Treasure Island — Study Guide for “The Attack”
Themes / Big Ideas
- Leadership vs. mutiny (order vs. chaos)
- Captain Smollett’s discipline, planning, and calm under pressure contrast with the pirates’ reckless aggression—echoing the book’s larger conflict between lawful order and lawless greed.
- Loyalty and earned trust
- Gray proves his loyalty and competence, and Smollett publicly recognizes it. Across the novel, loyalty is won by deeds, not words—opposed to Silver’s manipulative “friendliness.”
- Courage and coming of age
- Jim acts instinctively and bravely (“I had not time to be afraid”), a step in his growth from cabin boy to active participant in dangerous adult conflict.
- Strategy and tactics over brute force
- The defenders’ use of cover, fields of fire, and a plan of defense reflects the novel’s recurring idea that brains often beat brawn (and that Silver’s cunning has a match in Smollett’s).
- The real cost of violence
- Victory brings casualties (Joyce dead, Hunter down, Smollett wounded). Treasure Island repeatedly reminds us that adventure has a price.
- Appearance vs. reality
- Feint fire from three sides masks the true attack from the north; the same theme of deception runs through the pirates’ plots and Silver’s double-talk.
- Nature as silent combatant
- Heat and smoke shape the fight—first a hindrance (visibility), then a protection—illustrating how the island itself influences human conflict.
Vocabulary
| Word/Phrase | Part of Speech | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| quarters | noun | Assigned stations or positions during an alarm or battle. |
| broadside | noun | A simultaneous discharge of many guns; figuratively, a forceful attack. |
| loophole | noun | A narrow opening in a wall for firing weapons from cover. |
| stockade | noun | A strong defensive fence or enclosure made of posts. |
| palisade | noun | A fence of stakes forming a defensive barrier (similar to a stockade). |
| cutlass | noun | A short, heavy, curved sword used by sailors. |
| hanger | noun | A short sword, akin to a cutlass. |
| boatswain | noun | “Bosun”; the ship’s deck officer overseeing crew and equipment. |
| boarder | noun | An attacker who climbs into a defended place or vessel. |
| doldrums | noun (plural) | A region of calm winds near the equator; figuratively, a state of inactivity or boredom. |
| huzza | interjection/noun | A cheer or cry of triumph; “hurrah.” |
| drub | verb | To beat or defeat thoroughly. |
| marksman | noun | A skilled shooter. |
| muzzle | noun | The open end of a firearm barrel. |
| civility | noun | Polite behavior or courtesy. |
| sally/sallied | verb | To rush out from a defended place to attack. |
| hurly-burly | noun | Noisy confusion; tumult. |
| impending | adjective | About to happen; imminent. |
| in a trice | adverb/phrase | Very quickly; in an instant. |
| bear a hand | verb/idiom | To help promptly; lend assistance. |
Quotes to Look For
- “Quarters!” he roared. — Smollett’s insistence on discipline and readiness.
- “Gray, I’ll put your name in the log; you’ve stood by your duty like a seaman.” — Loyalty recognized and rewarded.
- “I’ve given Silver a broadside… We’re outnumbered… I’ve no manner of doubt that we can drub them, if you choose.” — Strategy, morale, and leadership in crisis.
- “Toss out the fire… we mustn’t have smoke in our eyes.” / “The log-house was full of smoke, to which we owed our comparative safety.” — Irony: what hinders also protects.
- “This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray, whistle for a wind.” — Nautical idiom building tension before the assault.
- “Suddenly, with a loud huzza, a little cloud of pirates leaped from the woods…” — The attack’s ferocity and suddenness.
- “Our position was utterly reversed.” — A turning point as the fight shifts from defense under cover to close combat.
- “Out, lads, out, and fight ’em in the open! Cutlasses!” — The decisive order to change tactics.
- “I had not time to be afraid.” — Jim’s instinctive courage and maturation.
- “And yet, in this breath of time, the fight was over and the victory was ours.” — The speed and shock of battle.
- “The house… cleared of smoke, and we saw… the price we had paid for victory.” — The human cost of success.
- “Five against three leaves us four to nine… better odds than we had at starting.” — Smollett’s cold arithmetic and steadying leadership under loss.