Treasure Island

Jim Hawkins says he's glad Silver got away. What do you think of Jim's moral reasoning here?

Ending of Treasure Island

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some critics have questioned the moral lesson of letting Long John Silver get away with the money, but in some way this adds to the moral ambiguity that is present throughout this work. Having "Robert Louis Stevenson let the arguable hero get away serves as a motivation for the book, for remember in both the conclusion and the introduction you remember that although Jim Hawkins has never seen or heard from Long John Silver again, he haunts his dreams until he is an adult. Thus, this also has implications on the father figure - although Jim was able to transcend the rest of the parental figures in the book, even becoming "Captain Jim," if only to Israel Hands, he is never able to transcend the mysterious, yet influential and helpful, Long John Silver."

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http://www.gradesaver.com/treasure-island/study-guide/section5/