Study Guide: Treasure Island — “The Treasure-hunt—Flint’s Pointer”

Themes / Big Ideas

• Moral ambiguity and shifting loyalties
  • Silver thanks Jim and proposes they “stick close,” yet immediately plots to use him as a hostage. This continues the novel’s exploration of flexible loyalties and survival-first ethics.
• Greed versus prudence
  • The pirates’ wasteful breakfast and sloppy discipline show how greed and short-term thinking undermine real success—a recurring critique of pirate “freedom.”
• Leadership, charisma, and manipulation
  • Silver restores morale, spins setbacks into strategy, and keeps control through confidence and cunning—contrasting with the honest but less flamboyant leadership of the gentlemen.
• Superstition versus reason
  • The skeleton terrifies the crew (Flint’s “ghost” looms), while Silver pushes compass bearings and practical action. The novel repeatedly pits fear and legend against navigation, planning, and medicine.
• Violence and the true cost of piracy
  • The “pointer” skeleton and Silver’s claim that Flint murdered six men underscore the brutality behind pirate legend.
• Coming-of-age under pressure
  • Jim’s vulnerability (tethered, “led like a dancing bear”) and clear-eyed judgment of the pirates’ recklessness deepen his maturation and moral clarity.
• Quest motif: maps, bearings, and clues
  • The “tall tree,” compass reading, and skeletal “pointer” advance the treasure-hunt puzzle while hinting at double meanings and traps—echoing the novel’s larger game of maps and misdirection.
• Foreshadowing and rising tension
  • Dr. Livesey’s warning—“Look out for squalls when you find it”—hangs over the search, signaling that danger peaks as the treasure nears.

Vocabulary

Quotes to Look For

• “you and me must stick close, back to back like, and we’ll save our necks in spite o’ fate and fortune.” (Silver to Jim; alliance of convenience, moral ambiguity)
• “I never in my life saw men so careless of the morrow; hand to mouth is the only word that can describe their way of doing” (Jim; critique of pirate short-termism)
• “it’s lucky you have Barbecue to think for you with this here head.” (Silver; self-promoting leadership)
• “I’ll take him in a line when we go treasure-hunting, for we’ll keep him like so much gold, in case of accidents, you mark, and in the meantime.” (Silver; treating Jim as hostage/leverage)
• “He had still a foot in either camp,” (Narration; Silver’s divided loyalties)
• “Look out for squalls when you find it,” (Dr. Livesey’s warning; foreshadowing)
• “For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear.” (Jim; vulnerability and captivity)
• “a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground.” (Macabre clue; cost of piracy)
• “The body pointed straight in the direction of the island, and the compass read duly E.S.E. and by E.” (Reason and navigation applied to a gruesome “pointer”)
• “This here is a p’inter.” (Silver; decoding Flint’s clue)
• “Him and these six was alone here; he killed ’em, every man;” (Silver on Flint; brutality behind legend)
• “There ain’t a thing left here… not a copper doit nor a baccy box.” (Merry; the unsettling thoroughness of the scene)
• “if ever sperrit walked, it would be Flint’s.” (Bandaged pirate; superstition and fear)
• “stow this talk. He’s dead, and he don’t walk… Care killed a cat. Fetch ahead for the doubloons.” (Silver; suppressing fear, refocusing on treasure)
• “The terror of the dead buccaneer had fallen on their spirits.” (Narration; mood shift and rising tension)