Bradley Gerritsma
Mrs. Roskamp
LA, 8B
19 October 2016
The Swiss Family Robinson
I have been reading The Swiss Family Robinson. This book is about a family that, while sailing to colonise a certain land, their ship was caught in a huge storm, and was blown near an island and thrust against some rocks. While the ship was lodged in the rocks, the crew abandoned them and left in lifeboats. After the storm had passed, the Robinson Family took as much stuff from the boat as possible, and brought it to the island. The family faced many trials and hardships, but with God’s help, and through working together they were able to survive and even thrive on the island. Using what God had given them, to make the best of their situation. Through reading The Swiss Family Robinson I have realized that with God’s help, you can make the best of even the worst situations by using what He has given you, and working together, and not giving up.
One conflict was that the Robinson family was stuck on an deserted Island and had no idea how they were going to get back to their home. Yet they used what God had given them to make the best of their situation. Shipwrecked on the rocks of an Island, abandoned by the crew, and in the middle of a raging storm, waiting from their ship to slip back into the ocean and sink. The Robinson Family had every reason to give up, but they did not. They prayed to God, waited out the storm, and brought as much stuff as possible off of their ship and on the the Island. They used what they had to make a huge tree house that they lived in to from the summer. For the winter they found and furnished a large salt cave, in which they waited out the rainy season. The Robinson family worked together and used what they had to survive and even thrive in a situation that would have led most to lose hope.
Another conflict that the Robinsons faced was that animals from beyond a dividing mountain rage were coming in through a pass in the mountains, destroying their fields and driving their animals off into the woods. Even though animals repeatedly raided their farms and wrecked their stuff the Robinson family worked together to stop the attacks from happening again. They trapped and shot some of the monkeys to try to keep them from coming again, but latter on the came back again and wrecked havoc on their farm. So they put bowls of poison in the branches of trees to teach them not to come to their farm. Yet again, another animal attack occurred, this time from elephants that had broken down their barricade that they had made to keep animals out. Yet they did not give up, they used what they had to build their barricade even stronger, so as to fortify their farm from animal attacks. With the help of God they came up with clever solutions to the conflicts that they faced, making the best of their situation.
Through reading The Swiss Family Robinson I have realized that with God’s help, you can make the best of even the worst situations by using what He has given you, and working together, and not giving up. I really enjoyed reading The Swiss Family Robinson because it was an interesting story, but there wasn’t violence or bad language like there is in some books. The worst violence in this book was the killing of some animals. Also, I thought it was cool how they worked together as a family and came up with clever solutions to their problems. I would highly recommend The Swiss Family Robinson to anyone who likes books about wilderness survival. This book is a great fit for those how like a good clean book.
