Treasure Island
"The battle for great wealth."
About the book
Author : Robert Louis Stevenson
Number of Pages : 237
Point of view : First Person
Summary
Jim Hawkins lives a normal country life on the southern English Coast until pirates come knocking on his door. The following deaths, conversations, and nights of horror come to down to one day when the Squire, Dr. Livesey, and James acquire a map to an island with "treasure". The Squire then goes to Bristol to acquire a ship that he could use on the journey to Treasure Island and meets a seafaring man with one leg whom he hires as the ship's cook. He starts a mutiny among the crew of the Hispanola eventually leading to the cook's desertion of the other mutineers. Many die, but those who survived lived a good, free life. That is, all except Ben Gunn who ran out of money 19 days after they reached Bristol.
Theme: Greed can guide bad decisions
In the book, the crew that was apart of the mutiny took control of the ship, took most of the "gigs" or boats and took the guns, knives, and shovels. They then went for the treasure and ended up in an argument with Silver where they all pulled out guns because they felt that they were good because there were like 10 of them to 2 people so they expected to win, but they didn't and only 3 of them survived the onslaught. I can apply this theme to my life because I have had many bad decisions at home, at school, with friends, and with my family. I make bad decisions generally because I tend to "push my luck" whenever I get a joke that makes people laugh. I annoy people because I start to make mean comments because of my greed about my previous luck. I have consistently gotten bad grades on quizzes in Social Studies because I do well on my other quizzes without studying, so I don't for those. Most of the people in my family have some decisions that they make that are bad and are based on greed so I can relate to this theme very well.
Three of the most important scenes and/or chapters
Jim comes to get an apple out of the apple barrel on the deck of the ship and hops in to it because he doesn't want to be caught by Long John Silver as he comes onto the deck. The ship's crew, that the squire hired unintentionally, met on the deck to discuss the plans for the mutiny. What Jim heard in this scene, saved his life, and all of the lives of his friends and family.
This is when Jim gains control of the ship out of the grasp of the mutineers (pirates). Jim then grounds the ship ashore and stops the Pirates from escaping from the island and deserting the Squire, Dr. Livesey, and Jim there. This changes the tide of the battle from the mutineers winning to the mutineers losing. At this exact moment shown in the picture, Jim is seconds away from taking control of the ship. It is the second most important scene in the book.
Jim sits in the galley and talks with the cook, or elected Captain of the disloyal crew. He talks about the battles he fought. He talks about his parrot and how he has been in some of the worst battles and been alongside the most brave of men in some of the worse conflicts in history. It makes Jim feel impressed by Silver, and in some ways, makes Jim trust Silver a lot.