Treasure Island

Written for his stepson in 1881, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the most beloved adventure stories. It's a tale of pirates, treasure and mutiny that has remained a classic for more than 100 years.

The story is about Jim Hawkins, written by Jim and told from his perspective. At the begging of this book Jim starts out by saying that this is a retelling of the story of Treasure Island when he was "the year of grace 17," with the book told from first person. At a few times the storyteller, Jim, will pause and clarify a point or to give a reason for an over explanation or under explanation. You would think this to be unnerving but actually adds a bit of realism in contrast to the swash-buckling adventures that are to take place in the story.

The book has an old time style to it in the sense that the adjectives and verbs that we would commonly be used to are replaced by different, older words. In addition to unfamiliar verbs and adjectives the book also has plenty of jargon associated with sailing and whenever a character takes part in dialogue the colloquialism of a pirate or land-lubber becomes starkly apparent. Being a land-lubber until the age of 17, Jim’s account of the story is very proper compared to the likes of the salts he encounters on his journey. He uses a very formal writing style and to show a difference between the writings of 1881and the writings of today, uses the phrase “says he/she” instead of “he/she said”. Picking up on these changes can be troubling at some times but as they are used more frequently used become easier to identify and understand.

It is noticeable that the setting is in England from the way the words "favourite" and "colour" are spelled. Certain archaic phrases are used quite frequently in the book and give away the books age. Phrases such as "the short and long of it," smart like paint" and "like iron" are old idioms that haven’t seen the light of day for quite some time. The book was a bit hard to understand at sometimes as the meaning of a word or idiom would go over my head and I would have to resort to using context clues to uncover the meaning. This book wasn’t nearly as hard to read as Robinson Cruse- a book that was so confusing that the editor of the book I read had to include notes in the margins to explain certain words and phrases to the reader.

The language in this book may require a second read at most but most people should be able to get the general concept of what is happening. Certain terms may be unfamiliar to you but they do not take away from the story. I would recommend this book to almost anyone; it is a tale that needs to be heard at least once.

Treasure Island is a book that has stood the test of time, an adventure of a lifetime and a story that has been retold countless times over the years. The simple concept of treasure on a buried island and the journey to discover it has captivated the masses and is the reason why this story has been so popular for so long.

557 words

Robinson Crusoe

Castaway on an uninhabited island could you spend 28 years surviving, make friends with a cannibal and eventually make your escape with the help of a pirate ship? Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe recounts this tale.

This tale is fictional but is told in such detail that you would believe it to be a real account. Written in 1719 this book it is very apparent that the language of this time is much different from modern language from the first few sentences. In the sentence, "...tho' not of that country" demonstrates such old fashioned language. Though has been replaced with though and country is capitalized.

The book has very archaic language , spelling words different than today and capitalizing most of the nouns in the book . Examples of this would be: spoil'd, compleat, Cloaths, etc. As stated previously, the descriptions of events is detailed in every aspect of writing. It takes Defoe half a page to tell how he maneuvered his raft on shore, in a book with only 218 pages. This can be frustrating as instead of staying " I was unable to escape and couldn't breathe" , he says, " I could not to deliver myself from the Waves and was unable to draw Breath". I remind myself that this is in the 1700's and people must have talked like that but it seems unnecessary to me. The amount of description, unfamiliar spellings and words, and capitalization make this 218 page book seem like an eternity.

Another thing that was both a positive and negative about the book was that Crusoe had everything he needed to survive from the boat from the beginning: food, fresh water, cloaths and a gun with powder and bullets. This relieves all the stress on Crusoe in surviving on the island and turns him into a greedy man. He has everything he needs but wants more and proceeds to build himself a castle, tame a herd of goats and take gold and silver on the ship which is useless to him but he takes it anyway. It is amusing to see Crusoe conquer all that he can and shows how much one person can affect the area he inhabits.

This second edition of the book includes notes by the editor on unfamiliar words and phrases and makes the book more decipherable and without it the reader would be unfamiliar to the references to the Bible and other names for common words today: Discover means explore, humane means human and primitive means original. The reader would be reading the book thinking in 21st century terms and not 18th century terms.

Defoe uses very long sentences in the book with some being the length of an entire paragraph. This emphasizes the books detail and has the unintended effect of either putting the reader to sleep or passing over the reader's head. Religion is a major element in this book as in the beginning Crusoe commits the Original Sin of disobeying his father and going out to sail and now his life will be filled with suffering and god will never forgive him. When Crusoe first arrives to the island, with nothing he think it to be his divine punishment Crusoe's feelings towards God are deep and sincere at some points and selfish at others. Crusoe eventually turns from his view of it as a prison to his new home and eventually thrives.

Robinson Crusoe is a long winded account of a man's survival on an island written in obnoxious amounts of detail and with an apparent use archaic words and old time writing style. This book was an entertaining read albeit long-winded and with an unfamiliar writing style. This book took a lot of time and understanding to read and decipher but made for a challenge.

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Lord of The Flies

WARNING SPOILERS for Lord of the Flies

WARNING: Spoilers for Lord of the flies.

We begin our existence in pristine bliss; adventurous and excited to brave the world head on. But as problems arise and panic and fear set in a reversion to savagery is what befalls those without the guiding hand of civilization. This is the fate of the boys on the Island, even though they start out innocent and optimistic about the situation they slowly descend into madness. The events orchestrated to achieve this idea are eloquently written by William Golding. By incorporating common concepts of law, order and democracy we see how the intellectual mind can erode back into a numbing beast if left alone from the hustle and bustle of civilization.

At the beginning of the book Golding has the boys gather on a beach. This represents the childlike innocence of the boys and its calm setting is a drastic change from the dark and dangerous forest. The conch is the guiding light in this blissful ignorance and brings the boys together in the mission to keep their sanity. By shedding his clothes and the snake-clasp of his belt Ralph believes that the shackles of society are broken and the serpent of evil in society is purged from his soul. But just like Eden Ralph is not free from his own humanity nor is any other boy on the island. The jagged rocks that stud the island are a representation of the blemishes that society tries to hide preferring to show the peaceful side of the human heart than the dark forest of evil. Interesting enough no girls exist on the island. Removing the romantic aspect of survival Golding affirms his desires to tell the tale of the decay of rational thought.

As the boys enjoy their freedom they decide to explore the forest. The forest and the monster that lives inside it represent the darkness in people’s hearts and they are fearful of what they find. They come face to face with the monster and at first run in fear of its sight. After some time though they learn to live with this darkness, grow by it , offer it sacrifice and are eventually consumed by it. Ralph and Piggy escape the temptation of this darkness and instead focus their efforts on returning to civilization.

Ralph realizing the situation calls for democracy to be put in place and to focus on returning to being one with society. Piggy tries to assist and demands that order be kept. Piggy represents the intelligent mind of humans and his fat and helpless attitude inhibit him from exercising power over the savagery and totalitarianism of Jack. Possession of the conch continues to be wrenched away from him; his glasses then break which symbolize the erosion of intelligent thinking in the face of true human nature. Piggy’s death and the destruction of the conch utterly symbolize the destruction of order and rational thinking and marks the period where the boys return to their primal roots of hunting for food and animalistic behavior.

This book operates on several different levels other than boys on an island. In terms of psychology Ralph is rational thinking looking forward on what they can do to better themselves and their new society. Jack is primal drive always looking to satisfy the urge to spill blood and purge the land of its beauty and Piggy is an aim at perfection; his cries of wanting to go home and concepts of right and wrong have him clamoring for society to return. In terms of a political view Jack is totalitarianism with his tribal society and him wanting to assert his power. Ralph is the voice of democracy wishing for all to participate in ensuring their survival and speedy return to civilization.

Golding‘s layers and layers of character development throughout the story and insight on the nature of the human mind portray and accurate depiction of human life without the luxuries of authority and social structure. The layers of symbolism help tell not just the story of stranded boys but of the human heart whose forests of evil cannot be destroyed by fire or the influence of society. In the end humans are evil to the core, and our true natures are hidden from even ourselves until they have the chance to be let free.

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