Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
Name: ___________________________________________ Period: __________________
Part 1 (Chapters I-VI)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Who is the author of Treasure Island?
2. Who is the narrator of the story?
3. Why does Jim receive a four-penny every month from the captain?
4. To whom does Jim first show the map?
5. What does Jim’s father do for a living?
6. What are four unique things about the Captain? (appearance, mannerisms, personality, etc.)
7. When the Captain wants everyone to be quiet, what does he do?
8. What deformity does the Captain have? How does this make his character more believable?
9. What deformity does Black Dog have? How does this make his character more believable?
10. What two important characters die in the first part of Treasure Island?
11. How does Jim feel when the two important characters die?
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
12. Why don’t Jim and his mother just grab the money the captain owes them and run from the
inn?
13. What is a lugger?
14. How does the lugger’s presence help save Jim and his mother from pirates?
15. ACE Method Extended Response: Discuss a character trait given to Billy Bones or Jim Hawkins.
Using your notes on direct vs. indirect characterization decided which type of characterization
is shown through the character’s trait you chose.
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
Part 2 (Chapters VI-XII)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Who does Jim recognize at Spy-glass?
2. How long was Jim allotted to go see his mother before heading to sea?
3. What was the name of the schooner that Squire Trelawney secured?
4. Why did Captain Smollett not like this cruise, the men, or his first officer?
5. What information about the island is leaked to the men by a source other than the squire?
6. Define the following nautical terms used in chapter IX: schooner, galley, port, and long nine.
schooner –
galley –
port –
long nine –
7. What does the crew nickname Long John Silver? How did he get this nickname?
8. Describe Long John Silver’s parrot.
9. Who are the “gentlemen of fortune?” What does Silver say about their way of life?
10. Give reasons why Long John Silver and his men do not take over the ship right away.
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
11. What does Silver plan to do with the squire, the doctor, and their men after he takes over the
ship?
12. When it is discovered that the map is only a copy of the treasure map, what does Silver say the
island’s name was actually called?
13. Why does the captain think it is best if they just go on as usual, don’t confront the pirates, and
don’t turn back?
14. ACE Method Extended Response: Is Long John Silver virtuous? Why or why not? Give one
virtue that he does or doesn’t possess.
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
Part 3 (Chapters XIII-XV)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Describe the Spy-glass. What simile is used to describe Spy-glass?
2. How many people were on the ship in total at the beginning of Part Three?
3. What makes Jim’s heart sink “into” his boots”
4. Why does Jim leap out of the boat and run for the woods as soon as possible when he goes
ashore with the crew?
5. Describe the Man on the Island, Ben Gunn.
6. Why does Jim begin to believe Ben may be an ally?
7. What does Ben Gunn miss most about the Christian diet?
8. What two things does Ben want from the squire?
9. How many men did Long John Silver murder in Part Three? What were their names?
10. What is the object that Long John Silver hurls at one of the honest men which resulted in a
broken back?
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
11. Where does Ben keep his boat?
12. How many people were left at the end of Part Three?
13. ACE Method Extended Response: How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story
have taken place anywhere else? Why or why not?
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
Part 4 (Chapters XVI-XXI)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Why does Dr. Livesey believe that Jim Hawkins is dead?
2. Describe the stockade. Why does the doctor decide to relocate his men there?
3. List two reasons the last trip to the log house is the most dangerous for the doctor and his
friends.
4. What is the long nine? How do Silver’s men use it?
5. Why do the men in the stockade decide to leave the flag flying, even though the mutineers are
using it to aim their gun?
6. What is the biggest problem the men face in the stockade?
7. What potentially important discovery does Jim make on his way to the stockade to rejoin his
friends?
8. What deal does Silver offer Dr. Livesey and the others?
9. What is the captain’s counter offer?
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
10. Who died or was injured in Chapter 21 that deeply affects the chance of Dr. Livesey and the
others against the pirates?
11. ACE Method Extended Response: How is the Treasure Map a symbol of adventure OR desire?
Explain.
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
Part 5 (Chapters XXII-XXVII)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Young Jim Hawkins makes two big follies, or mistakes, on this adventure. What were they?
2. Why does Jim decide to try to cut the Hispaniola’s anchor line?
3. Why does Jim risk boarding the Hispaniola?
4. What bargain does Jim make with Israel Hands?
5. Define “Jolly Roger.”
6. How does the brawl end between Jim and Israel Hands?
7. What is Jim’s physical and mental condition after seeing Israel Hands dead?
8. Cite the clues that alert Jim to possible trouble in the stockade.
9. ACE Method Extended Response: Jim’s search for a heroic role model is a major theme of the
book. Does he find one? If so, give the character’s name and a quote from the book showing
that this character is a heroic role model for Jim.
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Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
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Part 6 (Chapters XXVIII-XXXIV)
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. Why do Silver’s men want to kill Jim?
2. What horrible offense does Dick commit that leads Silver to tell him to pray?
3. There are four reasons why Silver’s men want him deposed as their captain. What are they?
4. Why is Jim disgusted with the pirates for living “hand to mouth?”
5. Describe Flint’s pointer.
6. Who is the speaker of the following quote: “Darby M’Graw! Darby M’Graw! …Fetch aft the rum,
Darby!”
7. What evidence is there that the treasure has been gone for a long time?
8. What are the doctor’s reasons for giving Silver the map and the stockade?
9. What shape was the gold bars stacked in the cave?
Treasure Island Reading Comprehension Questions
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10. ACE Method Extended Response: Does the story end the way you expected? Why or why not?
Give an example of foreshadowing that shows the ending is or isn’t what you expected.