Marah Gubar
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195336252
- eISBN:
- 9780199868490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336252.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The boys' adventure story is perhaps the genre that seems least likely to invite child readers to dodge rather than succumb to adult authority, since such stories often strive to brainwash boys into ...
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The boys' adventure story is perhaps the genre that seems least likely to invite child readers to dodge rather than succumb to adult authority, since such stories often strive to brainwash boys into committing themselves to the imperialist cause. Chapter 2 argues that Treasure Island, long accepted as an exemplary text in this regard, actually functions as an anti-adventure story, inciting child readers to see through the seductive propaganda of typical desert island romances. Like Ewing, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays the project of draining foreign lands of riches as traumatizing and morally problematic. At the same time, he exposes flattery as the key narrative technique adult storytellers employ to seduce children into embracing the project of empire-building. Thus, the duplicitous Long John Silver butters up Jim Hawkins using the very same techniques employed by writers like W. H. G. Kingston and R. M. Ballantyne: addressing the boy as an equal, promising to tell him the truth, and portraying him as an invaluable collaborator in the project of subduing foreign lands. Treasure Island warns children to beware of the treachery of such silver-tongued adult storytellers.Less
The boys' adventure story is perhaps the genre that seems least likely to invite child readers to dodge rather than succumb to adult authority, since such stories often strive to brainwash boys into committing themselves to the imperialist cause. Chapter 2 argues that Treasure Island, long accepted as an exemplary text in this regard, actually functions as an anti-adventure story, inciting child readers to see through the seductive propaganda of typical desert island romances. Like Ewing, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays the project of draining foreign lands of riches as traumatizing and morally problematic. At the same time, he exposes flattery as the key narrative technique adult storytellers employ to seduce children into embracing the project of empire-building. Thus, the duplicitous Long John Silver butters up Jim Hawkins using the very same techniques employed by writers like W. H. G. Kingston and R. M. Ballantyne: addressing the boy as an equal, promising to tell him the truth, and portraying him as an invaluable collaborator in the project of subduing foreign lands. Treasure Island warns children to beware of the treachery of such silver-tongued adult storytellers.
Jefferson A. Singer
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199328543
- eISBN:
- 9780190637972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199328543.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Chapter 4 picks up Stevenson’s story with a return to Scotland with his new family in tow and reconciliation with his parents. His health still suffering, Fanny and he spend a year in the health ...
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Chapter 4 picks up Stevenson’s story with a return to Scotland with his new family in tow and reconciliation with his parents. His health still suffering, Fanny and he spend a year in the health resort of Davos and his productivity suffers. Returning for the summer to Scotland, he embraces his native land and writes some of his best short stories, followed by Treasure Island. The chapter reviews the origins of this classic work and illustrates how the relationship between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver perfectly encapsulates the psychological tension around the energy associated with amoral action that Stevenson often found seductive. It goes on to illustrate how Jim’s journey from boyhood to maturity is a vivid allegory for Stevenson’s own identity development and insights into moral ambiguity.Less
Chapter 4 picks up Stevenson’s story with a return to Scotland with his new family in tow and reconciliation with his parents. His health still suffering, Fanny and he spend a year in the health resort of Davos and his productivity suffers. Returning for the summer to Scotland, he embraces his native land and writes some of his best short stories, followed by Treasure Island. The chapter reviews the origins of this classic work and illustrates how the relationship between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver perfectly encapsulates the psychological tension around the energy associated with amoral action that Stevenson often found seductive. It goes on to illustrate how Jim’s journey from boyhood to maturity is a vivid allegory for Stevenson’s own identity development and insights into moral ambiguity.
