Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
In the day 72 post, I walked through the process of identifying Norman Friedman’s plot form in Treasure Island with a focus on the protagonist, Jim Hawkins.
In this post, I’ll analyze the plot categories from Silver’s perspective and compare the two to show how the clash between the two characters creates a satisfying story.
1. Who is the antagonist?
The antagonist is the source of the problem presented by the inciting incident in a story.
Long John Silver doesn’t appear until about a quarter of the way through the story, but he is the primary antagonist. His pursuit of Billy Bones causes the old captain to take up residence at the inn and brings Jim into contact with violent pirates when Black Dog, Pew, and others are sent to find the treasure map. Silver leads a violent gang of pirates whom he enlists as crew on the Hispaniola and is the author of the plot to kill the innocent crew members.
2. What is the state of Silver’s fortune, character, and thought at the beginning of the story and at the end?
Fortune: When we first meet Silver, he is the successful proprietor of the Spy-Glass Inn. He’s a legitimate business owner and well-liked and respected among the seafaring folk of Bristol. Squire Trelawney trusts Silver and recommends him as “an honest man.” As first-time readers, we hope he will make good on the opportunity to be the ship’s cook on the Hispaniola and improve his fortune with a crew member’s share of the treasure. By the end of the story, he has stolen a share of the treasure but lost access to his legitimate business because he’ll be hanged if he is caught in England again.
Note: Bones’s warning about the seafaring man with one leg foreshadows an encounter with the dread pirate, but this is a fact that gains relevance in retrospect. When we’re analyzing a story, we often do so from the perspective of the author who knows how everything works out. But for Friedman’s plot forms, we consider the beginning of the story as first-time readers with a subjective experience of hopes and fears not yet realized. Therefore, we start where the story really begins for the reader—with Silver as the seemingly honest innkeeper who appears to be a stroke of good fortune for the expedition.
Character: Silver has a strong will, and maintains a facade of loyalty in the beginning of the story. He charms the innocent crew members, who believe he is a man of good character, and balances his multiple loyalties with ease until they approach the island. There are moments when he is presented with the opportunity to become the man Trelawney believes him to be, like when he forms a genuine connection with Jim. He rejects the chance for redemption, however, and stays true to his core nature of self-preservation at all cost through pragmatic adaptability.
Thought: Silver begins the story with a sophisticated understanding of human nature and strategic awareness of power dynamics. He demonstrates this when he convinces Jim not to tell Squire Trelawney about spotting Black Dog in the Spy-Glass because neither of them would look good. While Silver gains specific knowledge about events and people, his fundamental way of thinking and seeing the world doesn't significantly change.
3. What is the primary change Silver undergoes?
Fortune is the primary change because it represents the most concrete and irreversible transformation in Silver's situation. He escapes with some wealth but permanently loses his place in legitimate society. While Silver experiences minor changes in character (shows moments of potential redemption but rejects it) and thought (updating his model of the world as new facts are perceived), the most significant arc relates to his fortune.
4. What primary emotion is evoked in the reader?
We begin feeling admiration for Silver and hope he will be successful. This leads to indignation and horror at the violence he perpetrates, and we want justice for all the innocents he has killed over his long career. This desire is not fully satisfied because Silver escapes the gallows with a share of the treasure.
5. What plot best aligns with the story?
Silver’s trajectory fits Friedman's punitive plot, which describes a "protagonist whose character is essentially unsympathetic, in that his goals and purposes are repugnant, yet who may perhaps be admirable for his strength of will and intellectual sophistication."
This plot evokes complex emotions in readers because, at first glance, the character seems to be a person of extraordinary qualities. And he is; he’s just a uniquely diabolical shapeshifter.
It’s important to note a variation in the plot pattern here. Unlike typical punitive plots where the villain faces complete downfall, Silver achieves a mixed outcome. We gain some satisfaction from the fact that his legitimate path to status and security is lost to him, but his partial escape with some of the treasure creates moral ambiguity. The diminished punishment seems to match his willingness to save Jim, an act that Livesey, one of the most moral characters in the story, acknowledges in his willingness to speak for Silver at trial in England.
Comparing the plots to understand conflict in the story
We can understand the two plots within the story as a match between two approaches to life, and that Jim could have easily prioritized adventure. Jim and Silver share a lot of qualities as we see in the comparison of their character stacks. But Jim matures by rejecting Silver’s path. Silver demonstrates clearly, in a way that the old captain could only hint at, the consequences of the piratical lifestyle and the failure to mature.
Jim and Silver end up as mirrored opposites. Jim’s journey leads him to consider the needs of others in a movement toward wholeness. He integrates his shadow through encounters with Silver, as well as aspects of his three luminary mentors: Livesey, Smollett, and Trelawney. He recognizes that there is a time and place to apply the skills and wisdom of each mentor and that the shadow should not be the primary way he engages with the world. In contrast to Jim’s integration, Silver’s refusal to pursue redemption leads to fragmentation and perpetual division. A successful life within a connected community is lost to him.
Silver is a tough and strong-willed individual, but he lacks the courage to make hard moral choices and sacrifice his selfish desires for the good of anyone else. Instead, Silver takes the expedient path and resists changing. He does speak up for Jim and save his life when the pirates capture the young man. But in these circumstances, their interests overlap. Even though Livesey is willing to speak for Silver if he went to trial, in that moment, Jim is worth more to Silver alive than dead.
These differences highlight why the maturing and punitive plots work so well as opposing forces in the story. They create maximum tension around the central question of how we should respond to life's challenges and opportunities.
This post is part of a 75-day writing challenge and experiment. From September 9 through November 22, I'll be posting daily thoughts on writing, storytelling, and creativity based on recent readings or reflections. While my intention was to keep them very short—250 to 400 words—I've found that this range doesn't give me enough space to cover these topics adequately. I aim to keep them brief enough to be read quickly, but they will often be longer than 400 words.
At the end of the challenge, I will organize and revise the material with intention. For now, the object is to explore and share.