Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson - Susan Gannon (essay date 1985)
Susan Gannon (essay date 1985)
SOURCE: "Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: The Ideal Fable," in Touchstones: Reflections on the Best in Children's Literature, ChLA Publishers, 1985, pp. 242-52.
[In the following essay, Gannon examines the way Treasure Island effectively addresses young readers, emphasizing the theme of the romantic quest, the use of retrospective narration, and the presence of mystery.]
Treasure Island has the direct appeal of a sailor's yarn yet offers young readers the psychological satisfactions of a quest romance. While it has some of the thematic complexity that marks an interesting adult novel, the whole spell-binding story is told with careful attention to the needs, the habits of mind, and the special sensitivities of Stevenson's chosen audience: youngsters. Perhaps Henry James said it best: "Treasure Island is a 'boy's book,' in the sense that it embodies a boy's...
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