Colonel Jack

Brief Overview

The novel «Colonel Jack» transports the reader to seventeenth-century England, where, against a backdrop of social upheaval and change, unfolds the fate of a boy abandoned to his own devices. Deprived of parental care, Jack is forced from an early age to survive on the streets of London, experiencing poverty, hunger, and the dangers of the criminal world. His journey is a series of trials: from petty theft and deception to exile in America, where he becomes a slave and then a free man. Through a succession of adventures, betrayals, losses, and unexpected rises, Jack searches for his place in the world, striving to attain dignity, honesty, and peace of mind. Fate leads him through wars, wealth and ruin, encounters with all sorts of people, and inner turmoil, until he finds a path to repentance and spiritual renewal. Defoe masterfully reveals to the reader the complex inner world of his hero, his struggle with circumstances and with himself, creating a vivid and multifaceted portrait of the era.