The Island

So I have been reading The Swiss Family Robinson lately, having read more girly books as a child (the cult of Louisa May and Frances Hodgson). I have to say it is the most bizarre story full of fanciful concepts and unlikely happenings and descriptions. On every page numerous animals from every continent are discovered, and then summarily disposed of by a young boy with a bullet from his fowling piece; unless said animal appears to be of use beyond its hide, in which case it is generally only wounded initially so it can be healed and tamed into pethood.

The father of the family has immense stores of knowledge, from the Latin names and general habits of nearly every animal, to in-depth botanical information, how to build a loom, a spinning wheel, buildings, boats, fashion utensils from various plant materials, make and use a lathe, work iron, build rockets, and harness nuclear energy. Okay, maybe not the last few, but then again I haven't finished the book; they could yet build a rocket and colonize the moon. It makes me want to write a book about the life of Mr. Robinson before the shipwreck that explains how he has come by this vast store of knowledge. Another convenient narrative device is that anything unusual they have in their possession can have been taken from the wreck. Many things may be accounted for in this way regardless of whether they were mentioned during the move off the ship. One can only wonder how cannons were brought to land in a tiny ship made of barrels, or perhaps they floated to shore after the explosion. Hmmm.

I must share a favorite description from the book. The menfolk have struck out to explore their land after breakfast one morning. Their island land. "In proportion as we advanced, the country became more arid and barren, until at last their seemed nought before us but a never-ending desert, whose monotonous stretch was unrelieved by even a withered shrub or tuft of scorched grass.... At last, however, after a slow march of two hours' duration we reached a hill, the top of which was crowned with olive tree, and the sides clothed with clustering shrubs." Perhaps it is just me, but this is the most incredibly ludicrous description I have ever read. My true love believes that to walk as far as one could see in the distance would take a day, and this family walked to a completely new ecosystem in a matter of hours, ending up atop a hill they didn't see before. Wow. The key word in the lines above must be "seemed" because it surely could not be an accurate description.

None of this is to imply that the book is not enjoyable. I am finding it very amusing indeed. And of course I realize it is fiction. Who wouldn't realize this. We think the book might be a sort of a test to see how credulous or ignorant young children are. If they go along without remarking on the strange assemblage of flora and fauna it may be that they think it must be possible, since it is in a book. Children with a little more knowledge about the world could not help but cry out when a kangaroo hops up to the cornfield, or a walrus swims up to shore where jackals are resting next to the rubber tree standing in the cotton.

Enough said. You'll just have to read it yourself.