Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island. Pirates. Booty. Cutlasses. Danger. Double-crossing. That’s about all there is to say about Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of adventure on the high seas. But, of course, being me, I can say much, much more. Last night I was at a restaurant waiting for Chinese food to arrive at my table. I started jotting down words called to mind by this book: fast, roller coaster (and rolling sea), terrifying (even when I already knew the ending), gruesome, dark. Treasure Island is a children’s book through and through, but it is a terribly dark vision, a sort of bleak, godless Narnia.

[Learn about Stevenson at http://www.online-literature.com/stevenson/ or at http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/.]

Young Jack Hawkins works and lives at his parents’ inn. He becomes involved with pirates when a mysterious guest comes to stay--to hide there. Eventually, Jack becomes the owner of a treasure map--a map of Treasure Island. Only a few other people know about the map and the island, but each of them wants that map pretty bad. Jack works through the unfailingly honorable Doctor and Squire (although the squire is a bit gullible) and comes to set sail on the Hispaniola with his friends and the motley crew (surely this is the original motley crew). I’m not going to give away too much of the plot here. Go get the book. It’s a quick read, so read it--and read it aloud to anyone between 8 and 13 years old.

The pace of the book is masterful--in a sense, tidal. Huge waves of action come inexorably at you and then ebb away not to disappear but to gather strength for another assault of the beach. Prior to the sea journey, the pirates appear just one, briefly, then another, then two or three, like an ongoing tide themselves until the book and the Hispaniola’s honest crew are totally swamped with pirates. This breath-catching pace was aided and abetted by Stevenson’s able use of foreshadowing. A character expressed and then dismissed a doubt. Another character was just a bit off the norm. A name was dropped, a feature was mentioned. The sense of danger and doom coming in wave after wave began on about page 1 and ended on about page 296 (of 298). No let up.

Stevenson also draws characters and creates images that are striking and original. Ben Gunn, ghostly and odd. The ship marooned up a river and laying on its side. Guns sticking into the portals of the tiny fort. Dead bodies lying on a blood-drenched deck. The star of the menagerie, though, is certainly the pirate captain Long John Silver. I don’t know the provenance of pirate characters, but surely all pirates since have borne a debt to Long John Silver. Shaggy-haired, peg-legged, parrot squawking on shoulder, and above all so two-faced that he almost has no face at all--he’s elusive in all of his outrageousness. Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow is the best portrayal of Long John Silver that I can imagine. He has that same unctuousness, slipperiness. However, Jack Sparrow does seem to develop loyalties. He has a side to be on. Not Long John Silver. He is ever and only on his own side.

I was intrigued by pirate images. Peter Pan’s Captain Hook seems to draw greatly from Stevenson’s character, except missing a hand instead of a leg. Depp’s Captain Sparrow seems to be a direct descendant. When anyone thinks of “pirate” they must surely envision some amalgamation of these three. Kidnapped is next on my reading list. What pirate will that book reveal? It struck me that the Hook/Silver pirate is sort of a personified dragon (or vice versa). The dragon symbolizes mindless greed, mindless amassing of whatever is the chosen item--but it is often treasure. There is no life of the heart. It is not a “feeling” life.

Only the mid-book switch of narrators is awkward in this book--it even makes for clunky chapter titles. All of a sudden two chapters are first-person narrated by the Doctor instead of by Jack Hawkins, who narrates the rest of the book. I wish Stevenson had found another answer to getting out the doctor’s experiences while Jack is absent. Otherwise, this book is rapidly excellent.

At least there are no token women in this book--no blonde-of-the-month for a perfunctory romance. Except for one scene, this book is all male. The non-token woman is Jack’s mother, who shows great bravery and determination early in the book. She is a warrior in defense of her inn and her boy. Romance can so muck up a good adventure story. Look what it does to Depp’s Jack Sparrow!

A high recommend for this book for children and adults both. Read it before your next Pirates of the Caribbean excursion and you won’t be sorry.

NOTE OF SCHIZOPHRENIA: How did the same man who wrote Treasure Island, Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped also write the insipid A Child’s Garden of Verses?

SIDE BAR: I am especially intrigued by Treasure Island now that I have begun writing one of my own. For example, at one point the idea of an apple barrel freely available to the ship’s crew is oddly introduced in a passage about the liberality of the owners. Turns out, the author needs someplace for Jack to hide to overhear the pirates’ plans. It is part of the god-like-ness of writing a fiction. A problem? Voila! An apple barrel. Writing a novel is a cosmic chess game, an infinite playing of “house,” like being let loose in a toy store. As a child I lived in a world of worlds, of fantasy places and people. Posing and peopling a novel is just like that except that it has to communicate and have at least a modicum of coherence. Treasure Island is great for seeing how the author works. Its bones show, but not in a way that distracts. It’s just plainly written and straightforward.

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson, is the source of the classic tear-jerker movie of the same name. And it’s a good book, even though I was guarding myself all the way through so I wouldn’t have a breakdown at the end. I liked the authentic portrayal of pioneer life in Texas—dangers and delights. The lead character, Travis, is left with his mom and little brother while his dad goes off on a cattle drive. His jobs on the farm at the edge of the frontier are fraught with danger and drama—and rightly so. He had to round up the hogs for cutting (marking) and castration without getting attacked by the deadly adult pigs. He has to hunt for food for the family. And he needs a dog. Along comes rascally Old Yeller (Old Marigold?). Travis and Old Yeller have a hate/love relationship until Yeller proves his great value.

Marigold, Mountain Cur

I have a special interest in this book because of my dog Marigold. I was told that her breed is mountain cur--a dog bred to suit the needs of small farmers and settlers in rugged terrain. Old Yeller was also a mountain cur, according to the breed's afficianados (although he was played by a yellow lab in the movie--for shame). I can testify on the intelligence and loyalty of Marigold, which makes Old Yeller's story entirely believable.

Any person who really gets to know a dog--any dog--will have marvelous tales to tell--not maybe of deadly contests with wild animals, but still tales of the dog's sensitivity and skill. Marigold has a special strategy for catching baby bunnies. (Rabbits are plentiful in my area, so don't go all weepy on me!) She will lay down (sphinx-like) a few feet from the hole and go still as stone. Over the next few minutes she will creep forward an inch or so at a time until she is frozen over the hole like an innocuous rock. Then--pow!--all of her coiled and compressed energy flows out into a dive right into the center of the hole. Tiny rabbits fly out in all directions like a bunny explosion. Marigold is not greedy. She'll end up with just one bunny--enough for a snack. And, let me tell you about my old dog Candy and the field mice...just kidding.

Go to http://www.dogster.com/dog-breeds/Mountain_Cur for more information on this breed. The site http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/mountaincur.htm describes the Old Yeller connection.

This movie still looks pretty authentic, but the dog is all
wrong--way too chunky and square-nosed to be the dog
described in the book.

Old Yeller is a tribute to great dogs, working dogs, partner dogs. Their courage and loyalty is unmatched in any species, I think. And their intelligence is greatly underestimated. The book's ending is heartbreaking, and is related to a looming threat introduced early in the book. Old Yeller is a fully developed character and his death is a supreme sacrificial moment--as important as any other sacrifice and not diminished because it was made by a dog. And as I so often observe, the presence of an animal can often ennoble us as humans. Travis's whole family is changed and strengthened because of their relationship to Old Yeller.

This is a good book. It holds up across time. The first-person narrative was great. The use of“frontier-speak” was light-handed, but enough to give Travis an authentic voice. Even people who don’t like dogs will identify with the friendship that develops between Yeller and Travis as they face great danger with great courage. All kids, I think, face great dangers and have great courage. This book is for them.

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

Alistair Sim

I have posted photos of various actors playing Scrooge on my blog at www.whatsjoydickersonbeenreading.blogspot.com. Click on the post for A Christmas Carol. Which one is your favorite?

The children's reading list I've been working on for two years now is loaded with Dickens--Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House--and I spent several months immersed in his words. I wasn't just pleasantly surprised by these books--I was amazed and delighted. Dickens' writing was much richer than I expected and his themes were much more human. The theme that most struck me is Dickens' faith in the power of love to effect and ennoble change in people.

Patrick Stewart

First up on the Dickens list was the extended short story A Christmas Carol. I always think this story will bore me and I always end up enjoying it. And after reading so much by this author, I realized that the main reason for my enjoyment was that Dickens really knew how to tell a story with style and substance and unforgettable imagery. I was pleased with the book's pacing—just when I was getting restless, pow, something different would happen.

George C. Scott

And, Scrooge’s transformation was quite touching and pitiable—not nearly as dramatic as many movies portray it. The ghosts who haunt him on that fateful Christmas Eve drag Scrooge along on his own hero quest--even though he doesn't want to go. At each stop--past, present, and future--Scrooge's heart is pried open. At first, it's just a crack. By the end, Scrooge is flooded with love--it bubbles out of him--his tears flow and his laughter rings.

Mr. Magoo

As with the other Dickens works I read, A Christmas Carol gave me the sensation that I had traveled. London was beautifully drawn--and gruesomely. I was especially riveted by the thick, choking fog that surrounds Scrooge’s street on Christmas Eve.Probably the worst image is the two children, Want and Ignorance. They are dirty and unclothed and wild-eyed. They are insatiable and inconsolable. They are children unloved and they haunt me. Those brutal children are who I work for, who I fight for. Scrooge, finally, found his compassion, his ability to feel with, and he ennobled my own compassion. And this is exactly the mission Dickens set for himself--to shine a light on the worst and the least and awaken the need to love them. I wish I could sprinkle the spirit of Scrooge’s Christmas compassion on all of us, all of us, every one.

Jim Carrey

This is still a story for the ages--but not particularly one for children. You can read it in just a few hours. I recommend it as a wonderful activity for your holidays. 

And, by the way, my favorite Scrooge is George C. Scott.

The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers, by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers continue the story of The Eagle of the Ninth. The heroes of each book trace their lineage back to Marcus of that book. Neither Branch nor Lantern matches the beauty or richness of character development in Eagle, but they are wonderful historical romances taking place in an intriguing setting that is both familiar (if you've been to England) and strange. The Roman seaport of Rutupiae figures in all three of the books and is a weighty symbol of the Romans in Britain in the 600 years or so around the birth of Jesus. (In fact, Christianity is portrayed as a novelty in these two books--and not at all in the first one, which took place prior to the birth of Jesus.)

Rutupiae, at present-day Richborough on the English Channel (nearish to Dover) was a major defensive stronghold and also received and sent out news, goods, and people from elsewhere in the world. "Britain" at this time was under attack from Saxons and Jutes from across the channel and from Picts and other tribes from north of the great Roman construction called Hadrian's Wall. Its borders correspond for the most part with modern England.

The Silver Branch told the story of Aquila, a young doctor in the Roman Legion, and his arrival at Rutupiae to serve in Britain. In a bit too much of a coincidence, the first person he meets in Britain is a relative who becomes his best friend, Flavius. Flavius is from Britain; the farm where he lives is the one established by (his grandfather?) Marcus Aquila in The Eagle of the Ninth. The two young men accidentally become aware of a threat to the British Emperor's reign. The Emperor's agenda is to establish Britain as a nation able to defend its own borders and hold its own place in the world even without the fall of Rome. Rome is seen as insecure as a protector.

Aquila and Flavius become outlaws, spies, counter-terrorists, and leaders of the resistance movemnt when the Emperor is killed. At their darkest time, when inspiration is needed the most, they find the Eagle of the Ninth, which had been hidden away until it was needed again. The Eagle becomes their rallying point through battle and hardship as they struggle to survive until the Romans return to restore order.
[For information on the Roman defense of Britain, discussed extensively in Rosemary Sutcliff's books, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/defence_of_britain ]

The Lantern Bearers is a few generations further removed from Eagle of the Ninth. A young Roman soldier from Britain is forced to chose between the life he always dreamed of--rising through the ranks to command a legion--and defending his home. The book takes place at the time when the Roman army was abruptly removed from Britain, allowing all the various factions Rome had been controlling to battle it out among themselves. The light at Rutupiae represents the feeble light remaining in Britain when the Romans are gone. Aquila (yes, another Aquila) chooses to work for that faint light.

Aquila survives his family's slaughter by Saxons (the family farm is torn apart) only to be sold to a Jute as a slave. He is taken across the channel and works for the family for several years. No affection grows between them. (Sutcliff is pretty clear-eyed about slavery.) Aquila is both sustained and eaten up inside by the knowledge that his sister is also, somewhere, a slave.


This is a drawing of the Roman fortress of Rutupiae--note the signal light tower
dominating the other structures. Otherwise, this is a fairly typical layout for a
Roman fortress and its associated town outside the fort's walls.

When Aquila escapes, he finds that his sister is lost to him. In bitterness, he takes his skills as a soldier and offers them to the British king--also the remaining representative of Rome and all things Roman in Britain. This book seems to move somewhat underwater as Aquila moves from battle to battle. The British king prevails, but his rule is seen as fragile. The king's protege (not Aquila) is hinted to be the coming King Arthur, but this is not developed.

Aquila is difficult to like. He carries his hurts as a stronger armor than his steel breast plate. His relationships are cold and unsatisfying and the reader can see the hurt in the people around him. And, given his history, that makes sense. But it doesn't make easy fiction. In the end, Aquila sees that there has been a shape to his life. He has not restored Britain, but he has born the lantern through dark times--in fact, he lit that light.

One of Sutcliff's strengths is the variety of secondary characters she develops. Especially poignant is a servant who binds himself to the heroes of Silver Branch. He carries and plays an instrument from olden times, a tree branch of silver hung with bells. The silver branch represents the ancient life of Britain as the eagle represents the order and discipline of Rome. The new Britain must hold onto both. In such a world of upheaval and danger, Sutcliff''s sacred objects provide a deep continuity of history, character, and family.

The Picts, forerunners of the Scots, are represented by a hunter who helps Aquila and Flavius escape in Silver Branch. He joins up with them and is pivotal in their final battle. I get the feeling that Sutcliff may deal ably with the Picts in another book. [For information about the Picts [ancient Scots], go to http://halfmoon.tripod.com/.]

These are good books. I'm delighted to have discovered Sutcliff, who works with many of the themes of other mid-20th century writers, such as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I wonder if she figured in the magical cross-pollination of imagination that occurred at that time. Her Britain is very much a Middle Earth, a Narnia, but one that is viscerally connected with us, one that is physically present and whose artifacts can still be seen and touched. [For images of the Roman ruins of Rutupiae, at present-day Richborough, go to Google Images and type "Roman Richborough" in the search line.]