Study Guide: Treasure Island — “The Treasure-hunt—The Voice Among the Trees”
Themes / Big Ideas
- Greed’s blinding power
- As the pirates near the “seven hundred thousand pounds,” terror evaporates and avarice takes over (“Their eyes burned in their heads…”). Across the novel, greed fuels betrayal, violence, and self-delusion.
- Superstition vs. reason
- The crew panics at what they believe is Flint’s ghost, while Silver bullies them back to action with a rational “echo” argument. This tension mirrors the book’s broader conflict between fearful superstition and practical, Enlightenment thinking (Livesey/Smollett vs. the buccaneers).
- Leadership and manipulation
- Silver’s quick recovery and rhetorical skill steady the crew and keep them aligned to his aims. Like elsewhere in the book, his charisma masks ruthless intent and shifting loyalties.
- The island as a psychological landscape
- The vast silence and vistas heighten solitude and fear; the terrain seems to hold the memory of past violence. The setting reflects characters’ inner states—a recurring feature throughout the novel.
- The haunting legacy of Flint
- Flint’s “presence” controls the living long after his death. The pirates’ fear of his ghost points to the enduring consequences of past crimes and a pirate culture steeped in myth.
- Illusion vs. reality and the collapse of expectations
- The “ghost” voice is human (Ben Gunn), and the treasure pit is empty. Treasure Island repeatedly undercuts fantasies with hard reversals, urging skepticism toward appearances, maps, and promises.
- Morality under pressure
- Jim sees through Silver’s murderous plans, underscoring how the boy’s developing conscience contrasts with pirate amorality—a strand of the novel’s coming-of-age arc.
- Fate, chance, and reversal
- Just as success seems certain, the discovery of the rifled cache flips fortune—a pattern of sudden turns that propels the plot and tests character.
Vocabulary
| Word | Part of Speech | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| plateau | noun | A raised area of relatively level high ground. |
| brow (of a hill) | noun | The top or edge of a slope or ascent. |
| ascent | noun | An upward slope; the act of climbing. |
| anchorage | noun | A place where a ship anchors safely. |
| precipice | noun | A very steep cliff or rock face. |
| spit (of land) | noun | A narrow point of land projecting into the sea. |
| bearings | noun (plural) | One’s position or direction relative to fixed points. |
| buccaneer | noun | A pirate, especially of the 17th–18th centuries. |
| volubly | adverb | In a rapid, fluent, and often excessive manner of speaking. |
| superstitious | adjective | Having or showing belief in supernatural causation. |
| irreverence | noun | A lack of respect for things commonly taken seriously. |
| echo | noun | A sound reflected off a surface and heard again. |
| wail | verb | To cry out with a long, high-pitched sound. |
| conspicuous | adjective | Clearly visible; attracting notice or attention. |
| quiver | verb | To tremble or shake with slight rapid motion. |
| coracle | noun | A small, light, rounded boat made of a framework covered with skin or waterproof material. |
| manoeuvre (maneuver) | verb | To move or guide skillfully and carefully. |
| cache | noun | A hidden store of goods or valuables. |
| rifle (rifled) | verb | To ransack or plunder; to steal from. |
| excavation | noun | A hole or cavity formed by digging. |
| probation (archaic) | noun | Proof; testing or evidence confirming something. |
| huzza | interjection | An old exclamation of joy or triumph; “hurrah.” |
Quotes to Look For
- “There was no sound but that of the distant breakers… the very largeness of the view increased the sense of solitude.” — The island’s silence amplifies isolation and dread.
- “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” — The shanty, source of pirate bravado, returns as a ghostly terror.
- “It’s Flint, by ——!” — The crew’s immediate leap to superstition.
- “It’s someone skylarking—someone that’s flesh and blood, and you may lay to that.” — Silver pushes reason against fear to maintain control.
- “Darby M’Graw! … Fetch aft the rum, Darby!” — The eerie “last words” that deepen the crew’s panic.
- “I’m here to get that stuff, and I’ll not be beat by man or devil… I’ll face him dead.” — Silver’s defiance, ambition, and leadership under strain.
- “There was an echo… no man ever seen a sperrit with a shadow; well then, what’s he doing with an echo to him?” — Silver’s quick-witted logic to counter superstition.
- “By the powers, Ben Gunn!” — The rational explanation that punctures the ghost story.
- “Dead or alive, nobody minds Ben Gunn.” — The crew’s dismissal that ironically foreshadows Ben Gunn’s decisive role.
- “Their eyes burned in their heads… their whole soul was bound up in that fortune…” — Greed overtakes fear and reason.
- “I could not doubt that he hoped to seize upon the treasure… cut every honest throat… and sail away…” — Jim’s clear-eyed view of Silver’s ruthless intentions.
- “Before us was a great excavation… the name Walrus—the name of Flint’s ship.” — Material proof of Flint’s past and the pit’s mystery.
- “All was clear to probation. The cache had been found and rifled; the seven hundred thousand pounds were gone!” — The shocking reversal that undercuts the pirates’ dreams and shifts the endgame.