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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Is it skill or luck that carries Jim from the coracle to the jib-boom of the Hispaniola?
The tension The coracle punishes every attempt to command her: when Jim sits up to try his skill at paddling she buries her nose in the next wave, so he learns to lie still, study the waves, and push only in the smooth places. That patience gains him "some hundred yards of easting" and no more; he still misses the Cape of the Woods. Then thirst and the sight of the Hispaniola swooping about with nobody steering send him after her, and this time, sitting up and sticking to his purpose, "gradually I got into the way of the thing" and he guides the coracle among the waves. The breeze falls for a few seconds and the current turns her stern to him; then, as she charges down on him, he springs and leaps, and is left clinging to the jib-boom "without retreat on the Hispaniola" while the ship strikes his boat. The chapter sets what Jim learns and dares against what the wind and current hand him, and asks which he should thank.
Follow Jim's morning at sea and notice what he learns, what he dares, and what the water does without asking him.
Jim wakes off the south-west end of the island and cannot land at Haulbowline Head. He learns to lie still and push in the smooth places, and he gains some easting, but the current carries him past the Cape of the Woods. Thirsty, he sights the Hispaniola sailing wildly with nobody steering, chases her, and leaps to the jib-boom as she strikes the coracle.
Start with Jim sitting up to try his paddling. Ask what the coracle does, and what Jim learns from it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: waking, the rocks, the current, the lesson of the waves, the thirst, the ship, the chase, and the leap.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes three sentences of their own in order, using words like first, then, and once more, about learning to do a hard thing carefully.
Debate Is Jim right to act on his guesses about the men aboard? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the chapter shows about working with something you cannot command.
Easier Read the wave passage 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 one more moment where the wind or current changes what Jim can do, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Jim sits up “to try my skill at paddling” and the coracle buries her nose in a wave. Why does the boat punish him for being bold?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to work out what the coracle is like, and why trying harder makes things worse.
The coracle is delicate and balanced, so any change in weight throws her off.
even a small change in the disposition of the weight will produce violent changes in the behaviour of a coracle
ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy
Jim is fighting the sea instead of working with it. The boat does well when left alone.
the coracle seemed to find her head again and led me as softly as before among the billows
It was plain she was not to be interfered with
A strong answer The coracle is light and delicate, so a small shift in weight sends her down a steep slope. When Jim lies back she finds her head again and rides softly. A strong answer says that the boat is easiest to steer by not steering, and that Jim has to learn to work with her way, not against it.
2. Jim decides each wave is “for all the world like any range of hills.” Why might seeing the sea that way change what he does?Inference
What it asks It asks how a new picture of the waves changes Jim's fear and his choices.
The picture gives him a plan: hills have smooth places, so he can push there.
full of peaks and smooth places and valleys
from time to time, in smooth places, give her a shove or two towards land
The picture steadies him: a range of hills is less frightening than a mountain of water.
I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that.
instead of the big, smooth glossy mountain it looks from shore or from a vessels deck
A strong answer From the shore a wave looks like a big glossy mountain, but Jim sees that it is like hills, with peaks, smooth places and valleys. That gives him a plan, to push only in the smooth places, and it also makes the sea less terrible to lie in. A strong answer can favour either use of the picture and should say how it changes Jim's actions.
3. Jim says the thought of the Hispaniola “had an air of adventure” and the water-breaker “doubled my growing courage.” What drives him to go after her?Inference
What it asks It asks what pulls Jim toward the ship: the adventure, the thirst, or the chance to help.
Thirst. He is burning, and the water-breaker is on the ship.
I now began to be tortured with thirst
the thought of the water-breaker beside the fore companion doubled my growing courage
A wish to do something: he might return the vessel to her captain.
perhaps if I could get on board I might return the vessel to her captain
The scheme had an air of adventure that inspired me
A strong answer Jim is tortured by thirst and thinks of the water-breaker, and he also imagines handing the ship back to Captain Smollett, which has “an air of adventure.” A strong answer says that both pull on him, and gives a reason for deciding which matters more.
4. Jim thinks the men aboard must still be “drunk as owls” and later supposes the ship is “deserted.” Is he right to act on guesses like these?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a boy's need to act against the thinness of what he knows.
Yes. He has reason to guess, since nobody steers and nobody shows on deck.
It became plain to me that nobody was steering.
still no soul appeared upon her decks
No. He does not know, and being wrong could cost him his life.
Either they were dead drunk or had deserted her, I thought
I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men were lying drunk below
A strong answer Jim sees a ship sailing wildly and nobody on her decks, and he supposes the men are drunk or gone. That is a fair guess from what he sees. But it is only a guess, and he is about to put himself on the ship on the strength of it. A strong answer weighs the sight against the risk and says what a careful person would do.
5. Jim says, “And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend.” Why might the author let him understand so late and leave only a moment for action?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the timing does to the reader: why the ship's charge is held back until Jim has almost no time.
It makes the reader feel Jim's danger as he does, with no warning.
I had scarce time to think
The bowsprit was over my head.
It puts the weight on what Jim does in the moment, because he must act at once.
I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle under water.
I was left without retreat on the Hispaniola
A strong answer For most of the chapter Jim works slowly: he lies still, watches the waves, and inches forward. Then the ship sweeps round and the last paragraph moves fast, with Jim understanding only at the last instant. A strong answer says that the change of pace is deliberate and that the reader feels Jim's danger because of it.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why Jim gives up on landing at Haulbowline Head.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what Jim sees at the head and say why it puts him off.
The shore itself is deadly, with breakers and crags.
Among the fallen rocks the breakers spouted and bellowed
I saw myself, if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore
The creatures on the rocks frighten him, though he later learns they are harmless.
I beheld huge slimy monsters
I have understood since that they were sea lions, and entirely harmless.
A strong answer Jim sees breakers spouting and bellowing among the fallen rocks, and he would be dashed to death or spent trying to climb the crags. He also sees huge slimy monsters barking, which he later learns were sea lions and harmless. A strong answer uses one real danger and one mistaken fear, and says which did more to turn him away.
2. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jim sees in the Hispaniola's sailing that makes him think nobody is steering.
What it asks It asks the student to gather the signs Jim reads in the ship's odd movements.
The ship stops and starts in a way no helmsman would allow.
she fell right into the winds eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with her sails shivering
the Hispaniola sailed by swoops and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly flapping canvas
Nobody can be seen on board, and the tiller swings free.
I could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about
still no soul appeared upon her decks
A strong answer The schooner runs into the wind, hangs helpless, falls off, sails a little, and stops again, over and over. The tiller bangs about and no soul appears on deck. A strong answer puts these together: a ship with someone at the helm would not behave so.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the wind and current change Jim's chances in the chase.
What it asks It asks the student to follow how the weather helps and hurts Jim in turn.
They help him: the ship turns her stern to him and stands still.
the current gradually turning her, the Hispaniola revolved slowly round her centre and at last presented me her stern
She was stock-still but for the current.
They hurt him: the wind comes and the ship runs away, then comes round at him.
I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap
she still continued to run away from me
A strong answer The wind and current change their minds about Jim. When the breeze falls and the current turns the ship, she shows him her stern and stands nearly still. When the wind comes again in a clap she runs off, and then she comes round and bears down on him. A strong answer says what Jim does with each change.