Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson
All the world’s literature of the nineteenth century was rich in original literary works and vivid images that left an indelible imprint on the cultural stock of all mankind. One such legendary literary landmark was the novel Treasure Island by the Scottish writer Robert Stephenson. Today this work is so well known that it is almost impossible to find a person who has not heard of it, and the names and images of the characters created by Stevenson are universally recognizable and beloved.
The writer himself said that the creation of the novel was determined by chance. In England at the time were very popular stories about distant lands, travel on the seas and oceans, the search for treasure. One day, at the turn of the seventies and eighties, Stevenson saw his stepson playing with a drawn map of a certain island. According to the writer, it was at that moment that a sudden inspiration came over him and a novel plot was born in his mind.
It is not known exactly when Stevenson began work on Treasure Island. From the eighty-first to the eighty-second year, excerpts of the novel were published in Young Folks magazine. The writer often read them out to people close to him. At first Stevenson focused primarily on children, giving his work such titles as The Sea Cock or Treasure Island: A Story for Children. In 1883 the novel was published as a complete work.
The novel Treasure Island was created by Stevenson as part of the “neo-romanticism” literary movement, of which he was an ardent supporter. As a result, the work adopts a general romantic mood, telling us about incredible adventures and exotic latitudes far from civilization. At the same time, however, the novel does not focus on a romance hero detached from the world around him, but on the most ordinary people, portrayed in an extremely authentic and naturalistic way.
The genre of the work “Treasure Island” can be defined as an adventure novel. The narrative covers a long period of time and includes a large number of characters. The plot is based on a long adventure that has a huge impact on the characters, who, overcoming the many dangers and trials, grow over themselves.
The plot of the novel Treasure Island begins in mid-eighteenth century Britain. Jim Hawkins and his mother keep an inn, the Admiral Benbow, in southwest England. One day a new lodger arrives, a veteran sailor named Billy Bones, who promises to pay four pence a day to Jim if he will watch to see if a one-legged sailor appears nearby. The one-legged man never arrives, but Bones is visited by a man who calls himself Black Dog. A fight ensues between Billy and the Black Dog, and the mysterious visitor escapes, but Bones himself lies in bed. The innkeeper confesses to Jim that he once served as navigator for the legendary pirate Flint.
A few days later, another acquaintance of Bones, Blind Pugh, visits the tavern and hands the former navigator a black marker, which means that pirates will soon come for him. Billy Bones’ health fails and he dies. Jim and his mother leave the inn, taking the money Bones owed them, as well as a certain package. A short time later the place is raided by a bunch of bandits, the Hawkins family barely escaping in time. Armed soldiers arriving from the nearest customs office drive the bandits away and accidentally trample Blind Pugh’s horses.
Fate brings the protagonist together with the wealthy aristocrat John Trelawney and Dr. David Livesey. In a package from Bones’ trunk, the trio discovers a map of the island where Captain Flint’s treasure is hidden. Trelawney and Livesey decide on an adventure – to hire a ship, sail to the island and take the treasure for themselves, and take young Hawkins with them as a cabin boy.
Some time later, the ship Espagnola and the crew hired by Trelawney are ready to set sail in the port of Bristol. The whole town already knows the purpose of the expedition. In Bristol, Jim meets the owner of the Spyglass Tavern, one John Silver, who advised Trelawney on crew selection and was himself hired on the Española as a ship’s cook. At Silver’s tavern, Jim accidentally runs into Black Dog, who rushes into hiding. An encounter takes place with the ship’s hired captain, Alexander Smollett, who does not trust his own crew, as Trelawney and Livesey explicitly state.
Nevertheless, the expedition begins. A few months of measured sea life go by. The sought-after island already appears on the horizon. At that moment, Jim, climbing into a barrel of apples, becomes a casual witness to a conversation between Silver and the other sailors. It turns out that the whole crew of “Española” consists of pirates, and the one-legged cook was in fact Captain Flint’s quartermaster. The bandits intend to wait until Livesey and Trelawney find the treasure and then kill their employers and the captain and take the treasure of the legendary pirate for themselves.
