In the Angel reading for this week by Daston, we gain much discussion about curiosity and wonder -- namely the difference and link between the two. To what extent do we find wonder and curiosity -- especially the degrees of wonder (such as astonishment) -- in Robinson Crusoe, and where exactly are these moments?
"... but one of the several contributing causes was that the hidden or secret was the ideal object of admiration and curiosity. The causes of the hidden and the secret, by definition obscure, thereby set in motion the sequence of wonder-curiosity-attention" (Daston, 315).
"It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunderstruck, or as I had seen an Appartition; I listen'd, I look'd round me, I could hear nothing, nor see any Thing; I went up to a rising Ground to look farther; I went up the Shore and down the Shoe, but it was all one, I could see no other Impression but that one, I went to it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my Fancy; but there was no Room for that, for there was exactly the very Print of Foot, Toes, Hell, and every Part of a Foot; how it came thither, I knew not, nor could in the least imagine. But after innumerable fluttering Thoughts, like a Man perfectly confus'd and out of my self, I came Home to my Fortification, not feeling, as we say, the Ground I went on, but terrify'd to the last Degree, looking behind me at every Stump at a distance to be a Man; nor is it possible to describe how many various Shapes affrighted Imagination represented Things to me in, how many wild Ideas were found every Moment in my Fancy, and what strange unaccountable Whimsies came into my Thoughts by the Way" (Crusoe, 112).
In Daston's article, we are told the difference between wonder and curiosity (in this time), which turns out to be that "wonder [catches] the attention; curiosity [rivets] it (311). That is, we are impressed by something (wonder), and then we feel the need to investigate it (curiosity). There were several moments in the reading for this week, that caught my attention in pertaining to Robinson Crusoe.
Wonder and curiosity played with the idea of hidden or secret objects, which struck me as the island in Robinson Crusoe. It is a seemingly uninhabited island, and therefore hidden or secret, and elicits both curiosity from the readers and Crusoe himself. In Crusoe's case, it is because he is the only one to have survived the wreck and now must explore this island in order to find ways to survive; the reader's case is much the same: Crusoe is the only person to survive the wreck, and we are curious to find how he will survive, and to figure out if he is telling the truth. What really struck me in the readings, was the moment where Hooke was examining the fly under the microscope. "In order to rivet the attention up a common fly, Hooke had to transform it into a marvel by means of the microscope. Unmagnified, the fly barely registered in the observer's consciousness." In much the same way, Crusoe had to examine the island under a different light to survive. For example, in the beginning, he had a mental breakdown because he didn't know what to do, but after coming about the situation in a different mind, he was able to find places to live and transform them to create a shelter for himself.
In a broad sense, the paragraphs act as an example of wonder and curiosity, but Daston also wrote of varying degrees of wonder that one could face, one of which was astonishment. The difference between wonder and astonishment is described in these terms: "this serviceable 'Wonder' (admiration) was to be distinguished from a stupefying 'astonishment' (estonnement), which 'makes the whole body remain immobile like a statue, such that one cannot perceive any more of the object beyond the first face present, and therefore cannot acquire any more particular knowledge" (317). In essence, "astonishment is an excess of wonder"(318).
The example above taken from Robsinon Crusoe that examines his reaction to finding the footprint is a particular moment which I thought Crusoe to have an excess of wonder. He is astonished by finding this print, and almost stupefied by it. Although he does manage to run around the island and search for other prints, it is almost in a frenzy that leaves him unable to find more. Because he is so astonished by this print, he can't focus properly, and afterwards keeps imagining stumps in the background to be men, and various shapes continue to frighten him.
In particular, I found this article very helpful when reading Robinson Crusoe. It allowed me to go back to moments (like the scene on page 112) and do a closer reading of them, which in turn allowed me to reach moments of wonder, that, of course, lead to curiosity.
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