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Treasure Island Research Paper

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Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a defining work of pirate literature, providing the classic and immortal image of pirates that today’s culture still identifies with the historical privateers and buccaneers. Stevenson’s image of a pirate depends deeply on the cultural and historical image of the ocean as an unknown world between worlds, which creates a unique image for the men (and women) who were able to successfully, both economically and physically, conquer the sea. Alain Corbin, in his book The Lure of the Sea, makes the point that the classic image of the pirate is both reflective of, and influenced by, the literary image of the ocean itself. Corbin writes, “As this well-known model was reiterated, it reinforced the image …show more content…
Stevenson writes, “By his own account he must have lived his life among some of the wickedest men that God ever allowed upon the sea, and the language in which he told these stories shocked our plain country people almost as much as the crimes that he described.” In other words, Stevenson takes the time to differentiate between pirates and the common folk young Jim Hawkins is so used to. To Stevenson, and the society of the day, the lifestyle of piracy was shocking, dangerous, and dramatic; Stevenson builds on the importance of storytelling, of drama, in creating the reputation of a pirate, like the near-mythological stories about Black Bart or Anne Bonny. However, Stevenson deviates from the fear usually struck by the open sea and dread pirates, and examines instead the thrill of pirate stories and pirates themselves. Stevenson writes, “People were frightened at the time, but on looking back they rather liked it; it was a fine excitement in a quiet country life, and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog" and a "real old salt" and such like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.” Essentially, like those who enjoy horror movies, the society surrounding Stevenson and the young Jim Hawkins may find fear in the unpredictability and unknown of the oceans and/or piracy, but that fear also stimulates an excitement and certain romance. The sea, as an ethereal unknown world, provides an escape and source of exploration, as opposed to simply a test of a person’s

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