Kidnapped / Catriona

Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel ‘Kidnapped' is a high adventure tale. It contains murder, suspense, and blackmail surrounding teenage protagonist David Balfour. Full of swordplay, intrigue, villainy, heroism, braggadocio, and narrow escapes at sea and on land. Themes include:

Friendship: David Balfour is a Protestant loyal to the English crown. Alan Breck Stewart is a Catholic opposed to the crown. Yet Balfour and Stewart become good friends. They refuse to allow their differences to come between them.

Dual Nature of Man
Alan Beck Stewart is a good man, but at times he exhibits less than exemplary behaviour. Ebenezer Balfour is a bad man, but at times he exhibits a guilty conscience and remorse. The division of Scotland into Highlands and Lowlands reflects this dichotomy in man. The lines blur, which is also explored, but the duality of the Scottish heritage was intriguing to Stevenson. David is looking for logical, straightforward ways of effecting an action yet he is often incapable of enacting them. He lacks creativity and romantic imagination. Alan, by contrast, knows that if he thinks about a problem for a long enough time, he will invent some way of solving it. He is inventive and enterprising, though impulsive and often irresponsible.

Coming of Age: Balfour undergoes many trials that test his character and moral fibre. By the end of the novel, having demonstrated courage and good judgement, he passes from boyhood into young manhood.

Loyalty: Stewart is loyal to his Jacobite cause, as well as his friends espousing the same cause, and they are loyal to him. David is loyal to his friend Stewart. David is also loyal to his inborn and instilled moral values.

Media:
. Kidnapped (1960) movie
. BBC Radio reading of the book
. I also read a Study Guide to help clarify some of the themes

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU.

Young David Balfour discovers after his father's death that his family has unexpected wealth and power. David ventures off to meet up with his father's only brother and finds a man who deceives him and sells him off into slavery, sending David off on a ship bound for America. On the ship, David meets lots more bad guys and there is a lot of shooting and fighting. He falls overboard, survives to live for a while on an isolated island, and then gets thrown into a Scottish struggle for power, with more shooting and scavenging.

I loved the action in this book. With books like these available, you can see why so many boys read books a hundred years ago.

I also loved all the new-to-me words in this book. I could write a whole post on all the new words I discovered while reading this book. Ay, faith, I ken Scotland be a braw place, no sae bad as ye would think, in this bonny tale of a man and a halfling boy, who werenae feared of being laid by the heels, hoot-toot, hoot-toot.