POWDER MONKEY LOG: Thru the Eyes of Jim Hawkins
For Jim Hawkins, the story of TREASURE ISLAND is a lot of things.
Throughout the play there’s a lot going on for Jim. In the beginning of the story, you get a glimpse of what life is like for Jim at the Admiral Benbow. He is running around doing chores and dealing with his rather eccentric mother. So when things take a turn for the young Jim and he ends up on the ship Hispanola, it’s a really big change in environment for him. And although he is still stuck doing chores, everything he does has a bigger purpose; he’s part of a crew.
But being a part of this crew also takes Jim out of his comfort zone. He really doesn’t know how to react to what’s going on around him and he really doesn’t mix well with the rest of the crew. So when Jim has moments where a crew member doesn’t totally hate him, it’s a really big moment for him.
Another big thing for Jim is that he wants to find someone to guide him and someone to look up to, a father figure per se. And because Long John Silver, a member of the crew, is very friendly towards Jim, it makes Jim really want Silver to be that person. As the story moves from the ship to the island, a lot of information is thrown at Jim and it really changes from Jim being out of his comfort zone to Jim just trying to make sense of things. Jim is forced to grow up very fast while on the island and has to forget about having someone to look up to.