless his plans to leave home, and this was to be a prophetic statement. This talk ended in tears from his father, saying that he could not speak about it any longer because his heart was too full.
Robinson Crusoe's mind was actually changed after this talk - for a few days at least, then he began dreaming of adventures again. So he went to discuss the matter with his mother on a day when she was in a particularly good mood, but the good mood did nothing to soften her response. She told him the same as his father - that it would lead to his ruin and he should stay home and be happy with the comfortable life he would be provided. She said that she would not go against his father's words. He found out later that she did go and speak to his father about their conversation that day.
*Year 4, Week 1
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