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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does the captain, who can silence a whole roomful of frightened neighbours with a slap of his hand, back down from Dr. Livesey?
The tension The captain rules the Admiral Benbow by fear: the neighbours sing along "for dear life", Jim's father cannot bring himself to ask for the rent, and everyone has "learned to let him be". Yet the one evening someone refuses to be frightened, the captain's knife, oaths and glare fail him and he ends "grumbling like a beaten dog". The chapter sets the captain's kind of power against the doctor's, and asks where the first kind comes from and why it stops working.
Notice how the captain rules the inn, and what changes on the one evening someone does not go quiet for him.
Jim remembers the day an old seaman with a sabre cut took a room at his father's inn and told them to call him captain. For months he rules the place with rum, songs and stories, runs through his money, and pays Jim to watch for a seafaring man with one leg. Near the end of the chapter Dr. Livesey keeps talking when the captain calls for silence, and the captain backs down.
Start with the father and the rent. Ask what might keep a man from asking for what he is owed.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the arrival, the captain's habits, Jim's lookout job, the singing nights, and the doctor's evening.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes one short sentence and then one long, calm sentence about a quiet moment of their own.
Debate Take sides: was the captain strong, or did the room make him strong? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Stevenson puts the doctor's scene last in the chapter.
Easier Read the doctor's scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 4 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence.
Harder Ask the student to compare the captain's first appearance with his last, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Jim's father “never plucked up the heart” to ask for more money. What do you think holds him back?Inference
What it asks It asks what keeps a grown man quiet in his own inn, and what the captain does to bring that about.
He is afraid of what the captain will do to him if he presses.
the captain blew through his nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor father out of the room
I have seen him wringing his hands after such a rebuff
He keeps hoping a gentle reminder will do, because the captain arrived paying in gold and told him to speak up later.
he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold
You can tell me when I've worked through that
A strong answer The father has tried: when he mentions the money, the captain roars through his nose and stares him out of the room, and Jim sees him wringing his hands afterwards. So fear is a strong reading. But the captain arrived throwing down gold and telling the father to speak up once it was used up, so the father may keep hoping a gentle reminder will do. Either way he gives up what he is owed rather than face the captain. A strong answer weighs both and does not pretend the chapter tells us which.
2. Some of the younger men “pretended to admire him.” Why might they do that when everyone else is frightened?Character
What it asks It asks what a person gains by praising someone who frightens the room.
They are protecting themselves: praise keeps the captain pleased and keeps them out of trouble.
each singing louder than the other to avoid remark
a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him
They enjoy the thrill and want some of his glamour.
calling him a true sea-dog and a real old salt and such like names
made England terrible at sea
A strong answer The young men's names for him, “a true sea-dog and a real old salt,” sound like praise, but Jim says they only “pretended.” One reading is safety: in a room where people sing “each singing louder than the other to avoid remark,” praise may be another way of not being noticed. Another is that his stories make him glamorous and the young men want some of that shine. The chapter does not say which, so a strong answer weighs both.
3. Jim's father thinks the captain will ruin the inn, but Jim believes “his presence did us good.” Going by the chapter, who is closer to right?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what the captain costs the inn against what he gives it, using the two views the chapter offers.
The father is closer: the captain drives customers off and empties the purse.
for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over and put down, and sent shivering to their beds
so that all the money had been long exhausted
Jim is closer: the fear was a welcome excitement in a quiet place.
People were frightened at the time, but on looking back they rather liked it
it was a fine excitement in a quiet country life
A strong answer The father sees the cost as it happens: the money “had been long exhausted” and he fears people will stop coming. Jim remembers the same years as “a fine excitement in a quiet country life,” though he admits people “were frightened at the time.” They are judging different things, one the inn's purse and the other its mood. A strong answer picks a side and says what the other side sees that it does not.
4. Every voice stops when the captain flaps his hand, except Dr. Livesey's. Was it brave, careless, or something else for him to keep talking?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge a risky act by what the doctor knew when he did it, not by how it turned out.
It was brave: he kept his manner and did not shrink from a dangerous man.
he went on as before, speaking clear and kind and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word or two
He spoke to him as before, over his shoulder and in the same tone of voice
It was careless: he was new to the captain and could not know how far the man would go.
it was new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey
since I now know there's such a fellow in my district
A strong answer Going on talking was brave in how he did it: he kept “speaking clear and kind,” and when the knife came out he did not change his tone. It could also be called careless, since the song “was new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey” and he had no way to know how far the captain would go. A strong answer weighs what the doctor knew, what he risked, and what happened, and admits the chapter shows the result but not the doctor's mind.
5. Stevenson spends most of the chapter on the captain before Dr. Livesey arrives. What does that build-up do for the scene with the doctor?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to treat the order of the chapter as a choice and to say what the long build-up makes possible.
The build-up makes the captain's hold feel total, so the doctor's scene lands as a shock.
he was the most overriding companion ever known
He was only once crossed, and that was towards the end
The build-up also shows the captain afraid, so the reader half-expects his hold has limits.
at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them
for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms
A strong answer Most of the chapter shows the captain in command: he is “the most overriding companion ever known,” and “He was only once crossed.” That makes the doctor's scene land hard. But Jim also shows him avoiding seafaring men and tells us he was “a sharer in his alarms,” so a careful reader may sense the hold has limits. A strong answer names what the build-up prepares and does not claim to know why the captain gives way.
1. When he arrives, the captain looks “as fierce as a commander.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he starts to take charge of the inn.
What it asks It asks how a stranger begins to rule a place, using what he says and does on his first day.
He takes charge by his manner: his looks and his way of giving orders.
looking as fierce as a commander
seemed like a mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike
He takes charge by settling the terms himself, with money and plain statements of what he wants.
this is the berth for me
he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold
A strong answer He begins by acting as if the inn is already his. He chooses his own title, “You mought call me captain,” orders the barrow man about, and pays in gold, telling the father he can speak up when he has “worked through that.” Jim adds that he seemed “accustomed to be obeyed or to strike.” He sets the terms before anyone has objected. A strong answer picks two pieces and says what each one does.
2. Jim was terrified of the one-legged seaman yet “far less afraid of the captain himself” than others were. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jim sees that they do not.
What it asks It asks why the boy who lives closest to the captain fears him least, and what his closeness lets him see.
Jim knows what the captain is on the watch for, which makes the captain seem less powerful.
for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms
keep my weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg
Jim's own fear goes to the one-legged man, so the captain is not the worst thing in his world.
How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you.
I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one leg
A strong answer Jim has been told to watch for “a seafaring man with one leg,” so he knows what the captain is on the lookout for and calls himself “a sharer in his alarms.” It is hard to stand in awe of someone whose worry you share. Jim's nightmares also belong to the one-legged man, not to the captain. Both readings rest on one fact: Jim sees the captain from nearer than the neighbours do. A strong answer gives two pieces of evidence and says what each shows.
3. Compare how the captain and Dr. Livesey act when the knife comes out. Using two pieces of evidence, say what each reaction shows about the man.
What it asks It asks the student to read two men's behaviour under threat and say what it shows about each, without deciding who is stronger.
The two are opposites: the captain is wild with fury, the doctor is calm.
The old fellow's fury was awful.
but perfectly calm and steady
The two are alike in one way: each answers with a threat, and only what stands behind the threat differs.
threatened to pin the doctor to the wall
you shall hang at the next assizes
A strong answer The captain's reaction is all fury: the old fellow's “fury was awful,” he springs up and threatens to pin the doctor to the wall. The doctor is “perfectly calm and steady.” Yet both answer a threat with a threat, and the doctor's is the one the room hears plainly, “so that all the room might hear.” A strong answer uses one piece of evidence for each man and says what it shows, without claiming the chapter explains why the captain gives way.