Jim Hawkins vs. Long John Silver: The Inadvertent Intersection of Success and Villainy in Treasure Island Anonymous 9th Grade

Any basic plot is driven by the conflict from opposing trails to intertwined goals. There can only be one winner. Treasure Island symbolizes this with the epitome of archetypes: Long John Silver the notorious villain and Jim Hawkins the hero boy. However, the argument can be made that Silver is the cause for Jim’s effectiveness as a hero. Jim would lose his appeal if there was not as sharp a repellant as Silver. The sea-cook had his own idea of success, and his motives, means, and ambitions surface as sordid throughout his character growth in the novel. Key traits bleed into our interpretation of Silver: his manipulative treachery, his selfish secrecy, and his brutal level of determination. It is all of these traits that compound in his development to make it an aware fact that he is the villain, and Jim Hawkins is the hero. Mr. Stevenson’s work is a just depiction of two alternate sides in a typical Romantic adventure: Long John Silver’s development along his path to becoming a villain demonstrates that evil is rarely circumvented on the pursuit of success throughout Treasure Island.

Long John Silver is in a definitively comprehensive state of others’ emotions and uses that ability to control others. This is evident from the...