16 h 18 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Can a London pickpocket rise in the world without leaving his conscience behind?
In Daniel Defoe’s Colonel Jack, a pickpocket’s life opens onto a wider world of adventure. Jack rises from the London streets to become a planter, soldier, and gentleman. Yet his changing place in society is only part of this tale of crime, conscience, and redemption.
First published in 1722, this classic picaresque tale follows Jack through sharply different walks of life. His rise brings a question into focus: what does it mean to become a gentleman? The pull lies in the distance between a criminal past, a new position, and the claims of conscience.
What you’ll discover
- A pickpocket’s beginnings Enter a story rooted in London’s streets, where Jack’s long rise begins.
- A life of adventure Follow Jack from pickpocket to planter, soldier, and gentleman across a changing life.
- Crime and conscience Explore the tension between getting ahead and facing the moral weight of crime.
- The meaning of gentility Consider what separates the standing of a gentleman from the demands of conscience.
- The hope of redemption Read a tale that places redemption alongside the restless movement of adventure.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like street-level tales of old London, clever rogues, sea chases, money matters and a narrator who looks back on his own mistakes with a frank and curious eye.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Three boys called Jack grow up in ashes
- A pickpocket's apprentice learns the trade
- Money brings fear, not comfort
- Bolder thefts and a hard turn toward violence
- Close calls, repayment and a dangerous journey north
- Kidnapped to Virginia and made a servant
- Kindness teaches a planter how to manage
- A tutor, repentance and a restless gentleman abroad
- What the story is really about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Colonel JacqueA poor London boy told he was born a gentleman, who longs to live honestly yet drifts through crime, war and trade.
- Captain JacqueHis sullen, born-thief foster brother, who steals everything in reach and drags the Colonel into trouble.
- Major JacqueThe merry, brave third brother, who first brings home pickpocket money and later follows the thief's road.
- WillA skilled pickpocket who trains the Colonel, then leads a violent gang with promises of living like gentlemen.
- The planter masterA kind Virginia planter who frees the Colonel, sets him up with land and backs his gentler ways.
- The tutorA transported scholar who teaches the Colonel Latin and moves him toward repentance.
- MouchatAn enslaved man who is spared a flogging and vows loyalty to the Colonel in return.
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Colonel Jack in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Colonel Jack
by Daniel Defoe · 1722
A ragged boy who sleeps in glasshouse ashes finds gold in his hands and cannot sleep for fear of losing it.
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In short
What would you do with a pocketful of gold if you had slept in warm ashes all your life and owned nothing? Daniel Defoe's Colonel Jack begins with a ragged London boy who finds out that money brings fear instead of ease.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Three boys called Jack grow up in ashes
The story opens with a nurse near Goodman's Fields who raises her own son and two boys entrusted to her, all named John. Since every John in that neighborhood is called Jacque, the boys become Captain, Major and Colonel Jacque. The narrator is the Colonel, and his nurse has told him he was born a gentleman.
When the nurse dies, the boys are turned loose at about ten years old. They sleep in the warm ash pits of the glasshouses in Rosemary Lane and live on errands and charity. Captain is sullen and cruel, Major is merry and brave, and the Colonel is polite, quick to learn and fond of talking with old sailors and soldiers.
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What is Colonel Jack about?
It follows a London street boy who becomes a pickpocket, soldier, kidnapped servant, Virginia planter and merchant. Throughout, he longs to be a gentleman and slowly learns that honesty, not birth, is what counts.
Why is he called Colonel Jack?
His nurse had three boys named John, all called Jacque. To quiet his wish to outrank her own son, Captain, she tells him he will be a colonel, and the nickname sticks for life.
Is Colonel Jack a true story?
It is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722, told as a memoir. The author's preface says it does not matter whether it is history or parable, since both teach the same lessons.
The author
Daniel Defoe
1660–1731 · English novelist and journalist
Daniel Defoe was an English trader, writer, and journalist. He was born in London in 1660 and died there in 1731. He wrote Robinson Crusoe and The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe in 1719. Moll Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year, and Colonel Jack appeared in 1722.
More by Daniel Defoe
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