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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does Captain Smollett refuse Silver even a hand up from the sand, when Silver has come under a flag of truce in his best coat, talking like a gentleman?
The tension Silver climbs the fence with his crutch thrown over, salutes "in the handsomest style", calls the garrison a happy family, and offers terms with his word of honour twice over. The captain will not talk to him, will not let him inside, tells him he might have been in his galley if he had chosen to be honest, and answers his terms with a bullet promised in the back. When Silver cannot rise, "Not a man among us moved." The chapter sets courtesy used as a weapon against plainness used as one, and asks who won the parley and at what cost.
Watch two men at one parley, one polite and friendly, the other plain and cold, and notice what each is doing.
On a cold, foggy morning Silver comes to the stockade under a flag of truce, climbs the fence and sits on the sand before the captain. He asks for the chart and offers terms, and the captain refuses them and offers irons and a fair trial. Silver cannot get up, no one helps him, and he leaves in a rage.
Start with the captain's first words to Silver: “I have not the slightest desire to talk to you.” Ask what kind of welcome that is for a man under a flag of truce.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the flag, the watch, the fence, the sitting, the two offers, and Silver's going.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences of their own: one that lists three things in the way, and one that ends with a picture from the student's own world.
Debate Was the captain's offer of irons and a fair trial generous or harsh? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what Silver and the captain each show about themselves by how they speak.
Easier Read the parley aloud in two parts 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 from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to find one more place where the captain or Silver speaks for a listener other than the one in front of him, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. The man waving the white cloth announces “Capn Silver, sir, to come on board and make terms.” Smollett answers, “Capn Silver! Don’t know him. Who’s he?” What is he doing with those words?Tone
What it asks It asks what the captain is up to when he pretends not to know a man he knows well, and what that does to Silver.
He refuses Silver the title, because to him a mutineer is not a captain.
Capn Silver! Dont know him. Whos he?
Capn Silver, a common mutineer and pirate
He is having a little joke at Silver's expense, cool and in command while the flag is up.
Capn, is it? My heart, and heres promotion!
Well? says Captain Smollett as cool as can be.
A strong answer The captain knows exactly who Silver is, so “Who’s he?” is not a real question. It refuses Silver the title his man has just given him, and the muttered “here’s promotion!” turns the title into a joke. A strong answer says what this does: it keeps the captain calm and in charge from the start of the parley, and it tells Silver that a white flag will not buy him respect. Whether it is contempt, strategy or both is left for the reader.
2. When the man with the flag tries to hold him back, Silver laughs, slaps his back and climbs the fence. Is that courage, show, or both?Character
What it asks It asks whether Silver's ease in walking in among armed enemies is real nerve or a performance for those watching.
Courage. He walks into the stockade of men who might have him shot, and does it by himself.
We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold Silver back.
with great vigour and skill succeeded in surmounting the fence and dropping safely to the other side
Show. He laughs as if there were nothing to fear, to make his own man and the garrison believe it.
But Silver laughed at him aloud and slapped him on the back as if the idea of alarm had been absurd.
Thats enough, capn, shouted Long John cheerily.
A strong answer Silver walks into a stockade where he has just been told “the Lord help you” if there is treachery, and he climbs in with “great vigour and skill.” That is nerve. But Jim writes that he laughed “as if the idea of alarm had been absurd,” which leaves room for acting. A strong answer can hold both: the walk is brave, and the laugh is for the audience. It should say which it finds more important.
3. Silver raises his voice so that “all hands in this here block house” will hear his offer. Who is he really talking to?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to work out who Silver wants to reach, when he is sitting in front of the captain alone.
He is talking past the captain to the garrison, hoping some of them hear an offer worth taking.
that all hands in this here block house will overhaul my words, for what is spoke to one is spoke to all
He is talking to the captain, and raises his voice only to seem open and fair.
Now, youll own thats talking.
Handsomer you couldnt look to get, not you.
A strong answer The captain is the one Silver addresses, but Silver says he hopes that “all hands in this here block house” will hear, and he adds “for what is spoke to one is spoke to all.” A strong answer can read this as a try at the other men, who might like his terms better than their captain does. It can also read it as Silver wanting to sound open and fair. Either reading says that Silver is playing to more than one listener.
4. The captain offers to “clap you all in irons and take you home to a fair trial in England.” Is that a generous offer or a harsh one?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh mercy against justice in an offer made to men who have turned on their ship.
Generous. The men who turned on him are offered their lives and a fair trial, not a fight.
take you home to a fair trial in England
If youll come up one by one, unarmed
Harsh. It means irons, and the only other choice is a fight to the death.
Ill engage to clap you all in irons
Ill see you all to Davy Jones
A strong answer The captain offers a trial, not a hanging on the spot, to men who have mutinied, and that can be called generous. But it comes with irons and a stern “if,” and the alternative is “Davy Jones.” A strong answer weighs the offer against what Silver put on the table, and says what a captain owes men who have turned on him.
5. Jim says watching the two men smoke in silence “was as good as the play.” Why might the author have Jim watch the parley like a show?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author has a boy enjoy a scene that holds real danger, and what that adds to the parley.
Because both men really are performing: each holds his nerve and plays his part for the other and the watchers.
the two men sat silently smoking for quite a while, now looking each other in the face, now stopping their tobacco, now leaning forward to spit
Well? says Captain Smollett as cool as can be.
Because Jim is a boy watching from behind a grown man, safe enough to enjoy it while the danger stays underneath.
I had already deserted my eastern loophole and crept up behind the captain
Refuse that, and youve seen the last of me but musket-balls.
A strong answer The picture is of two men smoking, looking at each other, and leaning forward to spit, each refusing to be the first to give way. A strong answer says that Jim's words make the scene feel like a performance, which fits two men who are each putting on a face. It also notices that Jim is tucked behind the captain while threats are being made, so the enjoyment sits on top of real danger.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how far the captain trusts the flag of truce.
What it asks It asks the student to set the captain's precautions against the things he allows, and say where trust begins and ends.
He does not trust it at all. He treats the visit as a trap from the first word.
Ten to one this is a trick.
keeping himself carefully out of the way of a treacherous shot, should any be intended
He trusts it enough to let Silver come in and sit, and shows it by how at ease he is.
If you wish to talk to me, you can come, thats all.
He was whistling to himself.
A strong answer The captain trusts the flag only so far. He calls it a likely trick, stands out of the way of a shot, and sets every man to watch. Yet he also says Silver can come, sits on the threshold with his head in his hands, and whistles to himself. A strong answer says he is ready for treachery but shows no fear, and explains why a careful man might do both.
2. Using two pieces of evidence from Silver’s own words, explain why he has come to the stockade.
What it asks It asks the student to tell what Silver says he wants from what he lets slip about his own side.
He has come for the chart and the treasure, and the parley is a way to get them.
We want that treasure
What I mean is, we want your chart.
He has come because his side was hurt in the night and he is not sure of it.
maybe I was shook myself; maybe thats why Im here for terms
Well have to do sentry-go and ease off a point or so on the rum.
A strong answer Silver says plainly that his side wants the treasure and therefore the chart. But he also lets slip that “some of my people was shook” and that he may have been shaken himself. A strong answer uses one quote of each kind and says what it shows: Silver wants the chart, and he also comes out of the night less sure than he sounds.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jim’s description of the cold morning adds to the scene.
What it asks It asks what the weather and the white vapour do for a chapter about a parley.
It sets Silver apart: he stands in shadow and fog while the treetops shine.
But where Silver stood with his lieutenant, all was still in shadow
they waded knee-deep in a low white vapour that had crawled during the night out of the morass
It shows a bad island for everyone, since Jim himself feels the chill.
a chill that pierced into the marrow
It was plainly a damp, feverish, unhealthy spot.
A strong answer Jim puts Silver and his lieutenant in shadow, knee-deep in a low white vapour, while the tops of the trees shine rosily. That sets him a little apart and gives him a sickly look. The chill that pierces into the marrow belongs to everyone, and Jim says the island is plainly damp, feverish and unhealthy. A strong answer picks two details and says what mood or warning they give.