Ben Gunn
Ben Gunn is a marooned sailor on Treasure Island whose three years of solitary survival, secret discovery of Flint's treasure, and eventual alliance with Jim Hawkins and the loyal party prove decisive in the outcome of the treasure hunt and the defeat of the mutineers.
Identity and Background
Ben Gunn is a white man, formerly a sailor on Captain Flint's ship, the Walrus, where he was present when Flint buried the treasure with six men. He was marooned on the island three years before the Hispaniola arrived, left behind by a later ship whose crew had grown angry with him after a failed twelve-day search for Flint's gold. They gave him a musket, a spade, and a pick-axe, and sailed away. Gunn describes himself as having had a pious mother and a civil, pious boyhood, but he fell into bad ways, beginning with chuck-farthen on gravestones. His years of isolation have left him ragged, clothed in tatters of old ship's canvas and sea-cloth held together by brass buttons, bits of stick, and loops of tarry gaskin, with a single solid leather belt. His skin is burnt dark by the sun, his lips black, and his fair eyes startling in his dark face. He speaks in a hoarse, awkward voice, like a rusty lock, and shows a childish pleasure in the presence of another human being, feeling the stuff of Jim's jacket and smoothing his hands.
Life on the Island and Discovery of the Treasure
Gunn survived on goats, berries, and oysters, and built a small coracle from goatskins stretched over a lop-sided framework of tough wood. He also built a tent of goat-skins. During his long, lonely wanderings, he found the skeleton of one of Flint's six men, which he rifled. More importantly, he discovered the treasure itself, dug it up with a pick-axe (the haft of which broke and was left in the excavation), and carried it on his back in many weary journeys from the foot of the tall pine to a cave he had on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of the island. There it lay stored in safety for two months before the Hispaniola arrived. He also found the skeleton, which he rifled, and which later served as a pointer for the treasure hunters.
Alliance with Jim Hawkins and the Loyal Party
When Jim Hawkins encounters Gunn in the woods, Gunn initially frightens him by leaping behind a tree, but then throws himself on his knees in supplication. He asks Jim for cheese, having dreamed of toasted cheese for three years. Jim tells him the squire is a liberal man and that all hands were to share the treasure. Gunn then reveals that he was on Flint's ship when the treasure was buried, and that he knows where it is. He makes Jim promise to tell the squire that "Gunn is a good man" and that he puts "a precious sight more confidence in a gen'leman born than in these gen'leman of fortune." He also warns Jim to look out for a seafaring man with one leg, which Jim recognizes as Long John Silver. Gunn later helps the loyal party by visiting the mutineers' camp while they are drunk, and by using his knowledge of the island to ambush them at the treasure pit. He is the one who, at the doctor's instruction, works on the superstitions of the pirates by singing Flint's song and calling out Darby M'Graw's name, terrifying them and buying time for the ambush.
Role in the Final Confrontation and Aftermath
During the treasure hunt, Gunn's prior removal of the gold is revealed when the pirates find the empty pit. The doctor, Gray, and Gunn then ambush the mutineers, killing George Merry and another, and routing the rest. Gunn is the hero of the story from beginning to end, according to the doctor. After the treasure is recovered, Gunn is given a thousand pounds, which he spends or loses in nineteen days, and is then given a lodge to keep, where he lives as a great favourite, though something of a butt, with the country boys, and a notable singer in church on Sundays and saints' days. He also connives at Silver's escape, taking a shore boat to help him flee, and later assures the party he did so to preserve their lives.
Thematic Significance
Ben Gunn represents the transformative power of isolation and the possibility of redemption, even for a former pirate. His three years of solitude have turned him into a half-idiot, but also into a resourceful survivor and a key ally. His discovery of the treasure before anyone else subverts the entire treasure hunt, turning the pirates' quest into a wild goose chase. His eventual return to civilization, though marked by a rapid squandering of his fortune, ends with a humble and contented life, a stark contrast to the fates of the other pirates. He is a figure of both pathos and cunning, a reminder that even the most desperate circumstances can produce unexpected heroes.
