61 pages • 2 hours read
Johann David WyssThe Swiss Family Robinson
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1812A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Lure of the Wild
The Age of Enlightenment, a scientific and philosophical movement that swept Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries, presaged an age of intellectual development unseen since the Renaissance. European elites studied a variety of disciplines from natural science to philosophy to politics. The patriarch of the Robinson clan is certainly well-versed in many of these disciplines, but academic study isn’t enough evidently. Along with formal knowledge comes a more primal urge to escape the trappings of civilization and return to the natural world, to commune with it, to study it, and finally, to tame it.
The Robinsons are destined for an Australian colony when their ship encounters its fateful storm. The reasons for their relocation are never articulated, but the ease with which they adapt to their island surroundings suggests that perhaps the Robinsons are looking for refuge from their civilized world, and they approach the idyllic wilderness with a combination of religious awe and scientific curiosity. In many respects, the island is their own personal garden of Eden, and like Adam and Eve, they seek dominion over all they see. As devout a family as the Robinsons are, it’s likely that the Christian story of Creation is an indelible fixture in their minds; as God created man to rule the natural world, so should the Robinsons rule their own little corner of it.
The wild of nature is a test for the civilized man. Robinson seeks to conquer nature and, in doing so, prove his mettle to himself and God. The Robinson clan is easily up to the task. There are myriad species of plants to identify and endless species of animals to kill, eat, and tame. The lure of the wild is essentially a primitive desire to reconnect with that primordial human experience, something that centuries of civilization has failed to erase from the collective human consciousness.
The Religious Value of Hard Work
Robinson laments the danger that boredom poses to the family’s morale, an odd grievance since nearly every page of the novel bursts with industrious activity. When the Robinsons are not building a new home or planting another garden, they craft tools from bamboo and rubber or explore another new corner of the island. Robinson is determined to keep his family busy lest idleness take hold. As the Bible says, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop,” and Robinson takes this adage to heart. He bemoans Ernest’s laziness and even takes him on a private walkabout to lecture him about the necessity of action and decisiveness. In the United States, the value of hard work informs its whole cultural and political philosophy. Those who don’t work or who rely on government assistance are often labeled “parasites.” Applying for unemployment benefits requires negotiating a labyrinth of bureaucracy. Receiving assistance, the system implies, should be as difficult and guilt-inducing as possible. In a presumably Christian nation, the idle hands of the non-working are framed as ill-suited to God’s graces.
The Protestant or Calvinist work ethic arose as a direct challenge to the Roman Catholic justification of wealth, which argued that their power was ordained by God. The Protestant Reformation, in a direct contradiction of this dogma, argued that wealth should be the result of hard work, not divine ordination, placing the responsibility for financial means directly in the hands of the average citizen. As this idea took hold, the value of work became conflated with virtue and morality, so much so that taking a break from work required sanction from God, hence the justification for setting aside Sunday, the Lord’s day, as a day of rest. The entire Robinson clan internalizes this philosophy to the extent that any rest must be conditioned on their father’s approval.
The Importance of Faith in Survival
When the Robinsons reach landfall from the wreckage of their ship, their first act is to give thanks to God. A deeply devout family, they rarely miss the opportunity to express gratitude to their creator for their good fortune. Yet it is arguable that their own extraordinary resourcefulness keeps them safe and secure, not God. The adage “God helps those who help themselves” holds true in this case. While the Robinsons somehow possess enough knowledge to build their own colony, tame wild beasts, and identify nearly every species of plant life they encounter, they still believe their survival rests in the hands of God. Perhaps faith and knowledge work in conjunction, each attribute supplementing the other. Perhaps without both parts of the equation, the family would not have survived and prospered.
The idea of faith as instrumental in physical well-being has long been considered but only recently taken seriously by mainstream Western medicine. According to the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, medical schools increasingly incorporate spirituality and its connection to health in their curricula. (Koenig, Harold, Elizabeth G. Hooten, Erin Lindsay-Calkins, and Keith G. Meador. “Spirituality in Medical Curricula: Findings From a National Survey.” The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 40(4), 2010.) Some research even suggests that patients with religious or spiritual beliefs enjoy higher survival rates from life-threatening disease.
It may also be true that religion creates a sense of community, and that community creates support networks that make survival and prosperity more likely. Certainly, the Robinsons rely on each other for both physical and emotional support, and the act of prayer is a communal one that reinforces that trust and interdependence.
Colonialism as a God-Given Right
It’s no coincidence that The Swiss Family Robinson occurs during a time of booming European colonialism, or that the colonizers—the Robinsons—hold deeply religious views. Colonization in the 16th century often carried with it a spiritual motivation. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “The Spanish conquistadores and colonists explicitly justified their activities in the Americas in terms of a religious mission to bring Christianity to the native peoples” (“Colonialism.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 9 May 2006.) Claiming their motivation was divinely inspired gave colonial powers the justification to do whatever they wanted in the name of God. Although the island is uninhabited by other humans, the Robinsons treat its resources like a buffet, taking as much as they want whenever they want. They capture wild animals and ride them for sport. They slaughter the wildlife with impunity—often for more than just food or pelts—as if the island’s bounty was laid before them for the taking. Ironically, Robinson lectures his sons about the efficient use of resources but rarely chastises them for shooting first and asking questions later.
This colonial impulse reaches beyond the killing and taming of animals. They claim the entire island for their own, christening it “New Switzerland,” as if their mere presence makes it so. While the name may seem a quaint notion—particularly given that no other people live there—it suggests a sense of entitlement and that any piece of land is theirs to claim by natural right as long as no prior occupants exist to contest that claim. This imperialistic impulse becomes literal when they seek protection of “their” island under the British crown. If granted, the Robinsons have the entire military weight of the British Empire safeguarding “New Switzerland.” Ten years of isolation may substantiate their claim to the island, but the Robinsons never ponder their moral or legal right to that claim. They build their settlements and call the island “home” without ever considering the ramifications.
