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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does the same well-fed, contented, capable ship look like good fortune to the squire and Jim, and like trouble to Captain Smollett?
The tension Everything about the voyage is pleasant: a good ship, capable seamen, double grog and an open apple barrel, a cook who is "unweariedly kind" and makes Jim think him "the best of men". Yet the captain, who admits he was wrong about the crew, still says he does not like the cruise and warns that spoiling hands makes devils; the mate drinks from a source nobody can find and goes overboard; and the narrator, looking back, says the apple barrel was the only thing that saved them from "treachery". The chapter sets contentment against a warning nobody wants to hear, and asks what the captain is seeing.
Notice how pleasant the voyage is, and how differently the squire, the captain and Jim read what they see.
The Hispaniola sails at dawn to the old sea-song, led by Silver. Mr. Arrow drinks and goes overboard one night, and the boatswain and coxswain take his place. Silver the cook wins the crew, is kind to Jim, and shows him his parrot. The squire and captain stay on distant terms while the crew is well fed. On the last night before the island, Jim climbs into the apple barrel, half dozes, and wakes to Silver's voice; from a dozen words he understands that the lives of the honest men depend on him.
Start with the old song at the capstan. Ask why Stevenson begins the voyage with it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the night of loading, the song, Mr. Arrow, Silver and the parrot, the squire and captain, the apple barrel.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences about a quiet person: one uses three short words to show how the person speaks; the other tells what the person admits when pressed.
Debate Take sides: is the squire's generosity to the crew a kindness or a risk? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what Jim knows at the end of the chapter that he did not know at the start.
Easier Read the galley scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 3 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 add a third piece of evidence from the captain's own words to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Silver sings the old song as the crew heaves at the capstan, and Jim seems to hear the captain in the chorus. Why might Stevenson begin the voyage this way?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what a familiar song does at the start of something new.
It ties the new voyage to the old trouble at the inn, so the past comes along.
it carried me back to the old Admiral Benbow in a second
I seemed to hear the voice of the captain piping in the chorus
It starts the voyage with a cheerful crew, the same song now sung together at work.
the whole crew bore chorus
drove the bars before them with a will
A strong answer The song comes from the Admiral Benbow: Jim says it “carried me back to the old Admiral Benbow in a second,” and he seemed to hear “the voice of the captain piping in the chorus.” The crew, though, sing it with a will and heave the bars round. So the same song is a link to the past for Jim and a working song for everyone else. A strong answer says what the reader feels when those two meet, and does not claim to know what the song will mean later.
2. When Mr. Arrow goes overboard, “nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry.” Is that a fair way for a ship to feel about a man?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge a crew's feelings about a man who harmed himself and the ship.
Fair: he had become useless and a bad influence, and he had been warned again and again.
useless as an officer and a bad influence amongst the men
Time after time he was ordered below in disgrace.
Cold: a man is lost and what people feel is relief, and the captain thinks first of irons.
nobody was much surprised, nor very sorry
Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble of putting him in irons.
A strong answer Mr. Arrow was “useless as an officer and a bad influence amongst the men,” and time after time he was “ordered below in disgrace,” so the ship's lack of surprise is understandable. But a man is gone, and the captain's first words are that it “saves the trouble of putting him in irons.” A strong answer says what the ship owed him, what it could have done, and whether relief is the same as coldness.
3. All the crew “respected and even obeyed” Silver, though he is only the cook. What do you think gives him that standing?Character
What it asks It asks what makes a man respected on a ship: what he can do, or how he treats people.
His strength and daring: the coxswain says no lion is braver.
a lion's nothing alongside of Long John
I seen him grapple four and knock their heads together
His way with people: he gives each man some attention.
He had a way of talking to each and doing everybody some particular service.
To me he was unweariedly kind
A strong answer Two things are given. The coxswain says Silver is “no common man” and tells of his grappling four men at once; that is strength, but it is a friend's story and Jim only hears it. What Jim sees himself is that Silver “had a way of talking to each and doing everybody some particular service.” A strong answer says which is likelier to earn obedience, and notes which one Jim sees and which he is only told.
4. The squire gives the crew double grog, duff and apples. Is that generosity, or a risk?Theme
What it asks It asks whether kindness to a crew helps or harms a ship, using what the squire does and the captain says.
Generosity: a crew that is well treated is content and does its work.
Every man on board seemed well content
The ship proved to be a good ship, the crew were capable seamen
A risk: the captain believes spoiling a crew makes it harder to command.
Never knew good come of it yet
Spoil forecastle hands, make devils.
A strong answer The squire's gifts look generous: “Every man on board seemed well content,” and the crew were “capable seamen.” The captain calls them a risk: “Spoil forecastle hands, make devils.” So far the chapter shows the contentment, not the harm the captain fears. A strong answer weighs a kindness that is working now against a worry about where it may lead, and does not claim to know where it leads.
5. The chapter ends as Jim hears Silver's voice from inside the apple barrel. Why might the author stop there, before we hear what Silver says?Plot structure
What it asks It asks what an ending that holds back does to a reader, and what the chapter has built to make it work.
It keeps the reader in suspense: Jim himself has heard only a dozen words.
before I had heard a dozen words, I would not have shown myself for all the world
in the extreme of fear and curiosity
It makes the reader look back: the narrator has already said the barrel gave them a warning, and Jim has just called the cook the best of men.
we should have had no note of warning
made me think he was the best of men
A strong answer Jim says that from a dozen words he understood “the lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me alone,” yet we are not told what the words were. The narrator also said earlier that without the barrel “we should have had no note of warning,” so the reader waits with Jim, holding what Jim had come to believe about the cook, “the best of men.” A strong answer says what the ending makes the reader hold on to and does not guess what Silver said.
1. The chapter says the captain “thoroughly understood his business.” Using two pieces of evidence, how does he show it?
What it asks It asks what a good captain does, using what this one says about his ship and about himself.
He judges his ship like a sailor who knows how she handles.
As for the ship, he had taken a downright fancy to her.
She'll lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married wife
He judges himself honestly and admits when he was wrong.
He owned, when driven into a corner, that he seemed to have been wrong about the crew
some of them were as brisk as he wanted to see and all had behaved fairly well
A strong answer The chapter gives two things. He knows ships: he has “taken a downright fancy” to the Hispaniola and says “she'll lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect.” And he is honest: he “owned, when driven into a corner,” that he seemed to have been wrong about the crew. A strong answer picks two pieces and says what each shows about how he does his work.
2. Silver says of his swearing parrot, “you cant touch pitch and not be mucked.” Using two pieces of evidence, what does he want Jim to think of him?
What it asks It asks the student to read how a man uses a story to present himself, and how the boy takes it.
That he is a harmless, good-humoured man who keeps a wicked bird for fun.
Heres this poor old innocent bird o mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser
She would swear the same, in a manner of speaking, before chaplain.
That he is a solemn, respectable man who knows wickedness when he sees it.
if anybodys seen more wickedness, it must be the devil himself
John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had that made me think he was the best of men
A strong answer Silver offers the parrot as an “innocent bird” who is “none the wiser” about her swearing, which shows a good-humoured man. He also speaks gravely of wickedness and touches his forelock “with a solemn way he had,” which leaves Jim thinking him “the best of men.” Jim's words tell us how Jim took it, and the chapter does not say what Silver meant. A strong answer uses two pieces of evidence and says what it can and cannot know.
3. The squire and the captain stay on “pretty distant terms.” Using two pieces of evidence, which man does more to keep them apart?
What it asks It asks the student to share out the blame between two men, using what each does and says.
The squire: he despises the captain and turns his back.
The squire made no bones about the matter; he despised the captain.
The squire, at this, would turn away and march up and down the deck, chin in air.
The captain: he speaks only when spoken to and always ends on his doubts.
never spoke but when he was spoken to, and then sharp and short and dry, and not a word wasted
all I say is, we're not home again, and I don't like the cruise
A strong answer Both men share it. The squire “made no bones about the matter; he despised the captain,” and he marches up and down the deck with his chin in the air. The captain “never spoke but when he was spoken to” and keeps saying “I dont like the cruise.” A strong answer picks one man and says what the other does to share the blame, or calls them equal and gives two pieces of evidence for it.