Treasure Island
Chapter 19 — Teaching Companion
Robert Louis Stevenson · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Coaching, not a script — and not an answer key: every question here has more than one defensible answer.
This chapter's big question
Why does the doctor, sitting in sand, smoke and the company of a dead man under the flag, say that Captain Smollett "is a better man than I am"?
The tension Two camps spend the same night half a mile apart. The pirates roar and sing round a great fire, the men Jim had seen so gloomy now shouting at the oars with rum in their voices. The garrison has sand in its teeth, smoke in its eyes and Redruth stiff along the wall; and the captain answers that with watches, firewood, a grave to dig, a sentry at the door, and a word for every man. Then, alone in the corner, he says "First ship that ever I lost". The chapter sets a crew that celebrates against a crew that works, and asks what kind of goodness the doctor is measuring.
Today's focus
Watch one night from two camps: the pirates' fire and singing, and the garrison's sand, smoke and work.
Two core ideas
- The same night looks very different from two camps: the pirates shout and sing round a fire, while the garrison coughs in smoke and buries Tom Redruth.
- The captain answers the night with work and a word for each man. The doctor says Smollett “is a better man than I am,” but the chapter leaves the reader to weigh what he means.
The shape at a glance
Ben Gunn sees the colours and tells Jim his friends are ashore, but he will deal only with “your born genleman.” A cannonball scatters them, and Jim slips back to the stockade after watching the pirates' fire. The garrison spends the night in sand and smoke, working under Captain Smollett, and the chiefs plan to kill off the buccaneers one by one. The chapter ends as Jim runs to the loophole at the cry of “Flag of truce!”
A way in
Start with Jim's two sights that evening: the pirates shouting at the oars, and the garrison's sand and smoke. Ask which camp the student would rather join, and why.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: Ben Gunn, the cannonade, the pirates' fire, the stockade, the jobs, the burial, the council, and the flag of truce.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes a sentence about why a group needs to keep busy, then names two groups in a line divided by a semicolon.
Debate Is giving everyone work on a night like this kind or hard? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why a story might set a noisy camp beside a busy, smoky one, and what the doctor sees in the captain.
Easier Read the list of jobs 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 from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to compare the pirates' camp with the garrison's in a short paragraph that uses one quote from each.
Discussion
- Ben Gunn will go to Jim's friends only for “your born genleman” and his “word of honour.” Why might a man alone on an island want a promise before he trusts anyone?Inference
What it asks It asks why Ben Gunn wants a gentleman's word before he steps out, and whether that is fear, cunning, or both.
One reading
He is afraid. After years alone he trusts nobody, and above all he fears Silver hearing of him.
And, Jim, if you was to see Silver, you wouldnt go for to sell Ben Gunn?
Rum wouldnt bring me there
Another reading
He is bargaining. He has reasons of his own and wants the terms fixed before he gives anything away.
Ben Gunn, says you, has reasons of his own
Reasons of his own; that’s the mainstay; as between man and man.
Listen for
- Uses Ben's own words about Silver and about the gentleman.
- Notices that Ben names his terms but never says what he wants.
If stuck
- Whom does Ben ask Jim not to “sell” him to?
- Who does Ben say he will deal with, and on what promise?
- Why might someone alone for years trust a promise more than a stranger's face?
A strong answer Ben says even rum will not bring him to the stockade until he has seen Jim's “born genleman” and had it “on his word of honour.” He also asks Jim not to sell him to Silver. A strong answer can read this as fear, from a man who has been alone three years and trusts no one quickly. It can also read it as bargaining, since Ben has “reasons of his own” and wants the price fixed first. Either way he asks for a promise before he offers anything.
- Jim is not sure Ben Gunn is sane. The doctor says, “If there’s any doubt about the matter, he is.” Why do the two of them see Ben so differently?Character
What it asks It asks why the doctor reads a strange man more kindly than Jim does, and what each of them has to go on.
One reading
The doctor understands what years alone do to anyone, so he is not shocked by Ben's oddness.
A man who has been three years biting his nails on a desert island, Jim, cant expect to appear as sane as you or me.
It doesnt lie in human nature.
Another reading
Jim's doubt is fair, because he has met Ben face to face and seen how strangely he behaves.
I do not know, sir, said I. I am not very sure whether hes sane.
And he pinched me the third time with the same air of cleverness.
Listen for
- Gives Jim's doubt its due as well as the doctor's answer.
- Says what the doctor's way of reasoning adds.
If stuck
- What has Ben done to Jim in this chapter that might make him doubt?
- How long has Ben been alone, according to the doctor?
- What does the doctor say being alone does to anyone?
A strong answer Jim has just been pinched three times by a man who talks of “widders in the morning,” so his doubt is fair. The doctor is working from Jim's report, and he answers with a general fact: a man three years alone on a desert island “cant expect to appear as sane as you or me.” A strong answer gives Jim's doubt its due and says what the doctor adds. He judges Ben by the years he has spent, not by the pinching.
- Jim writes “sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in our suppers.” Is he making the log-house sound grim, funny, or both?Tone
What it asks It asks what mood the repeated word creates, and how that mood sits beside a night when a friend lies dead along the wall.
One reading
Funny. The list is almost a joke, and the sand in the spring looks like porridge boiling.
There was sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth, sand in our suppers, sand dancing in the spring at the bottom of the kettle, for all the world like porridge beginning to boil.
Another reading
Grim. The sand and smoke wear people down, and Tom's body lies in the same room.
the rest eddied about the house and kept us coughing and piping the eye
poor old Tom Redruth, still unburied, lay along the wall, stiff and stark, under the Union Jack
Listen for
- Notices the list gets longer and stranger as it goes.
- Says how a joke and a dead friend can sit in the same paragraph.
If stuck
- How many different places does Jim put the sand?
- What is the sand compared to in the spring?
- Who is lying along the wall a few lines later?
A strong answer The list runs from eyes to teeth to suppers to a spring that looks like boiling porridge, and each step is a little more comic than the last. Yet the same paragraph ends with Tom Redruth “stiff and stark, under the Union Jack.” A strong answer says the tone is both: Jim can joke about the sand because the real trouble is on the other side of the room.
- Tired as they are, two men dig “a grave for Redruth” and two fetch firewood before anyone rests. Is it kind or hard to give everyone work on a night like this?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what work does for tired, grieving men against what it asks of them.
One reading
Kind. Work keeps tired men from sinking, and the captain works beside them.
If we had been allowed to sit idle, we should all have fallen in the blues
the captain himself went from one to another, keeping up our spirits and lending a hand wherever it was wanted
Another reading
Hard. The men are worn out, and the work includes burying their friend, with more demanded the next day.
Tired though we all were, two were sent out for firewood; two more were set to dig a grave for Redruth
he shook his head over it and told us we must get back to this tomorrow rather livelier
Listen for
- Names both what the work gives and what it costs.
- Uses the captain's actions, not only the words kind or hard.
If stuck
- Which jobs does Jim list, and whose job is digging the grave?
- What does the captain do himself while the others work?
- What does he say about the firewood once the day is over?
A strong answer The jobs are kind in one way and hard in another. The work means nobody sits idle, and the captain goes from man to man “lending a hand.” But the men are tired, one job is a grave for a friend, and the captain still wants the firewood done “rather livelier” tomorrow. A strong answer weighs both and explains which matters more to a tired crew.
- After talk of the pirates packing off in the schooner, the captain says only, “First ship that ever I lost.” Why might the author end the night on his words?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the captain's short line adds to a council that has been talking about winning, and why the author gives it the last word.
One reading
It shows a private feeling. The captain has been busy and steady all day, and here he says what losing his ship means to him.
First ship that ever I lost, said Captain Smollett.
Captain Smollett was never the man for that
Another reading
It cools the plan. The others talk of hope, and the captain reminds them what has already been lost.
Its always a ship, and they can get to buccaneering again, I suppose.
we must have been starved into surrender long before help came
Listen for
- Compares the captain's short line with the longer talk before it.
- Says what a reader feels when a scene ends on so few words.
If stuck
- Who speaks just before the captain, and what does he say?
- What has the captain lost, and what is he still trying to save?
- What might a short answer show that a long one hides?
A strong answer The doctor speaks of the pirates being glad to be packing in the schooner, and the captain answers in six words. Those words can be read as a feeling he has kept private until now, or as a check on the council's hope. A strong answer says what the short line does to the ending of the scene and stays open about what the captain means by it.
Critical thinking
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jim learns about the pirates’ side as the day ends.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what Jim sees and hears of the pirates and say what it adds up to.
One reading
The pirates are celebrating and careless, with rum in their voices.
shouting at the oars like children. But there was a sound in their voices which suggested rum
we could hear them roaring and singing late into the night
Another reading
The pirates are in charge of the ship and the shore, whatever the noise.
there was the Jolly Roger
Men were demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade
Listen for
- Two separate pieces of evidence, not one told twice.
- Says what each one shows, not only what it is.
If stuck
- What flag is flying from the Hispaniola?
- What are the men on the beach doing with axes?
- What does Jim hear in the men's voices?
A strong answer Jim sees the pirates at their ease: a great fire, a gig going back and forth, and men shouting at the oars with rum in their voices. He also sees how much they hold, since the Jolly Roger flies from the ship and men are breaking up the jolly-boat with axes. A strong answer uses one piece of each kind and says the noise does not make them weak.
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain why the three chiefs think killing off the buccaneers is their best hope.
What it asks It asks the student to find the reasons behind the council's plan and to see which are facts and which are hopes.
One reading
They have no other choice, because they cannot outlast a siege.
the stores being so low that we must have been starved into surrender long before help came
Another reading
They have reason to hope: the pirates are already fewer and have troubles of their own.
From nineteen they were already reduced to fifteen
we had two able allies
Listen for
- Separates what has happened from what the chiefs hope will happen.
- Notices that the doctor's bet is a bet, not a fact.
If stuck
- How many pirates were there, and how many are left?
- What is wrong with the garrison's stores?
- What does the doctor stake his wig on?
A strong answer The chiefs are caught: with stores so low they would be starved into surrender before help came. Their hope is that the pirates, already cut from nineteen to fifteen, will weaken further, with “rum and the climate” as allies. A strong answer notes that the count is a fact, while the doctor staking his wig on sickness in the marsh is only a bet.
- Using two pieces of evidence from Jim’s description, explain whether the log-house is a good place to hold out.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the strengths of the stockade against its faults, using Jim's own description.
One reading
Yes. It is solidly built and has its own water.
The log-house was made of unsquared trunks of pine
under this porch the little spring welled up into an artificial basin
Another reading
No. It is rough and exposed, with the trees too near and the smoke trapped inside.
too close for defence, they said
it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way out
Listen for
- One piece of evidence for a strength and one for a fault, or two for one side.
- A reason for the choice, not just a list.
If stuck
- What is the house made of?
- Where does the spring come up?
- What do the chiefs say about the trees near the stockade?
A strong answer The log-house has real strengths: it is built of pine trunks, and a spring wells up under its porch. But the wood stands “too close for defence,” the wind whistles through every chink, and most of the smoke stays inside. A strong answer picks a side, backs it with two quotes, and says why the other side weighs less.