Discuss the role of Ben Gunn in the novel.

Ben Gunn provides comic relief in the island, a breath of fresh air in a very tense part of the book. A member of Flint's original crew, Ben Gunn was marooned on the island for three years and forced to survive on his own. He stumbled upon Flint's treasure and buried it, thus saving it from the pirates that try to kill Silver and Jim. He is nice to both Jim and the rest of Jim's group, and provides the means for escape. Although the pirates characterize him as stupid, he shows his agility and smartness in surviving the island. He returns with the rest of them, although spends his part of the treasure in only three weeks.