Long John Silver
This week's
interview is with one of my all-time favorite villains, Long John Silver from
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Long John is an
interesting study for a bad guy, because throughout Treasure Island we see more
of the nice Long John than we do of the evil Long John. Oh sure, he shows
flashes of brutality, but most of that is only hinted at. For me, this makes
him much more interesting.
Okay, enough
with the character analysis. On with the interview!
Greg: Welcome,
Long John. Thanks for coming ashore.
Long John
Silver: Aye, you’re welcome, matey. I don’t often come ashore;
ground’s too firm beneath m’ foot. Not enough give. ‘Sides it reminds me too
much of m’ time on that cursed island lookin’ for Flint’s treasure.
Greg: Were
you always a seafaring man?
LJS: Aye,
almost since I can remember. I run away from home as a lad and stowed away
aboard His Majesty’s frigate Unrepentant. It were there I came into
His Majesty’s service. I served under a number o’ fine naval gentlemen, squire.
I started
off as cabin boy, then midshipman, an’ finally seaman. It were a good enough
existence, I suppose, but it wore on me to have to take orders from them as
claimed to be m’ betters but weren’t.
Greg: How
did you lose your leg?
LJS: I
lost it in service to Baron Hawke, one o’ the toughest sailors to ever trim a
sail. None better at it, ‘ceptin’ maybe Captain Flint, but it’d be a close call
there.
We were
fightin’ pirates, strangely enough. Cannonball took it clean off. Guess I
should of gone below decks and steered clear in m’ berth, but that aint ol’
Long John’s way. General quarters was soundin’ anyhow, so I was stuck an’ had
to meet m’ fate, so to speak.
After I lost
m’ leg, I weren’t fit for the service of His Majesty, so I had to shove off. We
were in the Indies. I couldn’t even work my passage home. Well, says I to
m’self, what other sea work can a mostly able-bodied sailor get in these here
waters?
That’s when
fate smiled on me, squire. I met up with an ol’ shipmate I used to know what
had jumped ship and turned pirate some time back. He got me to sign on with
Cap’n Flint.
Greg: What
was your role on Captain Flint’s ship?
LJS: Now
Flint were hard, but I were never scared of him. Ol’ Long John had put in too
many years and seen too many things on the high seas that would make a lesser-hearted
man’s blood run cold. I weren’t afraid of his rantin’ an’ he knew it.
Before any
time at all had passed, he had made me quartermaster, second in command only to
him. So, I knew all about Flint’s treasure and the map. Flint gave the map to
Billy Bones, his mate, an’ died of the effects o’ rum. Bad business, that. Rum
also done for Billy. I never touched it, an’ I’m still here, so that should
speak for somethin’.
Greg: Describe
your relationship with Jim Hawkins.
LJS: I
aint sure what he thinks o’ me, but young Master ‘Arkins is foursquare, he
is. Reminds me more’n a bit o’ m’self he does. There’s no truer lad, nor
braver. ‘Course ol’ Long John didn’t get away with all the
treasure, but it all worked out for the best in the end, I’d have to say. It’s
good enough I got away with m’ skin and some gold to boot, enough to retire by
in the colonies.
Greg: What
do you like most about the sea?
LJS: The
freedom of it. Give me a sturdy craft an’ a star to sail her by, an’ I wouldn’t
have to ask for much more, squire. I’d be right capped with that. ‘Course, a
nice pile o’ gold would warm the cockles of m’ heart, too, heh, heh!
Greg: How
do you want literary history to remember you?
LJS: I
don’t rightly reckon that it would. But if anyone did happen t’ trouble to
think o’ ol’ Long John, I’d want ‘em to say “Long John were a stout sailor an’
true shipmate. He’d twist a dagger in your gut if ya crossed him, but he were
as good as gold to those as stood by him.”
Aye, that’s how I’d like to be remembered. It’s
how anyone’d want it—wouldn’t you, squire?
