Genre

Adventure story, coming-of-age story, children’s book,

Narrator

Jim Hawkins is both the hero of the tale and the narrator for all but three chapters—Dr. Livesey narrates Chapters 15–18. Jim narrates the tale because Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney ask him to recount the events after the end of the adventure.

Point of View

Jim narrates from first-and third-person perspectives. In doing so, he presents plot developments that only he himself observes. Livesey does the same in his portion of the narrative. Whereas Jim describes his state of mind, feelings, and attitudes throughout his tale, Livesey is more objectively factual in his narration.

Tone

Jim’s attitudes toward his life and his adventure are significant. The fact that he hardly mentions his parents, even after his father’s death, suggests indifference toward his family. Jim shows moderate respect, and occasional impatience, when describing Captain Smollett and Dr. Livesey. When Jim describes the pirates, his tone suggests that he admires and reveres them, and is certainly fascinated by them. Jim’s tone is generally modest when narrating his own heroic feats.

Tense

Past

Setting

Near Bristol, England, and Treasure Island, an island off the coast of “Spanish America,” in the 18th century

Foreshadowing

Billy Bones is handed his black spot and dies soon thereafter; Captain Smollett is suspicious of his new crew, which turns out to be mutinous; Mr. Arrow repeatedly gets drunk, then disappears from the ship; Jim sees Israel Hands hide a knife under his jacket, and Hands soon attacks him; the sailors sing about a dead man’s chest before the adventure has begun, and almost all of them end up dead in the end.

Major Conflict

Jim, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, Captain Smollett, and his crew search for a treasure that Captain Flint, an old pirate, has left buried after his death. They are challenged by Flint’s former crewmembers, who have tricked Trelawney into hiring them to help sail to Treasure Island.

Rising Action

The discovery of the treasure map in the inn; the hiring of a treacherous crew for the expedition; the voyage to Treasure Island; the mutiny of Silver and his crew; Silver taking Jim as a hostage

Climax

The pirates’ and Jim’s discovery that the treasure has already been excavated from its burial ground

Falling Action

The return trip to England; Silver’s escape with some of the treasure; Jim’s nightmares about the sea and gold coins

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