Treasure Island
Chapter 33 — Teaching Companion
Robert Louis Stevenson · Trailblazers 4th–6th
Coaching, not a script — and not an answer key: every question here has more than one defensible answer.
This chapter's big question
Why do the squire, the doctor and the captain, who all know Silver is a villain, each meet his return to duty so differently?
The tension Silver turns in one second from treasure-hunter to Jim's protector, and shoots George Merry a minute later with "I reckon I settled you". The doctor, who would have let him be cut to bits and given it "not a thought", tells the story cheerfully; the squire, flushing, calls him a monstrous impostor with dead men round his neck like mill-stones, and dares him to say thank you; the captain says "Ah!" and nothing more. At supper Silver is once again "the same bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out", and Jim, who owes him his life, is revolted by his changes. The chapter sets justice, use and disgust side by side and asks what is owed to a man like this.
Today's focus
Watch how each person meets Silver when the treasure is gone and the plan has turned, and what Jim thinks of it all.
Two core ideas
- Silver changes sides in a second, and the chapter asks how much the people around him can trust or owe him.
- The squire, the captain and the doctor each meet Silver in a different way, and the chapter does not say which is right.
The shape at a glance
The pirates find the pit empty and turn on Silver. Silver hands Jim a pistol, and three shots from the thicket bring down Merry and the man with the bandage and send the other three running. Silver fires two barrels into the struggling Merry. The doctor, Gray and Ben Gunn join them, and the doctor tells the story of how Ben moved the treasure. They reach the cave where the squire meets Silver angrily and the captain with a single word. Jim sees the gold and thinks of its cost, and supper ends with Silver polite and quiet.
A way in
Start with Jim's whisper, “So you’ve changed sides again.” Ask what Silver might say if he could answer.
Lesson plan
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the pit, the pistol, the shots, the doctor's story, the cave, the squire and captain, and the supper.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences of their own: one that says how a blow struck a whole group, and one that says how one person recovered in a second.
Debate Was Silver right or wrong to shoot Merry? Each side gives one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the squire, the captain and the doctor each show about how a person should meet a man like Silver.
Easier Read the squire's greeting aloud together and talk through discussion questions 4 and 5 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 someone speaks to Silver and to say what it shows, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
Discussion
- Jim whispers, “So you’ve changed sides again.” Silver has just handed him a pistol. What might Silver say if he had time to answer?Character
What it asks It asks the student to put Silver's side of a quick change, using what he has said and done.
One reading
He would say it is simple sense: the crew has turned on him and Jim is the only one who can help.
Jim, he whispered, take that, and stand by for trouble.
His looks were not quite friendly
Another reading
He would say he is protecting Jim, because the danger is to both of them.
Here is a narrow corner
stand by for trouble
Listen for
- Gives Silver a reason in his own voice.
- Notices Jim says Silver's looks were not friendly.
If stuck
- What does Silver give Jim?
- Where does Silver move, and why?
- What does Jim say he is revolted by?
A strong answer Silver changes his plan in a second and hands Jim a pistol, which can be read as plain sense, since five angry men are coming and Jim is the one person near him. It can also be read as protecting Jim, since the danger falls on them both. A strong answer puts a reason in Silver's own voice and says whether Jim has a right to be revolted.
- Silver tells the crew they will find “pig-nuts” in the pit, and he stands very upright on his crutch. What is he doing?Tone
What it asks It asks what Silver's coolness does to the men facing him, and what it costs him.
One reading
He is holding them off with nerve, and it works: no one dares strike the first blow.
Silver never moved; he watched them, very upright on his crutch, and looked as cool as ever I saw him.
nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow
Another reading
He is also making them angrier, and the cool insolence is a risk.
Dig away, boys, said Silver with the coolest insolence
Pig-nuts! repeated Merry, in a scream.
Listen for
- Says what Silver's manner does to the men.
- Notices Jim admires him at that moment.
If stuck
- What does Silver say when Merry shakes the coin at him?
- How does Jim say he looked?
- What does Merry do after Silver's reply?
A strong answer Silver stands very upright and answers Merry's rage with a joke about pig-nuts, and Jim says he looked as cool as ever and was brave, and no mistake. That holds the men for a moment. But it also makes Merry scream and turns the crew more fully against him. A strong answer weighs the nerve against the danger.
- After the shots, Silver says to the dying Merry, “I reckon I settled you.” What does that line tell us about him?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge a man who shoots an enemy on the ground and then speaks to him.
One reading
It shows cold ruthlessness. He finishes a beaten man and speaks to him as if it were a joke.
Before you could wink, Long John had fired two barrels of a pistol into the struggling Merry
as the man rolled up his eyes at him in the last agony
Another reading
It shows a man who knows what Merry meant to do, and settles it quickly.
the others that cub that I mean to have the heart of
plainly meant to lead a charge
Listen for
- Uses the moment just before and after the shots.
- Says what standard they use to judge.
If stuck
- What did Merry say he meant to do to Jim?
- Who shot Merry first?
- What does Silver say as Merry dies?
A strong answer Merry had said he meant to have Jim's heart and was about to lead a charge, and then he is shot from the thicket and lies struggling. Silver fires two barrels into him and tells him he has been settled. A strong answer can call that cold and cruel, or quick and necessary, and says what it is judging by.
- The squire says to Silver, “I dare you to thank me!” The captain says only “Ah!” What might each reply show about the man who gave it?Character
What it asks It asks the student to hear what each man's reply shows about how he feels and what he is holding back.
One reading
The squire feels it as a wrong done to him and to the dead. He has to speak it out.
the dead men, sir, hang about your neck like mill-stones
It is a gross dereliction of my duty.
Another reading
The captain says little because he asks a plain question and takes the plain answer.
What brings you here, man?
Ah! said the captain, and that was all he said.
Listen for
- Uses both men's own words.
- Says what each man shows by how much he says.
If stuck
- What does the squire say he has been told?
- What does the captain ask Silver first?
- What does the captain say all he said was?
A strong answer The squire flushes and lets out his feeling in full, calling Silver a monstrous impostor and saying that the dead hang about his neck like mill-stones. The captain asks what brings him, hears “Come back to my dooty, sir,” and says only “Ah!” A strong answer says what each reply shows and does not have to say what the captain's “Ah!” means.
- The chapter ends on Silver at supper: “bland, polite, obsequious.” Why might the author end on him sitting back in the shadow?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author closes on a quiet picture of Silver after all the gold and killing.
One reading
It shows that Silver has slipped back into his old part, and the reader sees how easily.
the same bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out
prompt to spring forward when anything was wanted
Another reading
It shows a man left out of the circle, sitting back out of the firelight, still eating with the people he tried to rob.
sitting back almost out of the firelight, but eating heartily
even joining quietly in our laughter
Listen for
- Says what the picture tells the reader about Silver.
- Compares the ending to how the chapter began.
If stuck
- Where does Silver sit?
- What does he do during the meal?
- Who was he at the start of the voyage?
A strong answer After a chapter of treasure and death, the last picture is of Silver sitting back out of the firelight, eating heartily, joining the laughter, bland and polite as on the voyage out. That can read as a man slipping back into an old part. It can also read as a man who stays just outside the circle. A strong answer says which it finds more telling.
Critical thinking
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Ben Gunn's part in the story of the treasure has been.
What it asks It asks the student to gather what the doctor says Ben Gunn did, and what it adds up to.
One reading
Ben Gunn found and moved the treasure by his own work.
he had dug it up
he had carried it on his back, in many weary journeys
Another reading
He also helped the doctor trick the pirates.
Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in front to do his best alone
it had occurred to him to work upon the superstitions of his former shipmates
Listen for
- Two separate pieces of evidence, not one told twice.
- Notices that Jim calls him the hero of the doctor's story.
If stuck
- What did Ben Gunn carry, and how?
- What did he find besides the treasure?
- What was he sent ahead to do?
A strong answer Ben Gunn found the skeleton and the treasure, dug it up, and carried it on his back to a cave. On the day of the treasure hunt he was sent ahead alone. A strong answer uses one piece about his work and one about the trick, and notes that Jim says Ben Gunn, “the half-idiot maroon,” was the hero of the doctor's story from beginning to end.
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain why the doctor gave Silver the chart and the stores.
What it asks It asks the student to follow the doctor's plan as the chapter tells it.
One reading
To get his friends clear of the malaria and the danger.
there to be clear of malaria and keep a guard upon the money
given anything and everything to get a chance of moving in safety from the stockade
Another reading
Because the chart had become useless, and the stores cost him little.
given him the chart, which was now useless
Ben Gunns cave was well supplied with goats meat salted by himself
Listen for
- Two separate reasons.
- Says what the doctor got in exchange.
If stuck
- Where was the treasure by then?
- What was wrong with the old stockade?
- What did Ben Gunn have in his cave?
A strong answer By then the treasure was in Ben Gunn's cave, so the chart was useless and the stores were well replaced by salted goat's meat. Giving them away bought a safe move from the stockade to the two-pointed hill, clear of malaria and close to the money. A strong answer uses one reason about the treasure and one about safety.
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the narrator feels about the treasure when he sees it.
What it asks It asks the student to read how Jim turns from the gold to the men it cost.
One reading
He sees its size, and the wealth is real.
great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold
That was Flints treasure that we had come so far to seek
Another reading
He thinks most of its cost in lives.
had cost already the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola
what blood and sorrow, what good ships scuttled on the deep, what brave men walking the plank
Listen for
- One piece about the gold and one about the cost.
- Says which Jim dwells on.
If stuck
- What does Jim see in the corner of the cave?
- How many men from the Hispaniola has it cost?
- What other costs does Jim list?
A strong answer Jim sees heaps of coin and bars of gold in the corner, and then he turns at once to the cost: seventeen men from the Hispaniola, and all the blood and sorrow and scuttled ships behind them. A strong answer uses one piece on the gold and one on the cost, and says which Jim dwells on.