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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does Tom, having just heard Alan die, turn his back on Silver and walk away?
The tension Silver pleads with Tom face lifted "in a kind of appeal", calling him gold dust and claiming to risk his own neck to warn him. When the death scream comes, Tom leaps like a horse at the spur; Silver "had not winked an eye" and watches like a snake. Tom sees the fear behind the friendliness, calls it a black conscience, declares he will die in his duty, and turns his back on the cook to walk to the beach. The chapter sets one man's plain loyalty against another's patient, smiling cruelty, and asks what Tom believed he was doing in that last walk.
Notice how two men meet the same scream, and how Jim's afternoon turns from joy to fear.
Jim slips away from Silver, enjoys the strange island, and then hears voices by the marsh. Hiding in the live-oaks, he watches Silver plead with a sailor named Tom. A scream rings over the marsh, Tom refuses Silver, and Silver kills him. Jim faints, wakes, hears Silver's whistle, and runs in terror until a fresh alarm stops him.
Start with the scream. Ask what each man does before he says a word.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the walk, the voices, Silver and Tom, the scream, the killing, the whistle and the flight.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: one person jumps at a sound, and another stays still.
Debate Take sides: was it Jim's duty to creep closer and overhear? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the quiet, sunny afternoon adds to the scene.
Easier Read the scene by the marsh aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 3 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 Silver's first words to Tom with his last, and add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Silver tells Tom he thinks “gold dust” of him and speaks to save his neck. What do you think Silver wants?Inference
What it asks It asks what Silver is after in his pleading, when he says both that he likes Tom and that Tom is in danger.
He wants Tom to join the mutineers, and uses flattery and fear to bring him round.
its because I thinks gold dust of you
Alls upyou cant make nor mend
He means the warning: he says he is risking himself by giving it.
its to save your neck that Im a-speaking
if one of the wild uns knew it, whered I be
A strong answer Silver says two things together: that he thinks “gold dust” of Tom, and that he speaks “to save your neck.” That could be flattery with a threat inside it, meant to bring Tom round. It could also be the warning Silver says it is, since he adds that he would be in danger himself if “one of the wild uns knew it.” The chapter shows the words and what comes next; it does not tell us which Silver meant. A strong answer weighs both and stays with his words.
2. Tom tells Silver, “you're old, and you're honest, or has the name for it.” What is Tom trying to do with those words?Character
What it asks It asks what Tom hopes his praise will do, and how far he believes it himself.
He is appealing to Silver's better side, hoping to turn him back.
And will you tell me youll let yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you!
He already half doubts Silver: each piece of praise has an “or” in it.
youre honest, or has the name for it
and youre brave, or Im mistook
A strong answer Tom lists what he respects in Silver: he is old, honest, well off and brave. Then he asks whether such a man will be “led away with that kind of a mess of swabs,” which sounds like a plea to his better side. But Tom hedges, “or has the name for it” and “or I'm mistook,” so he may already half doubt. A strong answer says what Tom hopes and how sure he is, using his words.
3. When the scream comes, Tom leaps, but Silver “had not winked an eye.” What does that stillness suggest about him?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to read two reactions to the same sound and to say what Silver's calm might mean.
He was not surprised: he seems to know what the sound was.
That? Oh, I reckon thatll be Alan.
Silver had not winked an eye.
He has great self-command, and he is careful with Tom.
smiling away, but warier than ever
He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion like a snake about to spring.
A strong answer Tom leaps “at the sound, like a horse at the spur,” while Silver “had not winked an eye” and answers “Oh, I reckon thatll be Alan,” so his calm could mean he was not surprised. It could also be self-command: he is “smiling away, but warier than ever” and leaps back when Tom reaches for him. The chapter does not say how Alan died or who did it, so a strong answer weighs what the calm might mean without claiming more.
4. Jim says it was his “plain and obvious duty” to creep closer and overhear. Was it duty, or did something else draw him?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether the reason a person gives himself is the whole reason, using Jim's own words.
It was duty: he is among men he fears and knows something the cabin party needs.
I began to feel that I was neglecting my business
since I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could do was to overhear them at their councils
It was also the pull of adventure: he had just been enjoying himself.
I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration
Crawling on all fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them
A strong answer Jim gives a reason: having been “so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes,” the least he can do is overhear them, and he says he was “neglecting my business.” But he has just been enjoying “the joy of exploration,” and he crawls toward the voices at once, so curiosity may be part of it. A strong answer says which reason seems stronger and whether two reasons can be true together.
5. After the killing, the sun is “still shining mercilessly” and the birds settle. What does Stevenson gain by keeping the day so calm?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what a quiet, sunny setting does to a violent moment, for Jim and for the reader.
It makes the violence stranger and harder to believe, as it is to Jim.
I could scarce persuade myself that murder had been actually done
Everything else was unchanged, the sun still shining mercilessly on the steaming marsh
It shows the place takes no notice, which leaves Jim alone with what he has seen.
silence had re-established its empire, and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon
A strong answer Nothing in the scene changes after the killing: “Everything else was unchanged,” the sun shines “mercilessly,” the birds settle, and Jim can “scarce persuade myself that murder had been actually done.” That makes the violence feel stranger and harder to believe. It also leaves him alone with what he saw, since nothing around him has taken notice. A strong answer says what the calm does for the reader and does not claim the author meant only one thing.
1. After the killing, Silver cleans his knife and blows a whistle. Using two pieces of evidence, what does his manner show?
What it asks It asks the student to read a man's manner in the minutes after a violent act, and to say what it shows.
He is cold and unmoved: the act costs him nothing.
the murderer minded him not a whit, cleansing his blood-stained knife the while upon a wisp of grass
He is practical and in command: he goes straight on to the next thing.
brought out a whistle, and blew upon it several modulated blasts that rang far across the heated air
I could hear hails coming and going between the old buccaneer and his comrades
A strong answer Silver's manner is cold: “the murderer minded him not a whit,” and he cleans his “blood-stained knife” on a wisp of grass. It is also practical, since he takes out a whistle at once and blows “several modulated blasts,” and Jim hears “hails coming and going” between him and his comrades. Jim does not know what the signal means, so a strong answer says what the manner shows and stays with what Jim saw and heard.
2. Jim asks, “could anyone be more entirely lost than I?” Using two pieces of evidence, is his danger as great as his fear?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a frightened boy's picture of his danger against what the chapter shows.
His danger is real: he is alone, and he knows what the men have done.
They had already slain two of the honest people; after Tom and Alan, might not I come next?
I could hear hails coming and going between the old buccaneer and his comrades
His fear is running ahead of the facts: it grows as he runs.
as I ran, fear grew and grew upon me until it turned into a kind of frenzy
scarce minding the direction of my flight
A strong answer Jim's danger is real: he has watched a killing, he hears the men calling to each other, and he thinks, “after Tom and Alan, might not I come next?” But his fear also runs ahead of what he knows, since it “grew and grew upon me until it turned into a kind of frenzy” and he runs “scarce minding the direction of my flight.” The chapter does not say whether anyone has seen him. A strong answer weighs the danger against the fear, with two pieces of evidence.
3. A snake hisses at Jim, and he says, “Little did I suppose” it was deadly. Using two pieces of evidence, what does that moment show?
What it asks It asks what a small moment early in the chapter shows about Jim and about the place he has come to.
Danger can sit in plain sight: a hiss he took for a toy's noise was a warning.
one raised his head from a ledge of rock and hissed at me with a noise not unlike the spinning of a top
Little did I suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the noise was the famous rattle.
Jim is new to everything here, and the older Jim telling the story knows more.
Here and there were flowering plants, unknown to me
I heard afterwards they should be called
A strong answer Jim hears a hiss “not unlike the spinning of a top” and does not see the danger, and the storyteller adds “Little did I suppose that he was a deadly enemy.” That shows how danger can sit in plain sight on a bright afternoon. It also shows two Jims: the boy, to whom the plants are “unknown,” and the storyteller, who learned things “afterwards.” A strong answer uses two pieces of evidence and says what the moment shows.