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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does the captain, who drives Black Dog out of the house at the point of a cutlass, look like "a man who sees a ghost" the moment he turns and finds him standing there?
The tension Two frightened men meet in the parlour. Black Dog is pale, short two fingers, "did not look much like a fighter", and keeps swallowing while he waits behind the door for the surprise he has arranged. Yet when the captain spins round and sees who has called him Bill, it is the captain whose face goes blue and old, and he is the one who collapses on the floor after Black Dog has fled bleeding down the road. Jim hears the quarrel only as gabbling and oaths from the bar and sees only the last cut. The chapter sets bodily fierceness against a deeper kind of fear, and asks what the captain sees in Black Dog that Jim, watching the same man, cannot.
Compare the captain and Black Dog at the start and the end of their meeting, and notice what Jim can see and what he cannot.
On a frosty January morning, while the captain is out, a pale stranger missing two fingers waits for him in the parlour with Jim. When the captain returns, the two quarrel and fight, Black Dog runs off wounded, and the captain collapses. Dr. Livesey, who comes to see Jim's father, says it is a stroke and orders the captain to lie still.
Start with Black Dog's pats on the shoulder and the oath that follows. Ask which side of him is real.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the stranger, the wait behind the door, the quarrel, the flight, the collapse and the doctor.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: someone speaks a name, then a long sentence with semicolons shows a face changing.
Debate Take sides: who had the better of the meeting, the captain or Black Dog? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what Jim's way of telling the scene adds: he saw faces and the last cut but not the quarrel.
Easier Read the parlour scene 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 the captain's face at the door with his face on waking, and add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Black Dog calls Jim “sonny,” then orders him in with an oath, then pats his shoulder. Which side of Black Dog do you think is real?Character
What it asks It asks what a man's sudden changes of manner show about him, and which one the student trusts.
The menace is real and the friendliness is a show to keep Jim close.
a most horrible change came over his tallowy face
half fawning, half sneering, patted me on the shoulder, told me I was a good boy
The tough talk is the show, and the nervous man underneath is real.
he did not look much like a fighter
it rather added to my fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself
A strong answer Black Dog switches faces quickly: he is sweet, then he orders Jim in with an oath, then he is sweet again. One reading is that the menace is real and the pats on the shoulder are a way to keep Jim close. But Jim also sees that he is “certainly frightened himself,” clearing his cutlass and swallowing, so the tough talk may be the show. A strong answer picks one and uses Black Dog's own actions to defend it, while admitting the other side has evidence.
2. Jim answers Black Dog's questions about the captain and thinks, “it was no affair of mine.” Was that understandable, or should he have done something different?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge a boy's choice by what he knew and what he could do at that moment.
It was understandable: he is a boy alone with a stranger who swears at him.
Once I stepped out myself into the road, but he immediately called me back
it was difficult to know what to do
He should have done more: he already sensed something wrong and still gave the stranger what he wanted.
I had my own reasons for thinking that the stranger was mistaken
when I had pointed out the rock and told him how the captain was likely to return, and how soon
A strong answer Jim is a boy with a swearing stranger between him and the door, and the one time he steps outside he is called back sharply. That makes his silence understandable. But he has already told the stranger where the captain went and how soon he will be back, and he thinks the man's words may mean harm. A strong answer says what Jim could have done, whether it would have worked, and does not pretend the chapter settles it.
3. When the captain wakes, he frowns at the doctor but looks “relieved” at Jim. Why might he react so differently to the two of them?Inference
What it asks It asks what one look on a waking man's face shows about how he sees the people around him.
Jim is a familiar face from the inn, and not the stranger he dreads.
then his glance fell upon me, and he looked relieved
But suddenly his colour changed, and he tried to raise himself, crying, Where's Black Dog?
The doctor is someone who has crossed him and whose advice he resents.
First he recognized the doctor with an unmistakable frown
a loud snort of indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Dr. Livesey
A strong answer The captain's first look is a frown at the doctor and his second a look of relief at Jim. Jim is a familiar face from the inn, and only after that look does the captain cry, “Where's Black Dog?” The doctor, meanwhile, is the man whom he was still snorting about that morning and who is about to lecture him on rum. A strong answer says what each face stands for and avoids claiming to know what the captain thinks.
4. The doctor calls the captain's life “trebly worthless,” yet works hard to save it. Why do you think he does?Theme
What it asks It asks what moves a person to help someone he thinks badly of, and whose sake the help is for.
He does it out of duty: a doctor saves the man in front of him, whatever he thinks of him.
I must do my best to save this fellow's trebly worthless life
I have just, very much against my own will, dragged you headforemost out of the grave
He does it for Jim's family: a dead lodger would be one more trouble for a house with a sick father.
Now, Mrs. Hawkins, just you run upstairs to your husband and tell him, if possible, nothing about it.
that is the best thing for him and you
A strong answer The doctor is blunt about the man, calling him a “fellow” with a “trebly worthless life,” yet he opens a vein and says he has dragged him “out of the grave” against his own will. One reading is duty: he saves the patient in front of him. Another is that he is thinking of the household, since he sends Mrs. Hawkins to her husband and says lying still is best “for him and you.” A strong answer weighs both and says whose sake the help is really for.
5. Jim hears the quarrel from the bar as “nothing but a low gabbling” and sees only the last cut. Why might Stevenson keep us with Jim instead of in the parlour?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the reader gains from knowing only what a boy in the next room could hear and see.
It keeps us puzzled, as Jim is, so the quarrel stays a mystery.
though I certainly did my best to listen, I could hear nothing but a low gabbling
If it comes to a swinging, swing all, say I.
It puts the weight on what can be seen: faces and actions before and after the quarrel.
the next instant I saw Black Dog in full flight
The captain, for his part, stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man.
A strong answer From the bar Jim gets a low gabbling, a few oaths and then the crash, so we know only as much as he does and the quarrel stays mysterious. What the chapter describes closely is what can be seen: Black Dog running, the cut at the signboard, the captain staring like a bewildered man. A strong answer says what each choice does to the reader and does not claim to know what the two men said.
1. Black Dog says Jim would not have “stood there to be spoke to twice” if he had sailed with Bill. Using two pieces of evidence, does the captain here fit that picture?
What it asks It asks the student to test one man's description of the captain against what the captain does in the chapter.
It fits: he is a man who gives orders and is used to being obeyed.
slammed the door behind him, without looking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room
the captain hotly pursuing, both with drawn cutlasses
It does not fit: in front of Black Dog he gives way and talks on Black Dog's terms.
you've run me down; here I am; well, then, speak up
The captain made a sort of gasp.
A strong answer It fits in part. The captain strides in without looking to either side and later chases Black Dog with a drawn cutlass, which is how a man used to command behaves. But when he sees Black Dog he gasps, says “you've run me down; here I am,” and sits to talk on the other man's terms. Black Dog is also the one describing him, and he has a reason to flatter or to tease. A strong answer weighs both pieces and does not claim to know which is the true captain.
2. After Black Dog runs, the captain stands “like a bewildered man” and calls for rum. Using two pieces of evidence, what does his state tell us about how the fight left him?
What it asks It asks the student to read the captain's state after the fight and to keep more than one cause in view.
He is shaken by the meeting: the fight did not leave him feeling safe.
stood staring at the signboard like a bewildered man
I must get away from here.
His body is failing: the collapse is an illness, as the doctor says.
he reeled a little, and caught himself with one hand against the wall
The man has had a stroke, as I warned him.
A strong answer He does not act like a winner: he stares at the signboard like a bewildered man and says, “I must get away from here.” That points to shock and to a wish to flee. Then he collapses, and the doctor says “The man has had a stroke, as I warned him,” which points to his body. The doctor blames rum, and the chapter does not rule out that the fight and the fright played a part too. A strong answer uses one piece of evidence for each and leaves the cause open.
3. The captain cries, “If it comes to a swinging, swing all,” and has a gallows tattooed on his arm. Using two pieces of evidence, what do these suggest about the life he has led?
What it asks It asks the student to read two small clues about a man's past and to say how far they can be trusted.
Hanging is a real danger in his past: he speaks of it in anger and wears it on his skin.
If it comes to a swinging, swing all, say I.
up near the shoulder there was a sketch of a gallows and a man hanging from it
The gallows is a sailor's bravado, drawn with spirit beside pictures of luck and a fair wind.
done, as I thought, with great spirit
Here's luck, A fair wind, and Billy Bones his fancy
A strong answer The captain's own cry and the gallows on his arm both point to hanging, and the doctor's dry word “Prophetic” suggests he has seen enough to think it fits. But the tattoo sits next to pictures of luck and a fair wind and is done “with great spirit,” which may be a sailor's bravado. The chapter gives clues, not a history. A strong answer uses one piece of evidence from each side and says what the clues cannot prove.