Daniel Defoe's Children Summary

In Poor Monkey: the child in literature (1957), Peter Coveney states that “until the last decades of the eighteenth century the child did not exist as an important and continuous theme in English literature ,” echoing a view held by many commentators who typically maintain that serious portrayals of children in literature followed after the emergence of Rousseau and Romanticism. However, there are many who dissent from the view. One of whom is Peter Jochum, who in his article Defoe’s Children, argues that Daniel Defoe–writing in the early 1700’s–gave significant roles to children throughout many of his novels; an insight he believes to have also been largely neglected in Defoe studies. In his article he focuses his attention on the significant

He first discusses the character of Moll Flanders, who, despite her moral upbringing, succumbs to temptation and indulgence when she realises the powers of her physical allure–first becoming a prostitute and then a thief. She bears twelve children to six different men, to whom she eschews any responsibilities as a parent. In this way, Jochum believes that Moll is the antithesis to the character of Tommy, and more like his familial counterparts, used to demonstrate the consequences of ignoring the doctrines of The Family Instructor. Next, he dissects Colonel Jack of which he believes to be Defoe’s most significant treatment of children. In Colonel Jack, three children, all of whom are named Jack, take to the London streets after absconding from their home following the death of their caregiver. While the boys subsist on the ____ of petty criminals, Jochum notes that the middle child, Colonel Jack, comes the closest out of Defoe’s fictive children to __________ ideal ______ of Tommy. While Colonel tacitly accept the stolen goods of others, he refrains from stealing from the shopkeepers who hire him for “little duties”(162), and he performs them reliably and honestly. Further, when Colonel finds himself with a bank note far too large to cash without drawing suspicion, he conspires to return the note to the victim, whom he genuinely pities. However, Colonel does not share the untainted moral goodness of Tommy, as noted, the boys actively partake in crime and thievery, Colonel making his trade as an apprentice pickpocket. In this way, Jochum sees Colonel Jack as Defoe’s attempt to reconcile the educational ______ of The Family Instructor, with the harsh economic realities of his time. Lastly, Jochum examines the character of Roxana in Roxana (1724). He grants that Roxana’s childhood is much less developed than Moll or Colonel (in fact he admits that “next to nothing” (164) is told