The Swiss Family Robinson

The Age of Enlightenment, a scientific and philosophical movement that swept Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries, presaged an age of intellectual development unseen since the Renaissance. European elites studied a variety of disciplines from natural science to philosophy to politics. The patriarch of the Robinson clan is certainly well-versed in many of these disciplines, but academic study isn’t enough evidently. Along with formal knowledge comes a more primal urge to escape the trappings of civilization and return to the natural world, to commune with it, to study it, and finally, to tame it.

The Robinsons are destined for an Australian colony when their ship encounters its fateful storm. The reasons for their relocation are never articulated, but the ease with which they adapt to their island surroundings suggests that perhaps the Robinsons are looking for refuge from their civilized world, and they approach the idyllic wilderness with a combination of religious awe and scientific curiosity. In many respects, the island is their own personal garden of Eden, and like Adam and Eve, they seek dominion over all they see. As devout a family as the Robinsons are, it’s likely that the Christian story of Creation is an indelible fixture in their minds; as God created man to rule the natural world, so should the Robinsons rule their own little corner of it.