Treasure Island: Jim’s Journey for Treasure

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“Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum” (Stevenson 230). A desperate attempt to a filthy amount of wealth is made by a crew of men upon the ship, Hispaniola. In the search for treasure Jim finds trust in the one man he should be avoiding. This struggling yet exciting adventure that Robert Louis Stevenson portrays will pull you into the journey for wealth along with the crew. Treasure Island explains archetypes such as life or death, Jim’s rite of passage, the irony of the knife, the island as a lonely place, and the character analysis of Long John Silver and Robert Louis Stevenson.

In the archetype of life or death, Jim fights for his life on the island containing the treasure. “The island thus becomes Jim’s penile where he struggles; it is a life or death struggle for selfhood with the youth having to meet challenge after challenge” (Sandison 235). Poor Jim is battling for his life among a crew of men hungry for treasure and having no problem killing another shipmate to get it. Long John Silver kidnaps Jim and holds him hostage to better help him keep the rest of the men away from his treasure.

Throughout the novel Long John Silver keeps Jim worried for his life, but Silver changes and seems to become sincere to the boy. “I stood straight up against the wall, my heart still going like a sledge hammer, but with a ray of hope now shining in my bosom” (Stevenson 202). Long John Silver and his crew of rotten pirates had turned there backs on the well-being of young Jim. Silver though, does have a sudden change of heart, revealing to Jim and to all the men aboard the Hispaniola that he would never lay a hand on the boy. The truth of that further into the book does show that Silver never aime...

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