Treasure Island

Treasure Island, written as a boy's adventure story,  has remained a classic ever since it was first published in 1883. It is not only skilfully wrought, with its breathtaking opening, its clearly etched incidents, its magnificent movement, and its fine sense of participation but it also embodies a carefully worked out moral pattern and one which presents a dilemma rather than solves a problem. As a critic has said, "heroic endeavour is not automatically linked to obvious moral goodness; what we admire is not always what we approve of; energy of personality belongs to Long John Silver and not to any conventional hero; and the virtuous are saved in the end by luck and an irresponsible boy who does not know what he is doing. Treasure Island is not merely a boy's adventure  story but one that raises moral ambiguities of the profoundest nature. Like the modern novel, there are stories within stories, each of which raises  questions rather than provides simple  answers to life's problems.