Eternal Treasure?

So I realize it's been about 6 months since I blogged. And I'm pretty sure not very many people will even read this, however, I've missed blogging so I am going to try to take it up again. And having just finished Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson for my Children's Literature course, I thought it would form a great basis for a new post.

This was my first time reading Treasure Island, although I did see the Muppet's movie version many many years back, but it wasn't until I was about halfway through the book that I even remembered the story. The only thing I remember from the movie is Kermit the frog in a pirate hat. So apparently the story had little influence on me at that time, however reading it now sparked a few thoughts.

First of all, let me just say that I really enjoyed the book. I sat down yesterday and started it, and it took me about 5/6 hours to finish it over the course of yesterday and today. (There was a LOT of pirate lingo to wade through, but it was entertaining at least). I really was dreading reading it, because several of my friends absolutely hated it. What can I say, I guess I'm into the whole male coming-of-age adventure story. Haha.

In short, Jim, a young boy of about 16 is swept away on a pirate adventure to find gold with a crew of "baddies" and "goodies". He idols Long John, a pirate who turns out to be a mix of good and evil, who plans to betray the Dr. and captain of the ship with the crew in the form of a mutiny. Jim finds out about this by accident, and tells the "good guys" about it. Once they get to the island there is fighting, shooting, and lots of action, and Jim has a chance to mature and really become responsible, etc (the whole coming-of-age aspect really kicks in). In the end, the good guys win (of course) and sail home with the treasure.

The story to me is like a Victorian Pirate's of the Caribbean. Which of course, makes sense. Characters, themes, and even setting descriptions (the description of the cave where Ben Gunn stored the treasure matches the cave of Aztec gold in Pirates of the Caribbean almost to a T) made me think of Jack Sparrow and the crew. If you've read the book you'll understand what I'm talking about. Long John = Jack, Jim = Will Turner... even their relationship reminds me of Jack's manipulative behaviors on the young naive Will Turner (who just wants to free his girl, haha) in the first Pirates movie.

It also amused me that so many themes in old books like this one are seen today. Themes of good vs. evil are obvious, but also things like coming-of-age, betrayal, and gender stereotypes (for males, a coming-of-age requirement is often that of action while coming-of-age for girls is often seen as being passive, learning around the house, etc.) are seen time and time again, not just in similar genres like Pirates of the Caribbean.

Another observation I had while discussing in class today was that there were about 2 girls that raised their hands when asked if they liked the book (out of a class of about 40) while I'm pretty sure most of the boys in the class did. Why is it that often girls are not into these pirate stories and movies, while boys are? Is it simply because of the environment and expectations we place on boys and girls? Boys are allowed to like Pirates and Ninja Turtles, etc. while girls are expected to like Cinderella and Snow White? Or is it because the action is actually more appealing to boys? Personally I see the environment playing the biggest role... that said, I wasn't really raised to play sword fighting and shoot'em up games and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.

So really, I'm not coming to any real conclusions here just using the blog as an outlet for me to write some thoughts on the book - feel free to comment on any of my musings if you so desire. :)