plot elements
Foreshadowing - The Problem - Complications - Climax - Denouement - Recognition - Reversal - Setting
foreshadowingWhen Billy Bones is presented with the black spot, we know that something bad is going to happen. Billy is being hunted by his old band of pirates, presumably for the chest of treasures he's been keeping hidden all this time. Billy has apparently committed some wrongful act against his former compatriots, or maybe they just really want to kill him for that treasure. Regardless, once Billy gets the Black Spot from Pew, he is a dead man. The Black Spot is a summons to a "trial" where really you will just be killed. The Black Spot foreshadows Billy Bones' death.
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The ProblemTreasure is the problem. It drives everyone mad. In Treasure Island, everyone is looking for the treasure that Flint hid so they can get their share. On the one hand, the Pirates have the resources to uncover the treasure but have no idea where it is. On the other, Jim and his group know where the treasure is but cant risk giving the location away to the pirates, so they cannot get it. This causes most of the problems in the book.
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complicationsOne major complication in Treasure Island is the fact that Trelawney in his infinite wisdom hired Long John Silver as the cook, who is actually the leader of the pirates plotting to steal the treasure. So Jim and his friends must deal with the Pirates.
Another complication is when the treasure is found missing from the site it was supposed to be at, which means they have to restart their search for it |
climaxThe climax happens when the pirates and Jim are trying to dig up Flint's treasure and they discover that it is already gone and has been moved elsewhere. Imagine leading up to this one big moment and having it fizzle out completely, having to start your search for the treasure all over again. That would suck. They do find the treasure after this, but the climax truly happens here because after this point it is falling action.
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denouementThe denouement happens after they find that the treasure has been moved. The mutinous pirates are marooned on Treasure Island, and the booty (after they've found it) is divided amongst Jim and his group and Silver and his group.
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recognitionThe recognition is the point at which a character understands his or her situation as it really is. In Treasure Island this happens when Jim realizes that the pirates aren't just some fantasy, that they are real and they are mean and tricky. Jim realizes that pirates aren't at all what he thought they were, and his mission isn't as adventurous as it is dangerous.
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reversalThe reversal is when everybody thinks that they have the treasure and are digging for it where the map said it would be, and all of a sudden the treasure is not there. This was an unexpected turn in the story. It turned out that Ben Gunn is the one who took the treasure out of where is was originally. Everybody blames Long John Silver but in fact Ben Gunn had taken the treasure all along. Everybody leaves with nothing.
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settingThis story first takes place in Bristol at the Admiral Benbow Inn. This is where the story begins ans stays for a few chapters. After that, when Jim and his fellows get on the Hispaniola, the setting is on the open ocean and on Treasure Island itself, which doesn't exactly exist (so I can't put up a map of it).
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