Published on April 25, 1719 by author Daniel DeFoe, Robinson Crusoe follows the story of a man shipwrecked on an island near Trinidad for 28 years. During this time, Crusoe encounters cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The novel is written as a fictional autobiography in the same vein that Charlotte Bronte structured Jane Eyre, and, having been written during the Georgian Era, contains prose qualities of didacticism, epistolary, and confessional form, which Bronte adopts in her work during the Victorian era.

In Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Mr. Donaldson—Gemma's schoolteacher—gifts her a copy of Robinson Crusoe," inscribed to Gemma, from her classmates and teacher. With all good wishes for her future. February 1959" (Livesey 39). The literary allusion to Robinson Crusoe symbolizes the journey that Gemma is about to embark on. Though Robinson Crusoe is not, by definition, a bildungsroman since the journey does not take place during Crusoe's formative years, the 28-year span on the island is similar to the length spent both within Jane Eyre's and Gemma Hardy's lifetime; the main difference being that we experience Jane and Gemma's childhood. Because of this difference in age, this puts into question how, exactly, a "coming-of-age" story should be defined. Perhaps Robinson Crusoe might be examined within the bildungsroman context, considering that his journey begins by denouncing his parents' wishes to pursue law as a career is tested, in a similar vein that Jane and Gemma both denounce their emotionally abusive aunts; by no means has Crusoe realized himself since he is still forming his identity, despite beginning the journey as an adult. Regardless, the literary allusion placed within The Flight of Gemma Hardy is clear: Gemma's first steps toward Claypoole and away from her life at home marks the first steps of a long, formative journey.

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe#/media/File:Robinson_Crusoe_1719_1st_edition.jpg

Bibliography:

Livesey, Margot. The Flight of Gemma Hardy. HarperCollins, 2012.