TREASURE ISLAND: A CLASSIC NOVEL

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

A Literary Analysis

Mindanao State University –General Santos City Campus

General Santos City

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English in Linguistics and Literature

Fiction –English 50

Submitted to Prof. Donna Alna C. Cortes, M.I.E

DARRYL IMPERIAL

NOVEMBER 2016
Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Biography of the Author 4

Background of the Novel 5

Character Description 10

Summary and Plot Structure 15

Setting 18

Analysis 24

Conclusion 29

References 30
Introduction

Treasure Island is a great classical adventure novel that several people should read is most

likely written for the recreational purposes of adolescents and those who were into adventures.

This novel is not just about a young boy who wanted to conquer the sea for the buried treasure.

Still, the emphasis of himself becoming a man through the challenges, fears, and triumphs that he

and his shipmates overcame in their terrifying yet fun-filled journey.

The great thing about this novel is that it establishes a skillful usage of the plot, setting, and

the characters' development throughout their journey to craft an enduring story of high suspense.

Each chapter in every part of the novel is carefully developed to sustain the way it is written but

also the dramatic tension of the narrative.

At the end of this paper, readers are expected to have recognized the essentiality of the

setting, which is highly symbolic for the development of the main character Jim Hawkins.
Biography of the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novel writer, was born on November 13, 1850, in

Edinburgh, Scotland.

Since Stevenson missed a lot of his younger days due to illnesses, he then a lot of his time

with his grandfather, who was a preacher, and shared stories and sermons with him, which had

shaped his love for literature.

He was about to become a lighthouse engineer to take their family business, but he realized

that he loved literature more than this. He entered law just to please his father. Though he was

trained to be a lawyer, he never practiced; instead, he devoted himself to writing.

He married an American, Fanny Osbourn, in 1880 that was ten years older than him and

eventually created their own family in South Seas.

Treasure Island was Stevenson's first written novel published in 1883 and is set in the wilds

of Scotland and stands as classic historical fiction.

He died at the age of 44 due to tuberculosis and was buried on December 4, 1894.
Background of the Novel

Treasure Island is considered a historical novel and later became an adventure novel. The

book was first published in 1883.

The book also has a poem entitled, To the Hesitating Purchaser. Some literary analysts

said that one of the main purposes of this poem; aside from encouraging adventure novel readers

to buy and be entertained, is to highlight the benefits of reading the piece –as to its ethical and

enthusiastic asset and enlighten them on what would be the flow of narrative as they would go

through a long process of reading it.

To the Hesitating Purchaser

If sailor tales to sailor tunes,

Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If schooners, islands, and maroons,
And buccaneers, and buried gold,
And all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of today:

-- So be it, and fall on! If not,

If studious youth no longer crave,
His ancient appetites forgot,
Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
Or Cooper of the wood and wave:
So be it, also! And may I
And all my pirates share the grave
Where these and their creations lie!
 Aside from that, there is also a map in the book itself that is said to be Stevenson's creation.

It shows Treasure Island and its neighboring hills, islets, and island.
 In his essays about Treasure Island, Stevenson said that the story is plotted based on the

detailed map he drew from his imagination. The inclusion of the map in the novel itself is necessary

and beneficial to the readers so that we can, from time to time, follow the voyage of the characters

in the ship.

It is a frame story wherein the story was first told in the point-of-view of Jim Hawkins; the

protagonist, and later on when he had seen Ben Gunn; the marooned shipmate, he shared his story

on what had happened to him, how he arrived and why is he still living in the Treasure Island to

the young lad.

The book has six parts, and there are thirty- four chapters.

Part One

The Old Buccaneer

1. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow

2. Black Dog Appears and Disappears
3. The Black Spot
4. The Sea-chest
5. The Last of the Blind Man
6. The Captain's Papers

Part Two

The Sea-cook

7. I Go to Bristol
8. At the Sign of the Spy-glass
9. Powder and Arms
10. The Voyage
11. What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
12. Council of War

Part Three

My Shore Adventure

13. How My Shore Adventure Began

 14. The First Blow
15. The Man of the Island

Part Four

The Stockade

16. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship Was Abandoned
17. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-boat's Last Trip
18. Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day's Fighting
19. Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade
20. Silver's Embassy
21. The Attack

Part Five

My Sea Adventure

22. How My Sea Adventure Began

23. The Ebb-tide Runs
24. The Cruise of the Coracle
25. I Strike the Jolly Roger
26. Israel Hands
27. "Pieces of Eight"

Part Six

Captain Silver

28. In the Enemy's Camp

29. The Black Spot Again
30. On Parole
31. The Treasure-hunt — Flint's Pointer
32. The Treasure-hunt — The Voice Among the Trees
33. The Fall of a Chieftain
34. And Last

There has been a lot of film, movie, and play adaptations of Treasure Island, including the

Walt Disney Studios' which was their first completely live-action film in 1950 starring Bobby

Driscol and Robert Newton. Last July 2011, Bristol Old Vic made an outdoor production of
Treasure Island outside the theatre on King Street Bristol directed by Sally Cookson, with music

by Benji Bower. A newer version was also produced by Bryony Lavery and directed by Polly

Findlay at Royal National Theater from December 2014 to April 2015. In this version of the play,

Jim is a girl.

Character Description

In the book Treasure Island, there are two prominent characters. First, Jim Hawkins is a

protagonist. He is the main character of the novel. He truly lets the story come alive. Then, Long

John Silver is an antagonist. He wanted the valuable treasure all for himself.

Major Characters

Jim Hawkins –He is the narrator of Treasure Island. He is an adventurous young lad and the son

of the owner of Admiral Benbow Inn.

Dr. Livesey – He is a Doctor who treats Jim's father as a magistrate and a gentleman.

A neat doctor with a bright and black eyes and has a pleasant manner. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

Squire Trelawney –He is a close associate of Dr. Livesey and the one who arranges for the ship

and the voyage to Treasure Island.

He is a tall man, over six feet high, and broad in proportion, and he had a bluff, rough-and-ready

face, all roughened and reddened and lined in his long travels. His eyebrows were very black, and

moved readily, and this gave him a look of some temper, not bad, but quick and high. –Excerpt:

Chapter 6.
Long John Silver –He was the one-legged sea cook Trelawney hires for the ship. He is different

from the other buccaneers; he is cheerful and pleasant with a great sense of humor.

I was sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and the under the left

shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it

like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham -plain and pale, but intelligent

and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling as he moved about among

the tables, with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the more favoured of his guests. -

Except: Chapter 8

Captain Smollet –He was the captain of Hispaniola. He is suspicious of the cruise, the men, and

his officer.

… A sharp - looking man, who seemed angry with everything on board. –Excerpt: Chapter 9

Ben Gunn –He is the only human inhabitant of Treasure Island. He was marooned by his fellow

pirates three years back.

His voice sounded like a hoarse and his skin was exposed and burned by the sun; even his lips

were black; and his fair eyes looked quite in a so dark face. Of all beggar-men that I had seen or

fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters of old ship's canvas and old

sea cloth; and this extraordinary patchwork was all held together by a system of the most various

and incongruous fastenings, brass buttons, bits of an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was

the one thing solid in his whole accoutrement. –Excerpt: Chapter 15

Minor Characters
Billy Bones – The sullen man, drunken loner pirate with a mysterious sea chest who came to

Admiral Benbow Inn, whom they call the captain. He always went to the cliffs and used his

telescope as if he was looking and waiting for someone who was a threat to him.

A tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his blue soiled

coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails; and the sabre cut across one cheek,

a dirty livid white. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and coarsely as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of

the man who sailed before the mast; but sailed like a mate or skipper, accustomed to be obeyed or

to strike. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

He is a silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs, with a brass

telescope; all evening he sat in the corner of the parlour next the fire, and drank rum and water

very strong. Mostly he would not speak when spoken to; only look up sudden and fierce, and blow

through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came about our house soon learned

to let him be. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

Black Dog –He went to the Benbow Inn to seek for Bill.

A pale, tallowy seafarer who surprises Bill at the inn, he is missing his two fingers on his left hand.

He wore a cutlass and did not look much like a fighter. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

Pew – He is a blind man with a frightening voice who is searching for Billy.

... A blind man tapping before him with a stick and wore a green shade over his eyes and nose;

and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a tattered sea cloak with a hood, that

made him appear positively deformed. –Excerpt: Chapter 1.

Mr. Arrow - He is the first mate of the Hispaniola. A brown-skinned drunkard squint with

earrings.

Mr. Arrow, a brown old sailor, with earrings in his ears and a squint. –Excerpt: Chapter 9

Mr. Arrow, first of all, turned out even worse than the captain had feared. He had no command

among the men, and the people did what they pleased with him. But that was by no means the

worst of it; for after a day or two at sea he began to appear on the deck with haze eye, red cheeks,

stuttering tongue, and other marks of drunkenness. –Excerpt: Chapter 10

Mr. Dance –He is the supervisor of the revenue officers who called upon to rescue Jim and his

mother from Pew's pirate crew.

Tom Redruth –He was the guardian to Jim while Trelawney is away, securing a ship and a crew.

He was the longtime companion of Squire Trelawney who is considered his gamekeeper. After the

mutiny, he is the first man to die from among Captain Smollet's men.

Job Anderson –He is a boatswain who helps out as a first mate when Arrow disappears. He later

became a mutineer.

The boatswain, Job Anderson, was the likeliest man aboard, and though he kept his old title, he

served in a way as a mate. –Excerpt: Chapter 10

Israel Hands –He is a mutineer, coxswain, and Silver's confidant and known to be a drunkard.

"And the coxswain, Israel Hands, was a careful, wily, old, experienced seaman, who could be

trusted at a pinch with almost anything." –Excerpt: Chapter 10

…that brandy-faced rascal Israel Hands, plumping down a round-shot on the deck. –Excerpt:

Chapter 17

I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am and I haven't spoken with a Christian these three years. –Excerpt: Chapter

15

John Hunter and Richard Joyce –They are Squire's servants, landsmen who remained faithful

of the ships company. –Excerpt: Chapter 18

Abraham Gray –He is the carpenter mate. He is one of the honest sailors aboard

the Hispaniola who chose to fight with the Squire.

Blandly –He is the friend of Squire Trelawney, who purchased the Hispaniola for the voyage.

Alan –He is the first man whom Long John Silver's men killed.

Tom Morgan –He is one of Long John Silver's men who gets killed by Silver when he turns his

back on him.

George Merry –He is the man who takes command of the pirates when they desert Long John

Silver. The doctor and his men kill him.

O'Brien –He is the sailor aboard the Hispaniola whom Israel Hands killed.
Summary and Plot Structure

Plot Description

Exposition- Jim works at his family's, where a pirate has come to stay.

Rising Action- Jim finds Captain Flints' treasure map and begins assembling a crew.

Climax- They arrived on Treasure Island, but silver and the others plan a mutiny that Jim does

not want to be a part of. He hides and, while hiding, sees Silver kill another pirate.

Falling Action- The pirates turn on Silver by giving him the black spot. The remaining loyal

pirates' fire on the mutineers, and they scatter the island. Jim is hiding in a cave where he meets

Benn and takes Jim to the treasure.

Resolution- The treasure is loaded onto the ship, and they set the course for home. They allow

silver to return home with them, but he sneaks off with some of the loot, never to be seen again.
Plot Summary

A sailor named Billy Bones was trying to hide from his crew at the Ben Bow Inn because

he had a map stolen from his captain when he had died. The map led to a giant chest of gold. While

there, he meets Jim Hawkins and pays him a few pennies to look out for his crew.

A couple of days later, he heard a knock on the door. It was one of his crewmates. His

crewmates scared him into a coma from drinking too much rum. After that, Jim took the map and

showed it to Livesey's doctor. They then set sail to look for the treasure with the treasure map and

a sailing crew. On the way there, Jim meets the chef Long John Silver.

One night he falls into an apple bin trying to get an apple, and he hears footsteps coming

toward him. It was silver, one of the crew members. They talked about taking over the ship with

his crew that was on board. He told the doctor about this and asserted that they were pirates. When

they set foot on the island, the doctor said they would sneak away from the ship and go to the cabin

in the woods that the captain's crew had built. When they got there, they found pistols to

defend themselves.

Silver found out and was furious and attacked them. They shot some of the pirates, and

they retreated. One night Jim Hawkins snuck out of bed and built a raft to get to the ship to take it

over. It took him forever, but he did it, and there were two pirates on the ground. They both got

into an argument because they drank too much rum.

One of them was dead, and the other was hurt. They tricked Jim into helping him by telling

him how to steer the boat. The pirate tried to kill Jim with a knife, and he shot him with a pistol.

He took the ship and docked it in pearl cave, not to be seen.

 When he returned, Silver took over the cabin and took Jim. Silver started to look for the

treasure one day and found where it was but it wasn't there. The doctor already found it and tricked

silver and his crew. The doctor and his servants shot all the pirates and got to keep the gold and

rebuild the Ben Bow Inn because the pirates destroyed it.

Setting

The title of the novel is the main setting itself which was known to be Skeleton Island. But

there are two other settings presented in the text, which was; the Admiral Benbow Inn and the

Hispaniola, and they were considered as an integral setting; aside from the Treasure Island, since

it establishes not just a great picture of an island, but how it became highly symbolic and affect

the development of the main character as he continued his adventure. There are also these backdrop

settings shown in the novel –spy-glass, Mizzen-mast Hill, and Ben Gunn's cave.

Skeleton Island

Skeleton Island happens to be what they call Treasure Island. It is a dry, sandy place that

the men believe the treasure is on. It has only a few sparsely placed pine trees and three large hills,

the one in the middle cut off flat at the top. It was very barren, and there was no food source at all

on the island itself. It is the skeleton place pointing out the direction of the treasure. The place was

dreadful and mysterious.

Excerpt: Chapter 12
Skeleton Island, they calls it. It was a main place for pirates once, and a hand we had on board

knew all their names for it. That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Fore-mast Hill; there are three

hills in a row running south-ward –fore , main, and mizzen, sir. But the main –that's the big' un

with the cloud on it –they usually calls the Spy-glass, by reason of a look-out they kept when they

was in the anchorage cleaning; for it's there they cleaned their ships sir, asking your pardon.

Excerpt: Chapter 13

We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third of a mile from each shore, the

mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other. The bottom was clean sand. The plunge of

our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the woods, but in less than a minute

they were down again and all was once more silent.

The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees coming right down to high-water

mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a sort of amphitheater,

one here, one there. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied out into this pond, as you

might call it; and the foliage round that part of the shore had a kind of poisonous brightness. From

the ship we could see nothing of the house or stockade, for they were quite buried among trees;

and if it had not been for the chart on the companion, we might have been the first that had ever

anchored there since the island arose out of the seas.

There was not a breath of air moving, nor a sound but that of the surf booming half a mile away

along the beaches and against the rocks outside. A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the
anchorage--a smell of sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks. I observed the doctor sniffing and

sniffing, like someone tasting a bad egg.

From afar, the island was gloomy and marshy. The woods are grey, the marshes stink, it's

really hot, and the ship is rolling around like a bottle because there is no wind.

Excerpt: Chapter 13

Grey-coloured woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint it was indeed broken up

by streaks of yellow sand break in the lower lands, and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-

topping the others –some singly, some in clumps,; but up clear above the vegetation in spires of

naked rock. All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was likewise the strangest in the

configuration, running up sheer from almost every side, and then suddenly cut off at the top like a

pedestal put a statue on.

Excerpt: Chapter 13

Perhaps it was this--perhaps it was the look of the island, with its grey, melancholy woods, and

wild stone spires, and the surf that we could both see and hear foaming and thundering on the

steep beach--at least, although the sun shone bright and hot, and the shore birds were fishing and

crying all around us, and you would have thought anyone would have been glad to get to land

after being so long at sea, my heart sank, as the saying is, into my boots; and from the first look

onward, I hated the very thought of Treasure Island.

Admiral Benbow Inn

 It is an establishment owned by the parents of Jim Hawkins. Billy Bones, Black Dog, and

Pew have met asynchronously in this place. The Admiral Benbow Inn is a small hotel that is fairly

nice inside. It has a dining room, rooms for guests, and Hawkin's residence. People from the

country often come here because it is a fine and quiet resting place, and they were all feeling the

excitement every time they went there, for Billy always shares his frightening seafaring stories.

The place at first was tranquil and inviting, but when Billy Bones came to the inn, it became lively

in the sense that he was telling frightening stories to the customers and they would be fond of

going back there.

Excerpt: Chapter 1

My father was always saying the inn would be ruined, for people would soon cease coming there

to be tyrannized over and put down and sent shivering into their beds; but I really believe his

presence did us good. People were frightened at the time, but on looking back they rather liked it;

it was a fine excitement in a quiet country life; and there was even a party of the younger men

who pretended to admire him a true sea dog, and a real salt and such-like names, and saying there

was the sort of that that made England terrible sea.

Hispaniola

The Hispaniola is a pirate ship that was shiny and new. It was much-unorganized inside.

The crew's cabins were beside a mound of gunpowder, and there was a spare apple barrel on the

deck. This ship represents Jim and Silver solving the treasure problem. Since this ship was actually

an area for the mutineers to plot their rebellion against their other crew, the place suddenly

becomes horrifying because they would be willing to kill their shipmates for the reward that awaits
them redoubtable, since both Capt. Smollett and Long John Silver were exercising power of

leadership and command to the other crew to refuse the possible outcome of this mutiny, whether

it may be positive or negative.

Excerpt: Chapter 10

The ship proved to be a good ship.

Excerpt: Chapter 11

I ran on the deck. In I got bodily into the apple barrel, and found there was scarce an apple left.

Mizzen-mast Hill

This is the first hill they have seen in their quest for Flint's treasures. Later on, they find

out that the hill has a secret passage onto the Spy-glass. The place becomes felicitous and very

rationalizing for the crew manages to think positively of their purpose going to be without harming

their other shipmates.

Excerpt: Chapter 24

The hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and fringed with great

masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of a mile to seaward, and it was my first thought to

paddle in and land.

Excerpt: Chapter 31

The anchorage was bounded by a plateau from two to three hundred feet high, adjoining on the

north the sloping southern shoulder of the Spy-glass, and rising again towards the south into the
rough cliffy eminence called the Mizzen-mast Hill. The top of the plateau was dotted thickly with

pine trees of varying height.

Spy- glass

After quite their long passage from the Mizzen-mast Hill, they reached this place which

was a river sloping from the plateau.

Excerpt: Chapter 31

We pulled easily, by Silver's direction, not to weary the hands prematurely; and after quite long

passage, landed at the mouth of the second river –that which runs down a woody cleft of the Spy-

glass. Thence, bending to our left, we began to ascend the slope towards the plateau.

Ben Gunn's Cave

This is where Ben had been earning a living for three long years and where Flint's treasures

are to be found. The place has an emergence of satisfaction and blissfulness with a sort of

disconsolation. The crew was satisfied that they had now found Flint's treasure since it had been a

very long time that they had been in search of it. They were blissful that they had found it, that

their efforts and sacrifices were paid off, but they were disconsolate by the fact that even if they

now have the treasure, it is undeniable that the lives of their crews were being sacrificed.
Excerpt: Chapter 33

And thereupon we all entered the cave. It was a large, airy place, with a little spring and a pool

of clear water, overhung with ferns. The floor was sand. Before a big fire laid Capt. Smollett; in a

far corner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals

built of bars of gold. That' was Flint's that we had come so far to seek, and that had cost already

the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola.

Analysis: Character Development in an Integral Setting

Piracy was a major threat to a nation like Great Britain, whose political and economic

power was built on its shipping industry. It was not until the 1720s and 30s that the British navy

was large and powerful enough to reduce significantly the number of pirates preying on merchant's

vessels.

Stevenson did not specify the year in which the events of the story took place, but Jim

Hawkins said at the beginning that he is writing in the year of grace 17--. Stevenson likely

imagined the first half of the 18th century when he wrote Treasure Island because this era was the

golden age of British piracy. Thousands of pirate crews, including such colorful and notorious

figures as Captain Kidd, whose name was associated as a setting, namely the Captain Kidd

Anchorage as mentioned in the text, and Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, was the

prominent pirate of that time who lived in Bristol, the city where the treasure hunting campaign of

the Treasure Island started. These people roamed the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Indian Oceans in

the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

 By the late 19th century, the Golden Age of Piracy was a distant memory. Tales of pirates

provided a romantic escape for readers in the rapidly industrializing Britain of the 1880s, where

steamships were replacing the sail-powered ships of an earlier era. The location of the island is

never given, although it is probably somewhere off the South American coast.

These settings, as it was incorporated to the well-known pirates during that time, can be

considered an allusion portrayed in the text. The historical background of this novel has nothing

to do with the actual plot of the story but rather the people and the places during that time were

being used, perhaps just to make the text look like a discussion and description of the Golden Age

of Piracy.

The story took place first in the Admiral Benbow Inn, somewhere on the South coast near

Bristol, and was actually out in England. The scenes then moved to the ship, namely the

Hispaniola. After the voyage on the ship, the scenes shifted in Treasure Island itself.

These three integral settings juxtapose the development of the main character, Jim, and

how the plot developed throughout their pilgrimage, which was an unusual place, and they were

also highly symbolic.

The Admiral Benbow Inn was a place where Jim lived with his family. It seems like a

haven for him wherein he is protected by his parents from any harm. Symbolically, this place

represents Jim's boyhood and his continuous wondering as a child. Of course, he was still

dependent on his parents; in fact, he was in great agony and severe emotional breakdown when his

father died, and he ponders on the things around him, especially what was inside Bill's chest that

he even not dare to open, why does he keep on chanting his, Fifteen men on a dead man's chest –

Yohoho, and a bottle of rum and why is he afraid of seeing the one-legged man.
 When he left the inn, he was merely leaving his dependency on his mother, and he stood

on his feet and affirmed firmly the decision he was going to make regarding his adventures to

Treasure Island.

The Hispaniola is a crucial symbol in the novel, not only as an actual vessel used in the

novel, with all associated meanings of adventure, self-knowledge, and self-formation but also as

the ship that lies behind all possible connections and complexity between savagery and civilization

within the Western world of the time which is referred to as the Victorian Age. Also, this is the

ship that first graced Scarborough Mere's waters in 1949, and on only its second-ever voyage, on

June 18, 1949, it ran aground, becoming trapped in mud only meters from Treasure Island;

according to Scarborough news.

The text Jim's adventure on the way to the Treasure Island contributed to his self-

knowledge and self-formation in a way that when he heard of the mutiny, he realized then that

these selected individuals whom he trusted are not trustworthy, that they were blind-folded by the

idea of money and neglected the lives of their shipmates. Because of that idea, he began to deviate

from these men and do his thing rightfully without harming other crew. He did this with great

conviction, and perhaps this shows that he had gradually formed himself into a true man.

Treasure Island, also known as the Skeleton Island, is the destination everyone wanted to

go to, especially Jim. On the map, the island was named Skeleton Island, and for Jim, he called it

Treasure Island. These names symbolize death and reward. Treasure Island may be referred to as

the risk of death, and Skeleton Island refers to Flint's treasure or simply a reward. This argument

can be inferred in the excerpt from chapter 33 that states –And thereupon we all entered the cave.

It was a large, airy place, with a little spring and a pool of clear water overhung with ferns. The
floor was sand. Before a big fire lay Captain Smollett, and in a far corner, only duskily flickered

over by the blaze, I beheld great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold. That was

Flint's treasure that we had come so far to seek and that had already cost the lives of seventeen

men from the HISPANIOLA. How many it had cost in the amassing, what blood and sorrow, what

good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men are walking the plank blindfold, what shot of

cannon, what shame and lies and cruelty, perhaps no man alive could tell. Yet there were still

three upon that island—Silver, and old Morgan, and Ben Gunn— who had each taken his share in

these crimes, as each had hoped in vain to share in the reward.

In the quest for Flint's treasure, Treasure Island imposes great problems –killing, the

exercise of their planned mutiny, and the sickness they got from the insects of the island. As they

reached the cave where the treasure lies, Jim asked himself if these chests of gold and their desire

for wealth are worthy and righteous. Treasure Island can symbolize greed, which was the downfall

of all of the traitors.

The mood of the whole story suggests the feeling when one rides on a roller coaster

mysteriousness, in such a way that you wonder what would be the feeling riding such; danger,

what if the parts of the coaster –its bolts, were not tightened of course that would cause you to fall

and perhaps die and satisfaction, that once you have successfully ridden on it, you will feel happy

and satisfied in the end.

So just like in the story, there is always a sense of mystery, danger, and satisfaction lurking

just around the corner. The exemplification of these moods was during their expedition on the

way to Treasure Island.

 The island at first was indeed really mysterious that from afar it was quite beauteous, but

when they get closer to it, they find the island somehow dangerous, because of its appearance and

nasty smell that were unexplainable. It is also dangerous because the mutineers were on their act

of exercising their plan of mutiny. But in the end, only a few were left and partake with Flint's

treasure, and those who could have it were extremely satisfied.

To crack the shell, the Admiral Benbow Inn symbolizes Jim's boyhood, and when he leaves

the house, juxtapose his setting aside his boyhood. The Hispaniola symbolizes Jim's character is a

great example of a crew, that despite his vulnerability on the happenings and the danger of knowing

about the mutiny, he had managed to form himself and made a commendable decision of telling

which can be an association to his gain of self-knowledge of what could possibly happen in their

expedition if he would not tell anyone about this. And lastly, Treasure Island embodies greediness,

that one is willing to kill someone for wealth. During Jim's stay on the island, his choices and

actions made him a man.

Conclusion

The novel was a great adventure classic novel. It appeals even to women, even if they

consider this only for boys and people of different ages. It would probably make them imagine and

experience their adventurous side of life.

It is recognized that the settings presented in the story are symbolic and have something to

do with the development of the main character, Jim Hawkins, as this novel conveys a coming-of-

age thematic approach. He grew from a young boy to a man. Since the beginning of the novel, he
knows a little outside the world. But in the end, he has matured to be a young though experienced

man who has faced death, sailed across the high seas, met all possible sorts of dangers, killed a

man for self-defense, and was rewarded with his due share of the treasure. So Jim developed from

a purely passive character into an experienced and resourceful crew.

The main messages emphasized in the text are the ethics of morality, and a man's greed

will become the reason for his extreme downfall and perhaps death, as the scenarios in the end

chapters have exemplified.

It unveils the idea of individualism as it was putatively shown when Jim has his other

purpose of going to the island he had exhibited the notion that in the end, all choices are to be

taken individually as personal acts of assuming one's responsibility in life towards all other people

that surround us.

References

Links to biographical information on Robert Louis Stevenson, along with Treasure Island related
arts and crafts and other online courses:
http://www.easyfunschool.com/article2275.html

Teacher's Guide to The Core Classics Edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island

http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/documents/65/CCTI.pdf

The Literature Network: Treasure Island

http://www.online-literature.com/stevenson/treasureisland

Setting Analysis: Treasure Island

http://www.shmoop.com/treasure-island-book/setting.html

Treasure Island Disney Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knd_dI41GSQ

Treasure Island Parallel Film Production

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A652e7CXOzQ

Treasure Island: Untold Story

http://www.treasureislandtheuntoldstory.com/

In what time period did Treasure Island take place?

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-time-period-did-treasure-island-take-place-318372

ANALYSIS: SETTING

http://www.shmoop.com/treasure-island-book/setting.html

Victorian Masculinity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_masculinity

TREASURE ISLAND: Themes, Motifs & Symbols

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/treasure/themes.html