Comment on the following statement from Robinson Crusoe: '' ... and I must confess, my religious thankfulness to God's providence began to abate too,...

There are a number of
comments that we could make about this important quote from the novel. A major theme of this
work is that of religion and the movement of the eponymous hero from perdition towards salvation
and a prodigal return to the fold of the church and to reintegration into life and religion. The
incident that inspired this quote comes early on in the novel when Crusoe, finding some left
over grain from the remnants that he salvaged from his ship, throws them unthinkingly into some
grass. He is amazed a few weeks later to see that they have taken root and have begun to grow.
Although initially he remembers he was inclined to see this as some sort of miracle, he quickly
sees that this is nothing more than science rather than some form of divine
intervention.

Key to focus on however is the way thatis narrating his
adventure looking back on it having survived his shipwreck. The older and maturer Robinson
Crusoe has been challenged by his experiences to believe once again in God and to adopt
religion. He therefore includes in this quote reference to his new perspective on life and God,
saying that even though it was "common" for wheat to grow from seed he still should
have seen it as a "strange and unforeseen providence." This quote is an example of a
retrospective first person narrator, where an older narrator looks back on his life and comments
on his experiences with the benefit of hindsight and greater perspective. This quote you have
identified shows the journey of the narrator from being not interested in religion to adopting
Christianity once more.