Treasure Island

So yeah, what do you think of Treasure Island so far?

Uh, it's very action-packed and exciting to read. Um, I felt like in the beginning of the book I was having a hard time following everyone, but, um, this— the sections I read this week, uh, was easy to follow, and I liked how the narrations changed. That's pretty cool.

Got it. Um, yeah, and so just to make sure we're on the same page, and I think we are, What happened at the end of the section you read?

Uh, I believe they, uh, Silver and then, um, the cap— the captain on the other side had met and tried to come to a truce, but they didn't agree. So Silver's mutineers attacked the stockade. Um, they didn't, uh, they didn't do what they were trying to do, and Jim's team killed a bunch of people. So now it's more even.

So I remember something you said earlier. I mean, what's a little bit— well, what is interesting to me is that there is actually a lot of death. And at one point, I think, doesn't Jim say there's like a dead body that stinks next to him or something like that? He doesn't use the word stink. No, he can't. It's kind of unpleasant how this— so there's certainly death, and yet it doesn't feel nearly as emotional as Brontë novels. Is that correct?

Yes, I think it kind of seems like a war, like a battle. And I feel like even though it's a big part of it, death seems a little less significant because it's gonna happen so much.

Can you— I mean, just, just going— will you remember how old Jim is roughly?

Oh shoot, um, I honestly don't know. I remember imagining him as like A teenager, maybe, in the beginning of the book, but I don't think that's correct. I'm not sure.

Are you thinking he's younger or older than you?

Older than me.

Okay, but my guess—

I'm assuming.

Maybe not much?

Not too much, no.

Yeah, I know. I think— and he's kind of described as a boy, and so, um, yeah, I think, I think he's— let's assume he's roughly your age. Could you imagine being in the situations he is in? Including the violence?

Not really, no.

Couldn't imagine. You know that still around the world today, but certainly back in the day, you know, in European history, people your age, you know, mostly men, although there's famously Joan of Arc, fought in battles. So could you imagine fighting in a battle?

Uh, I, I know that kids have been sent off to war younger than me, but honestly, um, the most dangerous situation I've been in is like being in a chokehold or something. Most dangerous, dangerous physical situation, and even that's controlled. So while I think I probably could do it, maybe I could, but I couldn't imagine myself being in a situation like that.

Got it. Just by the way, do you know who Joan of Arc is? Have you ever heard of her?

Um, I recall the name and I remember learning about the story a long time ago. I just haven't heard about it in a long time.

So she was a teenage girl who led armies in France in the Middle Ages. She's super famous. She just kind of came out of nowhere and was, you know, I think around your age, leading armies into battle. And, you know, yeah, so interesting story if you ever want to read. Maybe we should read about Joan of Arc at some point. But so given that it does, and I agree, you know, I've never been in, you know, life or death situations like this. You know, when you're hiking, of course you could fall and die or driving over the mountains, you could fall and die, but, you know, we're trying to be safe and nothing remotely like this where Jim is shooting other people and being shot at and knives or cutlasses or whatnot. So given that we haven't actually been in those situations, but I would say it's still kind of— let's— I'll use this language— fun and exciting. Is it fair to say it's kind of fun and exciting to read about?

For sure, especially because I haven't been in that kind of situation.

Yeah. So why do we think it's fun and exciting when in real life would probably be horrible?

Well, subconsciously, I know that Maybe this has happened before, but it's not going to happen around me. I'm not going to see it. And since I'm not going to see it, it's interesting to read about and learn what it looks like and the emotions and what happens.

Yeah, I know, to compare it to, you know, in The Odyssey, Odysseus slaughters all of the suitors, and that's really gory and bloody and horrible. And would you say that because this is You know, not thousands of years, it's still, you know, a couple hundred years in the past. And because it's, say, call it a 14-year-old boy, does it make it— is it— does it feel— does the violence feel just as distant as in The Odyssey? Or does this violence feel a little bit closer? Or it's just hard to compare?

It is. I think it is hard to compare, but it's honestly, for me, it's still just as distant because I've always thought of pirates and ships and treasure islands and stuff as more of fiction and fantasy.

Yeah.

Um, I also thought about, um, the hero's journey that we were talking about with The Odyssey. Here we have the villain and the hero. I don't know, Jim, the boy, the protagonist. So that also makes it interesting to read.

Ah, so to go there. So it sounds like you're expecting this to be a hero's journey. In how would you— in what way do you envision this becoming a hero's journey, or in what way is it already a hero's journey?

Well, we have our protagonist, Jammer, the main character, and he is thrown into a new situation where he's gotta, I don't know, be brave and fight the wilderness and fight the mutineers. And he's fighting, I think we're in the action climax part. I'm not too sure how it'll end. Maybe he'll get the treasure or something, but Um, I was thinking something like that.

Do you think that part of a hero's journey, sometimes or always, is that the hero changes because of the journey?

Yes, for sure. It's like they, um, their personality changes, or they— no, more like they learn something along the way.

Um, do you think that that will be the case here, that Jim will learn something along the way?

I think so, but I don't know what. Most of it so far, it's been a lot of pirates and plotting and murder, so I'm not sure, but I think it'll be something like that.

And so given that, you know, certainly the Brontë sisters were very kind of psychological, and we mentioned before that maybe this was less psychological, are you fine both reading kind of Brontë-style psychological and Stevenson is the author. Stevenson, less psychological, or do you prefer one or the other?

Uh, well, I like reading both. I think they're both enjoyable. Um, before I was reading mostly action and fantasy, it was at some point psychological, but not as much as, um, the Brontë sisters' books. I don't know which one I prefer. I think I'm still new to the psychological Kind. So I think reading even more of that would be awesome, but I like both so far.

So would you say the kind of fantasy that you read on your own is much closer to Treasure Island in terms of tone, kind of adventure and not psychological?

Actually, I think, I think it is more of a mix because it's not all about, um, I don't know, it just feels deeper, like there's more emphasis on relationships rather than just action.

I would say this one, there's actually a little bit of a debate out there as to whether Treasure Island should be considered sort of a boy's, kind of a children's story or a grown-up story. Do you have an opinion if this should be considered a children's story or a grown-up story?

Well, it's hard to imagine kids nowadays reading stuff like this, so I'm not— for me, it would be more of a teenage book, especially because it's still kind of hard to read. It's, it's not like more modern storybooks or children's books. So I think depending on who it is, it could be either one. No, anyone can read it.

I, I agree. And by the way, what I mean by that is, yes, the language is difficult, and some of this is its older language, and some of it is I would say the standard of reading has gone way down. People used to read much more difficult things. But stylistically, in terms of adventure and not kind of almost entirely adventure, not much. Well, let's dig into the relationships part. Are there any interesting relationships going on between Jim and others or between anybody and anybody else?

I thought that the relationship between Jim and Silver was interesting because it changed. First, he thought it was good and he's bad. And then the relationship with Gunn's— I forgot the first name— Gunn's, but—

Ben Gunn?

Yeah, that guy. That's interesting because Gunn is obviously not sane. And then also the relationship with Jim and— I can't remember all the names, but his group that he's banded with against the mutineers, because he's still kind of learning on the go and following their example.

I would say especially the captain. My sense is the captain is— what do you think of the captain? We'll put it as a question.

I think he's a good character overall. He seems like a good leader for Jim and his group, especially since they've had to overcome lots of stuff just to get onshore. I didn't realize it was so hard.

Yeah, well, and I'm also thinking of, you know, Silver is kind of Jim's buddy initially, and then it turns out Silver is evil, wants to kill them all. Whereas the Captain, remember the Captain did not feel comfortable with crew from the very get-go. And then it turns out the Captain was right. And then the Captain, I would say, is leading in that ambush. You know, is it fair to say the Captain did a good job of leading in that battle?

Yes, yeah, I think so.

And so I think, and now the Captain's wounded, and so I think there may be an interesting, insofar as this is mostly adventure and maybe only a little bit of relationship, you mentioned Silver and Jim because that one was betrayal. I'm wondering, I would say, about Jim and the Captain to see if maybe there's part of his growth has to do with, just one point I noticed is that apparently now the Captain is Injured but will probably live. And, um, but because he's injured, he can't be very active. And so that makes me almost going back to your story armor concept. I'm wondering if maybe the captain at this point is positioned to be sort of the wise leader who cannot actually lead because he's wounded. Something like that. Makes sense?

That's what I was thinking.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, great. Anything else for now?

Um, nothing then. Nothing other than I'm excited to read more.

Okay, yeah, I would say it's fun to read. I mean, I would say, yeah, it goes quickly, and you're right, once you get used to it, boom, it's much easier reading. Um, and we'll probably do something a bit more psychological after this, but I thought after the Brontë heaviness, let's do an adventure. Uh, do you like the idea of kind of changing up the tonality of what we're reading from time to time?

Yes, for sure. It's a nice change.

OK, good. Alright, in which case, have a good competition today and we'll see you next week. OK?

OK, thank you.

You're welcome. Bye-bye.