Numbers 13 and the Grapes of Robinson Crusoe

Although it is the goats and barley that loom large in memory of the novel, it is arguably grapes--raisins, ultimately--that permit Robinson Crusoe to survive as a castaway, especially during his first years. "Agreeable physical, wholesome, nourishing, and refreshing," raisins are his daily breakfast, his winter staple, and his field ration. But more than his bare subsistence turns on these erstwhile grapes; the process of harvesting the grapes plays an important symbolic role in demarcating his authority over the island.