Key Facts

full title ·  Kidnapped

author · Robert Louis Stevenson

type of work · Novel

genre · Adventure

language · English (Scots)

time and place written · Scotland, U.K.

date of first publication · 1886

publisher · Cassell

narrator · David Balfour (1st person narration)

climax · The climax occurs when the friendship between David and Alan reaches its greatest point of crisis, and is resolved by David's near-death fainting spell.

protagonist(s) · David Balfour

antagonist · Ebenezer Balfour

setting (time) · 1751

setting (place) · Scotland

point of view · First person narration

falling action · David tricks his uncle Ebenezer, defeating him, and finally comes into his inheritance.

tense · Immediate past; that is, real-time narration

foreshadowing · None

tone ·  Kidnapped is primarily an adventure novel. It maintains a breathless pace, full of movement and action, as David and Alan flee across Scotland.

themes · Loyalty and friendship; honor; diversity of ethics

motifs · Jacobites vs. Whigs; Highland life vs. Lowland life; inheritance; fleeing

symbols · Alan's silver button; the ship Covenant; Alan's illness after the visit with Cluny Macpherson