Treasure Island — Study Guide for “The Voyage”
Themes / Big Ideas
- Appearance vs. reality (masks and manipulation)
- Long John Silver’s genial, fatherly persona (“Barbecue”) hides a ruthless pirate. Connects to the novel’s constant tension between seeming loyalty and concealed treachery.
- Leadership, discipline, and authority
- Captain Smollett’s strict professionalism clashes with Squire Trelawney’s indulgence (double grog, extra treats). Echoes the book’s broader question: what kind of leadership keeps men (and a voyage) from ruin?
- Coming-of-age and moral responsibility
- Jim’s curiosity and accidental discovery in the apple barrel thrust him into adult stakes—others’ lives depend on him. Ties to his growth from cabin boy to decisive actor.
- The corrupting pull of greed and drink
- Mr. Arrow’s drunkenness and disappearance, the rum-soaked shanty, and the parrot’s “Pieces of eight!” underscore how desire (for liquor or treasure) destroys judgment—central to the book.
- Loyalty vs. treachery (fault lines in the crew)
- Quiet alliances (Silver and Israel Hands), shifting ranks (Job Anderson), and smiles that hide mutiny foreshadow the larger conflict.
- Chance, Providence, and the thin edge between safety and disaster
- A simple craving for an apple leads to life-saving knowledge. Fortune’s small turns shape the expedition—recurring across the novel.
- The sea as testing ground
- Heavy weather and shipboard routines reveal character and competence (Smollett vs. Trelawney; Silver’s resourcefulness), a motif for how isolation at sea heightens moral trials.
- Pirate legend vs. reality
- Shanties and Flint’s parrot glamorize piracy, yet the chapter hints at its real costs—violence, corruption, and betrayal—threaded throughout the book.
Vocabulary
| Word/Term | Part of Speech | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| boatswain (bo’sun) | noun | Petty officer in charge of the deck crew, rigging, and equipment. |
| capstan-bars | noun (plural) | Wooden bars inserted into a capstan so the crew can turn it to heave the anchor. |
| boatswain’s pipe | noun | A shrill whistle used aboard ship to signal orders. |
| mate | noun | Ship’s officer ranking below the captain (e.g., first mate). |
| lanyard | noun | A short line/cord used to secure or carry something (e.g., Silver’s crutch). |
| bulkhead | noun | A wall/partition within a ship. |
| coxswain | noun | Skilled hand who steers a boat or oversees the ship’s boats. |
| earing (nautical) | noun | Short rope used to fasten the upper corner of a sail; here, handlines Silver uses to cross the deck. |
| grog | noun | Diluted rum issued to sailors. |
| duff | noun | A boiled/steamed pudding common in naval rations. |
| broached (a barrel) | verb | Opened/tapped so contents can be drawn. |
| forecastle (fo’c’sle) | noun | The forward part of a ship; traditional living space of the crew. |
| abeam | adj./adv. | At right angles to a ship’s length; off to the side. |
| bowsprit | noun | A spar projecting forward from the bow. |
| alow and aloft | adverb phrase | Down on deck and up in the rigging—throughout the ship vertically. |
| luff | noun/verb | The forward edge of a sail; to steer toward the wind so the sail begins to flap. |
| companionway | noun | Stairs/structure leading from deck to below. |
| watch (nautical) | noun | A scheduled duty period for part of the crew. |
| hove short (short up) | adjective phrase | With the anchor cable nearly vertical—ready to weigh anchor. |
| head sea | noun | Waves coming directly against the bow. |
| wily | adjective | Crafty; cunning; sly. |
Quotes to Look For
- “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” (Pirate culture’s allure and menace; a recurring motif.)
- “Overboard! … Well, gentlemen, that saves the trouble of putting him in irons.” (Smollett’s hard pragmatism; Arrow’s ruin through drink.)
- “He had no command among the men, and people did what they pleased with him.” (Failed leadership and its consequences.)
- “He’s no common man, Barbecue… brave—a lion’s nothing alongside of Long John!” (Silver’s charisma and hinted danger.)
- “You can’t touch pitch and not be mucked, lad.” (Silver’s moral-sounding proverb masking corruption; foreshadowing.)
- “Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” (The parrot as a greed motif; the echo of Flint’s legacy.)
- “She’ll lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married wife, sir.” (Smollett’s seamanship and pride in the Hispaniola.)
- “All I say is, we’re not home again, and I don’t like the cruise.” (Persistent caution; foreshadowing mutiny.)
- “A trifle more of that man, and I shall explode.” (Squire vs. Captain—clashing authority styles.)
- “Double grog was going on the least excuse…” (Indulgence that undermines discipline; seeds of trouble.)
- “But good did come of the apple barrel, as you shall hear…” (Fate/Providence and the apple barrel as symbol of dangerous knowledge.)
- “I would not have shown myself for all the world… I understood that the lives of all the honest men aboard depended upon me alone.” (Jim’s coming-of-age—responsibility and high stakes.)