Treasure Island Notes
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Notes on Treasure Island- B35 Week 4:
Contextual material, genre, implied child reader
Jim Hawkins (1883 children)
Pirates and Long John Silver
RC 1719 to 1883, when first book for TI published
Lots of similar ideas to that of RC,
Middle class is central and earn and spend most money
Post-darwinish, most significant difference is crisis of faith when Christian origins are questioned and this novel barely talks about religion
Ben gunn is like mock RC and only mentions barely providence, not very worthy of this worldview, providence is replaced by luck and chance, things just happen and u must prove yourself
High imperialism and British empire formalized, in RC, he is the one owning island and doesnt talk about giving the island to brit rule
Adventure fiction becomes very popular in this time and is ideological version of empire basically
This book actually takes place in late 1754ish and wasnt set in modern day because there were no pirates and things were more cleaned up at this point
They give heros all sorts of values and aspects that make them worthy of empire
Other changes (first is religion) another is mass literacy therefore more literature
Genre:
Children fiction now exists and is in full swing, TI is now actually written for children, ie Stevensons stepson and also writing for a market that already exited, and knew it would make him rich
Wrote for boy readers
This is a form of Romance genre, not fundamentally realistic basically, realism was considered superior than romance, this is like Locks thought on good helpful stories for children (19th century)
Stevenson debated with henry james, who wrote realist books
Henry James:
Fiction should be faithful rep of world, and talks about TI, but still failed james reality test
Stevenson replied and basically said his thoughts were off and is equating boyhood with imagination for adventure and james obvi didnt have this
We can see specific implied child reader, romantic, adventure seeking child reader
Even jim is that typical child as he fantasizes over the map in ch 7
Its like jim has read RC before this whole adventure
This also implies that the regular boy cannot imagine anything like this of the book though, some suspense
This book was also read by adults, a way to escape from adult life and remember boys life
Adventure fiction in 1880
Ppl began to worry men were going soft because of industrialization and stuff; stuck in factories, offices
Haggard is thinking the quotes are not good reading..blah blah
It seems in TI that it turns from not what a man chooses to do, but how they do it
Adventure fiction is anti domestic, but actually about manliness
The scene in bar when they get bombarded by pirates, jim basically takes leads and defend s mom setting him up to be a hero, other people are cowards
No disobedience as in RB and in this case its set up with cowardness
Manliness:
When we talk about gender, we are talking about culture and society. What is valued and devalued?
On basic level its man versus boy, but sometimes boys can be manly if they behave in certain ways
Manliness is contingent and is based on what you did and how you do it
If by Rudyar Kipling- if you do, then you will be a man and that is why it is contingent
Jim Hawkins:
Three main events: apple barrel, going on shore, and leaves stockade
Basically he is brave and plays the role that supports the story
He really matures and grows up and very significant that his dad dies, and that basically gives reason as to why he grows up
It initially starts with taking care of women, but as adventure starts, no women anymore
Its like Stevenson is saying any kid can be like a hero and everyone has it in them
Though is still greedy from beginning
Apple barrel scene chapter 10, on shore with pirates, basically all these events make it seem like he is the true hero and will only be the one to save them even though there are more people and gets slightly cocky
Retrospective narrative and first person narrative, it is obvious in certain phrases
Basically even though he looks back upon this story, the reason the adventure happened was dependant on him being a boy
Coming