. Periodically, Crusoe is endangered by the visits of cannibalistic savages. He rescues and tames one of these savages to become the ideal servant. Man Friday is characterized as an attractive fellow with a good face that seems to reflect even the sweet and soft European appearance, especially compared to the other natives. He appears in contrast to the ôNegroes.ö In his dealings with Friday, there is a strong strain of superiority and condescension on behalf of Crusoe, one that is fueled by imperialism and ethnocentrism. Crusoe retains the innate sense of racial and genetic superiority typical of an Englishman of his era, place, and class. This superiority is evident, even though Crusoe informs us of his own insignificant station in European society, ômine was the middle State, or what might be called the upper Station of Low Lifeö (Defoe, p. 4).
Crusoe encounters his savage at a moment of crisis for Man Friday. Friday was inten
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