This chapter has a number of delicate touches which should be brought
to the notice of the class; such as the lump in the throat of Black
Dog while he waited for the pirate in moral terror; his clever excuse
for having the door left open apparently that he might be sure Jim was
not listening, but in reality that he might have a way of escape in
case of danger; the picture of the gallows in the tattooing.
The characters of Billy Bones and Jim are added to in the chapter,
and that of the doctor made more clear. The touch by which the boy is
made to feel compassion for the pirate when Bones turns so ghastly at
the sight of Black Dog is one which should not be missed. The story,
too, begins to develop, and the youthful reader must be unusually
insensitive if he does not speculate upon the past of Bones and upon
the relation of the pirate with Black Dog.
It is not necessary to go on with this sort of analysis, for the method
I am detailing must be essentially that of most teachers. If the points
mentioned seem to some over-minute, I can only say that since the
aim is to teach children how to handle fiction, the task of training
them to be intelligently careful in their reading is of the first
importance. There is no risk of making them finical or too minutely
observant. This is moreover the _study_ of a novel, and it should be
more careful than reading is supposed to be. It is morally certain
that any child will fall below the standard set, and it is therefore
necessary to have the standard as high as it can be without tiring or
confusing the children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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