'Treasure Island is a 'rites of passage' novel that tells of Jim Hawkins' spiritual and psychological growth from child like innocence to an experienced, wise young man. The Theme of this novel is the development of the central character
GCSE English Treasure Island Coursework
‘Treasure Island is a ‘rites of passage’ novel that tells of Jim Hawkins’ spiritual and psychological growth from child like innocence to an experienced, wise young man.
The Theme of this novel is the development of the central character Jim from childhood to maturity. Jim Hawkins is a curious, resilient and volatile boy. The writer portrays him as volatile through his spontaneous and often non-thinking approach to situations. The reader sees this when Jim jumps ashore with the pirates or runs off to capture the Hispaniola. The writer does this because it keeps the plot flowing, and adds a dimension of unpredictability. The condition of the time the writer is writing about demand Jim to be resilient in the face of it all. Enormous pressure is put on Jim early in the novel, when his father falls ill. Jim at a young age of probably twelve is now running the “Admiral Benbow”. But at the time that this is being written about this is not unheard of. Shorter life spans meant that children where put to work much earlier and Jim would have already been quite experienced in the work place. In the absence of Jim’s father, he looks towards new role models. I believe that to begin with Jim does in some ways respect Captain Bones as he does fear him, ‘This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste, and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.’ The writer writes of Jim’s admiration of the Captain in a very subtle way, as an indication to its lesser significance to the novel. Far more does Jim look up to Dr Livesey; Jim is full of admiration for the heroics in the face of Billy Bones. So much so that upon escaping Blind Pew, Jim goes to the Doctor as though he is the obvious solution to the problem.
