The Swiss Family Robinson · Chapter
Change of Abode explained
The family bids farewell to their first shelter and embarks on a journey to a new home inland.
What happens
The family bids farewell to their first shelter and embarks on a journey to a new home inland. They load their animals with supplies, cross the bridge, and encounter a porcupine which Jack kills with a pistol. They discover fig trees, test the fruit with the monkey, and prepare a meal from the porcupine. The father begins making packing-needles from the porcupine quills and plans a ladder to inhabit a tall fig tree.
Themes in this chapter
Resourcefulness and Industry
The father makes packing-needles from porcupine quills and plans a ladder for the tree, demonstrating practical ingenuity.
Family and Paternal Authority
The father assembles the family, gives warnings about safety, and leads the migration, reinforcing his role as the head.
Characters to notice
- Father
Leads the family, makes decisions, and constructs packing-needles from porcupine quills.
- Mother
Insists on bringing the fowls and the enchanted bag, prepares the meal, and refuses to eat porcupine.
- Fritz
Shows jealousy after Jack kills the porcupine; helps carry skins to the stream.
- Jack
Kills the porcupine with a pistol, showing bravery and skill; later helps with skins.
- Ernest
Draws back timidly when the dogs bark at the porcupine.
- Francis
Rides the ass with the enchanted bag; offers a fig to the monkey.
Key passages
“I confess that for my own part I could not leave it without much regret; it was a place of greater safety than we were likely again to meet with; it was also nearer to the vessel: but it was sufficient for me to know that the kind and faithful companion of my misfortunes had conceived an unalterable distaste for it, to incline me to yield my own opinion and my wishes.”
The father admits he is sad to leave the safe, ship-adjacent camp, but defers to his wife's strong dislike of the place.
Highlights the father's deference to his wife's feelings and the theme of family unity.
“Jack determined on an attack, which succeeded marvellously well. He took one of the pistols which he carried in his belt, and aimed it so exactly at the head of the porcupine, that he fell dead the instant he fired, and before we had a notion of what he was about.”
Jack bravely and accurately shoots the porcupine dead with his pistol, surprising everyone.
Demonstrates Jack's courage and marksmanship, a key character moment.