Gold Island

Author: Stevenson
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Treasure Island is almost entirely narrated by Jim Hawkins, the son of the innkeeper, with a few chapters inserted by Dr. Livesey, who recounts events that occurred while Jim was absent. In the two famous novels The Moonstone and The Woman in White by another British writer, Wilkie Collins, the story is also narrated by different characters within the book. This technique makes the narrative appear more credible without becoming monotonous. The first eight chapters of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not adopt the first-person narrative, but the reader is eager to know the answers to the questions, creating suspense. The events of the murder of Lord Carew in Chapter 4 are provided by a witness. The last two chapters are respectively narrated by two medical doctors, who unveil the mystery and reveal the truth. The author decisively abandoned the tempting prospect of delving into who killed Lord Carew, refusing to let the main suspense—who is Hyde?—branch out. Such editing requires courage. One of the charms of Stevenson's novel lies in his ability to compress long novels into shorter ones, never stretching short stories into middle-length ones.