Student Question

What item does William Legrand bring back from the forest in The Gold-Bug?

Quick answer:

In "The Gold-Bug," William Legrand brings back a scarabaeus (bug) and a dirty parchment from the forest. The scarabaeus is notable for its golden hard scales, circular spots, and significant weight. Although Legrand lends the bug to a lieutenant, he plans to retrieve it. The parchment, found by his servant Jupiter near an old shipwreck, ultimately plays a crucial role in unraveling the mystery of Captain Kidd's hidden treasure.

Expert Answers

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William Legrand lives in a hut in Sullivan’s Island, which is situated near Charleston, South Carolina. He lives a solitary life on this island and loves to hunt game or to walk on the beach while collecting interesting species of insects, accompanied by his servant Jupiter. He is highly intelligent but suffers from extreme mood changes frequently.

One day in October, the narrator, who is a close friend to William, visits the two at the island. He finds the hut locked and lets himself in, having retrieved the door key from the secret hiding place. William and Jupiter walk in after dark, and on this occasion, William brings home, from the forest, an unknown bivalve and a scarabaeus (bug)—although it turns out that he has lent the scarabaeus to a lieutenant at the fort and hopes to get it back the following day. He also brings home a dirty parchment that Jupiter picks from the sand next to the wreckage of an old ship and uses to wrap the bug. The scarabaeus has unique features: golden hard scales, two circular spots on one end of the back and a long one on the other end, and significant weight. It occupies William’s thoughts almost completely afterward to the point that his two acquaintances worry about his state of mind. What they do not know is that the golden bug affair is one of a series of coincidental events that leads William into unravelling the mystery of Captain Kidd’s hidden treasure.

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