The Treasure in the Forest (Story) Grade 12

 Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Describe the expository scene of the story.

b. What does the map look like and how do Evan and Hooker interpret it?

c. How did Evan and Hooker know about the treasure?

d. Describe Evan’s dream.

e. What do the two treasure hunters see when they walk towards the island?

f. In what condition did the treasure hunters find the dead man?

g. How did the treasure hunters try to carry gold ingots to the canoe?

h. How were Evan and Hooker poisoned?

Reference to the context

a. How do you know the story is set on a tropical island?

b. Why do you think Evan and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure in a desert island?

c. Do you think the narrator of the story is racist? If yes, what made him feel superior to other races?

d. What do you think is the moral of the story?

 

 

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a.     Describe the expository scene of the story.

→There are two treasure hunters Evans and Hooker. The story starts with the canoe approaching the island. There is a little river flowing to the sea. The forest is thick and deep. It is the forest of tropical zone.

b. What does the map look like and how do Evan and Hooker interpret it?

→The map looks like a rough map. It is not easy to get the location with the help of the map. There are dots and lines in the map. Evans interprets twisting lines in the map as the river and Hooker interprets the dotted line and straight line to the way to inlet freshwater pond.

c. How did Evan and Hooker know about the treasure?

→Evans and Hooker knew about the treasure by the conversation of the Chinese man Chang-hi and the map he had. It located the spot of the treasure.

d. Describe Evan's dream.

→Evans had a dream about the treasure and Chang-hi. In the dream, they were in the forest and saw a little fire where three Chinamen sat around it and talked in quiet voices in English. Evans went closer and he knew that Chang-hi took the gold from a Spanish galleon after shipwrecked and hid it carefully on the island. He worked alone and it was his secret, but now he wanted help to get the gold back. There was a battle and Chana-hi was brutally killed by them.

e. What do the two treasure hunters see when they walk towards the island?

→The two treasure hunters see three palm trees in line with a clump of bushes at the mouth of the stream when they walk towards the island.

f. In what condition did the treasure hunters find the dead man?

→The treasure hunters found the dead man lying in a clear space among the trees with a puffed and purple neck and swollen hands and ankles.

g. How did the treasure hunters try to carry gold ingots to the canoe?

→The treasure hunters tried to carry gold ingots to the canoe with the help of the Evans’s jacket which was carried in two sides by both.

h. How were Evan and Hooker poisoned?

→Evans and Hooker were poisoned by thorn pricks nearly of two inches length. Evans rolled over Hooker. After the demise of Evans, Hooker started to collect the gold ingots. He also fell down and rolled like Evans. They suffered a lot before they died.

 

Reference to the Context

a.  How do you know the story is set on a tropical island?

→The story "The Treasures in the Forest" is set on a tropical island. It begins with two men, Evans and Hooker. They sailed their canoe towards a coral island in the heat of the noon sun, after canoeing all night from the mainland. In the story we find the description of the forest. The place has naturally variable ecosystems, tropical rainforests, open woodlands and grass savannahs, freshwater lakes and streams, salt marshes and wetland, mangrove and coastal forests etc. As we go through the story, it opens with a canoe approaching land, and the setting of the bay, the white surf of the reef, the little river running to the sea, the tropical forest, sloppy hill, and so on. Its atmosphere, ecosystems, thicker and green forest, freshwater stream, coastal forest, palm trees, thorny bushes, seagrass and depth sea etc. illustrate the reader to know that the story is set on a tropical island.

b. Why do you think Evans and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure on a desert island?

→I think Evans and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure on a desert island because of the following reasons:

•      They took such a risk because of their greed.

•      They could be rich and prosperous.

•      They wanted to experience the skills like leadership, communication, and problem-solving.

•      The activity was beneficial to the people involved.

•      It helped to develop the ability to tackle any difficult situations.

c. Do you think the narrator of the story is racist? If yes, what made him feel superior to other races?

→Yes, I find some sort of racist feelings in the narrator of the story. In the story he presented Evans and Hooker as superior to the Chinese men. They killed the Chinese men brutally. Generally Chinese people are taken as the people of yellow race and English are taken as white race. A racist is a person who shows prejudice and biasness towards people based on their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group. In the story the narrator dominated the Chinese as inferiors. We find the Chinese man was brutally killed by Evans and Hooker. Thus, many instances in the story state the narrator of the story looks like a racist.

d. What do you think is the moral of the story?

→In the story ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ we find greed and destruction. “The more they desire for greed and power, the more they become selfish" is the moral of this story. Evans and Hooker's greed increases as they come to know about the treasures. They murdered the Chinese man Chang-hi brutally and they went in search of treasures with the help of the map which they got from him. People have greed generally for valuable things like money, wealth or treasures and power. Greed is much more dangerous which can lead to someone to the death. We can find such kind of matter in the story.

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