Step inside Treasure Island

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

A pirate moves into the inn where Jim Hawkins lives - and when he dies, Jim finds a map in his sea-chest.

9:41

The Cast

Jim Hawkins

Main · loyal party

An innkeeper’s son learns to survive by noticing what adults miss and acting before he is safe.

Locations

The Admiral Benbow

inn

A quiet coastal inn is where pirate terror first crosses the threshold of Jim's home.

Passage

A stranger's song and scars announce trouble long before anyone knows his name.

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The Author’s Pen

The Stranger at the Inn

I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow--a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so often afterwards:

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

Reading

Jim is remembering, not just reporting, and the phrase "as if it were yesterday" tells us this man stamped himself on a boy's mind hard enough to last a lifetime. What fixed him there is damage: the scar, the broken black nails, the ragged scarred hands. Before the captain has said a word, Jim has read his whole violent history off his body, and the cheerful whistling and the song about a dead man's chest only sharpen the sense that this friendliness is sitting on top of something dangerous.

World Index

The Plot

The Admiral Benbow and the MapBristol and Long John SilverThe Apple BarrelThe Island and Ben GunnThe Siege of the StockadeJim Takes the HispaniolaThe Empty Pit and the End

The Cast

Jim HawkinsLong John SilverDr. LiveseyBilly BonesSquire TrelawneyCaptain SmollettBen GunnBlind PewIsrael HandsBlack DogAbraham GrayGeorge MerryMrs. HawkinsTom RedruthDick JohnsonTom MorganJob AndersonHunterJoyceCaptain Flint

Locations

Ben Gunn’s caveBristol and the Spy-glass tavernThe Admiral BenbowThe anchorage behind Skeleton IslandThe apple barrelThe coracle at seaThe cove and cliffsThe HispaniolaThe island woodsThe stockade / block houseThe tall tree / treasure siteTreasure IslandTrelawney’s hall

Objects of Note

Billy Bones’s sea-chestCaptain Flint the parrotDick’s BibleFlint’s treasureMuskets and powderPistolsRumSilver’s coin bagSilver’s crutchThe black spotThe coracleThe Jolly RogerThe skeleton pointerThe treasure map

Core Concepts

Charm and violence wear the same faceFlint survives as rumor, object, and memoryGreed turns places into trapsJim’s courage is reckless before it becomes usefulLaw, discipline, and pirate rule compete for obedience

The Author's Pen

Paid to Keep WatchThe Doctor’s DefianceThe Strange VisitorThe Captain Turns OldLed to the BuccaneerThe Blind Man’s BusinessThe Captain Falls DeadThe Captain's Chest ContentsPew Under the HorsesThe Treasure MapTrelawney Plans the VoyageImagining the IslandLong John AppearsBlack Dog BoltsThe Captain Speaks PlainWonder on the DeckThe Parrot's Pirate HistorySilver and Flint’s Old ShipSilver’s Course LaidLand HoThe Island Altogether ChangedJim Slips AshoreHands Off John SilverThe Creature Was a ManMarooned and Dreaming of CheeseRaising and Spreading the ColoursThe Servant To DieCaptain Silver Makes TermsThe Rush on the StockadeJim Slips the StockadeCutting the Last FibresThe Little Boat RidesStriking the Black FlagBen Gunn’s PricePinned To The MastSix Buccaneers Left AliveThe Word DepposedSilver Demands Plain TalkThe Voice in the TreesThe Rifled CacheSilver Settles With MerryBen Gunn Found The TreasureThe Accursed IslandLeaving the Three Behind

Plot point 01

The Admiral Benbow and the Map

A pirate moves into the inn where Jim Hawkins lives - and when he dies, Jim finds a map in his sea-chest.

Objects of Note

The treasure map

A marked chart turns one old pirate's terror into a voyage everyone thinks they can control.

The Cast

Long John Silver

Main · mutineers

A cheerful one-legged cook turns charm, usefulness, and danger into the same performance.

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Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

The Treasure Island World, as it plays on your phone

Meet the people. 20 characters, each with a portrait, who they are and what they want.
Walk the places. 13 places, each pictured, and what happens there.
Follow the plot. The turns of the story, in order, so you always know where you are.
Taste the original. 45 key passages in Robert Louis Stevenson’s own words, each with a short reading of what it is doing.
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