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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does the captain answer Redruth's death with a flag, a stores count and the words "extra mouth", while the squire answers it on his knees?
The tension The oldest and quietest of the party is shot from the bush and carried in to die. The squire kisses his hand, weeps, and begs forgiveness; Redruth asks whether that would even be respectful, coming from him. The captain runs up the colours, counts stores "as if nothing else existed", spreads a flag reverently over the body, and then points at it as an extra mouth the rations are better without. Under the cannonade he will not strike the flag the enemy is aiming at. The chapter sets grief against duty and asks whether they are two answers or one.
Watch how each person in the stockade meets Tom Redruth's death, and what each one does with it.
The party runs for the stockade, scatters seven mutineers with a volley, and loses Tom Redruth to a shot from the bush. The squire weeps over him, while the captain raises the flag, counts stores and speaks of rations. The cannon fire on the flag, the mutineers carry off the stores, and the chapter ends as Jim Hawkins climbs over the stockade.
Start with Tom's answer to the squire, “Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?” Ask what kind of man answers that way.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the run, the volley, Tom's fall, the squire and the captain at his side, the flag, the cannon, and Jim's hail.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences of their own in the same pattern: one that praises someone by what they never did, and one that lists what they did, with semicolons.
Debate Was “you’re going home” the best thing to say to a dying man? Each side gives one detail from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the captain's log and the doctor's tribute each keep of Tom, and what each leaves out.
Easier Read Tom's last 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 from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to find a third piece of evidence for one critical-thinking answer and say which of the three is strongest.
1. When the squire asks Tom to say he forgives him, Tom answers, “Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?” What might he mean by that?Inference
What it asks It asks what Tom is really saying with a polite, odd answer, and whether he refuses the squire, grants the request, or does something in between.
Tom sees himself as the squire's servant, so to him pardoning his master is not his place.
sullen, old, serviceable servant
Would that be respectful like, from me to you, squire?
Tom turns the word aside out of kindness, because he has no blame to give, and then grants it anyway.
Howsoever, so be it, amen!
I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first
A strong answer Tom does not simply say yes. He first asks whether it would be respectful, which suggests he thinks a servant pardoning his master is not quite proper, or that there is nothing to pardon. Then he adds “Howsoever, so be it, amen!” and the squire gets what he begged for. A strong answer notices both the hesitation and the gift, and says what they show about Tom: his sense of rank, his kindness, or both.
2. Tom asks, “Be I going, doctor?” and the doctor answers, “you’re going home.” Was that the right thing to say to a dying man?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether a gentle answer can also be an honest one, and what the doctor owes a man who asks a plain question.
It was kind and honest enough: Tom asked if he was going, and he was, and he took it without fuss.
Tom, my man, said I, youre going home.
I wish I had had a lick at them with the gun first, he replied.
It was a dodge: Tom asked a plain question and got a soft answer instead of the plain word.
Be I going, doctor? he asked.
A strong answer The doctor is asked a plain question and gives a soft answer, “you’re going home.” It is true in its way, since Tom does go, and Tom shows no sign of being fooled; he only wishes he had had “a lick at them with the gun first.” A strong answer can call it kind because Tom takes it so well, or a dodge because the doctor never says the plain word. Either way it weighs what Tom seemed to want against what he was given.
3. The captain tells the squire, “Don’t you take on, sir.” What kind of comfort is that, and does it suit the squire?Character
What it asks It asks what the captain offers the squire in words, and whether those words reach a man who is weeping.
It is real comfort: the captain says Tom died doing his duty, which he treats as a good way to die.
Don’t you take on, sir, he said, shaking the squires hand.
All’s well with him; no fear for a hand that’s been shot down in his duty to captain and owner.
It is a hard comfort that may miss the squire, and even the captain admits it may not be right in every way.
It mayn’t be good divinity, but its a fact.
The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand, crying like a child.
A strong answer The captain comforts the squire the way a captain might: he shakes his hand and says Tom was shot down in his duty, so all is well with him. He is honest about its limits, since he says it “mayn’t be good divinity,” only a fact. A strong answer asks whether the words reach the squire, who is weeping beside the dying man, and can stay open about which kind of comfort a grieving man needs.
4. The captain pulls the doctor aside to talk about rations and “that extra mouth.” Why might he do it privately, away from the squire?Inference
What it asks It asks why the captain picks a private moment and one listener for the hardest thing he says.
He is sparing the squire, who is grieving, a remark that would hurt.
The squire dropped down beside him on his knees and kissed his hand, crying like a child.
Then he pulled me aside.
He is bringing a practical problem to the one man who knows when help is due.
Dr. Livesey, he said, in how many weeks do you and squire expect the consort?
I told him it was a question not of weeks but of months
A strong answer The captain first asks how long until the consort comes, and only when the doctor says months does he say the rations are short and they are “perhaps as well without that extra mouth.” Going aside could spare the squire, who has just been weeping over Tom, or it could be plain business with the one man who knows the date. The chapter does not say which, and a strong answer keeps both in view.
5. The captain's log lists Tom as “owners servant, landsman, shot by the mutineers.” What does it do to a death to write it down this way?Tone
What it asks It asks what plain record-keeping does to a death that the page has just shown in feeling.
It makes Tom's death official and counts him in the company, in the same form as the living men.
Alexander Smollett, master; David Livesey, ships doctor; Abraham Gray, carpenters mate
Thomas Redruth, owners servant, landsman, shot by the mutineers
It is cold beside what the doctor said of him: a rank and a cause, and nothing of the man.
Poor old fellow, he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint, fear, or even acquiescence
he was the oldest of our party by a score of years
A strong answer A log is a record of facts, so Tom goes into it as “owners servant, landsman, shot by the mutineers,” in the same form as the men before him. That can make his death official and keep him in the company, or it can feel cold beside the doctor's “Poor old fellow.” A strong answer compares the two ways of telling and says what each keeps and what it leaves out.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the doctor’s words about Tom Redruth show about what Tom was worth to the party.
What it asks It asks the student to gather the doctor's praise of Tom and say what it adds up to.
Tom was worth his steady work: he was brave, obedient and tireless.
He had lain like a Trojan behind his mattress in the gallery
he had followed every order silently, doggedly, and well
Tom was worth his character: he never complained, and the doctor feels the loss as a man's.
he had not uttered one word of surprise, complaint, fear, or even acquiescence
now, sullen, old, serviceable servant, it was he that was to die
A strong answer The doctor praises Tom in two ways. He lists what Tom did, lying like a Trojan behind his mattress and following every order silently, doggedly, and well. He also lists what Tom never did: not one word of surprise, complaint, fear, or even acquiescence. A strong answer uses one of each and explains what they add up to: a man whose worth was his steadiness, whom the doctor calls sullen and honours all the same.
2. The squire wants to take in the flag, and the captain says, “Strike my colours!” Using two pieces of evidence, explain why the captain will not.
What it asks It asks the student to find the doctor's two reasons in the scene and say which one carries more weight.
The captain refuses out of pride and feeling, as a seaman would.
Strike my colours! cried the captain. No, sir, not I
it was not only a piece of stout, seamanly, good feeling
The captain refuses because it is good tactics: it shows the enemy they are not frightened.
it was good policy besides and showed our enemies that we despised their cannonade
Blaze away! You’ve little enough powder already, my lads.
A strong answer The doctor says it was not only “stout, seamanly, good feeling” but also “good policy besides,” because it showed the enemy that they despised the cannonade. The captain's own words at the first shot show the policy side: he tells the gunners they have little enough powder already. His flat refusal, “No, sir, not I,” shows the feeling side. A strong answer uses one piece of evidence for each and says which reason it finds stronger.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain whether the party ends the chapter in a stronger or a weaker position than it began.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what the party has lost against what it still holds.
Weaker: Tom is dead and the food is going.
the rations are short, very short
four or five of them were busy carrying off our stores
Stronger: they hold the stockade and the mutineers have been driven back, and Jim is safe.
I believe the readiness of our return volley had scattered the mutineers once more
Jim Hawkins, safe and sound, come climbing over the stockade
A strong answer The party is weaker in men and food: Tom is dead, the captain says the rations are short, very short, and the mutineers carry off the stores. It is stronger in position and heart: its volley has scattered the mutineers, the flag is up, and Jim comes over the stockade safe and sound. A strong answer picks one side, gives one piece of evidence for it, and says why the other side does not outweigh it.