Going on an Adventure

Treasure Island offers everything an adventurer could want: a mysterious old sailor seeking refuge in a remote inn, a one-legged pirate with a parrot in search of the sailor, a treasure map that falls into the hands of a young boy and the dangerous journey across the sea to an island in search of the treasure, only to find that the crew has been infiltrated by a group of mutinous cronies and their one-legged leader. It taps into – and to some extent borrows from – a rich tradition of American novelists, including works by James Fennimore Cooper, Mark Twain and Washington Irving. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is an adventure story par excellence and while it was originally aimed at a young (and mainly male) readership, it has captured the hearts and minds of many an older reader as well. And no wonder – its iconic characters, like the brave but often rash teenage hero Jim Hawkins and the deeply immoral but often surprisingly likable pirate (and murderer) Long John Silver, the story's characters draw you in and make you care about their fate.