9/3//2011
Treasure Island
(Kar) The book I read is “Treasure Island”, retold by Angela Wilkes. The main character named Jim Hawkins who was wise, valiant, accommodating and experienced his fantastic adventure on Treasure Island. There were a lot of characters, for examples: the considerate old sea captain, Billy Bones. He gave Jim a silver coin for looking out a sailor with one leg. Squire Trelawny was aggressive and the clever doctor, Livesey. During the journey, Jim met many people whom he had never met before included Captain Smollett who was serene, ingenious, sensible and brave and led the sailors to fight against the pirates. Long John Silver was Captain Flint’s second-in command. He was cruel and proposed to kill Smollett and his friends after he got the treasure. And other pirates named Ben Gunn and Israel Hands and so no.
The beginning of the story, it mentioned Jim helped his mother to manage the Admiral Benbow Inn. It was an unusual morning for him to meet Bones. Jim’s life had charged since then. One day, receiving a message from a blind man, Bones was very frightened to fall to the floor. After Bones died, Jim and his mother found a bag of gold and papers in his chest and took it to Squire Trelawny. Dr. Livesey, Squire’s friend, was smart that he discovered a map in the papers and it showed where the Captain Flint’s treasure was buried. Having an idea to find the treasure, Squire planned to Treasure Island with Jim. Later, Squire hired a ship called Hispaniola for voyage. Captain Smollett said that the whole crew looked tricky. Nevertheless, there was not enough time for Squire to find another one to replace them.
At one night, Jim told everyone in captain’s cabin about Long John’s trick. However, Smollett said that they could not give up and be ready to fight. Jim saw Long John killed a sailor for not joining the pirates on the island. He was shocked and ran away. Jim met Ben Gunn, in the forest, who had been left by his pirate friends. After that, Jim told Squire, in a logs fort, about Long John had done. The next early morning, Long John came and asked Squire to give him the map. Squire did not and fought against the pirates. Finally, Squire and his friends defeated the pirates. Moreover, Dr. Livesey had cheated Long John with the treasure map and distracted the pirates. He also knew Ben had found Flint’s treasure. Eventually, Jim went home with his share of the gold.
The book is very interesting for me to read. I like the character of Jim Hawkins very much. He was so courageous and adroit that he rowed Ben’s boat to Hispaniola. Even though attacked by the pirate, Israel Hands, Jim killed him and was safe at last. If Billy Bones had not died, Jim would not have had an incredible expedition on Treasure Island. For Smollett, facing in danger, he told his friends that they could not abandon and had to find out who was on their side and be ready to fight. I think that he was very competent to lead the sailors to vanquish the pirates. On the other hand, disliking other one of Long John Silver, I think he was brutal to do for getting the treasure. Actually, sometimes we meet somebody who is unscrupulous and we may be cheated money as well as our lives. If there are less crooked, it will be easy for us to keep trusting and in peace with others.
After reading, I can learn a lot from some of the charters in the story such as Jim, Smollett, and Dr. Liversey. It is necessary that we should confront difficult situations with positive attitude and never give up whenever. We will gain success if we are active and intrepid to face hardship.
