BOOK SUMMARY

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Summary:

The story is told in the first person by Jim Hawkins, whose mother kept the Admiral Benbow Inn, and
who shared in the adventures from start to finish. An old sea dog comes to this peaceful inn one day,
apparently intending to finish his life there. He hires Jim to keep a watch out for other sailors, but
despite all precautions, he is hunted out and served with the black spot that means death. Jim and his
mother barely escape death when Blind Pew, Black Dog, and other pirates descend on the inn in
search of the sea dog’s papers. Jim snatches up a packet of papers to square the sailor’s debt, when
they were forced to retreat from the inn. The packet contains a map showing the location of the pirate
Flint’s buried treasure, which Jim, Doctor Livesey, and Squire Trelawney determine to find. Fitting out
a ship, they hire hands and set out on their adventure. Unfortunately, their crew includes one-legged
Long John Silver, a pirate also in search of the treasure, and a number of his confederates. Jim,
hidden in an apple barrel, overhears the plans of the crew to mutiny, and he warns his comrades. The
battle between the pirates and Jim’s party is an exciting and bloody one, taking place both on the
island and aboard ship. Jim escapes from the ship, discovers the marooned sailor, Ben Gunn, who
has already found and cached the treasure, and finally the victors get safely aboard the ship with the
treasure.

Strong Points:

 The plot is excellent. The adventures of Jim Hawkins are filled with suspense. This is one of
the best books ever written for children. It will appeal especially to boys but can be read by
girls.
 The characters are not stereotyped and unrealistic, but are so skillfully portrayed that they live
for us in our imagination. Who can forget Long John Silver, the pirates of pirates? Terrifying,
yet somehow likeable; cruel, yet somehow kind. As John Senior says "The one-legged pirate
with a patch on an eye and parrot on his shoulder is one of the half-dozen great creations.
Like Don Quixote of the Wyf of Bath, he is fixed in our brains forever. How much we would
give even now to find that map and go with him!"
 A reason for reading is learning to write. Stevenson is a master craftsman. His prose is
classic, clear, and rhythmical. While the children only think about enjoying a great story,
unbeknownst to themselves, they are being exposed to fine language.

Cautions:

 Teasure Island, unlike other children’s stories, includes some characters who are not
examples of virtue but on the contrary lead sinful lives. However, this is normal since they are
pirates and it is what you expect of them. They are the villains of the story and their evil ways
are not condoned. Pirates are, as Jim says, "some of the wickedest men that God ever
allowed upon the sea." Jim Hawkins, Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey are on the contrary
characters who, throughout their adventures, show virtues like courage and honesty.
 There are many words which need to be explained. Examples: tarry, coltish, bleared, tallowy,
etc.

Conclusion:

"Every time I start this book again, the old awe comes over me, and I think ‘This is the best!’" (John
Senior) Hopefully children who have enjoyed Treasure Island will want to read other books by Robert
Louis Stevenson like Kidnapped and The Black Arrow.
Treasure Island Summary
The setting of this story is described by young Jim Hawkins as the book begins: "Squire
Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the
whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back
but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is treasure not yet lifted, I take up
my pen in the year of grace 17‹and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral
Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up lodging under our
roof." Gravely ill, Billy Bones resides at the Admiral Benbow for "many months." The
Œbrown old seaman' strikes fear into patrons' hearts as he consumes dangerous quantities of
rum and sings an old sea song: "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." Bones
warns Jim to keep his Œweather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg' and relates tales
of piracy and other foul deeds while he was pirate.

One evening, while he is guzzling rum, he is reprimanded by Dr. Livesey, who has arrived to
examine Jim's dying father. A short time later, Black Dog, a mysterious "tallowy creature,"
frightens Jim into revealing the whereabouts of Bones. Following a brief sword duel with the
"Dog," Blind Pew visits the old seaman, another of his old shipmates, who delivers the "black
spot," a death summons used by pirates. Soon after, Bones succumbs to a stroke and Jim and
his mother run to a nearby village, where the inhabitants refuse to help them. Just before the
pirates reach the inn, Jim removes a key from the corpse and grabs an oilskin packet from the
captain's old sea chest. While the pirates frantically sack Bones' belongings in the inn, Jim
and his mother hide under a nearby bridge. Unable to find "Flint's fist,' the pirates escape,
leaving Pew behind to be fatally trampled by horsemen from the village, who have finally
decided to come to Jim and his mother's aid.

At the home of Squire Trelawney, Jim delivers the packet to Dr. Livesey. "This is the black-
hearted hound's account book," the squire observes after the oilskin is removed. Passing over
figures and course headings, the men turn to a second enclosure, a map of Captain John
Flint's treasure island. Trelaweny experiences an uncontrollable fit of excitement, vows to
secure the best ship in England, and commands Livesey and Jim to accompany him on a
treasure-hunting voyage. Several weeks later, Trelawney hires Long John silver, a one-legged
seaman and cook, and a salty band of other sailors. At Bristol, the crew weighs anchor and
the Hispanolia begins its journey. Becoming acquainted with the charismatic sea cook, who
totes a pet parrot named "Captain Flint," Jim is surprised when, hiding in an apple barrel on
deck, he overhears Silver conspiring with crewmates Israel Hands and the young Dick to take
the ship once the treasure is aboard.

After land is sighted, a battle ensues between Captain Smollett's royal forces and Silver's
swarthy pirates. Jim escapes ashore and falls in with Ben Gunn, an unfortunate seaman who
was marooned by Captain Flint three years earlier. Treading the boundary between the
opposing camps, Jim wins the confidence of Gunn (who leads Dr. Livesy to the treasure,
which the marooned sailor has transferred to his secret cave) and recaptures the Hispaniola
after cutting her hawser and sending Israel Hands to his death at the bottom of the sea.
Following a near-fatal experience with the surviving pirates (who arrogantly tip their leader
the black spot and then rescind it once they realize that he has the treasure map), Jim
accompanies Silver on the treasure hunt. When the angry rogues discover that the treasure
has been removed, Silver Shoots George Merry (the rebellious rascal who had deposed him
the previous evening). Firing musket balls form the surrounding trees, Dr. Livesey, Squire
Trelawney, and Ben Gunn force the remaining freebooters into the interior of the island.

Trelawney and his crew stow the treasure safely in the Hispanolia's hold and leave provisions
for the marooned pirates before setting sail for England. During a brief stop at a South
American port, Silver, who faces trial and execution, steals a sack of coins and escapes over
the rail. Jim Hawkins concludes: "Of Silver we have heard no more. That formidable
seafaring man with one leg has at last gone clean out of my life; but I dare say he met his old
Negress, and perhaps still lives in comfort with her and Capitan Flint. It is to be hoped so, I
suppose, for his chances of comfort in another world are very small. The bar silver and the
arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for
me. Oxen and wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; and the
worst dreams that I ever have are when I hear the surf booming about its coasts or start
upright in bed with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my ears, "Pieces of eight!
Pieces of eight!"
Treasure Island Summary
How It All Goes Down

At the start of Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins is living with his mother and father at their inn,
the Admiral Benbow. Life is pretty ordinary – Jim's father is sick, which sucks, but other than
that, there isn't much going on for him. Until, that is, a sunburned sailor singing, "Yo-ho-ho
and a bottle of rum!" comes through the front door of the family establishment. This sailor
calls himself a captain and demands a room. He proceeds to settle down at the Admiral
Benbow Inn, drink a ton of whiskey, and tell terrifying stories about life on the high seas.

One day, after an old shipmate named Black Dog manages to track down the captain, he gets
so worked up that he has a stroke. The captain starts hallucinating and raving about his old
life as a pirate. Apparently, the captain isn't a captain at all: his name is Billy Bones, and he
was second in command to someone named Captain Flint. Jim doesn't have much time to
care about the captain's crazy talk, though: his father dies that same night.

The day after Jim's father's funeral, a blind man appears at the Inn looking for the captain.
This man is Pew, and he orders that the captain meet his old shipmates at 10 o'clock that
night. The blind man leaves, the captain jumps up, and then he falls over dead from a heart
attack. After some shenanigans with Pew and a bunch of pirates who try to steal Billy Bones's
sea chest, Jim comes away with a packet of papers from Billy Bones. He decides to bring the
papers to Doctor Livesey, the local judge.

Jim finds Doctor Livesey at the squire's house (a squire is a local lord). The squire is Mr.
Trelawney. Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney both agree that Captain Flint is a famous
pirate and that Jim's packet of papers must contain a treasure map to Flint's fortune. Squire
Trelawney offers to put up the money for a sailing voyage to the island shown on the map,
since who doesn't want to go hunting for treasure? So it's decided: Squire Trelawney is going
to go to a coastal town in England right away to hire a ship and a crew, and then Doctor
Livesey will come down to accompany him on their quest. Jim gets to go, too, as cabin boy.

While Squire Trelawney is looking for a crew for their voyage, he finds a delightful man, an
old cook with one leg named Long John Silver who willingly volunteers to help him choose
his crew. Squire Trelawney is really impressed by Long John Silver's manner and
intelligence, so he basically hands over the hiring duties to him. Squire Trelawney also finds
a nice ship, the Hispaniola, and a captain, Captain Smollett. Squire Trelawney asks one of his
servants, Mr. Blandly, to stay behind and send another ship after them in August if Mr.
Blandly sees no signs of them before then.

And they're off! Jim is having the time of his life, even though he has to work hard. But
things take a bad turn one night when Jim climbs down into an apple barrel on deck to get the
last piece of fruit and finds himself falling asleep in the dark space. He wakes up to overhear
Long John Silver talking to a young sailor, Dick Johnson, trying to persuade Dick to join
Long John Silver and his men. Long John Silver knows exactly where the Hispaniola is
heading, because he used to be part of Captain Flint's crew as well!
Jim realizes that the crew is just biding its time until they reach the island, when the sailors
plan to rise up against Captain Smollett, kill all the non-pirates, and steal Captain Flint's
treasure. As soon as the coast is clear, Jim climbs out of the barrel and runs and tells Captain
Smollett, Doctor Livesey, and Squire Trelawney what he has overheard.

When the Hispaniola arrives at the island (check out this map to get a sense of what it looks
like), the mood of the crew is clearly growing ugly. But they don't actively mutiny
(remember, the crew doesn't have the map, and they also don't have Captain Smollett's sailing
skills). Captain Smollett offers them all a round of drinks and sends two-thirds of the crew
onto the island to stretch their legs. When the crew is ashore, he and Doctor Livesey ambush
the remaining six sailors (including Israel Hands, one of the leaders of the sailors) and lock
them below decks. Then they go ashore to find a better place to set up headquarters, a place
with fresh water (which the ship doesn't have) that can still be defended. They find an
abandoned fort and set up there after a brief fight with a group of surprised crewmen.

Jim, meanwhile, has slipped ashore with the pirates and gone off exploring on his own. He is
totally astonished to find a man on the island, Ben Gunn, who sailed with Captain Flint. Ben
was marooned on the island three years earlier, so he's a little nutty, but he agrees to help
Squire Trelawney and Doctor Livesey in exchange for a thousand British pounds, freedom,
and some cheese. As Jim and Ben talk, they hear the sounds of a fight. Jim hurries through
the forest to find that his friends have taken control of an old fort on the island. So he slips
into the fort to tell them what he has discovered about Ben Gunn.

After a battle with the pirates, Jim sees Doctor Livesey head into the forest to consult with
Ben Gunn. Jim hatches his own plan: he's going to find the tiny boat Ben Gunn mentioned to
see if it might be helpful to them. Jim knows that he wouldn't be allowed to do this if he
asked, but he slips away from the fort anyway and goes off to explore.

Jim finds the little boat and suddenly gets another great idea: he's going to set the Hispaniola
adrift from its anchor so that the pirates can't control the ship. Jim rows out to the ship, cuts
the line attaching it to its anchor, and watches it get caught in the current. There are only two
men aboard the ship, Israel Hands and a man named O'Brien. The two are in the middle of a
furious fight when the Hispaniola starts to move, so they don't react quickly enough to stop
Jim.

Jim eventually manages to get on board the Hispaniola again. He sees that Israel Hands has
murdered O'Brien, but he has also been badly injured. Israel Hands isn't strong enough to
steer the ship by himself, so he and Jim strike a deal to bring the ship around to the secluded
North Inlet of the island to beach it safely. Once they arrive at the North Inlet, Israel Hands
tries to murder Jim, but Jim gets in a lucky shot, and Israel Hands falls dead into the sea
below. Jim climbs down from the ship, wades to shore, and climbs back up to the fort.

It's now the middle of the night and too dark to see what is going on, so Jim is completely
surprised to find the pirates, and not his friends, waiting at the fort. Long John Silver
prevents the other pirates from killing Jim. Long John Silver is playing a complicated game:
first of all, Long John Silver is confused. He can't figure out why Doctor Livesey and
everyone just abandoned the fort, nor can he work out why Doctor Livesey gave Long John
Silver the treasure map. But Long John Silver is dealing with dissatisfaction from his own
pirate crew, who are angry that they haven't found the treasure and now the ship is gone.
Long John Silver is sure the pirates are going to rise up against him if he shows his confusion
or any sign of weakness. So he keeps Jim close to him – he wants Jim to stand as witness that
he saved Jim's life if he ever comes to trial.

Doctor Livesey comes by the fort as part of their truce and treats the injured and sick pirates.
Jim manages to get word to him that Long John Silver seems to be flipping sides and that Jim
has beached the Hispaniola on the north end of the island. Doctor Livesey warns Long John
Silver that there will be trouble if he goes to look for the treasure, and then Doctor Livesey
heads off into the forest.

Long John Silver uses the treasure map to lead Jim and the remaining pirates (Dick Johnson,
Tom Morgan, George Merry, and two more guys) to the place marked on the map. They find
that the treasure has already been dug up! That's why Doctor Livesey was willing to give
them the map – it isn't worth anything anymore. With this disappointment, the pirates turn on
Long John Silver. They're about to charge, when suddenly three shots ring out from the
forest. It's Doctor Livesey, Abraham Gray, and Ben Gunn. Knowing that the pirates were
going to look for the treasure with Jim in tow, the three men decided to follow them through
the forest to rescue Jim (and Long John Silver, since he helped save Jim's life). Three pirates
survive the ambush (Dick Johnson, Tom Morgan, and a third) and run off into the forest.

And that's pretty much it. All that is left is wrapping up. It was Ben Gunn who dug up the
treasure and moved it to his cave, two months before the Hispaniola even arrived at the
island. They all carry the treasure back to the beached Hispaniola, leave some supplies for
the pirates they are planning to abandon on the island (check out "What's Up With the
Ending?" for more on this morally gray choice), and sail away. The only men left on the
Hispaniola are Doctor Livesey, Squire Trelawney, Jim Hawkins, Abraham Gray, Ben Gunn,
and Long John Silver. Long John Silver slips away from the ship as soon as they dock at a
nearby port to restock their crew and supplies. Ben Gunn gets his thousand pounds as a
reward for his help and then spends it all and winds up a beggar again. Abraham Gray, the
loyal sailor, saves his money and starts a good life. And everyone else gets plenty of treasure.
The end!
  Chapter Summaries
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Treasure Island By Robert Louis Stevenson Book Summary

An old sailor, calling himself "the captain" but really called Billy Bones, comes to lodge at
the Admiral Benbow Inn on the English coast during the mid 1700s, paying the innkeeper's
son, Jim Hawkins, a few pennies to keep a lookout for "seafaring men." One of these shows
up, frightening Billy (who drinks far too much rum) into a stroke, and Billy tells Jim that his
former shipmates covet the contents of his sea chest. After a visit from another man, Billy has
another stroke and dies; Jim and his mother (his father has died only a few days before)
unlock the sea chest, finding some money, a journal, and a map. The local physician, Dr.
Livesey, deduces that the map is of an island where the pirate Flint buried a vast treasure. The
district squire, Trelawney, proposes buying a ship and going after the treasure, taking Livesey
as ship's doctor and Jim as cabin boy.
Several weeks later, Trelawney sends for Jim and Livesey and introduces them to Long John
Silver, a Bristol tavern-keeper whom he has hired as ship's cook. They also meet Captain
Smollett, who tells them that he does not like the crew or the voyage, which it seems
everyone in Bristol knows is a search for treasure. After taking a few precautions, however,
they set sail for the distant island. During the voyage the first mate, a drunkard, disappears
overboard. And just before the island is sighted, Jim overhears Silver talking with two other
crewmen and realizes that he and most of the others are pirates and have planned a mutiny.
Jim tells the captain, Trelawney, and Livesey, and they calculate that they will be seven to
nineteen against the mutineers and must pretend not to suspect anything until the treasure is
found, when they can surprise their adversaries.

But after the ship is anchored, Silver and some of the others go ashore, and two men who
refuse to join the mutiny are killed — one with so loud a scream that everyone realizes there
can be no more pretense. Jim has impulsively joined the shore party, and now in running
away from them he encounters a half-crazy Englishman, Ben Gunn, who tells him he was
marooned here and can help against the mutineers in return for passage home and part of the
treasure.

Meanwhile Smollett, Trelawney, and Livesey, along with Trelawney's three servants and one
of the other hands, Abraham Gray, abandon the ship and come ashore to occupy a stockade.
The men still on the ship, led by the coxswain Israel Hands, run up the pirate flag. One of
Trelawney's servants and one of the pirates are killed in the fight to reach the stockade, and
the ship's gun keeps up a barrage upon them, to no effect, until dark, when Jim finds the
stockade and joins them. The next morning Silver appears under a flag of truce, offering
terms that Captain Smollett refuses, and revealing that another pirate has been killed in the
night (by Ben Gunn, Jim realizes, although Silver does not). At Smollett's refusal to surrender
the map, Silver threatens an attack, and, within a short while, the attack on the stockade is
launched. After a battle, the surviving mutineers retreat, having lost six men, but two more of
the captain's group have been killed and Smollett himself is badly wounded.

When Livesey leaves in search of Ben Gunn, Jim runs away without permission and finds
Gunn's homemade boat. After dark, he goes out and cuts the ship adrift. The two pirates on
board, Hands and O'Brien, interrupt their drunken quarrel to run on deck, but the ship — with
Jim's boat in her wake — is swept out to sea on the ebb tide. Exhausted, Jim falls asleep in
the boat and wakens the next morning, bobbing along on the west coast of the island, carried
by a northerly current. Eventually, he encounters the ship, which seems deserted, but getting
on board, he finds O'Brien dead and Hands badly wounded. He and Hands agree that they
will beach the ship at an inlet on the northern coast of the island. But as the ship is finally
beached, Hands attempts to kill Jim, and Jim shoots and kills him. Then, after securing the
ship as well as he can, he goes back ashore and heads for the stockade. Once there, in utter
darkness, he enters the blockhouse — to be greeted by Silver and the remaining five
mutineers, who have somehow taken over the stockade in his absence.

Silver and the others argue about whether to kill Jim, and Silver talks them down. He tells
Jim that, when everyone found the ship was gone, the captain's party agreed to a treaty
whereby they gave up the stockade and the map. In the morning Dr. Livesey arrives to treat
the wounded and sick pirates, and tells Silver to look out for trouble when they find the site
of the treasure. After he leaves, Silver and the others set out with the map, taking Jim along.
Eventually they find the treasure cache — empty. Two of the pirates charge at Silver and Jim,
but are shot down by Livesey, Gray, and Ben Gunn, from ambush. The other three run away,
and Livesey explains that Gunn has long ago found the treasure and taken it to his cave.

In the next few days they load the treasure onto the ship, abandon the three remaining
mutineers (with supplies and ammunition) and sail away. At their first port, where they will
sign on more crew, Silver steals a bag of money and escapes. The rest sail back to Bristol and
divide up the treasure. Jim says there is more left on the island, but he for one will not
undertake another voyage to recover it.