Robinson Crusoe. In Act I, Scene 2, the wheelchair-bound elderly woman Mme. Desmortes makes reference to the classic English novel Robinson Crusoe (1722), by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731). Robinson Crusoe is the story of a castaway on a deserted island who must make do with limited resources in order to survive harsh and solitary conditions. In Anouilh's play, the excessively wealthy and privileged Mme. Desmortes compares herself to Robinson Crusoe when she is momentarily stranded in her wheelchair without a servant to escort her, and without a nearby "bell-rope" she could use to summon a servant.

Mme. Desmortes: "Really, how marooned one is away from a bell-rope. I might be Robinson Crusoe, and without any of his initiative. If only one's governess, when one was a girl, had taught one something practical like running up a flag or firing a gun."

When a butler, Joshua, appears, she continues the comparison...