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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does Jim, who can scarcely hide a shudder at Silver's duplicity, meet it by asking the doctor to make some pretence of his own?
The tension Silver reads the chart, "an accurate copy, complete in all things" but the red crosses and the notes, hides his disappointment, and claps Jim on the shoulder with promises of goats and trees. Jim has taken "such a horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power" that he can scarcely hide a shudder; his next move is to ask the doctor to get the gentlemen below and "make some pretence to send for me". From that moment the honest men act too: the doctor says "that was all I wanted to know" as if he had asked a question, the captain makes a handsome speech and serves out grog, and the crew cheer so heartily that Jim can hardly believe they are plotting. Below, the reasons for waiting are plain, six men against nineteen and a crew that would rise at once. What the chapter leaves open is whether the honest party can borrow Silver's weapon without being changed by it, from the doctor's wig in his lap to Jim's feeling of helplessness.
Notice how each person on deck and in the cabin hides or shows what they know, and what it costs them.
The island comes into sight in the moonlight. Captain Smollett shows Silver a chart, and Silver claims to know the place and hides his annoyance. Jim, shaken, asks Dr. Livesey to bring the captain and squire below. The captain gives a speech and serves out grog, and the three go to the cabin, where Jim tells what he heard. They decide to wait and watch, and Jim counts six grown men on their side against nineteen.
Start with Silver and the chart. Ask what his eyes do, and what his words do.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the island, Silver and the chart, Jim's word with the doctor, the speech and the cheer, the cabin, the count.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes three sentences in the same pattern: someone's face changes a little, he speaks aloud as if nothing were wrong, then he turns and goes.
Debate Take sides: is the captain's plan to wait the wiser one? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the reader learns from the honest men's calm that their words alone would not tell.
Easier Read the deck scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 2 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 doctor's calm on deck with the squire's outburst in the cabin, and add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Silver's eyes “burned in his head” when he took the chart. Why might he then say it was “very prettily drawed out”?Inference
What it asks It asks what a man's eyes and his words say about what he wants, and what it takes to hide it.
He wants something from the chart badly and covers it on purpose.
Long Johns eyes burned in his head as he took the chart
Sharp as must have been his annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it.
He is a practised talker who fits his words to any moment, so the praise comes easily.
Yes, sir, said he, this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily drawed out.
Who might have done that, I wonder? The pirates were too ignorant, I reckon.
A strong answer Jim sees that Silver's eyes “burned in his head” as he took the chart, and he knows from “the fresh look of the paper” that Silver will be disappointed. Silver still says “very prettily drawed out” and wonders aloud who drew it, and Jim notes he “had the strength of mind to hide it.” One reading is that Silver wants something from the chart and covers it on purpose; another is that he is a practised talker who fits his words to any moment. A strong answer says what Silver gains by hiding his feeling, and uses his words and Jim's as evidence.
2. On deck Silver tells Jim it is “a sweet spot for a lad to get ashore on.” Why might he be so warm to Jim just then?Character
What it asks It asks why a man is friendly to someone at a particular moment, and whether the friendliness and the feeling are the same thing.
The warmth is his usual way of keeping the boy close and content.
clapping me in the friendliest way upon the shoulder
When you want to go a bit of exploring, you just ask old John, and hell put up a snack for you to take along.
The island truly warms him, and for a moment he forgets himself.
Why, it makes me young again. I was going to forget my timber leg, I was.
Its a pleasant thing to be young and have ten toes
A strong answer Silver talks to Jim as he has before, offering a snack for exploring and clapping him “in the friendliest way upon the shoulder.” That can be read as the same warmth he has always shown, used to keep a boy close. It can also be read as real pleasure in a place he knows, since he says “it makes me young again” and forgets his timber leg. Jim sees it neither way for certain: he can “scarce conceal a shudder.” A strong answer keeps apart what Silver says and what Jim knows, and does not claim to know Silver's mind.
3. Read the captain's speech to the crew aloud. How does he sound: hearty, careful, or something else?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear the speech in a voice and to say what that voice shows about what the captain is doing.
Hearty: he praises the squire and the crew warmly, like a captain pleased with his men.
Mr. Trelawney, being a very openhanded gentleman, as we all know
Ill tell you what I think of this: I think it handsome.
Careful: every word has a purpose, and he gives nothing away.
he and I and the doctor are going below to the cabin to drink your health and luck
it was plain enough that Dr. Livesey had communicated my request
A strong answer The speech can be read as hearty: the captain calls the squire “a very openhanded gentleman,” says the grog is “handsome,” and the men answer with a cheer so “full and hearty” that Jim can hardly believe they are plotting. It can also be read as careful: he says the three are going below “to drink your health and luck,” and Jim has just asked for them to be brought below. A strong answer says which tone it would give the speech, and what that tone lets the captain do.
4. The squire says “I own myself an ass”; the captain says “No more an ass than I, sir.” Which of them had more reason to see this coming?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks who had the better chance to see trouble coming, and what we can fairly expect of people who were themselves fooled.
The captain: reading a crew is his business, and he says the signs show to anyone who looks.
I never heard of a crew that meant to mutiny but what showed signs before
for any man that had an eye in his head to see the mischief and take steps according
The squire: the men were his choice, and he had been warned.
you were right, and I was wrong
Hands was one of mine
A strong answer The squire owns himself “an ass,” saying “you were right, and I was wrong,” and he names Hands as “one of mine.” The captain says “No more an ass than I,” and that a crew that means to mutiny shows signs “for any man that had an eye in his head.” Yet he also says “I did think I could have trusted Hands,” and adds that this crew “beats me.” A strong answer says who had the clearer chance, and what it is fair to expect of each.
5. Stevenson ends the chapter on Jim counting “six to their nineteen.” Why might he leave us on a number?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what a count does at the end of a chapter that a plain description would not.
A number makes the danger plain: the reader can do the sum and see the odds.
there were only seven out of the twenty-six on whom we knew we could rely
the grown men on our side were six to their nineteen
It turns the chapter back to Jim, who counts himself in and feels helpless.
I began to feel pretty desperate at this, for I felt altogether helpless
by an odd train of circumstances, it was indeed through me that safety came
A strong answer Jim counts “only seven out of the twenty-six” who can be relied on, and “one was a boy,” which leaves “six to their nineteen.” A number makes the danger plain and puts the odds in the reader's mind. The same paragraph says Jim felt “altogether helpless” and that safety came “through me,” so the ending also turns the chapter back to him. A strong answer says what the number does that a description would not, and what the reader is left wanting to know.
1. The doctor “changed countenance a little” when Jim spoke. Using two pieces of evidence, what do his face and his wig tell us about how he took the news?
What it asks It asks the student to tell what a man feels from what his body shows, and to notice that two signs may not agree.
He is shaken underneath: his face and his wig show it.
The doctor changed countenance a little
with his wig on his lap, and that, I knew, was a sign that he was agitated
He has great self-command: he recovers at once and gives nothing away.
next moment he was master of himself
none of them started, or raised his voice, or so much as whistled
A strong answer The doctor shows the news in two ways. On deck his face “changed countenance a little,” and in the cabin his wig lies on his lap, which Jim knows “was a sign that he was agitated.” But he is “master of himself” in the next moment, and none of the three “started, or raised his voice.” A strong answer says what the doctor felt and what he let show, with one piece of evidence for each.
2. After Jim's report the three gentlemen drink his health, and then ask for his help. Using two pieces of evidence, how do they see him?
What it asks It asks how grown men treat a boy who has brought them news, and whether honour and need can sit together.
They honour him as someone who has done something brave.
all three, one after the other, and each with a bow, drank my good health, and their service to me, for my luck and courage
they made me sit down at table beside them
They also lean on him: the honour comes with a job.
Jim here, said the doctor, can help us more than anyone.
Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you
A strong answer The three treat Jim as someone who has earned respect: they seat him beside them and each drinks his health “for my luck and courage.” But they also ask something of him: the doctor says Jim “can help us more than anyone,” and the squire says, “Hawkins, I put prodigious faith in you.” Jim's own answer is that he felt “altogether helpless.” A strong answer uses two pieces of evidence and says whether thanks and need can sit together.
3. Silver calls for “one more cheer for Capn Smollett.” Using two pieces of evidence, what does that cheer show about Silver?
What it asks It asks the student to read a small act by the man the crew follows, and to say how far the chapter lets us go.
The crew follows his lead at once, whoever the cheer is for.
One more cheer for Capn Smollett, cried Long John when the first had subsided.
And this also was given with a will.
He keeps a cool, friendly face whatever he knows, as he did over the chart.
I was surprised at the coolness with which John avowed his knowledge of the island
A strong answer The crew answers Silver as they answered the captain: the second cheer “was given with a will.” That shows a man whose lead the men follow at once. It also shows him keeping a good face, in the same way Jim was “surprised at the coolness” with which he spoke of the island. The chapter gives what Jim sees and what he fears, not Silver's purpose. A strong answer uses two pieces of evidence and says what the cheer shows and what it cannot prove.