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.
Chapters 9-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “A Growing Menagerie”
Robinson and Fritz explore the cliffs that flank their camp on one side, searching for “a passage through this barrier” (127). The cliffs cut them off from the rest of the island, and Robinson is eager to discover what lies beyond. Their expedition reveals a grove of rubber trees—about which Robinson says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have rubber boots and shoes?” (129)—as well as a cluster of beetle larvae which they roast and eat with a side of potatoes. The next morning, they make candles from a type of small, waxy berry, and, for the first time, the family enjoys light after sundown.
The Robinsons spend the next six weeks fortifying their cache of supplies at the beach, planting hedges and thorny bushes around it, and mounting two cannons on the hill overlooking the stream. In desperate need of new clothes, Robinson, Fritz, Ernest, and Jack make a final trip to the wrecked ship, stripping it of every last useful item, including the crews’ clothing. With all they can carry loaded on the pinnace, they set a charge and blow up the ship.
The following day, the entire family sets out to explore the territory along the cliffs. Their mission is to tap the rubber trees and gather bamboo and coconuts. That evening during dinner, the donkey bolts into the jungle. The next morning, Robinson and Jack resolve to find it and return it to camp. They track the donkey’s hoofprints to a wide plain bordered by a bamboo marsh. They discover a herd of buffalo, but the dogs charge into the herd, causing a stampede. Robinson shoots the lead buffalo, and the rest flee in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, they subdue a buffalo calf with a bola and a strong cord looped through its nose. On the way back to camp, the dogs kill a jackal, and Jack discovers its young pup, which he adopts. Back at camp, Fritz finds a young eaglet. He adds it to their growing menagerie. As they prepare to return to Falconhurst, they find that their sow gave birth to “a promising litter of piglets” (144).
Chapter 10 Summary: “Changing Seasons”
Weary from climbing the rope ladder, Robinson decides to build a spiral staircase inside the hollow trunk of their mangrove tree. First, however, they must deal with the tree’s current occupants: a swarm of bees. Robinson blows smoke into the trunk to sedate the bees and then transplants them to their new home, a hollowed-out gourd. They salvage the honey for eating and the beeswax for making candles.
A month of hard labor yields a functional staircase, complete with a handrail and a door providing a secure entrance. Meanwhile, the menagerie grows; many of the animals have litters, the buffalo calf replaces the donkey as a pack animal, and Fritz trains the eaglet to hunt and respond to voice commands. Robinson’s next project is to channel fresh water from the stream to Falconhurst using a system of bamboo pipes.
One morning, the family hears an alarming braying sound. Upon Investigating, they find their donkey returned and brought home a mate, a species of wild donkey known as an onager. Unable to calm the wild beast, Robinson resorts to an “American Indian” strategy: he leaps on the onager’s back and bites its ear. The donkey is suddenly calm and agreeable to bearing riders.
In anticipation of colder weather, the Robinsons build shelter for the animals and a pantry to store food. They also discover a marsh of flax reeds, the fibers of which can be used to make clothing. Robinson’s exhaustive botanical knowledge extends to “retting” the reeds, soaking and drying them to separate the usable fibers from the rest. As the rainy season arrives, the treehouse becomes unlivable, so the Robinson’s relocate to the stables below, sharing quarters with the animals.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Our Estates”
Finally, the rainy season passes. With the arrival of spring, the Robinsons find only minor damage to the treehouse, but much of their cache of supplies back at the beach is ruined. After repairing the treehouse, they resolve to find a more secure place to store their supplies for the next rainy season. They spend the next several days hollowing a cave out of the cliff face. On the tenth day, they dig their way into a vast cavern. After venting the trapped toxic air, they create an opening large enough through which to enter. Exploring the cavern, they discover a “glittering, crystal grotto” (165) filled with an endless supply of rock salt. The cavern, they decide, will serve as their winter home while the treehouse will be for the warm seasons. After hanging doors and windows and concealing the entrance, they christen their new home “Rock House.”
The advantages of a beachside dwelling become apparent as schools of herring flood the shallows, turtles lay eggs in the sand, and seals crowd the beach, their fat useful for making soap and lamp oil. They catch salmon and sturgeon, smoking and salting some of the fish and preserving the rest in oil. As their vegetable garden flourishes, the Robinsons decide to create a separate “pasture farm” for grazing the animals.
While building a farmhouse at the new grazing pasture, Robinson and Ernest explore the surrounding area and come upon clusters of fresh strawberry plants and a lake bordering a rice paddy. The diverse bounty of the island continues to provide. On the way back, they build yet another residence atop a hill providing “a fine view all around” (175). They name this new dwelling “Prospect Hill.” They also discover a grove of birch trees. Peeling off a large swath of bark, they fashion a canoe. Their return trip along the cliffs reveals a gap through which animals from the unexplored inland can enter. Their final task before returning to Falconhurst is to dam up the gap with mud and thorny bushes to prevent access from unwanted predators.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Anniversary”
On the one-year anniversary of their landing on the island, Robinson plans a Thanksgiving festival. With the Rock House partitioned and furnished, and the family wants to celebrate “in honor of God’s mercy” (180). Rather than a day of rest, Robinson devises a series of athletic contests for his sons who enthusiastically agree to test their skills against one another. Marksmanship, archery, tree-climbing, and a foot race are all on the agenda. They end the day’s festivities with prizes for the winners of the various contests.
A year of living on the island has given the Robinsons valuable experience. They are familiar with the wildlife and when and where to find it. In an effort to get an early start on preserving food for winter, they collect gourds and rubber to make “birdlime,” a substance used to trap large birds. While fetching the rubber, Jack and Fritz report that monkeys invaded and tore apart “Woodlands,” the farmhouse they built at the grazing pasture. Later that evening, Robinson reflects on his sons’ maturity and resourcefulness.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Unpleasant Tasks”
Determined to dissuade the monkeys from looting their food stores, Robinson, Fritz, Ernest, and Jack return to Woodlands and build a trap, coating everything in sight with the sticky birdlime. The next morning, most of the invading monkeys are caught in the elaborate snare. Robinson and his sons finish off the trapped monkeys with clubs. At the end of the massacre, “at least forty apes lay mangled and dead” (193). They bury the dead monkeys and clean up Woodlands. Before heading back, they find three exotic, tropical pigeons caught in the birdlime. They bring them back to Rock House and carve a small pigeon coop into the side of the cliff. Within a few days, the birds bring back several more similar species with which to share their new quarters.
Later, Jack wanders off alone in hopes of surprising the family with more sugar cane, but he becomes mired in the swamp. No one hears his cries for help, so he bundles the canes into a floatation device and hauls himself out of the mud. Robinson uses the canes to build a weaving loom for Elizabeth.
Long-term projects include building an aqueduct to carry fresh water to Rock House and harvesting crops from their garden to store before the onset of summer monsoons. They also devote time to making the cavern more hospitable. They install a library and a workshop while improving the kitchen and the sitting room. With numerous educational books in the library, each member of the family seeks to learn or improve their language skills in French, English, Dutch, and Latin. With the addition of proper furniture salvaged from the ship, Rock House is renamed “Rockburg.”
After the rainy season passes, Robinson and the boys set out on the pinnace to investigate a large object that washed ashore. Upon their discovery that the object is a whale carcass, the entire family returns to scavenge the body for meat, skin, oil, and innards.
Chapters 9-13 Analysis
Further exploration of the island reveals a bounty of resources: rubber, flax, and beeswax, as well as an ever-greater diversity of animals including buffalo, jackals, and an onager which the family happily tames. The entire island, flourishing with life, seems to exist solely for the Robinsons to conquer and utilize. Given the spirit of colonization at the time, it makes sense that the family would view this tropical paradise as bounty provided by God for them to use as they see fit. The manner in which the Robinsons use—some might say “exploit”—the land suggests a paradox in the 18th century European view of nature. On one hand, Robinson lectures his sons on the sustainable use of resources; they use every part of the animals they kill, including the meat, bones, and hide. On the other hand, they tend to kill without reservation, which is reflected in their slaughter of over forty monkeys. Perhaps Wyss’s audience would not blink an eye at the wanton killing, but contemporary readers are more sensitive to the natural rights of all living things, and this sensitivity creates a cognitive dissonance between readers’ logical acknowledgement that the Robinsons must kill to survive and readers’ emotional unease with the enthusiasm with which the characters do it.
While the island provides plenty of resources, it still doesn’t present any real danger. Moreover, the Robinsons never exhibit much interest in their rescue, making the narrative tension almost nonexistent. They never light a signal fire, and they relocate inland, away from the beach where they are most likely to spot a passing ship. They have a telescope but never use it to scan the horizon for other vessels. The subject of rescue is never even broached. They are resigned to their fate from Day One, focusing their efforts instead on hunting and homesteading. They spend so much time trying to recreate a “civilized” environment, their lifestyle begins to resemble that of a family on vacation. Unconstrained by 20th century literary conventions, Wyss makes The Swiss Family Robinson read more like a travelogue than a novel with familiar structural devices like plot, tension, and character development.
