Treasure Island Essay, Research Paper

TREASURE ISLAND

by Robert Louis Stevenson

There is an old crippled man knocking at the Admiral Ben Bow Inn. His name is Captain Billy Bones. He lives in fear of a one-legged man, because Billy Bones has a map in his suitcase that the one-legged man wants. But, Billy Bones doesn?t know that the one-legged man, Captain Flint died. One day a blind beggar named ?Blind Pew? comes to see Billy Bones at the Inn and gives him the ?Black Spot?, a mark of immediate death between pirate crews. Billy Bones gives Jim Hawkins, the owner of the Inns? son, a key to the suitcase before he dies. Jim is fourteen years old and in very good shape. Jim takes the suitcase to Dr. Livesey, a smart young man in his middle thirties, and Squire Trelawney, an old rich man who lives very lavishly and pampered. They open the suitcase and find a map that belonged to Captain Flint, who is the most popular dead pirate around. The Doctor and Squire decide to hunt for the treasure and ask Jim to come along. The squire buys a ship that they had to have built and named it the Hispaniola. They hire Captain Smollert, Long John Silver the cook, and the rest of the boats crew to sail the ship. The ship sets off from England for an island in the Caribbean. The night before they get to the island, Jim overhears Silver and a few of the other ship hands talking about taking over the Hispaniola to find the map. Jim gave the information back to the Doctor, Squire and the Captain. Captain Smollert sends the crew to the island the next morning and Jim decides to go too. When Jim gets to the island he meets Ben Gunn. Ben has been stranded on the island for three years. Ben tells Jim about a boat that Ben made incase he needed it. When Dr. Livesey, Squire Trelawney, and Captain Smollert get to the island they find an old stockade. When the crew finds out that their plan for mutiny has been told, they start to attack the stockade. Captain Smollert is shot in the shoulder and injured pretty bad. The Doctor and Squire end up killing most of the pirates. Jim set off for the Hispaniola in the small boat that Ben Gunn made. Jim wanted to get the Hispaniola closer to the stockade. A pirate is able to get onto the Hispaniola and Jim has to fight him off. Jim gets the boat where he wants it and returns back to the stockade. When he gets back to the stockade, he is captured by Long John Silver and forced to give up the map. Who will find the treasure first? Will it be Long John Silver and the pirates, or will it be the Doctor, Squire, Jim and the Captain? Read Treasure Island to find out! The main idea that Robert Louis Stevenson made in Treasure Island was how ?good? wins over ?evil?, using strategies and tactics to defeat the pirates. For example, the good characters, Jim Hawkins and Dr. Livesey, took cover in a high ground stockade when the pirates attacked. Good ends up winning the battle at the stockade. Another example of good and evil is when it is discovered where the treasure map may be. Long John Silver hands Jim a gun because he knows a fight is about to happen. All of a sudden, Dr. Livesey, Ben Gunn and Squire Trelawney open fire from the forest and kill a pirate and the other pirates run away because they are scared. The pirates are left on the island without many supplies, since this is the outlaw?s code of honor as their punishment. ?The Attack? was the climax of the story and was the most exciting part. It was dramatic and suspenseful. ?The Attack? was when the good characters fought the pirates for the map of the treasure. On pages 178-179 in Chapter 21, ?The Attack? is described like this: ?So some seconds passed, till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired. The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeated from without in a scattering volley, shot behind shot, like a string of geese, from every side of the enclosure. Several bullets struck the log-house, but not one entered; and, as the smoke cleared away and vanished, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and empty as before. Not a bough waved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel betrayed the presence of our foes.? Another special feature of the book I read were the illustrations by Francois Place. The illustrations made it easier to understand because the style of writing was difficult to read. The illustrations were vivid and helped me envision a better mental picture of the story. Please see the illustration attached as an example. The style of writing, using old English and pirate slang, made the book hard to read; therefore I didn?t like the book. The descriptions were long and sometimes made you loose track of what you were reading. Because of this, my mind often wandered. The book sometimes made me excited, but mostly I had no strong feelings because it was hard to read and focus on the story. For example in Chapter 17, ?The Jolly Boats Last Trip? on page 148 reads: ?The fifth trip was quite different from any of the others. In the first place, the little gallipot of a boat that we were in was gravely overloaded. Five grown men, and three of them ? Trelawney, Rednoth, and the Captain ? over six feet high, was already more than she was meant to carry. Add to that the powder, pork, and bread-bags. The gunwale was lipping astern. Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred yards.? I cannot recommend Treasure Island to anyone because of the style of writing and how difficult it is to read. Although the main idea was interesting, an easier to read and more up-to-date version of the story would be better. Example of an illustration by Francois Place: A map of Treasure Island: