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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does Jim refuse the doctor's offer to run, when the man he gave his word to is a pirate who plans to break his own treaty "when the time comes"?
The tension The doctor calls Jim's desertion downright cowardly, then, hearing of torture, begs him to jump the stockade and promises to carry the blame himself. Jim, weeping, says he passed his word, that the doctor would not break it either, and that Silver trusted him. Minutes earlier Silver told his crew the treaty is theirs to break. Outside the fence Silver pleads, dead in earnest, for one good word against the gallows. The chapter sets a boy's word of honour against the safety it costs him, and an honest man's rule against his love for the boy, and asks what a promise to Silver is worth.
Watch how the doctor treats the pirates and Jim, and what a spoken promise is worth to each man.
The doctor arrives at dawn to see to the pirates' sick. He asks to talk to Jim, and Silver takes Jim's word of honour not to escape. The crew protests and Silver quiets them. By the stockade the doctor scolds Jim, then begs him to jump, and Jim refuses. After Jim tells him about the ship, the doctor gives Silver a bit of hope and a piece of advice, shakes Jim's hand and leaves.
Start with the doctor's calm visit to the pirates. Ask what he is doing with his manner.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the hail, the visit, the pledge, the crew's anger, the talk at the stockade, the news of the ship, and the doctor's going.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences of their own about someone who stays calm in a frightening place: one that names the nod, and one that begins "He seemed under no apprehension" and ends with a comparison.
Debate Is Jim right that the doctor, the squire and the captain would keep the same promise? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the doctor, Silver and Jim each show about what a promise is worth.
Easier Read the talk at the stockade aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 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 find one more place where a speaker's words and face point different ways, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Silver asks Jim for “your word of honour as a young gentleman” not to slip his cable. Why might Silver ask for a promise instead of guarding him?Inference
What it asks It asks what Silver gains by trusting a prisoner's word, and what the request shows about both of them.
Silver has to use a promise, because his crew would not let him do anything else and he needs Jim alive and willing.
said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor
asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very day they were bound a-treasure-hunting
Silver believes Jim will keep it, because he has watched him and seen the sort of boy he is.
for a young gentleman you are, although poor born
I readily gave the pledge required.
A strong answer Silver could guard Jim, but with his crew angry he needs a way for the doctor and Jim to talk that the crew will tolerate. Asking for a word of honour from a young gentleman treats Jim as someone whose promise counts. A strong answer says what Silver is betting on, and that Jim gives the pledge readily.
2. The doctor first says it was “downright cowardly” to leave, then says, “Whip over, and we’ll run for it.” What makes his voice change?Character
What it asks It asks the student to hear two sides of one man, and to find what turns him from scolding to pleading.
Jim's mention of torture reaches him. The doctor's anger is on the surface, and his care for the boy is underneath.
but what I fear is torture. If they come to torture me
Jim, the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite changed
Jim's tears reach him. He said what he meant, and the boy's grief showed him how much was already lost.
I will own that I here began to weep.
Heaven knows, I cannot find it in my heart to blame you
A strong answer The doctor says the flight was downright cowardly, but he also says he cannot find it in his heart to blame Jim. When Jim says he fears torture, the doctor interrupts in a voice that is quite changed and tells him to run. A strong answer says which of the two, the torture or the tears, matters more, and that both voices are the doctor's.
3. The doctor visits the mutineers as if on “an ordinary professional visit,” and they take his medicine “more like charity schoolchildren.” Why do they go along with it?Tone
What it asks It asks what the doctor's manner does to the room, and why armed men obey a man who is at their mercy.
They obey out of habit and need. He is still the ship's doctor to them, and they are ill.
as if he were still ships doctor and they still faithful hands before the mast
Dick dont feel well, sir, said one.
His calm shames or steadies them. He talks as if nothing had happened and does not give them a reason to act.
His manner, I suppose, reacted on the men
The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the home-thrust in silence.
A strong answer The doctor treats the room as a quiet English family and says he is mutineers' doctor, or prison doctor as he prefers to call it. The men swallow his jabs and take his prescriptions with laughable humility. A strong answer says why: they are sick and need him, his calm steadies them, or both.
4. Jim tells the doctor, “you know right well you wouldn’t do the thing yourself.” Is Jim right about the doctor, the squire and the captain?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to test Jim's claim about other people against what the doctor says and does.
Jim is right. The doctor gives way at once and says they cannot help it.
I know, I know, he cried. We cant help that, Jim, now.
neither you nor squire nor captain
Jim is not quite right. The doctor is willing to bear the blame and plainly wants him to jump.
Ill take it on my shoulders, holus bolus
Jump! One jump, and youre out
A strong answer The doctor does not argue. He says “We can’t help that, Jim, now,” which agrees that the word counts. But he also offers to take the blame himself and tells Jim to jump. A strong answer weighs the two and says whether it thinks Jim is right, and what the doctor's own words show about what he thinks a promise is worth.
5. Out by the stockade, Silver's cheeks seem “fallen in” and his voice trembles. Why might the author show Jim this when Silver's back is to his crew?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author lets the reader see Silver's face only when his friends cannot, and what to make of it.
It shows real fear. Away from the crew, Silver can let the terror of the gallows show.
never was a soul more dead in earnest
Ive the shakes upon me for the gallows
It may be another part he is playing, this time for the doctor.
Its us must break the treaty when the time comes
Doctor, when a mans steering as near the wind as me
A strong answer Jim sees Silver's cheeks fall in and his voice tremble once his back is to his friends, and Silver says plainly that he has the shakes for the gallows. Minutes earlier he told his crew he would gammon the doctor. A strong answer says which picture it believes, or how both could be true, and what the author gains by showing them side by side.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the doctor manages the mutineers during his visit.
What it asks It asks the student to gather the doctor's methods, from his bedside manner to his plain speaking.
He manages them with calm, as if nothing were wrong.
he rattled on to his patients as if he were paying an ordinary professional visit in a quiet English family
they behaved to him as if nothing had occurred
He manages them with sharp words, which they swallow.
I make it a point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!) and the gallows.
The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the home-thrust in silence.
A strong answer The doctor treats the room as an ordinary professional visit, and the men behave as if nothing had occurred. He also makes a point of honour of not losing a man to the gallows, a sharp joke they swallow in silence. A strong answer uses one piece of calm and one of sharp speech and says what they get him.
2. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Silver quiets his crew after the doctor leaves the block house.
What it asks It asks the student to follow what Silver says and does to win back an angry crew.
By scorn and force: he shouts them down.
He called them all the fools and dolts you can imagine
Si-lence! he roared and looked about him positively like a lion.
By pointing to what they want: the chart and the treasure.
fluttered the chart in their faces
asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very day they were bound a-treasure-hunting
A strong answer The crew accuses Silver of playing double, which Jim knows is the very thing he is doing. Silver calls them fools, flutters the chart and asks if they can afford to break the treaty on a day they are going treasure hunting. Jim thinks they were silenced by his volubility rather than convinced. A strong answer uses one of force and one of appeal and says what Jim's last word means.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the doctor takes the news of the Hispaniola.
What it asks It asks what the doctor says and does when Jim tells him about the ship, and what he thinks of Jim.
He is astonished, and listens in silence.
The ship! exclaimed the doctor.
he heard me out in silence
He sees a pattern in Jim's deeds and will not let him be lost.
There is a kind of fate in this, he observed when I had done.
do you suppose by any chance that we are going to let you lose yours?
A strong answer The doctor exclaims at the news, then hears Jim out in silence. When Jim is done he says there is a kind of fate in it, that every step Jim saves their lives, and that they will not let him lose his. A strong answer uses one piece of surprise and one of judgment and says what the doctor is starting to think of Jim.