8.3 Excerpts from “The Man on the Island”

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7 questions

Read each excerpt from “The Man on the Island” and then answer the question(s) that follow it.

At first, Treasure Island seemed a fascinating place. There were marshes full of willows and odd, outlandish, swampy plants and trees. Here and there I saw snakes, and one raised his head from a rock and hissed at me with a noise not unlike that of a spinning a top. I explored for a while until I wandered into a thicket of live oak trees, which grew along the sand.

Why do you think the narrator describes Treasure Island as “a fascinating place”?

All of a sudden, he was interrupted. Faraway out in the marsh arose an angry roar, then another. Tom jumped at the sound, like a horse pricked by a rider’s spurs, but Silver winked not an eye. He stood resting lightly on his crutch, watching his companion, like a snake about to strike.

This question has two parts. Answer Part A and then answer Part B.

Part A: There are two similes in the passage. Underline each one.

Part B: Choose one of the similes and explain the comparison it makes.

The figure flitted from trunk to trunk like a deer, but it ran on two legs like a man. I was tempted to cry for help, when another sighting reassured me that the creature was indeed a man. I took some comfort in this discovery, and in the fact I had just remembered I carried a pistol in my pocket. I put one hand on my pistol and took a few steps forward. At that precise moment, the man leaped out in the open, threw himself on his knees, and held out his hands as if begging for mercy. 

I could see that he was an Englishman like myself, but his clothes were old and tattered, and his skin had been burned by the sun. In fact, his bright eyes looked quite startling on a face so burned. 

“Who are you?” I demanded. 

“I’m Ben Gunn, I am,” he replied. His voice sounded like a rusty lock. “I haven’t spoken with a man for three years! I am surprised I still know how to speak.”

What about Ben Gunn might suggest to Jim Hawkins that he is an Englishman?

The narrator describes Ben Gunn’s voice as sounding “like a rusty lock.” How does this simile help support the description of Ben Gunn?

“Well, now, Jim,” he said. “If I ever get back to England, I’m changing my ways and the company I keep. I’m a changed man. 

“And, Jim . . .” he continued, looking around and lowering his voice to little more than a whisper. “I’m rich! You’ll thank your lucky stars, you will, that you was the first that found me!”

Foreshadowing is a technique authors use to give a warning or suggestion of events to come before those events happen. How might Ben Gunn’s statement that he is rich be an example of foreshadowing? What might this mean?

After talking with Ben Gunn for a few minutes, I no longer feared him. In fact, I told him the story of our voyage, and he heard it with the keenest of interest. 

“Well,” he said, “you and your friends are in a pinch, ain’t you? Well, never you mind. Just put your trust in Ben Gunn. But tell me one thing—is this squire of yours an honest man?”

8.3 Excerpts from “The Man on the Island”

Why do you think the narrator describes Treasure Island as “a fascinating place”?

Part A: There are two similes in the passage. Underline each one.

Part B: Choose one of the similes and explain the comparison it makes.

What about Ben Gunn might suggest to Jim Hawkins that he is an Englishman?

The narrator describes Ben Gunn’s voice as sounding “like a rusty lock.” How does this simile help support the description of Ben Gunn?

Foreshadowing is a technique authors use to give a warning or suggestion of events to come before those events happen. How might Ben Gunn’s statement that he is rich be an example of foreshadowing? What might this mean?

What do you think the phrase in a pinch means in this context?