Characters
- The Father - He is the narrator of the story and leads the family. He knows a great deal of information on everything from roots to hunting, demonstrating bravery and self-reliance.
- Elizabeth - The mother. She is intelligent and resourceful, arming herself even before leaving the ship with a "magic bag" filled with supplies, including sewing materials and seeds for food crops. She is also a remarkably versatile cook, taking on anything from porcupine soup to roast penguin.
- Fritz - The oldest of the four boys, he is sixteen. Though he is not the most intelligent, he is the strongest and accompanies his father on many quests.
- Ernest - The second oldest of the boys, he is fourteen. Ernest is intelligent, but a less physically active boy, often described by his father as "indolent". Like Fritz, however, he comes to be an excellent shot.
- Jack - The third oldest of the boys, eight years old. He is thoughtless, bold, vivacious, and the quickest of the group.
- Franz (sometimes rendered as Francis) - The youngest of the boys, he is nearly six when the story opens. He usually stays home with his mother.
- Jenny Montrose - An English girl found on Smoking Rock near the end of the novel. She is shy but soon is adopted into the family.
- Knips - An orphan monkey adopted by the family after their dogs have killed its mother. The family use him as a test subject for unfamiliar foods.
- Fangs - A jackal that was tamed by the family.
Read more about this topic: The Swiss Family Robinson
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth, that are written down old with all the characters of age?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Animals are stylized characters in a kind of old saga—stylized because even the most acute of them have little leeway as they play out their parts.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)