| Friday | |
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Real Name |
Friday |
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First Appearance |
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. (1719) |
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Created by |
Daniel Defoe |
Origin[]
Friday is one of the main characters of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe and its sequel The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe names the man Friday, with whom he cannot at first communicate, because they first meet on that day.
Robinson Crusoe spends twenty-eight years on an island off the coast of Venezuela with his talking parrot Poll, his pet dog, and a tame goat as his only companions. In his twenty-fifth year, he discovers that Carib cannibals occasionally use a desolate beach on the island to kill and eat their captives.
Crusoe helps one of the captives escape his captors. Crusoe ambushes two pursuers, and the others leave in their canoes without knowing what happened to their companions. The escaped captive bows in gratitude to Crusoe, who decides to employ him as a servant. He names him Friday after the weekday upon which the rescue takes place.
Crusoe describes Friday as being a Native American, though very unlike the Indians of Brazil and Virginia.
His religion involves the worship of a mountain god named Benamuckee, officiated over by high priests called Oowokakee. Crusoe learned a few of his native words that have been found in a Spanish-Térraba (or Teribe) dictionary, so Friday may have belonged to that tribe, also called the Naso people. Friday is cannibal as well and suggests eating the men Crusoe has killed.
Crusoe teaches Friday the English language and converts him to Christianity. He convinces him that cannibalism is wrong. Friday accompanies him in an ambush in which they save Friday's father.
Crusoe returns to England twenty-eight years after being shipwrecked on that island, and four years after rescuing Friday. Friday's father goes with a Spanish castaway to the mainland to retrieve fourteen other Spanish castaways, but Crusoe and Friday depart the island before they return.
Friday accompanies Crusoe home to England and is his companion in the sequel The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, in which Friday is killed in a sea battle.
In Jules Verne's L'École des Robinsons (1882), the castaways rescue an African man on their island who says his name is Carefinotu. T. Artelett proposes to call him Mercredi ("Wednesday"), "as it is always done in the islands with Robinsons," but his master Godfrey prefers to keep the original name.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Friday from before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates.
- The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719)
- Serious Reflections During the Life & Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, with His Vision of the Angelic World (1720)
Public Domain Stage Appearances[]
- Robinson Crusoe (pantomime) (1796)
- Robinson Crusoe (play) (1815)
- Robinson Crusoé (operetta) (1867)
Public Domain Music Appearances[]
- “There Wasn’t Any Broadway on Robinson Crusoe’s Isle” (song) (1913)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Famous Funnies #7
- New Fun #4-6
- More Fun Comics #7-9
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Robinson Crusoe (1902)
- Robinson Crusoe (1927)
Public Domain Animated Appearances[]
- Three's a Crowd (1932): An old man in a rocking chair is reading Alice in Wonderland. He blows out his candle, puts his book aside and heads towards his bedroom. Alice comes out of the book, runs across the table, and turns on a radio to hear a crooner performing the title song. Dozens of book characters get up and dance. As she dances by a copy of Robinson Crusoe, both Crusoe and his man Friday pop out.
- Have You Got Any Castles (1938)
Public Domain Animated Appearances Inspired by Robinson Crusoe[]
- Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1941): The cartoon itself has fallen into the public domain, but the Porky Pig character and some of the songs used are not. The other characters should be fine for reuse, including the version of Friday based on Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.