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A short summary of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of Treasure Island.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1883
- Overview
- Summary
- Analysis
Treasure Island, classic adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, serialized in the magazine Young Folks from October 1881 to January 1882 under the title The Sea-Cook; or, Treasure Island and published in book form in 1883. Although not the first book about pirates, Treasure Island is considered by many to be the best.
The main character, young Jim Hawkins, helps his parents run the Admiral Benbow, an inn near Bristol, England. One day a desperate-looking ruffian, Billy Bones (“the captain”), appears and takes a room. After being visited by a former mate named Black Dog, Billy suffers a stroke. Later, while drinking rum, he tells Jim that he is a pirate and that he has a treasure map. However, Billy fears that another pirate might mark him with a black spot (a summons or threat). Shortly thereafter, Jim’s ailing father, who is being tended to by Dr. Livesey, dies. A blind beggar, later revealed to be the pirate Pew, subsequently arrives and puts something in Bones’s hand. After Pew leaves, Billy has a fatal stroke.
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Jim and his mother open Billy’s sea chest, taking the money owed to them as well as a packet, before fleeing. A group of pirates led by Pew descends on the inn, but they are soon scared off by the sound of approaching horses; Pew is trampled to death. Believing that the pirates were searching for the packet, Jim seeks out Dr. Livesey, who is with Squire Trelawny. The packet is revealed to contain a treasure map, and the three decide to mount an expedition to Skeleton Island to find the hidden riches. However, they are fooled into hiring some of Billy’s former shipmates, including the leader of the pirates, Long John Silver.
While a preeminent adventure tale, Treasure Island is also an enduring coming-of-age story as Jim both navigates life-and-death situations and encounters moral lessons. It introduced numerous concepts that have become widely associated with pirates: one-legged seamen, black-sailed ships, treasure maps marked with an “X,” the frightening black spot,...
Get all the key plot points of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island on one page. From the creators of SparkNotes.
Treasure Island (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Treasure Island Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.
By Robert Louis Stevenson. 'Treasure Island' tells the story of Jim Hawkins, a young boy who happens to come across a map to an Island, where Captain Flint, a pirate, has kept his treasures buried. Introduction. Summary. Themes and Analysis. Historical Context. Review. Article written by Mizpah Albert.
Learn about the plot, themes, and characters of Treasure Island, a classic adventure story and a bildungsroman by Robert Louis Stevenson. Find out how Jim Hawkins grows from a boy to a young man as he searches for buried treasure and faces pirates.
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 ...
