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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Why does the same voice that turns six armed men white with terror lose all its power the moment they decide it belongs to Ben Gunn?
The tension A thin voice sings Flint's song and calls his dying words, and the colour goes from six faces "like enchantment"; Morgan grovels, Dick prays, even Silver's lips are ashen. Jim hears the same sound as airy and sweet. Silver fights the fear with an argument Jim finds weak, an echo, and then with a name: Ben Gunn, whom "nobody minds". At once the terror is gone, and the thought of the gold swallows what is left of it. The chapter sets what these men fear against what actually threatens them, and asks why a dead pirate is more frightening than a living one.
Notice how fear moves through the party on the plateau, and what each person does with it.
The party rests on the plateau and talks of Flint. A thin voice sings Flint's song and calls out, and the pirates fall to pieces. Silver rallies them with an argument about the echo, and the men settle on a name for the voice. They go on toward the tall tree thinking of the gold, while Silver eyes Jim. At the tree they find an old, empty pit.
Start with the song itself. Ask the student how Jim hears it and how the pirates hear it.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the rest on the plateau, the talk of Flint, the song and the hail, Silver's rally, the walk, and the pit.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences of their own: one that says how badly someone was affected, and one that lists what they did, with semicolons.
Debate Who handles fear better, Dick or Silver? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the song and the pit each show about these men.
Easier Read the song scene 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 place where the pirates' fear or greed changes how they act, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Jim hears the song as “airily and sweetly.” What do the pirates hear in it that he does not?Inference
What it asks It asks why one song sounds sweet to one listener and deadly to six, and what the men bring to it that Jim does not.
They are already primed. They have been talking of Flint, and the voice finishes the picture.
Ever since they had found the skeleton and got upon this train of thought, they had spoken lower and lower
Its Flint, by! cried Merry.
They know the words as Flint's own, where Jim hears only a tune.
They was his last words, moaned Morgan, his last words above board.
I thought it had sounded airily and sweetly; and the effect on my companions was the stranger.
A strong answer Jim hears a thin voice singing through clear, sunny air, and finds it sweet. The men have just found a skeleton and dropped their voices talking of Flint, and Morgan calls the hail Flint's last words above board. A strong answer says that the song is the same and the listeners are not, and names what the men bring to it: their talk and their memory of Flint. It does not need to say which matters more.
2. Silver's teeth rattle, yet he says, “I’ll not be beat by man or devil.” What keeps him on his feet?Character
What it asks It asks what holds Silver up when his body shows fear: pride, greed, or his need to keep the others with him.
Pride and nerve. He will not be seen to give way.
I never was feared of Flint in his life, and, by the powers, Ill face him dead.
I could hear his teeth rattle in his head, but he had not yet surrendered.
The money, and the need to keep his crew close.
Theres seven hundred thousand pound not a quarter of a mile from here.
fear kept them together, and kept them close by John, as if his daring helped them
A strong answer Silver's body gives him away, since Jim hears his teeth rattle, but he has not surrendered. He says he was never feared of Flint, and he names the gold. The others cannot run because fear keeps them close by John, as if his daring helped them. A strong answer weighs pride, greed and leadership, and says which it thinks holds him up.
3. Silver says a spirit would not have an echo. Jim calls it a weak argument, yet Merry is relieved. Why might he grab at it?Inference
What it asks It asks why a thin argument works on a frightened man, and what Merry wants from it.
He wants permission to stop being afraid, and nearly any reason will do.
But you can never tell what will affect the superstitious
George Merry was greatly relieved
The point has some sense in it for him: a real sound makes an echo.
Well, thats so, he said.
Youve a head upon your shoulders, John, and no mistake.
A strong answer Jim thinks the argument weak, but Merry is greatly relieved and tells Silver he has a head upon his shoulders. A frightened man can take hold of a thin reason if it offers a way out, or Merry may find the point sound from where he stands. A strong answer says what the argument gives Merry, and does not have to decide whether it is a good argument.
4. Dick prays over his Bible while Silver jokes that it is spoiled. Who handles the fear better?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh two ways of meeting fear, prayer and mockery, and what each one costs.
Dick. He faces what he feels and turns to what he was taught, even if it does him no good.
Dick had his Bible out and was praying volubly.
He had been well brought up, had Dick, before he came to sea and fell among bad companions.
Silver. His jokes keep the party moving, while Dick grows ill.
I told you you had spiled your Bible.
the lad was falling sick
A strong answer Dick has been well brought up and turns to prayer, though he babbles prayers and curses alike, and he is falling sick. Silver jokes about the spoiled Bible and keeps the men moving, but the jokes give Dick no comfort. A strong answer says what it means by handling fear well, such as comfort, courage or getting through, and picks one.
5. The chapter ends on an empty pit, right after the men have run past their fear for the gold. Why might the author put them together?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the empty pit does to everything the pirates have just gone through to reach it.
It is a cruel joke on the men: they beat their terror, and the prize is gone.
The thought of the money, as they drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors.
The cache had been found and rifled; the seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!
It turns the reader's eye to the living world: someone has been here before, and the chapter does not say who.
Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom.
branded with a hot iron, the name Walrus
A strong answer Just before, the thought of the money swallows the men's terrors and their feet grow speedier and lighter. Then they reach a pit where the cache has been found and rifled. Putting the two together can make the run look foolish or cruel, and it leaves the reader asking who came first, since the digging is not very recent. A strong answer says which effect it finds stronger.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the pirates' talk on the plateau, before the voice, shapes their mood.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what the men say and do while they rest, and to see how the talk changes them.
The talk makes them quiet and off their food. They are already shaken.
I dont feel sharp, growled Morgan.
they had spoken lower and lower, and they had almost got to whispering by now
The talk keeps Flint alive in their minds, as each man adds a memory of him.
He were an ugly devil, cried a third pirate with a shudder; that blue in the face too!
That was how the rum took him, added Merry.
A strong answer The talk makes the men smaller and quieter. Morgan has lost his appetite thinking of Flint, and the men speak lower and lower till they are almost whispering. Each adds a memory of how ugly Flint looked and how the rum took him. A strong answer uses one sign of mood and one of memory, and says what the talk leaves them ready for.
2. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the men change as they near the third tall tree.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what Jim sees of the men's minds and bodies as they near the tree.
The gold fills their minds and leaves no room for anything else.
Their eyes burned in their heads
their whole soul was bound up in that fortune
Their bodies change too: they hurry and stop being careful.
their feet grew speedier and lighter
Huzza, mates, all together! shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into a run.
A strong answer The gold changes the men in mind and body. Their whole soul is bound up in that fortune, their feet grow speedier and lighter, and Merry's shout sends the foremost into a run. A strong answer uses one piece on what fills their minds and one on how they move, and says what has become of the fear they showed earlier.
3. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how Jim knows what Silver is thinking as they near the tree.
What it asks It asks the student to separate what Silver does from what Jim concludes about it.
From Silver's looks: he hides nothing.
from time to time turned his eyes upon me with a deadly look
Certainly he took no pains to hide his thoughts, and certainly I read them like print.
From what Silver does with the rope when Jim stumbles.
he plucked furiously at the line that held me to him
it was then that Silver plucked so roughly at the rope and launched at me his murderous glances
A strong answer Jim reads Silver from what he does: he turns deadly looks on Jim and plucks so roughly at the rope whenever Jim stumbles. Jim says Silver took no pains to hide his thoughts and that he read them like print. A strong answer uses one look and one pull, and notes that what Jim concludes, that Silver hopes to seize the treasure and the ship, is his own inference.