The Swiss Family Robinson

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Map the Family’s Accomplishments”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the motif of the characters’ resourcefulness and determination by creating an island map marking their achievements.

One of the novel’s most important thematic motifs is the value of hard work. Through hard work, the family is able to accomplish some remarkable things. In your opinion, which of their accomplishments best demonstrate the family’s resourcefulness and determination? In this activity, you will create a map of the island, noting on the map the locations of the five most important accomplishments resulting from the family’s hard work.

Choose Five Accomplishments

• Review the text to decide which five accomplishments most clearly demonstrate how the family’s resourcefulness and determination produce remarkable results.
• Look for clues about where each event takes place on the island and how the overall island is set up.

Create Your Map

• Create a map that accurately reflects details given in the novel about the island.
• Label where your five chosen events take place.

Share

Present your work to your small group. After you have seen everyone else’s work, write a two-paragraph reflection that answers the following questions:

• What differences or similarities were there in the achievements that others in your group chose to highlight on their maps?
• Now that you have seen your peers’ work, is there anything you would change about your own map? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can be accomplished quickly, with students creating rough, hand-drawn maps, or you can ask for more detailed and careful work if time permits. As with the previous map-making activity, you might ask students to use an online platform to create their images if you wish them to practice creating audience-ready graphics. Some students will be very focused on the visual part of the activity and rush through answering the reflection questions at the end—but because these questions are an important way to gauge their understanding of the text, you might caution them that these answers are as important as the map-making part of the activity.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with visual conditions may not be able to complete this activity as written. A reasonable alternative would be to describe the five most important accomplishments in a few sentences each. Students who struggle with reading fluency, organization, or attention may have difficulty sorting through large amounts of text to evaluate which accomplishments are most important to include and may struggle to recall where important plot events take place relative to one another in physical space. These students may benefit from a whole-class or small-group discussion prior to beginning work on the activity, or you may wish to allow them to work with partners.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The family in The Swiss Family Robinson is shipwrecked while they are on their way to join an Australian colony in New Guinea.

• What does the characterization of the family demonstrate about the colonial mentality? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the story that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how elements of the novel can be seen as a defense of Colonialism as a God-Given Right.

2. The novel contains many descriptions of animals, plants, and the island landscape.

• How does Wyss use descriptive detail and imagery to create a compelling setting? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the story that support your claims.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how the compelling setting supports the novel’s thematic interest in The Lure of the Wild.

3. The family’s desire to assign names to the landmarks, objects, and animals they encounter functions as an allusion to Adam naming the animals in the Bible.

• What is the purpose of this allusion? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from the story that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on how this allusion supports the thematic motifs of The Religious Value of Hard Work and The Importance of Faith in Survival.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. How well-developed a character is Elizabeth? Is she an independent, interesting character who makes important things happen? How does her role in the story reflect the role of middle-class Swiss women of her time? What about Jenny? What does it mean that Jenny is dressed as a man when Fritz first encounters her? Why does he tell her story instead of her telling it herself? What is her role in this story?

Write an essay analyzing the role of women in The Swiss Family Robinson. Comment on which of the story’s thematic motifs (The Lure of the Wild, The Religious Value of Hard Work, The Importance of Faith in Survival, and Colonialism as a God-Given Right) the female characters are there to support. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the story, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Consider how modern stories are generally evaluated: Critics focus on things like plot structure, tension, suspense, conflict, and character development as they decide how well-written a story is. Based on modern standards, would you say that The Swiss Family Robinson is well-written? Why is the book still so popular?

Write an essay evaluating the novel’s quality according to modern ideas about good writing. Comment on how the value of one or more of the story’s thematic motifs (The Lure of the Wild, The Religious Value of Hard Work, The Importance of Faith in Survival, and Colonialism as a God-Given Right) may influence its continuing popularity. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the story, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. What does it mean that some family members choose to stay on the island and some choose to return to Europe? What is communicated by the choice some passengers from the ship make to settle on the island? What messages about the island, the family, and life itself are being communicated through plot, characterization, and language near the novel’s end?

Write an essay analyzing the significance of the novel’s ending. Comment on how this ending supports one or more of the story’s thematic motifs (The Lure of the Wild, The Religious Value of Hard Work, The Importance of Faith in Survival, and Colonialism as a God-Given Right). Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the story, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which best describes the family’s attitude toward animals?

A) Animals, as part of God’s creation, should be treated with great care and respect.

B) Animals are lesser beings and can ethically be exploited for the convenience of humans.

C) Animals are dangerous and should be hunted and subdued whenever possible.

D) Animals are equal to humans in every regard and it is wrong to kill or exploit them.

2. Which best describes the father’s attitude toward his wife, Elizabeth?

A) Condescending

B) Apathetic

C) Appreciative

D) Passionate

3. Which of the sons does the father trust with the most responsibility?

A) Fritz

B) Ernest

C) Franz

D) Jack

4. Which of the sons is the most interested in books and academics?

A) Jack

B) Fritz

C) Franz

D) Ernest

5. Which of the sons can best be described as competitive, daring, and mischievous?

A) Ernest

B) Franz

C) Jack

D) Fritz

6. Which of the sons does the father most often accuse of laziness?

A) Franz

B) Fritz

C) Jack

D) Ernest

7. Which is the most logical interpretation of what guns represent in this novel?

A) The responsibility of a father to protect his family

B) The dominance of humans over the nonhuman world

C) The belief that colonialism is the natural right of European peoples

D) The quality of life made possible by advanced technology

8. What does the father see as the greatest threat to the family’s morale and well-being?

A) Greed

B) Idleness

C) Envy

D) Despair

9. What factor does the family see as most responsible for their continued survival?

A) Their education

B) Their hard work

C) Their religious faith

D) Their love for one another

10. Which thematic motif is most clearly supported by the family’s naming of the island and their attitude toward its resources?

A) The moral correctness of colonialism

B) The importance of hard work

C) The importance of religious faith

D) The appeal of natural environments

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What might a modern reader find unrealistic about the father’s characterization?

2. What does Wyss seem to think is the ideal way a family should function?