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The Hero In Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island

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First published in serial format in 1881-82 and then in book form in 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island has become a worldwide classic (Works of Robert Louis Stevenson). The story of a boy who gets mixed up with a gang of pirates, it has been read by generations of eager children and has been adapted into movie form a half-dozen times. As is the case with all classic literature, the question arises as to why this particular work has endured when others, perhaps just as well-written, have been forgotten. In the case of Treasure Island, many elements combined to make it a popular classic to this day. It is a coming-of-age story, a hero’s journey, and a saga of pirates, the fascinating outlaws of the sea. The hero and narrator of the story is Jim, a well-behaved young lad who is the son of an innkeeper. His placid life is changed with the arrival of a sailor, Billy, who seems to have a secret. Jim becomes entangled with the old man’s fears and plans, acting as a lookout, and as the weeks go by, and Billy proceeds to occupy with room without payment, drink heavily, and terrorize the locals, Jim begins to realize that this is not some old sailor from a merchant ship: 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. (Stevenson 10). Jim has never met anyone like Billy Bones,

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