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61 pages 2 hours read

Johann David Wyss

The Swiss Family Robinson

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1812

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Chapters 18-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 18 Summary: “Repairs and Fortifications”

While Robinson, Elizabeth, and Ernest repair the winter storm damage and build a sugar mill, the other boys set out to collect more bamboo and clay. Jack brings the pigeons along to carry messages back and forth. En route, the boys encounter a large hyena which killed two sheep and a ram. The mastiffs and some gunfire finish it off. After skinning the hyena, the boys continue on to a swampy area where they mark the shallowest spots for crossing. Next on the itinerary is Prospect Hill, where they discover that their old nemeses, the monkeys and apes, ravaged the storage house. After cleaning up the mess, they set out poison traps. The poison works a bit too well, however. That night, the boys are unsettled by the screaming of the poisoned monkeys which is echoed by cries of nearly every other creature in the vicinity. The next morning, they discover “dozens of monkeys and baboons, all dead, with their bodies and faces contorted in pain” (279). For the first time, the boys feel some semblance of regret.

That evening, the boys send a note to their father calling for help. A large animal broke through the gap in the cliff face and destroyed everything they built there. Surveying the footprints and the damage, Robinson concludes that only a herd of elephants could be responsible. They spend a month fortifying the barricade and repairing the other damage, during which time Fritz takes the kayak upstream. He spots flocks of tropical birds, jaguars, and hippos, as well as the elephants responsible for the damage. Returning to Rockburg, they spend two months constructing a watchtower and outfitting it with a cannon and flagpole. After nearly two years on the island, the Robinsons finally decide to keep watch for passing vessels.

Chapter 19 Summary: “Independence”

Ten years pass, and Robinson takes stock of the island’s evolution “under our management” (287). The family flourishes in their seasonal homes, crops and animals provide plenty of food, and they divert water to the swamp, transforming it into a lake capable of sustaining flocks of colorful waterfowl. The boys, now young men, are increasingly independent. One day, Fritz goes on a kayak expedition, exploring even further along the coast. He finds a hidden bay surrounded by groves of cedar trees and, washed up on the beach, a small chest of pearls. He christens the area Pearl Bay. Upon returning, he privately tells his father that he found an albatross with a rag tied around its leg and the words “Save an unfortunate Englishwoman from the smoking rock!” (293) inscribed on it. Fritz and his father discuss a possible course of action. Fritz suggests a search-and-rescue mission which they agree to keep secret from the others.

The family establishes a fishery at Pearl Bay, the perfect spot for Fritz to embark on his rescue mission. In preparation for his still-secret departure, Robinson pronounces his oldest son independent and free to go where he chooses without parental consent. While they establish their fishery, Fritz modifies his kayak with a second seat. The Robinsons spend several days hunting, gathering pearls, and completing the fishery. On their final day, Ernest and Jack explore the woods beyond the bay. From the beach, Robinson and Fritz hear shouts and gunshots coming from the woods. The two boys emerge, Ernest supporting Jack who is injured by a wild boar. Fortunately, Jack has only bruises to show for his encounter. Robinson treats the injuries, and they all settle in for the night aboard the pinnace.

The following day, they skin and butcher the boar. That evening, as they prepare to board the pinnace, a shrill cry echoes through the woods. Fritz takes command of the situation, setting out in his kayak to seek the source of the wail, as Robinson reflects on the self-assured man his eldest son has become. As Robinson, Ernest, and Jack keep watch from the pinnace, a lion emerges from the trees. Lingering on the beach, the lion eyes the boar meat. While the Robinsons wait for it to make the next move, Fritz delivers a killing shot through the lion’s heart. Before they can approach the dead lion, its mate charges out of the woods, howling with “grief, rage, and revenge all in one” (302). Several gunshots and a knife through heart finally dispatch the lioness, but not before she kills one of the dogs. The next day, Robinson, Ernest, and Jack sail for home in the pinnace while Fritz sets off in the kayak on his rescue mission.

Chapter 20 Summary: “Miss Montrose”

Five days later, Fritz has not returned, and the family decides to search for him. As they approach Pearl Bay, they encounter a cachalot whale swimming dangerously close to the boat. They fire their cannons, and the whale dies in the shallows. Moments later, they spot a distant figure on the beach. Unable to identify him, they wait until he rows out to meet them. It is Fritz, and he has found the lost survivor. Leading his family to a hut in the jungle, he introduces them to “Edward” Montrose, a women wearing a man’s naval uniform which doesn’t fool the family. Elizabeth makes dinner, and, afterward Fritz recounts his story.

After sailing along the coast for several days, he moors the kayak in a cove and roasts a parrot for breakfast. Hearing a rustling in the grass behind him, he turns to face a tiger. His gun is out of reach, but Pounce, his eagle, attacks the tiger, distracting it while Fritz grabs his gun and shoots it. Pounce is killed in the process. After burying his beloved eagle, he continues his search. Sailing into a bay, he spies smoke rising from the tip of a peninsula. There, he discovers Jenny Montrose, herself a survivor of a shipwreck three years prior. She gives Fritz a tour of her treehouse and camp and tells Fritz her backstory.

Montrose, whose mother died when she was three, is raised by her father, a British colonel who teaches her wilderness survival skills. Sailing from Calcutta to England, her ship sinks in stormy weather. Aboard a lifeboat for many days, Jenny and other passengers finally spy land. The lifeboat, however, capsizes before they reach shore, and Montrose is the only survivor. Fritz relates her tale to his family, and they all retreat to the pinnace for the night. The next day, before returning home, they butcher the dead cachalot whale for oil.

The Robinsons and Montrose sail back to Rockburg the following morning. Montrose is impressed by the Robinsons’ accommodations, and they all feast on a sumptuous midday meal on the front porch of their cavern dwelling. The next day, they all ride to Falconhurst for some long-delayed repairs. They finish the repairs and gather stores for winter just as the seasonal rains begin. 

Chapter 21 Summary: “Partings”

Another winter passes. One day, Ernest and Jack test the cannon on the watchtower. To their shock, they hear cannon fire in response. Unsure if it’s a friendly vessel, the family hunkers down in Rockburg until they are sure it’s safe. After three days of stormy weather, they fire another cannon shot; again, they hear cannons in response. Robinson and Fritz paddle out in the kayak to investigate, and they discover a British naval vessel anchored offshore. They return to camp to make “pinnace and people presentable” (327) for meeting the Royal Navy crew. The following day, they sail the pinnace past the “Pug-nosed Cape” and pull alongside the HMS Unicorn where they meet Captain Littlestone. The Unicorn, they learn, is on a mission to find Montrose.

That evening, Robinson and Elizabeth decide to remain on the island rather than return to Switzerland. A few of the passengers, along with Ernest and Jack, decide to stay also. Fritz chooses to return to Europe with Montrose. Franz, who wants to pursue his education, will return too. Captain Littlestone accepts his three new passengers and claims the island as a British protectorate. On the eve of his sons’ departure, Robinson entrusts his journals to Fritz, hoping to see them published so other families can see “what blessings can come to those who are resourceful, who persevere, and who are kind” (338).

Chapters 18-21 Analysis

The final chapters provide a few key insights and plot developments. For most of the novel, Robinson and his boys kill the native wildlife with little emotional consequence, except glee or sober determination. When Fritz, Jack, and Franz poison dozens of apes and monkeys merely as punishment for doing what wild animals naturally do, they feel something close to regret, one of the few times the act of killing carries any moral weight. At rare moments, Wyss endows his characters with a profound emotional response, something readers of contemporary fiction take for granted, and the baboon poisoning incident is one of those times.

In literary terms, it takes the novel out of the realm of dogmatism as it presents three-dimensional human beings. For a reader to relate to the characters, they must empathize with them on some level, but when the characters behave in a callous or emotionally disconnected manner, empathy becomes difficult. For much of the narrative, Robinson and his family treat the natural world as their own personal laboratory, exhibiting the qualities of cold-blooded hunters seeking only the next meal. They become, in effect, less human and more savage, all while adorning their environment with the accoutrements of civilization.

After spending the majority of the novel on the Robinson’s first two years on the island, Wyss suddenly flashes forward ten years in the final chapters. The sudden passage of so many years gives the story something it has heretofore lacked: sentiment. Ten years older, Robinson is allowed to reflect on his sons’ maturation as well as his own mortality. These moments give the dispassionate patriarch welcome shades of vulnerability. For so much of the novel, Wyss portrays his narrator as virtually infallible, knowledgeable about every subject imaginable, and blessed with the most compliant, virtuous children on the planet. Such a flawless character is not realistically human, but when Robinson watches his growing sons with a mix of pride and sadness, he becomes more like every other flesh-and-blood father who watches his children grow and become independent. When he hopes his legacy to his children will be to have raised them well, he voices the sentiments of parents everywhere. In these moments, The Swiss Family Robinson transcends the local reality of the story and touches on the universal.

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