Greed - Treasure Island

When I think of pirates, a few things pop into my mind. I think of boats, swords, and adventures. But what are pirates all about? What is their goal? They're all about the treasure. This may affect their actions very much like in the book, Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

There is a common theme throughout this book. Greed takes hold of the pirates, changing their behavior. The crew at the beginning, sets out to find treasure on Treasure Island. The crew is made up of some pirates. Pirates, of course, want the treasure.

One place were greed was at a maximum is when the pirates rebelled against the remaining crew. Only the squire, captain, doctor, Jim, and a few other of the crew, were left. They wanted this treasure and didn't want to share it. There is no doubt that if they had gotten the treasure, they would have killed each other for it.

Another area we find greed in is the constant fighting between the pirates and the rest of the crew. The pirates wanted the chart, or map, and killed people to get it. They also wanted the stockade which was hard to attack because of the open space. The stockade was in possession of the loyal party. Throughout the rest of the book, it is pirates vs. loyalists.

As the pirates near the treasure burial site, "Their eyes burned in their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was found up in that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure…" (page 265) Do you see how much they wanted the treasure?

In the end, it cost about twenty lives of the people who set out to find the treasure in the first place. Was it really worth it? Twenty lives? Even though the pirates worked together, they were each fighting for themselves. They were so wrapped up with greed, they killed others, some of whom used to be part of a crew long before this. Greed changes your actions and thinking, and is definitely a theme throughout this book.