Treasure Island -- a Tale

Treasure Island -- a Tale of Treasure, Adventure, and Young Jim Hawkins

Robert Louis Stevenson was a popular novelist, famous for his authorship of tales of adventure and horror, especially for young boys. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island are two of his most famous works. ("About Robert Louis Stevenson," Online Literature, 2007) Treasure Island's intended audience of male, young readers is evident in the centrality of the protagonist Jim Hawkins. Over the course of the day, Jim matures from an excited young boy to a more mature young man whose morality and loyalty is tested by the pirate Long John Silver. Stevenson wrote Treasure Island for his stepson in 1881. Stevenson said of his novel that: "If this don't fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day," in other words, that young children should be captivated by adventure and spurred on to do brave but moral deeds by Jim Hawkins' example. ("Robert Louis Stevenson," Treasure Island Homepage, 2007) Although Treasure Island is a tale of piracy, the pirate Long John Silver is Jim's nemesis, while Jim's adult companions Dr. Livesey and Ben Gunn function as a moral guide and a warning for the young man, in his journey across the high seas and into manhood.

Early on in the novel, Jim distinguishes himself as a brave, daring young man. It is Jim, not an adult who finds the secret map to the dead Captain Flint's treasure. When Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey decide to go in search of the treasure, and commission a ship, Jim is eager to go along to seek his fortune. But he quickly loses his idealized view of piracy and travel on the high seas. Long before the adult members of the crew, such as Squire Trelawney, Jim realizes that the peg-legged cook of the Hispaniola named Long John Silver is up to no good, when he hides in an apple barrel and overhears their plans. He takes responsibility for telling the men he trusts aboard the ship that Long John is preparing to mutiny. Of course, not all pirates in the novel are evil Ben Gunn, marooned on Skeleton Island, offers to help Jim and his good friends. Gunn is an original member of Captain Flint's crew and was marooned on the island three years ago by his crew mates. Ben has renounced piracy and promises to help Jim and his friends. However, Gunn also acts as a warning to Jim that money is not all that matters, as Ben's life has left him alone, dissolute, and desperate, and at the end of the novel Ben quickly spends all of the money he gains from his escapades and must turn to begging. Soon, Jim's own morality will be tested when he is captured and is given the choice to join Long John Silver's crew. Jim resists, and when the pirates turn against their leader, both Silver and John narrowly escape wit their lives.