Critical interpretation of E. Nesbit's The story of the treasure seekers

¶ … Treasure Seekers

The story of the treasure seekers is a timeless classic tale set in the early nineteenth century, England. The theme of the book revolves around the protagonists of the story, the six Bastable children. They try to regain the lost riches of the Bastable House by hunting for treasure. The children have lost their mother and their father has lost all his money in his business. As a result of this misfortune, the children have to discontinue their school and stay at home on a long holiday. The children are well aware of the deteriorating financial condition of the house, so they decide to win back the lost fortunes of the house through many intriguing ways of pretend playing. The six children come up with six different ideas to restore the fallen fortunes of their house. They decide to be bandits armed with guns and stop people on the highway and take their money, rescue an old man from highway kidnappers hoping that the gentleman would be the Prince of Wales and win a handsome reward from him, use a divining rod to find gold in the ground and then dig for the gold, write poetry and sell it and make lots of money or marry a princess and become rich. They also hope to make money by following an advertisement in the newspaper, which gave instructions on how to earn two pounds a week. Finally, they decide to dig in their own garden to find the lost treasure.

Thus, the author, Edith Nesbits, has used a humorous tone for this book through a first person narrator, who is one of the six children and made the book enjoyable for readers of all ages. This book also teaches the reader important values of life through the thoughts and actions of the children.

2. The book, the Story of the Treasure Seekers, is about six siblings, who are in quest of a treasure to gain back the lost riches of their family. Each child comes up with his or her own unique plan of looking for the treasure, thus representing his or her own distinct personality. For example, Dora, the eldest child is very cautious and believes in doing things the right way. She is very responsible and also god-fearing. She believes in hard work and honesty and suggests that they look for the treasure by digging in the garden. Oswald, who is the second in line, is very intelligent, kind and also daring and adventurous as one can see when he suggests that they should kidnap people on highways and take money from them. The third sibling Dicky, suggests that they should follow instructions in advertisements in the newspaper, which help you earn two pounds a week. This shows that he is a perfectionist and wants everything settled definitely, without any loose ends. Alice likes magical pretend plays and believes that a divining rod would help them find gold in the ground. Noel is a poet and wants to sell his poetry to make money. Noel's poem about the dead beetle shows the sensitive side of childhood and sadness over death. The kids have just lost their mother and this makes Noel very vulnerable and sad over anybody's death. The poem of eloquence shows the curiosity that children have while growing up. Albert next door is a rich and spoilt kid, who does not like to study at all. One can see that Albert also does