Still terrified from this recent-witness of the murders, Jim catches sight of a dark, shaggy creature and doesn't know if it is a human or an animal. Jim decides that he is more afraid of the creature than of the pirates, and so begins to make his way back to the general directions of the boats. Unfortunately, when he goes to make his retreat, the creature runs and catches up with him. Soon, Jim realizes that he is actually a man and for some reason, that makes him feel a bit better. Realizing that he can protect himself with his pistol, he walks towards the man who falls to his knees before Jim.
Jim soon discovers that the man, who is dressed in rags, name is Ben Gunn and that he has been alone on the island for three years, marooned by fellow pirates to live or die. A Christian (he makes very clear), Gunn is extremely excited to see another human being and touches Jim and looks at him with pleasure. Finally, he proclaims to Jim that he is extremely rich.
Jim explains to Gunn that Flint is dead, and then also tells the strange an the predicament that the honest men on the ship is, facing mutineers led by the dreaded Long John Silver. Scheming, Ben asks that if Jim thinks that the squire will give him a thousand pounds and passage back to civilization if he agrees to help them. Excited, Jim reports that all men who participate will receive a share of the treasure and they will most certainly need men on the return journey.
Satisfied with this assurance, Gunn tells the young narrator that he was aboard Flint's ship along with Billy Bones and Long John Silver, and was with them when they buried the treasure. Later, on a different pirate ship, Gunn convinced those with him to land on the deserted island and search for Flint's treasure. After only 12 days, the men quit and left Gunn stranded, with only a musket, spade, and pickaxe.
Luckily, Gunn tells Jim that he has built a boat and that they could use it in order to try and get to the Hispanolia after dark. Unfortunately, the roar of a cannon interrupts their conversation, and perceptively, Jim realizes that the fight between the honest men and the pirates has begun. Gunn and Jim head towards the shore, while Gunn shows Jim how to stay beneath the cover of the trees. On the way towards the shore, they pass a cemetery, where Flint has buried his victims. At the conclusion of the chapter, Jim hears some gun shots and then sees that a British flag has been raised on land.
Analysis
The humor by Ben Gunn provides comic relief in the middle of the novel, a much needed break from the stressful situation of the young Jim Hawkins dealing with the pirates, and the many deaths and cunning behavior that has been witnessed by the narrator. By using spellings that are incorrect (for example, cemetery for cemetery or chapling for chaplin), Stevenson has Gunn mispronounce words, which makes him a less-serious aspect of the novel. Another example is having the strange man fall down at the sight of Jim, or making comments (when talking about his Christian background), that he could recite his catechism so fast that you "couldn't tell one word from another," making fun of some priests who would do the same thing.
Once again, the description of the island in this chapter is one of the highlights of the book. The particularity of Stevenson's description has caused many critics to claim that it is one of the "significant contributions" to the desert island' myth that has haunted English literature since the publication of Robinson Crusoe in 1719. It has the ideals of all desert islands: remote, mysterious, isolated from human contact. Treasure Island, like William Golding Lord of the Flies, John Fowles' The Magus, or H.G. Well's The Island of Doctor Moreau, has the ability to place the characters in a setting where they can be seen in isolation, and thus explore their inner strength. The effect is to focus the reader's attention on to a limited number of individuals confined within a finite geographical area (the island, the inn, or the boat) and all extraneous influences are removed. Thus, when reading the book, the characters are suspended in space and time and the reader can peer into another world.
Continuing another theme of the novel, Ben Gunn again can be viewed as a surrogate father for Jim Hawkins. He rescues him from the unknown of the island and provides direction, all the time, however, the limitation of this father figure is that he is a practical joker. In this case, however, this is precisely the behavior that Jim needs, someone to make him laugh and forget the horrific events that he has witnessed on the island.