Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Chapter 1: The Old Sea-Dog at the ‘Admiral Benbow’

Why was the narrator’s father not happy about the Captain’s extended stay at the inn? Give at
least two reasons.

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Why does Dr Livesey dare to annoy the captain?

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Dr Livesey says: “If I catch a breath of complaint against you, if it’s only for a piece of incivility like
tonight’s, I’ll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed out of this. Let that
suffice.” Can you put his words into more modern English?

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Chapter 2: Black Dog Appears and Disappears
Word meanings for this chapter
Wanting in the third paragraph means missing: “wanting two fingers of the left hand”
means he had lost two of his fingers.
An oath means a swearword.
Former means the first one mentioned. So when he says “I saw Black Dog in full flight, and
the Captain hotly pursuing … and the former streaming blood from the left shoulder” –
who has been wounded?

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Chine means backbone, or neck vertebrae. As Black Dog ran out, “the captain aimed at the
fugitive one last tremendous cut, which would certainly have split him to the chine had it
not been intercepted by our big signboard…” Put this sentence into more modern English.

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Why does Jim (the narrator) break a glass and mess up the tap of the rum barrel?

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Why does Dr Livesey say “Prophetic” when he points to the Captain’s hanging man tattoo?

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Chapter 3: The Black Spot

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What word would we use today to describe someone like the Captain who is addicted to rum?

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Why does Jim immediately obey the blind man’s orders?

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Why do you think Jim is so upset by the Captain’s death when he had never liked him?

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Chapter 4: The Sea-Chest

Someone in the village “had seen a little lugger in what we called Kitt’s Hole.”

Why do you think Jim and his mother “sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and
hearken”?

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“I’m an honest woman. I’ll have my dues, and not a farthing over.” What is Jim’s mother talking
about?
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At the end of the chapter, what does Jim think is going to happen?

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Chapter 5: The Last of the Blind Man

“ ‘Is it there?’ roared Pew.” What do you think he might be asking about?

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Describe in your own words what caused the death of Blind Pew.

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Why does Mr Dance think he needs to report Pew’s death promptly to Dr Livesey?

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Chapter 6: The Captain’s Papers

How does the writer’s description of the Squire’s home contrast with the state of the Admiral
Benbow as we saw it in chapter 5?

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Why does Squire Trelawney ask Jim to “ring the bell” when he wants to offer Mr Dance a drink?

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Doctor Livesey asks Squire Trelawney: “will that treasure amount to much?” Read the Squire’s
answer. Does he think there is a lot of treasure, or a little? How can we tell?

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Why does Dr Livesey tell the Squire: “There’s only one man I’m afraid of … You”?

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Chapter 7: I Go To Bristol
Squire Trelawney’s letter shows that he thinks his “friend” Blandly is being really helpful and that
the Squire doesn’t believe those people who say Blandly is just trying to make as much money as
possible. What do you suppose Dr Livesey will think about it when he reads the letter?

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“The Captain … was gone where the wicked cease from troubling.” What does he mean?

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How do Tom Redruth and Jim travel to Bristol?

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Chapter 8: At the Sign of the ‘Spy-Glass’
What do we find from this chapter about Long John Silver’s character?

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Chapter 9: Powder and Arms

One of Captain Smollett’s complaints is: “Next … I learn we are going after treasure – hear it from
my own hands.” What does he mean?

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Mr Trelawney and Dr Livesey disagree about most of the men they are taking on for the voyage.
Who is the one person that they both admire and trust?

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Chapter 10: The Voyage

What does the fate of Arrow, the first mate, show us about Captain Smollett as a judge of
character? (If you can’t remember what he thought of Mr Arrow, look back at chapter 9.)

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Chapter 11: What I Heard in the Apple Barrel

At the start of the chapter Silver says “The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his
daylights.” What is he talking about, and what seafarers’ superstition does he cite as the reason
for the defeat and execution of Roberts and his crew?

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Silver talks about “gentlemen of fortune” – what does this phrase mean?

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Why would Silver prefer to wait until they are about halfway back to England before attacking the
squire and Captain Smollett?

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Despite his preference for waiting till the return journey, Silver has decided to kill the squire and
captain as soon as the treasure is found. What made him change his mind?

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Chapter 12: Council of War

Why do you think Long John Silver takes the risk of openly talking about pirates and his
knowledge of the island?

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When Dr Livesey describes Silver as “a very remarkable man”, Captain Smollett answers “He’d look
remarkably well from a yard-arm.” (A yard-arm is the end section of a horizontal beam (the yard) which
holds the sail across the mast.) What does he mean he would like to do?

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Chapter 13: How I Began my Shore Adventure
How does Stevenson’s description of the island establish a mood of foreboding and danger? Find
at least four words, phrases or features of the island which convey negative feelings.

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Chapter 14: The First Blow
Jim hears “a sound like the cry of anger … and then one horrid, long-drawn scream.” What has
happened?

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Explain why Jim fears that he cannot safely return to the ship. What does he mean when he thinks:
“Would not my absence itself be an evidence to them of my alarm, and therefore of my fatal
knowledge?”

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Chapter 15: The Man of the Island

Ben Gunn asks Jim whether he thinks the Squire would reward Ben for helping him. What rewards
does he hope to get?

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Why was Ben Gunn marooned on the island?

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Part IV: The Stockade

Chapter 16: Narrative continued by the Doctor: – How The Ship was
Abandoned
Captain Smollett tells the doctor that one of the six sailors who stayed on the ship was shocked to
hear a man being killed on the island: “Another touch of the rudder and that man would join us.”
What does he mean?

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The doctor, squire and captain load the boat a second time, “with only a musket and a cutlass
apiece for squire and me and Redruth and the captain.” How many weapons are they bringing,
and what kind of weapons are they?

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Having done this, why do they then throw most of the ship’s guns and gunpowder into the water?

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Chapter 17: Narrative continued by the Doctor: – The Jolly-boat’s Last Trip
“We turned our broadside instead of our stern to the Hispaniola, and offered a target like a barn
door.” What is the problem that the doctor is bothered about? Describe it in your own words,
explaining who is in each vessel and their relative positions.

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How does Israel Hands escape being shot?

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Chapter 18: Narrative continued by the Doctor: – End of the First Day’s
Fighting
Why does the doctor suggest that Captain Smollett and Squire Trevelyan should swap guns?

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Dr Livesey gives Abraham Gray a sword and observes: “Our new hand was worth his salt.” What
do these two idioms mean?

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Captain Smollett gets onto the log-house roof to “run up the colours”: what is he doing up there?

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Each of the pirates “was now provided with a musket from some secret magazine of their own”
What sort of “magazine” is he referring to?

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Chapter 19: Narrative resumed by Jim Hawkins: – The Garrison in the

Stockade
Ben Gunn speaks admiringly of Flint: “Barring rum, his match were never seen.” What does he
mean?

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Jim describes the log-house, which is built of tree-trunks: “roof, walls, and floor. The latter stood …
above the surface of the sand.” What is “the latter”? Explain the general meaning of this phrase,
and its meaning here.

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Chapter 20: Silver’s Embassy

Silver arrives with one of his followers “waving a white cloth”: what is the significance of this?

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“Silver’s face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath.” Does this mean he was
pleased or angry? Why?

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Why do you think Silver wants to try and negotiate with Captain Smollett at this point?

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Chapter 21: The Attack

Why does Captain Smollett promise to put Abraham Gray’s “name in the log”?

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And why does the captain answer approvingly (“Next best thing…”) when Joyce admits to not
having hit the man he was shooting at?

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Chapter 22: How I Began my Sea Adventure

What does Jim mean by saying “before my absence was observed I was out of cry of my
companions”?

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Do you think Jim’s behaviour in this chapter is: foolish? brave? sneaky? clever? crazy? glorious?
or some other description? Give a reason for your judgement.

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Chapter 23: The Ebb-Tide Runs
What does Jim mean by saying “all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on”?
Why is this such a good simile?

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When Jim stands up in Ben Gunn’s boat, he says he “commanded the roof and a slice of the
interior of the cabin”. What does this mean?

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When the pirates on the ship realise that they have been cut adrift, Jim “lay down … and devoutly
recommended my spirit to its Maker.” What is he doing and why?

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Chapter 24: The Cruise of the Coracle
What two things cause Jim to move steadily northwards
after seeing the sea-lions?

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“There I lay upon my elbows, in the most trying attitude…” What does trying mean in this context?

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“I thought about how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping.” What do you think the
Captain would have done if he had found his crew “drunk as owls”?

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Chapter 25: I Strike the Jolly Roger

When Jim realises that Israel Hands is still alive, does he feel sorry for him? Why?

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How would you describe Jim’s manner when he speaks to Hands? Answer in full sentences. A good
answer will use relevant adjectives or adverbs and may include quotations .

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What does Jim mean by saying “my conscience, which had smitten me hard for my desertion, was
quieted by the great conquest I had made”? Explain this statement in your own words.

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What two conflicting factors are influencing Jim’s mood at the very end of the chapter?

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Chapter 26: Israel Hands

When he thinks Jim is not looking, Hands goes to get “a long knife, or rather a short dirk”. What do
you suppose the word dirk means?

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Hands climbs into the rigging to chase Jim, who threatens him with his pistols. Why does Jim use
the phrase “Dead men don’t bite, you know”?

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Chapter 27: “Pieces of Eight”

Why does Jim take down the jibs (triangular sails) and try to cut down the mainsail?

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Why does the evidence of “an immense fire” make Jim feel a bit suspicious?

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Why does Jim think that his colleagues “kept an infamous bad watch”? What does he mean?

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Chapter 28: In the Enemy’s Camp

Why do you think Silver decides not to kill Jim, even when the other pirates want to?

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Silver shows his skill in managing people by addressing them in different ways to establish
particular relationships with them. For example, he calls one of the pirates “my friend” and one of
them “Tom Morgan”.
Find five different ways that he addresses Jim in this chapter, and write a phrase or sentence
describing the effect of each one.

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When Silver asks about the map, Jim’s face shows “a wonder so unaffected that he [Silver] saw the
needlessness of further questions.” Express or explain this in your own words.

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Chapter 29: The Black Spot Again

Summarise the way John Silver again shows his skill at manipulating people. Your answer should
refer to at least three things that Silver says or does.

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Chapter 30: On Parole

While Dr Livesey deals with the sick and wounded pirates, “He seem[s] under no apprehension …
His manner … reacted on the men…” What does this show us about Dr Livesey’s character and
behaviour?
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When Jim starts crying and says he fears torture, “the doctor interrupted, and his voice was quite
changed.” Why? Explain what the doctor is saying before and after this change.

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The doctor advises Silver to “look out for squalls” on finding the treasure. What do you think he
means, and why might this be?

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Chapter 31: The Treasure Hunt – Flint’s Pointer

Jim is puzzled by the behaviour of the captain, squire and doctor, including “their inexplicable
cession of the chart”. What is he thinking of?

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How does Silver identify the man whose body Flint had made into a “pointer”?

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How does Stevenson change the mood between the treasure-hunters’ arrival at “a most pleasant
portion of the island” and the end of the chapter? Find examples of phrases or sentences which
convey their different moods.

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Chapter 32: The Treasure Hunt – The Voice among the Trees
Why does Silver’s defiance of the ghostly voice fail at first to affect the other pirates? Quote and
explain the relevant sentence.

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Who is Jim thinking of when he imagines “that ungodly buccaneer with the blue face”?

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Chapter 33: The Fall of a Chieftain

As the chapter begins, how does Silver show his resourcefulness and instinct for survival?

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Why does Dr Livesey smash up one of the two “gigs” (small boats)?

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Why does Squire Trelawney say “It is a gross dereliction of my duty”? What is he talking about?

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Chapter 34 And Last

Jim still feels some gratitude to Silver, even though “I had seen him meditating a fresh treachery
upon the plateau”. What is he remembering?

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The doctor says to Silver: “You’re the man to keep your word, we know that.” Do you think he
means it, or is he being sarcastic? Give a reason for your answer.

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The squire’s group decide to leave the remaining pirates on the island “to the huge glee … of Ben
Gunn”: why is he so pleased about it?

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Why do you think “the maroon had connived at [Silver’s] escape”?

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