Part I Part I Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Summary The narrator, Jim Hawkins, begins the first chapter ("The Old Sea Dog at the Admiral Benbow") by saying that he is writing this history at the request of Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and other gentlemen, leaving out nothing but the location of the island, where some treasure still remains. Jim describes how a large, old sailor arrives one day to his father's inn, the Admiral Benbow, and rents a room. Saying they can call him "the captain," he spends his stay watching the sea. He pays Jim a small amount of money to watch out for other seamen, especially a sailor with one leg. He frequently gets drunk in the evenings and terrifies the other guests (who are nonetheless fascinated) by singing violent sea songs and demanding that everyone else join in. The captain is dressed in rough, filthy clothes and spends no money, not even to pay for his room and board, of which fact Jim's father is too intimidated to remind him. One night the captain, drunk and roaring, signals for silence while he sings, but Dr.

Livesey, the local physician who has come to treat Jim's ill (indeed, dying) father, goes on with his conversation. In response to the captain's curses and threats, Livesey calmly predicts that he'll die soon if he keeps on drinking. And the doctor, who is also a district law enforcement official, says he'll have the man arrested if he keeps on threatening people. In the second chapter ("Black Dog Appears and Disappears") a stranger arrives one January morning while the captain is on the beach with his telescope and Jim is readying the breakfast table. The stranger asks if "his mate Bill" is there, and Jim tells him he knows no one by that name, that he is preparing the table for "the captain." Jim feels that this person means the captain no good, and he starts out to warn their guest, but the man prevents him from leaving. When the captain approaches, he reacts to the stranger with a kind of sickly fear, addressing him as "Black Dog." Black Dog orders Jim to bring him rum and then leave the room, and although Jim tries to overhear their conversation, he can make out nothing until suddenly there's a great crash and a clash of swords.

He runs back in, just in time to see Black Dog, wounded, hurrying away. The captain seems greatly upset, demands rum, and says he must leave the inn. But before anything else can happen, he falls down unconscious. Soon the doctor arrives and tells Jim and his mother that the old man has had a stroke. He gets Jim to help him treat the captain, who eventually recovers consciousness. Livesey tells him that unless he stops drinking immediately he'll have another stroke, which will kill him. Chapter 3 ("The Black Spot") begins later that day. When the captain hears he has been ordered to stay in bed for a week, he declares that this will be impossible. Black Dog and others worse than he will return, wanting to steal his sea chest. They will give him "the black spot," which he says is a summons. When they come, he says, Jim must get Dr. Livesey to call down the law on them. He explains very little, but says these men are "old Flint's crew," that he himself was Flint's first mate, and that Flint gave him something — he does not say what — before he died. Then the captain takes the medicine the doctor left for him and sleeps.

That evening, Jim's father dies, and Jim has little time to worry about their guest and his troubles. The next day the captain manages to come downstairs and help himself liberally to rum. For several days he keeps this up, growing weaker and weaker, until the day after the funeral. That afternoon another stranger arrives, a ragged and fearsome-looking blind man. He forces Jim to take him to the captain, who sees him with terror. The blind man puts something into the captain's hand and leaves quickly. When the captain sees what he has been given, he says: "Six hours. We'll do them yet." But as he gets to his feet he reels, sways, and falls dead to the floor. As Chapter 4 ("The Sea Chest") begins, Jim tells his mother what the captain has told him and, knowing their danger, both walk to the nearby village for help. They arrive at dusk and can find no one brave enough to go back with them, although one boy says he'll ride for Livesey. Mrs. Hawkins says she'll go back alone, then, to get what the captain owes her, and Jim has no choice but to go with her.

They return to the inn, and Jim reluctantly searches the captain's corpse to find the key to the sea chest. In the chest they discover various articles, including a few bars of silver, a few English and foreign coins, and a sealed packet. Jim's mother begins to count what coins she can recognize, but they hear the blind man's stick approaching and, in the dark, they run out of the inn. They are badly frightened, and Mrs. Hawkins faints. Jim hides her as well as he can, listening, as Chapter 5 ("The Last of the Blind Man") opens. He hears several men run into the inn, where they discover the captain is dead and the sea chest has been opened. Whatever they are looking for is gone. As a signal from their watchman sounds, most of the pirates want to run, but the blind man, Pew, insists they stay to search for Jim and his mother. They have reluctantly begun to do so when horsemen approach. The pirates scatter — all but Pew, who blunders down the road, deserted by his comrades, and is run down and killed by a man on horseback. The boy who rode for Dr.

Livesey has returned with a company of revenue men (tax collectors), whom Jim recognizes and hails. They find that the inn has been ransacked and robbed. The revenue officer, Mr. Dance, hearing Jim's story, says he must go report to the magistrate, Livesey, and will take Jim with him. Chapter 6 ("The Captain's Papers") begins at Dr. Livesey's house, where they are told that the doctor has gone to dine with Squire Trelawney at his hall. They proceed there, and Dance tells his story to the doctor and squire. Livesey is interested in the packet Jim took from the sea chest, but he waits to open it until after Dance has gone. When it is opened, it is found to contain a book listing sums of money and dates covering over twenty years. Livesey deduces it is a record of the captain's share in plunder taken from many ships and towns by the notorious pirate Flint and his crew. Along with the book is a map showing where the treasure is hidden, buried on an island about 45 square miles in area.

The squire immediately proposes to leave for the port city of Bristol, where he'll obtain a ship, hire a crew, and — taking Livesey as ship's doctor, Jim as cabin boy, and three other men whom he names (Redruth, Joyce, and Hunter) — they will sail in search of the island and the treasure. Livesey warns him not to tell anyone of his plans and destination, and the squire promises he'll be "silent as the grave." Analysis To read the opening paragraph of Treasure Island is a bit like sneaking a look at the last page first. When you come to the end of the first sentence, you know that the treasure-seeking voyage is over and was successful — with part of what was found still left on the island — and that at least three of the major characters (although you do not yet know that they are major characters), the squire, the doctor, and the narrator, have survived it.

That you are told these details at the outset does not affect your reading of the story, because you can tell from the tone of the paragraph that the story is not about whether Treasure Island and its cache of riches can be found but about how the story unfold and all the particulars that take place on the way. It is, in other words, about an adventure. And you believe in that adventure because its details are set down in writing by someone who experienced it, someone whom you are inclined to trust because he is recording it at the request of other men who experienced it, too. Thus, Stevenson's first-person narrator immediately transcends fiction and becomes, for the willing reader, a real person writing about real events. The first part introduces you to several of the major characters of the novel. One of them, Billy Bones (whom Jim innocently calls "the captain," although this rank has been conferred on Billy by himself alone), is dead before the third chapter ends. Billy, despite his rough talk and ragged appearance, seems to Jim, and indeed to some of the neighbors who come to the inn for evening refreshment and conversation, to be fierce and commanding, something of an exotic figure.

These are country people who, despite the fact that they live on the coast of southwestern England, are not very familiar with sea-faring men and their ways, and Billy is entertaining. But he is mostly bluster. He is a drunken old miser who bullies everyone he can, frightening Jim's father into giving him room, board, and plenty of rum at no charge and scaring the neighbors into joining him in drink and raucous song. But he backs down immediately when his loud bullying has no effect on Dr. Livesey, and he is horribly frightened of his erstwhile shipmates, especially the one-legged man for whom he urges Jim to keep a sharp lookout. What is Billy Bones doing at the Admiral Benbow? In fact, he seems to have no real idea. He has Flint's map, the key to a vast fortune, given him — as he says — by Flint on his deathbed, which is probably true, because Flint was much taken with rum himself (as is described in a later chapter) and perhaps Billy Bones seemed to him an appropriate heir.

But Billy's former mates know that he has the map, and Billy knows that they know, and he knows they will eventually come after it and him (as of course they will, for his behavior has made it inevitable that people will spread the word of his being there, and he will be recognized by his description). Billy has good reason to fear his pursuers, because they want his treasure and he does not want to share it. So he waits for the inevitable approach of his former shipmates and, meanwhile, drinks himself to death in an effort not to think about what will happen to him as a result of his unwillingness to give up any of the treasure. In the end, Jim Hawkins pities him. Trelawney reveals himself as another blusterer, although of a pleasanter sort than Billy. He is openhanded, quick to think well of people (he pronounces Jim a "trump" without having any good reason to think so and offers him a hearty meal), and he is impulsive, deciding immediately to go after the treasure and telling not only Livesey but also Jim, whom he has just met and has no reason to trust, of his decision.

He is also, as Jim says without resentment or irony, "condescending" — that is, he is aware of his wealth and position and pleased that others are aware of it. He has always been an important person in the district, a big frog in a small puddle, and you can see that he may be taken advantage of by a reasonably clever person. On the other hand, he is not offended when the doctor (a professional man but not the squire's social equal) tells him that he is likely to talk too much; the squire knows this is true and does not care, because it has never cost him what it may cost him now. Trelawney is a hearty man and, so far, a lucky one; readers like him but do not really trust him. Dr. Livesey is trustworthy. He is revealed as a conventionally good man: honest, outspoken, courageous, steady, and notably un-condescending. You discover very little more about him than this as the novel progresses. But because you already know that he survives the voyage, Livesey becomes a sort of anchor for the reader, an adult whom you know will act firmly and with good sense throughout the book.

The fourth major character presented is Jim Hawkins himself, the narrator and apparently the novel's protagonist. What do you discover about Jim? His age is not immediately obvious, but you know something about the century in which he lives: "17__," he writes, and from later evidence in the book, you may put the events of this first chapter at no earlier than 1730 or so and no later than around 1750 or '55. During this time period, the age at which young men were considered adults and at which they often went to sea as common sailors or even junior officers was about sixteen; because the squire suggests that he be a cabin boy instead of an ensign or mate, you can guess that Jim is in or very near his early teens. He is young enough that Black Dog can patronize him as "sonny" and that blind Pew recognizes his youth; his voice has apparently not begun to deepen.

(Stevenson's stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, in whose company he wrote Treasure Island, was about twelve years old when this writing began, so it is tempting to think that the young protagonist himself is about that age or perhaps a year older.) Jim must be literate and fairly intelligent, and he must subsequently have proved himself honest, or he would probably not have been asked to write this record of events. He is open and trusting, first of "the captain" and later of Black Dog and then of Pew, but he learns quickly and is mature enough to pity Billy Bones. He is responsible at his work, and although much later he tells you that he had often played "boys games," you do not see him doing that now, only working. It's probably fair to say that Jim at this point is a normal young teenager of his (or at least of Stevenson's) time, and, like boys of our own time — although perhaps in different ways — sometimes still a child and sometimes, when circumstances demand it, almost an adult. The minor characters who appear in this part are relatively few. The pirates, Black Dog and Pew, give you a taste of some of the pirates Jim will meet on the voyage.

Black Dog is patently a cruel, vicious man, patronizing Jim, calling him "sonny," talking about "discipline" — all very thinly veiled threats: Do what I say or I will hurt you. Pew, the blind beggar (and you later discover that he is indeed a beggar, having wasted his own wealth in record time), applies pain directly instead of merely threatening. Like another character whom you meet later, Pew is physically daunting, having overcome his disability to an extent that would be admirable in a different man and is frightening in this one. Although you see Black Dog for an instant in the next part of the book, neither of these men figures in the rest of the story. Yet their presence as individuals is felt effectively here; like Billy Bones, they lend Treasure Island color and texture from the beginning. Jim's father, on the other hand, is almost a nonentity so far as the book is concerned. He scarcely speaks, and Jim scarcely speaks of him.

All you know of Hawkins senior is that he owns and operates an inn that has very little business, that he is ill (dead before the end of the third chapter, like Billy Bones), and that he allows the person who is apparently the inn's only actual guest free room and board, not out of charity but out of timidity — he is afraid to face the old sailor and demand the money due him. One may say, of course, that he is not important to the book, that his fictional existence is necessary only as a nearly anonymous innkeeper whose young son finds a treasure map left by a deceased guest. But why, then, does he appear at all? Note, for example, that in the 1934 MGM film directed by Victor Fleming, in some ways the best of the movies made of Treasure Island, Jim's father is said to have died well before the film opens. One possible reason for Mr. Hawkins' appearance seems to be related to one of the themes of the book, that its central action is a quest for Flint's treasure (just as Jason's quest, in Greek mythology, is for the Golden Fleece). But Jim's quest, too, is for a father.

Not only do you know that is he suddenly left fatherless, you also know that the man who raised him lacked courage to collect payment for services he provided. No wonder Jim's father appears in the book as a nonentity; although the comparison is unspoken, the reader is aware throughout the novel that Jim must be comparing him, perhaps unconsciously, with all the other men into whose company he is now thrust. Another minor character deserves a mention. Jim's mother, whose first name is never given, is the only female character in the book, and she is barely sketched as an individual, let alone drawn in any detail. Yet in the one instance of action she is allowed, she shows herself to be a stronger person than her husband (to whom she defers, as convention required, when he is alive). He does not dare to ask Billy Bones for the money owed them, but after both he and Billy are dead, Mrs. Hawkins berates the men of the village who refuse to accompany her back into danger. She insists on going back to the inn, on opening the sea chest, and on counting out as well as she can the exact amount due her.

Jim leaves no doubt that he would not have chosen to go back, or that — having been forced to accompany his mother — he would have taken a random number of coins and left immediately. He blames her, he says in an interesting phrase, for her honesty as well as for her greed. And, while greed is certainly one of the themes of Treasure Island, it is interesting to note here that greed is not attributed solely to the "bad" characters, represented in the first part of the novel by Billy Bones and by Pew, who loses his life mainly because he insists (like Mrs. Hawkins) upon finding what he and his mates have come for, even after the signal of danger has been heard and the others want to run away without the map. Squire Trelawney, too, who has plenty of money, is immediately eager to spend quite a lot of it in a search for the treasure; and Dr. Livesey, who seems happy in his position in the district and also seems to have a better idea of the dangers this enterprise may hold, is anything but reluctant to agree with Trelawney's hastily-formed plan.

Seven hundred thousand pounds — as the island's treasure is eventually estimated — is a lot of money, and to some extent everyone in the book is under its spell from the start. Glossary buccaneer a pirate, a sea robber. saber a heavy cavalry sword with a slightly curved blade. his tarry pigtail . . . Sailors of the period commonly treated their braided hair with the same tar they used to waterproof ropes and sails. capstan an apparatus around which cables or hawsers are wound for hoisting anchors. The devise resembles a tuning peg on a stringed instrument, so the captain's voice sounds as if it had been tuned too tightly and broken. handspike a heavy bar used as a lever, as in turning a capstan. a man who sailed before the mast . . . a common sailor, not an officer; from the quarters of the crew ahead of the foremast. cove a small bay or inlet. mail a vehicle by which mail is delivered (in this case, a stage coach). Dry Tortugas a group of small islands of Florida, west of Key West. Spanish Main the Caribbean Sea, or that part of it adjacent to the northern coast of South America.

the sort of man that made England terrible at sea England was the strongest sea power among European nations of the period, both in its royal navy and its privateers; the man uses "terrible" in the sense of "terrifying, justifiably feared." the cocks of his hat Sailors of the period wore hats whose brims they rolled on three sides to form a stiff triangle; the Captain's hat has come unrolled on one side. his powder white as snow Fashionable upper- and middle-class men in the 1700s wore various styles of wig; these were often bleached white and treated regularly with white talc. magistrate a civil officer empowered to administer the law. assizes court sessions held periodically in each county of England to try civil and criminal cases. cutlas an old spelling of cutlass; a short, thick, curving sword with a single cutting edge, used especially by sailors. split him to the chine cut him through to the backbone. I have drawn blood enough A common medical practice was to draw blood from a patient; this was standard treatment for a variety of ailments and was supposed to be effective. swabs enlisted men or common sailors; a derisive term as the captain uses it.

Yellow Jack yellow fever, an acute, infectious tropical disease caused by a virus and spread by mosquitoes. apoplexy a stroke. hamlet a small village. lugger a small vessel equipped with a lugsail (a four-sided sail supported by a spar — a slender wooden rod — that is fastened to the mast). gully a large knife. quadrant an instrument (later replaced by the sextant) used in navigating. cannikin a small can; a metal drinking cup. two brace two pair. alow and aloft nautical terms for "below and above" meaning thoroughly, in every possible place. their glim their light, in this case their candle, whose wax or tallow is still warm. dingle a deep, wooded valley. Master Pew's dead . . . if make it out they can The revenue officer (tax collector) is unpopular and knows it; he wants to report Pew's accidental death (which he caused) to the magistrate (Livesey) before someone else misreports it as deliberate. the Hall . . . the squire The squire is the principal landowner of a district; the Hall is his place of residence, usually a large, old house. a trump a good fellow.

sealed . . . thimble Letters and documents were sometimes stuck shut with wax, which was then impressed with a seal, a device to ensure they had not been opened; the captain has sealed his packet using a thimble, a metal cap used to protect a finger when sewing. play duck and drake with waste, squander (from a game, "ducks and drakes," of skipping flat stones across water). SparkNotes: Treasure Island: Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Search for Heroic Role Models Treasure Island is an adventure tale, but it is also the story of one boy’s coming of age. At the outset of the novel, Jim is a timid child, but by the end he has matured incredibly. He has outwitted pirates, taken over a ship, and saved innumerable lives. Jim has become an adult in character if not in age. Like any maturing boy, Jim must try out various male role models. Jim’s father does not appear to be a significant role model: he passes away early in the novel, and even before that he does not seem to have much effect on Jim’s inner life.

In fact, Jim scarcely mentions his father in his narrative. Alternatively, we might expect a local authority figure to act as role model for Jim. Dr. Livesey, for example, has high social status in the community and represents the civilized, rational world. When Jim finds the map, he immediately thinks of Livesey when wondering what he should do with it. It therefore initially seems that Jim looks up to Livesey as a role model. Squire Trelawney, like the doctor, is another symbol of worldly authority. However, while both men are upstanding citizens, they do not captivate Jim’s mind or inspire him. They are simply too staid and predictably upstanding. When the pirates appear, however, Jim begins to pay close attention to their actions, attitudes, and appearance. He describes Silver with an intensity and attention to detail that he does not show for any other character. Soon, Jim is imitating some aspects of Silver’s behavior. He acts impulsively and bravely when he sneaks into the pirates’ boat in Chapter XIII. He even deserts his own captain in Chapter XXII, effectively enacting his own mutiny.

He sails a pirate’s boat out to the anchored ship, kills the pirate Israel Hands, and names himself the new captain of the ship. The pirate side of Jim is so apparent that Silver himself remarks that Jim reminds him of what he was like as a boy, hinting that Jim could grow up to be like Silver. At the end of the novel, the pirates’ influence on Jim’s development is clear, and not necessarily detrimental. Jim displays more courage, charisma, and independence than the captain, squire, or doctor. Just as he has not mentioned his father, he does not mention these men at the close of his narrative, an omission that suggests that they have not been important to his development. Instead, Jim pays a touching tribute to Silver and wishes the pirate well. Indeed, Silver has been more instrumental than anyone else in shaping Jim’s identity, hopes, and dreams. The Futility of Desire Treasure Island explores the satisfaction of desires, and, indeed, the motivation of all the characters is greed: everyone wants the treasure. By the end of the adventure, Jim and the captain’s crew have sated their greed, having won the treasure.

Stevenson vividly describes how the men haul the gold bars to the ship, as if to underscore the final satisfying achievement. But Stevenson also casts doubt on the possibility of ultimate satisfaction. For the pirates, desire proves futile and goals unattainable, as the treasure map leads them to an empty hole. The empty hole becomes a symbol for the futility of the treasure hunt and for the loss of one’s soul in searching for the treasure. When the pirates dig in the ground, it is as if they are digging their own grave. Their greed and irrationality lead only to death, loss, and dissatisfaction. Similarly, though Ben has possessed the treasure for three months, he is half mad and living in a cave. Such treasure is useless to him if he is alone on an island. Without the structure and rules of a society that places monetary value on gold, the treasure is worthless. Likewise, we see that Jim himself is not satisfied by the gold. He does not mention its value and focuses instead on the coins’ nationality and their design. He does not refer to his share of the windfall or to what happens to the treasure when he gets back home. The gold coins elicit nightmares, not dreams of his riches.

Jim displays no desire to return for the remaining silver treasure left behind. Unlike other literary adventurers such as Huckleberry Finn in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, Jim does not want to travel or treasure-hunt endlessly. He has learned that the desires associated with such lifestyles are futile—he will never attain a good life through greed and bloodshed. The Lack of Adventure in the Modern Age Stevenson frames his tale of piracy with a number of devices that emphasize the end of the story. He suggests that the tale belongs firmly to the past rather than to the present. Stevenson’s decision to set the story in the eighteenth century underscores the fact that the pirate life is outmoded. Stevenson also has Jim begin his narrative in the form of a retrospective chronicle that begins after the adventure is already over. We know from the first sentence that Jim, Squire Trelawney, Smollett, and Livesey have survived as victors. This knowledge lends a tone of gloom to the pirates’ first appearance, as we know they are doomed. The pirates die out rapidly over the course of the novel and are continually associated with death, disease, and disappearance.

Indeed, the pirate’s skeleton found near the treasure site symbolizes the pirates’ impending doom. Stevenson, however, does not glorify the death of piracy and the eradication of criminals. With Jim’s final sad farewell to the memory of Silver, in which he says that he will go on no more adventures, Stevenson creates a sort of elegy to the pirate life. Stevenson does not mourn its loss, but he makes us wonder whether the world is better off without the pirates’ charisma, charm, and spirit. He challenges the Victorian idea that captains, doctors, and other responsible professional men are the natural leaders of society. Stevenson was critical of stodgy Victorian professionalism throughout his life, and his somewhat romantic portrait of vanished pirates forms a sad tribute to what he feels is missing from the modern world. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Solitude Despite Jim’s solidarity with Smollett’s crew, teamwork is not a dominant motif in Treasure Island. Instead, Stevenson emphasizes Jim’s recurring moments of solitude.

Though Jim does spend time with his family at the beginning of the novel and is later frequently in the company of the captain’s men and the pirates’ band, these intervals are punctuated by far more crucial moments during which Jim is alone. For instance, Jim is alone when he meets Pew, the pirate who delivers the black spot that sets the story in motion. He is alone in the apple barrel when he overhears the critical information about the mutiny that enables him to save Smollett. He is alone when he meets Ben Gunn in the woods and learns the directions to the treasure. Jim is also alone when he sails in the coracle to cut the ship adrift, depriving the pirates of their means of escape. Throughout the novel, Jim’s instances of solitude are associated with self-reliance and show his maturity. This solitude may also have a downside, however. Jim’s decision to function independently, rather than as part of a larger team, may be what prompts Smollett to tell him that they will never voyage together again. Jim may be too individualistic to make a good rank-and-file sailor. Animals Though many works of children’s literature link animals to childhood, in Treasure Island animals are associated not with Jim but with the pirates.

Jim does not have a pet in the novel, but Long John Silver has his eerie parrot named Cap’n Flint. The parrot does not affirm Silver’s humanity, but rather emphasizes the pirates’ inhumanity, as the bird is witness to two centuries of heinous pirate crimes. Cap’n Flint’s raucous screeching of other men’s words echoes the pirates’ constant singing about their greed, violence, and selfishness. The parrot’s incessant mockery suggests that the pirates are better at making noise than producing intelligent statements. The pirates resemble other animals as well. As they climb over the stockade fence in Chapter XXI, Stevenson compares them to monkeys. When Jim first sees the ex-pirate Ben Gunn in Chapter XV, he likens him to a “creature ... like a deer.” Later, when Jim faces down his captors in Chapter XXVIII, they all stare at him “like as many sheep,” suggesting that they are all faceless, submissive members of a herd. Notably, Stevenson never likens the captain’s group to any animals, suggesting that the captain’s men are decent human beings while the pirates are subhuman creatures. The Color Black Stevenson also repeatedly associates the color black with the pirates.

The pirate flag, the Jolly Roger, is black, in sharp contrast with the colorful British flag, the Union Jack. The pirates also give out black spots, verdicts delivered to their victims. Significantly, the pirate who discovers Billy in hiding is named Black Dog. Likewise, the pirate Pew, in his blindness, lives in a state of unending blackness. When Jim creeps among the sleeping pirates, he proceeds “where the darkness was thickest,” an image that likens the pirates to chunks of blackness. Many of Jim’s most frightening encounters with the pirates, such as his examination of the dead Billy, his drifting near the pirate camp on the island, and his accidental entry among the sleeping pirates in the stockade, occur in the black of the night. Certainly, as the color of funerals and mourning, black is associated with death, and the pirates leave a wake of death wherever they travel. Black is also the color of absence, the total lack of light, enlightenment, and illumination. The pirates’ lack of light contrasts with the shining, glimmering gold for which they search—and which they wrongly imagine will brighten their dark lives.

Symbols Billy Bones | Pirate | Fandom powered by Wikia Share Billy Bones Captain William Bones is a fictional character, a pirate in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island . Billy Bones appears at the very outset of the story with a mysterious sea chest, looking for a wayside inn with a view of the sea but little traffic. Bones decides upon the Admiral Benbow Inn where he asks to be addressed merely as "Captain". Though his down-payment for lodgings is adequate, even generous, he stays for many months and browbeats Jim Hawkins 's father out of asking for more money even when his deposit has been spent. He does, however, pay Jim fourpence a month to keep watch for "a seafaring man with one leg". Though he seems sometimes on the verge of deciding this a waste of money, he invariably repents. Most of the daytime is spent walking the cliffs and looking out to sea. A habitual drunkard, the Captain terrorizes the customers of the Benbow with his swearing, singing and general bullying. Yet he begins to attract customers by his very notoriety and earns some admiration from locals who consider him a "real old salt".

The winter after his arrival the Captain is visited by Black Dog, a villainous-looking man with two fingers missing from his hand. There is a noisy argument between the two which turns into a sword fight and the Captain drives off a wounded Black Dog. As soon as the unwelcome visitor is gone, the Captain suffers a stroke. He is tended to by Dr. Livesey who discovers the real name of the Captain to be Billy Bones when his arm is bared as a prelude to a surgical bloodletting and finds the name tattooed there. The doctor saves his life and warns him to lay off rum or it will be the death of him. Bones does not heed Livesey's warning over his excessive drinking. He is plainly weakened by his stroke and the shock of Black Dog's visit, and at one point Hawkins even hears him sing a country love-song, a gentle relic of his innocent days as a youth. He admits to Jim Hawkins that he sailed with Captain Flint, the notorious pirate and was first mate on his ship. This explains much of the mysterious circumstances and solitary behaviour of the early part of the story. A few days later, a blind pirate known only as Pew reaches the inn, and Bones is plainly terrified.

Pew slips a "black spot" into Bones's hand and departs. Immediately, Bones suffers a second stroke and dies. Bones was in possession of Flint's map showing the island and exact location on the island where his buried treasure would lie: this is found by Hawkins when the chest is searched. Captain Flint gave it to Bones on his deathbed. Other media Treasure Island, 1883 - Robert Louis Stevenson Home » Works » Treasure Island, 1883 Treasure Island, 1883 Summary Treasure Island tells of Jim Hawkin’s boyhood adventure on a quest for buried treasure. The story opens at Jim’s father’s inn, the Admiral Benbow. A wild seaman, Billy Bones, comes to stay, bringing with him a large sea chest. He frightens the locals by getting raucously drunk and singing the sea chanty: “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest – Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” (p. 13) Bones asks Jim to keep an eye out for “the seafaring man with one leg” (p. 11), who Bones fears above all else.

One day, the pirate Black Dog comes to the inn and fights with Bones. Wounded, Black Dog retreats and Bones collapses. Bones confesses to Jim that he was first mate for the infamous Captain Flint, and that he knows where Flint’s treasure is buried. He also knows that Black Dog, another of Flint’s men, will bring the rest of the crew to find him so that they can seek the treasure for themselves. Meanwhile, Jim’s ailing father dies. While the house is in mourning, a frightening and evil pirate Blind Pew, delivers the Black Spot to Bones. The Black Spot, a summons which tells Bones he has until 10PM to tell the pirates where the treasure is, shocks Bones so badly that he dies of apoplexy. Terrified that the pirates will descend at any moment, Jim tells his mother everything. They seek assistance from their neighbours who are too frightened to do any more than send for the revenue officers. Jim’s mother, angered that Bones never paid for his lodging, decides to take from his sea chest the money that she is owed. Jim finds a packet of documents and takes it. He and his mother hide and watch the pirates ransack the inn.

At last, the pirates are chased away by revenue officers on horseback, who accidentally trample Pew to death. Jim asks the officers to take him to Dr Livesey, who is visiting Squire Trelawney. He gives him the packet which contains Flint’s treasure map. Thrilled by the possibility of adventure and buried gold, the Squire commissions a ship, the Hispaniola. He hires a crew to seek the treasure – Jim will be the cabin-boy and Livesey will be ship’s doctor. Jim bids farewell to his mother and arrives in Bristol, where the ship is docked. The Squire has meanwhile hired a cook for the voyage, Long John Silver, who has chosen most of the rest of the crew. Silver is a charming but morally ambiguous character who switches allegiance whenever it suits him. He has only one leg, reminding Jim of Bones’s fears. He also has a parrot named Captain Flint who constantly shrieks “Pieces of eight!”. Jim carries a message to Silver, only to find that Black Dog is also in the same tavern! Jim’s suspicions are calmed, however, by Silver’s flattery.

Just before the journey begins, the upright and serious Captain Smollett warns the Squire and Livesey that he does not trust the crew. They all know it is a treasure-seeking voyage, although this is meant to be a secret. During most of the voyage, his fears seem unfounded and the crew seems to be happy and efficient. One day, however, Jim overhears Silver convincing a man to turn traitor: it is clear that Silver has planned all along to wait until the treasure is aboard and then to kill everyone who hasn’t joined their mutiny. Jim even learns that Silver was the quarter-master on Flint’s ship. Jim tells the Captain, the Squire, and Livesey about Silver’s treachery. Because of the crew’s increasing agitation as they draw close to the island, the Captain resolves that the pirates should go to shore while he plans their next move. Jim sneaks ashore and hears in the distance one of the honest men being slain at the hands of the pirates. He also sees Silver murder a man who he was unable to convince to join his mutiny. Terrified that he will be next, Jim runs into the woods. Here, he meets the wild-looking Ben Gunn, another of Flint’s old crew.

Gunn reveals that Flint had buried the treasure on the island with the help of six men, whom he had then killed. Gunn had returned to the island with a group of others three years before. When the treasure wasn’t found, the others marooned him on the island. Gunn, who is affable but slightly mad from his long solitude, has sought the treasure ever since. He now offers to help Jim and his friends if they will give him a passage off the island. Meanwhile, the Squire, Livesey, Smollett and the few honest hands left abandon the ship, taking possession of an old stockade which Flint’s crew had built. Jim returns with his news about Gunn and finds a battle has already depleted their numbers. Surprisingly, Silver offers a truce but the Captain refuses. Another battle leaves more dead and the Captain wounded. Jim sneaks away, armed with a couple of pistols, and finds the little boat that Gunn had mentioned he’d made. He steers the boat to theHispaniola, where he cuts the anchor cables. Climbing on board, he sees that the pirate O’Brien is dead, and that Israel Hands is badly wounded.

Hands promises he will help Jim sail the ship safely to shore if Jim will bind his wound and bring him some drink. Jim complies, but then sees he is not as badly wounded as he claims – and that he has a knife. Once they sail to shore, Hands attacks. Jim escapes by climbing the rigging. Hands throws his knife, pinning Jim’s shoulder to the mast. Jim shoots and Hands falls to the water and dies. Jim now returns to shore. Thinking he will surprise his sleeping friends in the stockade, he enters quietly, only to hear the piercing cry of the parrot, “Pieces of eight!” – the pirates had taken the stockade! Most of the pirates want to kill Jim, but Silver takes Jim’s side – after all, Jim can testify for them in court and help them when they return to England. However, the pirates only agree when Silver reveals he has the treasure map! Livesey comes to treat the wounded pirates (despite their enmity Livesey believes in his duty as a doctor). Jim tells him where the ship is, and tells him that Silver saved his life. Outnumbered, Livesey is powerless to help Jim and Jim has also promised Silver not to try to escape.

Shortly afterwards, the pirates set off to find the treasure with Jim in tow. They come across the skeleton of one of the six pirates Flint killed, whose arms have been arranged to point in the direction of the treasure. Frightened by the remains, the pirates speculate whether Flint’s ghost is nearby. They remember how he used to sing “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest – Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” (p. 215) They are terrified when they hear a voice (we later learn that this is Gunn) from the woods singing that very song. Silver urges them to put their superstitions aside. When they come to the place where the treasure is supposed to be buried, however, they find it is gone. Enraged, the pirates turn on Silver. He is saved when Livesey, Ben Gunn and another honest hand, Alasdair Gray, emerge from the trees, firing at the pirates. Jim learns that Ben had found the treasure after all, and hidden it in a cave. Knowing this, Livesey had given Silver the map so the pirates would be distracted.

Silver, who now firmly allies himself with Jim and the others, helps to load the ship with the treasure and they sail away, marooning the three remaining pirates. During a stop in a South American port, Silver escapes, taking with him one bag of the treasure. Everyone is pleased to be rid of him so easily. Quotations from Treasure Island, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Swanston edn, vol vi (London: Chatto and Windus, 1911). They return to England, but Jim admits that “the worst dreams that ever I 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!’” (p. 231). Thumbnail image from RLS, Treasure Island, illus. by Frank Godwin (Philadelphia: Winston, 1925). Map from RLS, Treasure Island, The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Swanston edn, vol vi (London: Chatto and Windus, 1911), p. 2. This entry was posted in Novels . Bookmark the permalink .

Site Information Billy Bones (Character) - Quotes Billy Bones (Character) from "Black Sails" (2014) The content of this page was created by users. It has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff. Jim Hawkins : What, the one-legged man? Billy Bones : Aye. But also, beware runnin' with scissors or any other pointy object. It's all good fun, until somebody loses a - Ahhhh! [Billy Bones has apparently died] Rizzo : He died? And this is supposed to be a kids' movie! Billy Bones : [Billy Bones suddenly wakes up and, without opening his eyes, grabs Gonzo's nose to pull him closer] Jimmy-Jim-Jimmy-Jim-Jim-Jim-Jim! You've always been a decent sort to old Billy Bones. Gonzo : I'm not Jimmy-Jim-Jimmy-Jim-Jim-Jim-Jim. Jim Hawkins : Yes, Captain, what is it? Billy Bones : How does she bloody do that? Billy Bones : [after opening sequence] Now isn't that a story worth a hearin'? First Pig : It was the first dozen times we heard it. Second Pig : I'll drink to that.

Billy Bones : [in response to Gonzo's smart remark] It ain't no jokin' matter, hose nose! [first lines] Billy Bones : I was Flint's first mate that voyage. Three days east of Tortola in the Caribbean, Flint knew an island. That's where we buried the treasure. Gold and blood, they were Flint's trademarks. He'd leave both behind him that day. Billy Bones : Oh, aye, and then old Flinty up and died before they could get back to that cursed island and dig up the treasure. Billy Bones : And no one knows to this day what happened to the treasure. Or the treasure map. Maybe you'll find them, Eh Hawkins. Hawkins? Ha! [Billy Bones looks at you and laughs. Rizzo the Rat laughs] The Great Gonzo : Tell us another adventure Mr. Bones. My favorite is the story about the one legged man. Billy Bones : Ah, The one legged man? I told you to never to mention that cursed beast! Now get back there and finish brewing my stew. I feel the horrors coming on, begone! Rizzo the Rat : The horrors. Oh I think I'll be going now. Ho.

[Gonzo and Rizzo head over to the kitchen. Billy Bones stands up and also heads into the kitchen. Then Blind Pew opens the top half of the front door] :Blind Pew : Eh. Hi Billy Bones it's me Blind Pew! Come to settle the score! Heh heh, heh, Whoa, ow, whoa, ow! [Blind Pew trips over the trash cans. Billy Bones comes out of the kitchen. Walks upstairs to his room and sees the paper with the black spot on it] Billy Bones : THE BLACK SPOT! NO! [Then Stevenson the Parrot appears on the stair rails] Billy Bones : I was Flint's first mate that voyage. Three days east of Tortola in the Caribbean, Flint knew an island. That's where we buried the treasure. Gold and blood, they were Flint's trademarks. He'd leave both behind him that day. Billy Bones : The black spot! The black spot! The Great Gonzo : Um real black spot? Can I see it. I've never seen a real black spot before Mr. B. Rizzo the Rat : Hey Hey! Hold that... Door. Hey watch out!

[Rizzo crashes into the door and falls backwards down the stairs] Billy Bones : The black spot got me! [Billy Bones leaves the bedroom] Rizzo the Rat : Oh this is bad. This is bad, pirates, black spot, danger, and worst of all, the refrigerator's empty! Oh. Billy Bones : Ahh! The block spot! So that's how it ends for old Billy! The Black Spot and all for a stinking treasure map! [Billy Bones screams and dies] Treasure Island. Billy Bones How Stevenson describes him: "A tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails; and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white" The role he plays in Treasure Island: A drunken, violent and yet terrified man who brings the map to Jim's Inn. He is given the Black Spot by Blind Pew and dies of a heart attack from terror.

What he has to say: "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum...(hic)" SparkNotes: Treasure Island: Character List Treasure Island Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Jim Hawkins - The first-person narrator of almost the entire novel. Jim is the son of an innkeeper near Bristol, England, and is probably in his early teens. He is eager and enthusiastic to go to sea and hunt for treasure. He is a modest narrator, never boasting of the remarkable courage and heroism he consistently displays. Jim is often impulsive and impetuous, but he exhibits increasing sensitivity and wisdom. Read an in-depth analysis of Jim Hawkins. Billy Bones - The old seaman who resides at Jim’s parents’ inn. Billy, who used to be a member of Silver’s crew, is surly and rude. He hires Jim to be on the lookout for a one-legged man, thus involving the young Jim in the pirate life. Billy’s sea chest and treasure map set the whole adventure in motion. His gruff refusal to pay his hotel bills symbolizes the pirates’ general opposition to law, order, and civilization. His illness and his fondness for rum symbolize the weak and self-destructive aspects of the pirate lifestyle.

Black Dog - A pirate and enemy of Billy. Black Dog pays an unexpected visit to Billy and threatens him. Billy attacks Black Dog, who flees but remains a herald of coming violence in the novel. Black Dog’s name symbolizes both the dark and the bestial sides of piracy. Squire Trelawney - A local Bristol nobleman. Trelawney arranges the voyage to the island to find the treasure. He is associated with civic authority and social power, as well as with the comforts of civilized country life (his name suggests both “trees” and “lawn”). Trelawney’s street smarts, however, are limited, as the ease with which the pirates trick him into hiring them as his crew demonstrates. Dr. Livesey - The local doctor. Dr. Livesey is wise and practical, and Jim respects but is not inspired by him. Livesey exhibits common sense and rational thought while on the island, and his idea to send Ben to spook the pirates reveals a deep understanding of human nature. He is fair-minded, magnanimously agreeing to treat the pirates with just as much care as his own wounded men.

As his name suggests, Livesey represents the steady, modest virtues of everyday life rather than fantasy, dream, or adventure. Read an in-depth analysis of Dr. Livesey. Captain Smollett - The captain of the voyage to Treasure Island. Captain Smollett is savvy and is rightly suspicious of the crew Trelawney has hired. Smollett is a real professional, taking his job seriously and displaying significant skill as a negotiator. Like Livesey, Smollett is too competent and reliable to be an inspirational figure for Jim’s teenage mind. Smollett believes in rules and does not like Jim’s disobedience; he even tells Jim that he never wishes to sail with him again. Long John Silver - The cook on the voyage to Treasure Island. Silver is the secret ringleader of the pirate band. His physical and emotional strength is impressive. Silver is deceitful and disloyal, greedy and visceral, and does not care about human relations. Yet he is always kind toward Jim and genuinely fond of the boy. Silver is a powerful mixture of charisma and self-destructiveness, individualism and recklessness.

The Black Spot in Treasure Island NEXT Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory The black spot is probably the one piece of Treasure Island pirate lore that hasn't made it into broader popular culture. It's kind of what it sounds like: a circle of paper that's black on one side and has a message on the other. These are supposed to represent the will of the pirates as a group. When Pew delivers one to Billy Bones, it contains a demand for him to appear before his crewmates at a certain time. And George Merry, Tom Morgan, and Dick Johnson dare to give one to Long John Silver declaring that he is no longer their elected captain (that is, until he shows them he has the treasure map). Jim describes Long John Silver's black spot as darkened on one side with ash, with the word "Deposed" written in ash on the reverse. But the ash has rubbed away, leaving the black spot totally unrecognizable. Perhaps this symbolizes the fleeting nature of pirate law: one minute you're in favor and the next you're out.

Billy Bones | Muppet Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia DEBUT 1996 Billy Bones is the drunken, wizened resident of the Admiral Benbow Inn in Muppet Treasure Island . An inveterate teller of tales, Bones spends his days recalling his time as a member of Captain Flint 's crew, before Blind Pew , Black Dog , and other old shipmates seek him out. The already nervy Bones, terrified of the one-legged man , is further distressed by the receipt of the Black Spot. The captain entrusts the map to Jim Hawkins (as well as giving him, Gonzo , and Rizzo a warning about running with pointy objects), but dies soon after of a heart attack. Billy Bones also possesses a Scottish accent (a trait not mentioned in the original novel). In the CD-ROM game Bones wanders in despair for the rest of the Admiral Benbow Inn campaign rather than dying as he does in the film. Muppet Treasure Island - The Black Spot - YouTube Muppet Treasure Island - The Black Spot Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented.

This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on May 12, 2011 The Black Spot scene......

Question: Who delivers the black spot to Billy Bones in Treasure Island?
Answer: Blind Pew