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Treasure Island
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
How far does this chapter bear out Dr. Livesey when he names the squire, and not the lugger's men, as the one man he is afraid of?
The tension Mr. Dance tells his story, and both friends lean forward: Dr. Livesey fairly slaps his thigh, and the squire cries "Bravo!" and breaks his long pipe against the grate. Jim hands the doctor the packet; the doctor looks it over "as if his fingers were itching to open it", pockets it quietly, keeps Jim to sleep at his house, and Mr. Dance is complimented and dismissed. Before the packet comes out again the doctor asks whether the squire has heard of Flint, and the squire bursts out that he was "the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed"; the doctor's question is "had he money?", and the squire bursts out again about money; the doctor calls him so "hot-headed and exclamatory" that he cannot get a word in, and presses the one question that matters to him, whether the treasure will "amount to much". The squire's answer is his first voyage plan: "I fit out a ship in Bristol dock" and "Ill have that treasure if I search a year". Then the packet is opened. The doctor cannot make head or tail of the account-book; the squire reads it as "clear as noonday", and the doctor agrees, "Right!"; a little later the table for reducing three countries' money draws his "Thrifty man!". The map "filled the squire and Dr. Livesey with delight": the squire announces that he starts for Bristol tomorrow, names himself admiral and the doctor ship's doctor, and the doctor at once says "Ill go with you". Then he says there is "only one man" he is afraid of and names the squire, "for you cannot hold your tongue"; his reason follows at once: "We are not the only men who know of this paper", the men who attacked the inn and "the rest who stayed aboard that lugger, and more" are "bold, desperate blades, for sure" and "bound that theyll get that money". So he lays down rules: nobody goes alone "till we get to sea", Jim stays with him, Joyce and Hunter ride with the squire to Bristol, and "not one of us must breathe a word". The squire gives way, "you are always in the right of it", and promises to be "as silent as the grave". The chapter sets instant certainty against pocketed caution, with the doctor as delighted and as ready to go as the squire, and asks whether the squire's certainty is a strength or a danger, and whether the doctor's fear of his friend's talk is earned by anything the chapter shows.
Watch how the squire and the doctor each meet the news of the map, and what the chapter shows about each man's way of meeting it.
Jim rides with Mr. Dance to Dr. Livesey's door and finds the doctor dining with the squire at the hall. Dance tells the story, and Jim hands over the packet. The doctor pockets it, they talk of Flint and money, and then open it to find an account-book and a map with notes on the back. The squire plans a voyage from Bristol, and the doctor agrees but warns that no one must go alone or breathe a word.
Start with the doctor pocketing the packet. Ask what a curious man is waiting for.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the ride, the library, Dance's story, the packet, the account-book, the map and the plan.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes one long sentence beginning 'That was all; but...', then one spoken order and one short plan.
Debate Take sides: is the squire's certainty a help or a risk to the treasure hunt? Each side uses at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking what the plan promises and what it puts at risk.
Easier Read the library 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.
Harder Ask the student to add a third piece of evidence to a critical-thinking answer and say what it adds.
1. The doctor looks the packet over “as if his fingers were itching to open it,” then pockets it. Why might he wait?Inference
What it asks It asks why a curious man holds back, and what he is waiting for.
He waits until Mr. Dance has gone, so the secret stays among the people who need it.
when Dance has had his ale he must, of course, be off on his Majestys service
Mr. Dance was further complimented and at last dismissed.
He waits for Jim, because the packet is Jim's to open.
I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house
if Jim is agreeable, well open the packet
A strong answer The doctor is curious, and he still puts the packet away. He talks about what Dance will do next, and he opens it only after Dance is dismissed. He also says “if Jim is agreeable,” as if the packet were Jim's to open. A strong answer names what he waits for and does not claim to know his mind.
2. Dr. Livesey slaps his thigh and the squire breaks his long pipe when they hear Jim's mother went back to the inn. What do those reactions show about each man?Character
What it asks It asks the student to read two men from how each one shows the same feeling.
They are alike: both are carried away by the story.
the two gentlemen leaned forward and looked at each other, and forgot to smoke in their surprise and interest
They differ in how far they go: the squire acts out his feeling, the doctor keeps more of his own.
the squire cried Bravo! and broke his long pipe against the grate
the doctor, as if to hear the better, had taken off his powdered wig
A strong answer Both men are moved: they lean in, forget their pipes, and the doctor slaps his thigh. The squire goes further, crying “Bravo!”, breaking his pipe and striding about, while the doctor takes off his wig to hear better. A strong answer says what the men have in common and what each reaction shows, without turning the difference into a verdict.
3. The squire says the men who attacked the inn care for nothing “but money,” and then plans to fetch the treasure himself. Is there a difference?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to judge whether wanting treasure is different when it is a gentleman who wants it.
No real difference: he wants the same money and says so.
What were these villains after but money? What do they care for but money?
money to eat, to roll in, to play duck and drake with ever after
There is a difference: he pays his own way and digs up what is buried, while they attack people.
I fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you and Hawkins here along
These fellows who attacked the inn tonight
A strong answer The squire's words work against him: he asks “What do they care for but money?” and then dreams of “money to eat, to roll in, to play duck and drake with.” But he would spend his own money on a ship and dig up what lies buried, while the men who attacked the inn are, in the doctor's words, “bold, desperate blades.” A strong answer picks a side, says what the other side sees, and leaves room for doubt.
4. The doctor “can't make head or tail” of the account-book, yet agrees when the squire calls it “as clear as noonday.” Why might he agree?Character
What it asks It asks why a careful man accepts a friend's reading of a puzzle he cannot solve himself.
The squire's travels make his reading believable.
See what it is to be a traveller.
Offe Caraccas, now; you see, here was some unhappy vessel boarded off that coast.
The doctor checks the reading against the pages, so he does not simply go along.
And the amounts increase, you see, as he rose in rank.
a table for reducing French, English, and Spanish moneys to a common value
A strong answer The doctor first says he cannot “make head or tail of this,” and the squire answers that the crosses stand for ships or towns plundered. The doctor agrees, calling it “See what it is to be a traveller,” but he also notices that “the amounts increase” and later says “Thrifty man!” about the money table. A strong answer says what the doctor trusts and what he tests, and does not claim the squire's reading is proved.
5. The account-book comes out first, with crosses and sums, and the map only after. What does that order do for the reader?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to treat the order of the two finds as a choice and to say what it builds.
It builds suspense: the dull pages come first, so the map is worth waiting for.
First of all well try the book, observed the doctor.
And now, said the squire, for the other.
It shows the man behind the treasure before the place, so the map feels more real.
Bones, his pile
Thrifty man! cried the doctor. He wasnt the one to be cheated.
A strong answer The book comes first and offers only scraps, crosses and a total, so the reader waits. The doctor remarks “Thrifty man!” and the squire then asks for the map, “for the other,” so it arrives with some weight behind it. A strong answer says what the order does for the reader at each stage and what would be lost if it were reversed.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, what does the map's detail tell us about whoever made it?
What it asks It asks the student to read a person from a document he left, and to say what the chapter does not tell us.
A careful planner: everything is measured and placed.
every particular that would be needed to bring a ship to a safe anchorage upon its shores
you can find it by the trend of the east hummock, ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it
Someone hiding things: the notes are brief and only make sense to those who know the ground.
The bar silver is in the north cache
brief as it was, and to me incomprehensible
A strong answer The map is the work of a careful person: it gives “every particular that would be needed to bring a ship to a safe anchorage” and exact directions such as “ten fathoms south of the black crag.” It is also the work of someone hiding things, with a “cache” and notes that are “to me incomprehensible.” The hand is “very different from the captain's tottery characters,” so the chapter does not say whose it is. A strong answer says what can be known and what cannot.
2. The squire's plan speeds up from “three weeks” to “ten days.” Using two pieces of evidence, what does his planning show about how he sees the voyage?
What it asks It asks the student to read a man's hopes from the way he plans ahead.
A generous man who gives every person a place in the plan.
Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy.
You, Livesey, are ships doctor; I am admiral.
A man who treats success as settled before anything has happened.
Well have favourable winds, a quick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding the spot
A strong answer The squire plans with warmth: Hawkins is cabin-boy, Livesey is ship's doctor, he is admiral. He also plans as if the result were certain, promising “favourable winds, a quick passage, and not the least difficulty in finding the spot” with only a map in hand. A strong answer says what each piece of evidence shows about him and whether the two fit together.
3. How do the doctor and the squire treat Jim? Using two pieces of evidence, is he an equal, a guest, or a boy to be looked after?
What it asks It asks the student to read how grown men treat a boy who brought them something of value.
An equal: his leave is asked, and he is asked to look.
if Jim is agreeable, well open the packet
Dr. Livesey had kindly motioned me to come round from the side-table
A boy to be looked after: they decide for him where he sleeps and what he will do.
I mean to keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house
Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy.
A strong answer Jim is treated as more than a boy: the doctor says “if Jim is agreeable” before opening the packet and kindly calls him over to see. But the men also decide for him: the doctor will “keep Jim Hawkins here to sleep at my house” and the squire says “Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy.” A strong answer uses two pieces of evidence and says which reading it finds stronger, and why.