Treasure Island

Chapter 3:
The Black Spot

By Maxime Leroux &

Isabelle Larocque
Summary
Jim takes care of Billy Bones
succumbed to a stroke while tackling to execute Black Dog
Billy beseeches him for rum in return for money
This irritates Jim; he only wants what Billy owes his father
Ends up allowing him one glass of rum
Billy is reinforced by the alcohol; he is ready to spring back into action
Mentions that his sea chest is wanted by the crew of the ship he used to sail on
Jims father passes away
He comes across a threatening blind man who orders him to take him to Billy
The unsighted man hands Billy a black spot, leaves the inn
signifies a secret pirate summons
Billy exclaims he has only 6 hours left, is stricken by a fatal stroke
Quotes
[Billy Bones] wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I had given him his
medicine, which he took like a child, with the remark, "If ever a seaman wanted drugs, it's me," he fell at
last into a heavy, swoon-like sleep, in which I left him. (3.19)
illness makes us dependent and childlike
medicine represents Billy Bones's weakness

But [Billy Bones] broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice but heartily. (...) I been in places hot as
pitch, and mates dropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the sea with
earthquakes what do the doctor know of lands like that? and I lived on rum, I tell you. (...) and if I'm
not to have my rum now I'm a poor old hulk on a lee shore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor
swab." (3.4)
lived through terrible situations, has used rum to drown his sorrows
he's become so dependent on rum that he demands it even though it will kill him.
contrast between how fun pirate adventures sound and how awful they really are
Glossary
Cutlass: a short curving sword formerly used by sailors on warships

He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of drawing his cutlass and laying it
bare before him on the table. (p.30)

Buccaneer: a pirate, more specifically one who attacked and stole from Spanish
ships in the 17th and 18th centuries

It cowed me more than the pain, and I began to obey him at once, walking straight in
at the door and towards the parlour, where our sick old buccaneer was sitting, dazed
with rum. (p.31)
Glossary
Apoplexy: a sudden, usually marked loss of bodily function due to rupture or
occlusion of a blood vessel.

The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy (p.32)

Utter: to give audible expression to; speak or pronounce

His words, spirited as they were in meaning, contrasted sadly with the weakness of
the voice in which they were uttered (p.28)
Theme Analysis: Fatherhood
Jims astonished wonder of the different characters corresponds to our own
point of view
Jim is submissive and frightened of the pirates drunken, swaggering, coarse
language and tendency toward violence.
He exclaims for his mother at the end of Chapter 3; points out that he is just a
scared little boy, living a world completely apart from the sailors.
Contrast between the narrators innocence and the characters background
cooperates in setting the stage for the transition into adulthood that Jim later
experiences.
Theme Analysis: Fortune and Greed
Rum appears as an influential symbol of the pirates recklessness, violence, and
undisciplined behavior
People acknowledge rum a cheap form of alcohol, contrarily to the sophisticated and
fancy wine that the captains men infrequently consume
The pirates do not engage in light social drinking: When they luxuriate in rum, their intoxication
is ruinous, as proved in the pirate song about the dead mans chest. (chapter 1)

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest--
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Billy keeps drinking though Dr Livesey warns him it will kill him.
Thank you!