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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does Jim, who says all pity left him when he remembered the apple barrel, still feed Israel Hands, give him brandy and bind his wound with his mother's handkerchief?
The tension Hands's moan goes "right to my heart", and the memory of the apple barrel drives the pity out again. Then Jim plays captain: he drinks first and only afterwards hands over the brandy, strikes the black flag, names himself master, and bargains food and a bandage for sailing lessons. His conscience, sore from deserting the stockade, is "quieted by the great conquest". All the while the coxswain's eyes follow him with derision and "a shadow of treachery". The chapter sets Jim's hardness against his decency, and his pride against what he can see in Hands's face, and asks which of them is really in command.
Watch how Jim treats Israel Hands when he has the upper hand, and how Hands looks at him in return.
Jim tumbles onto the deck of the Hispaniola and finds red-cap dead and Israel Hands wounded. He fetches brandy, strikes the black flag, names himself captain, and makes a bargain: food, drink and a bandage for sailing lessons. Jim sails along the coast toward North Inlet, pleased with himself. The chapter ends with Hands's smile and the word watched.
Start with Jim's greeting, “Come aboard, Mr. Hands.” Ask what Jim is feeling when he says it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the deck, the two men, the brandy, the flag, the bargain, the handkerchief, and the smile.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences: one about what pleases them, and another about what eases a worry.
Debate Who gets the better of the bargain, Jim or Hands? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what Jim's small choices, like drinking first, show about how he sees Hands.
Easier Read the scene with the brandy 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 small choice of Jim's that shows how he sees Hands, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Jim greets the wounded Hands with “Come aboard, Mr. Hands,” said ironically. What is Jim doing with that joke?Tone
What it asks It asks what Jim gets from mocking a hurt man, and what the joke shows about how he feels at that moment.
He is enjoying his turn: Hands once ruled the ship, and Jim is now the one who has come aboard.
Come aboard, Mr. Hands, I said ironically.
Ive come aboard to take possession of this ship, Mr. Hands; and youll please regard me as your captain until further notice.
He is covering his nerves. He has just seen a dead man and a badly hurt one, and he steadies himself with a joke.
red-cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix
He rolled his eyes round heavily, but he was too far gone to express surprise.
A strong answer Jim has come aboard a ship where two men have just been left for dead, and he greets the living one with a joke. It can be read as enjoying the change of places, now that the pirate is the one who is hurt and Jim is the one on his feet. It can also be read as steadying himself. A strong answer says which it finds more likely and what in the scene supports it.
2. Jim drinks his water first and “not till then” gives Hands the brandy, and he sits with his food “well out of the coxswain’s reach.” What do these small choices show?Character
What it asks It asks what Jim's order of doing things shows about how he sees the man he is helping.
He is cautious. He helps Hands but keeps his distance and looks after himself first.
put down my own stock behind the rudder head and well out of the coxswains reach
had a good, deep drink of water, and then, and not till then, gave Hands the brandy
He is practical, not unkind. He is thirsty and needs his strength, and Hands still gets what he asked for.
Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands
Aye, said he, by thunder, but I wanted some o that!
A strong answer Jim finds the brandy for Hands, and he also puts his own food out of the coxswain's reach and takes his drink first. A strong answer can read this as caution, from a boy who knows this man is dangerous, or as plain common sense, from a hungry boy who still helps. It should use both what Jim gives and what he holds back.
3. Hands offers to show Jim how to sail the ship for food, drink and a bandage. Who gets the better of that bargain?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what each of them gives and gets in a bargain made between a wounded man and a boy.
Jim gets the better of it: he needs a hand to sail and pays only with food and a bandage.
and whos to sail this ship, I dont see
We struck our bargain on the spot.
Hands gets the better of it: he is fed, bandaged and kept close to the helm, with the one thing Jim lacks.
Without I gives you a hint, you aint that man, as fars I can tell.
he began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer
A strong answer Hands says plainly that he will tell Jim how to sail if Jim gives him food, drink and a scarf for his wound. Jim gets a ship that sails easily along the coast within three minutes. But Hands gets strong enough to sit up, speak clearly and look like another man. A strong answer weighs the two and says who it thinks gained more, with a reason.
4. Jim says his conscience, which “had smitten me hard for my desertion,” was “quieted by the great conquest.” Is that a good reason for a conscience to go quiet?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether success can settle a guilty feeling, or only quiet it.
Yes, partly. He has taken the ship out of the pirates' hands, and that is worth something against his fault.
I had now plenty of water and good things to eat
God save the king! said I, waving my cap.
No. A good result does not undo leaving his friends, and Jim himself says only that it was quieted.
my conscience, which had smitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest I had made
I should, I think, have had nothing left me to desire
A strong answer Jim has taken the ship and struck the black flag, and his sore conscience quiets down. But he says it was quieted, not cleared, and in the next breath he adds that he would have nothing left to desire but for the coxswain's eyes. A strong answer says whether it thinks a win can answer for a fault, and uses Jim's own wording.
5. The chapter ends with Hands’s face and the words “watched, and watched, and watched me.” Why might the author end on that repetition?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to hear what the repetition does, and what mood the last line leaves.
It leaves unease. Jim is pleased with himself, and the repeated word says he is being watched.
as he craftily watched, and watched, and watched me at my work
a grain of derision, a shadow of treachery
It shows a man who is hurt and weak but alert, as if only his eyes are left strong.
a haggard old mans smile
It was a smile that had in it something both of pain and weakness
A strong answer Jim has just said he is elated and has almost nothing left to desire, and the last sentence sets against that a smile of pain and weakness with “a shadow of treachery” in it. The repeated word slows the line and makes the watching feel long. A strong answer says what the reader feels at the end and how the repetition does it.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Jim sees on the deck that makes him think the watchmen have killed each other.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what Jim actually sees and separate it from what he concludes.
The two men are still and pale, like men who have fought to the end.
red-cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix and his teeth showing through his open lips
his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle
There is blood on the planks around both of them, and nobody else in sight.
around both of them, splashes of dark blood upon the planks
Not a soul was to be seen.
A strong answer Jim sees red-cap on his back, stiff as a handspike, and Hands white as a tallow candle, slumped against the bulwarks. He also sees splashes of dark blood around both, and no other soul aboard. A strong answer uses two of these and notes that Jim only “began to feel sure” from them; it is his conclusion, not something he saw.
2. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Hands looks and acts once he has had brandy, food and a bandage.
What it asks It asks the student to follow how Hands changes from a slumped man to a steady one.
He grows stronger in body, sitting up and speaking plainly.
he began to pick up visibly, sat straighter up, spoke louder and clearer
and looked in every way another man
He stays watchful, and the smile and the eyes do not change.
the eyes of the coxswain as they followed me derisively about the deck
the odd smile that appeared continually on his face
A strong answer After the brandy, food and bandage, Hands picks up visibly, sits straighter, speaks louder and looks like another man. But his eyes still follow Jim derisively about the deck and the odd smile stays. A strong answer uses one of each and says what Jim sees and what the reader is left to think.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the state of the cabin shows about life aboard since the mutiny.
What it asks It asks what a damaged cabin tells us about the men who lived in it.
It shows the men looted and ruined the ship in their search for the chart and drink.
All the lockfast places had been broken open in quest of the chart.
One of the doctors medical books lay open on the table, half of the leaves gutted out
It shows the men lived in drunken squalor, with no discipline left.
Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of the ship.
Certainly, since the mutiny began, not a man of them could ever have been sober.
A strong answer The cabin was broken open in a search for the chart, the doctor's medical book is half gutted for pipelights, and the floor is thick with mud. Empty bottles clink in the corners, and Jim is sure that since the mutiny not a man of them has been sober. A strong answer uses two details and says what they show: the men have been greedy, careless and drunk.