The Treasure in the Forest | All Solution | NEB English Class 12 | The Treasure in the Forest Q&A
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The Treasure in the Forest | All Solution | NEB English Class 12
Short Story: Unit 4
The Treasure in the Forest
Glossary of The Treasure in the Forest | Vocabulary of The Treasure in the Forest
abruptly; abrupt (adj): unexpectedly; sudden
anticipate (v): forecast; expect; predict
appearance (n): someone or something looks
ashore (n): the land along the edge of an ocean, sea, lake or river
blotch fungi (n): a plant disease that discolours the leaves
canoe (n): a small, light and narrow boat, pointed at both ends and moved using a paddle
canopy (n): a cover fixed over a seat or bed etc
carve (v): cut into pieces or slices
clenched (adj) fingers or hand closed into a tight ball
clump (n): a small group of trees or plants growing closely together
clung (v): stick tightly; hold firmly
companion (n): a person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time ; friend
convulsively (adj): imbalance muscles due to neurological system
coral creep (n): species of snake
corpse (n): dead body
creek (n): small stream
crumple (v, n): wrinkle; shrink; becomes creased and wrinkled
dilated (adj): make or become wider, larger or more open
distorted (adj): pulled or twisted out of shape; twisted
drift (v, n): to be carried along by currents of air or water
Dyaks poison (n): Dyaks are native tribe of Borneo; they use poisonous thrones to hunt
exaltation (n): a very strong feeling of happiness
excitement (n): a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness
exhume (v): to remove from a grave; to dig out from the ground after it has been buried
foliage (n): plant leaves
fragments (n, v): a small part broken off or detached.
frothy (adj): mass of small bubbles; covered with a mass of small bubbles
furious (ad): full of extreme anger; full of energy
furnace (n): fire oven
galleon (n): a large sailing ship with three or four masts, used both in trade and war from the 15th to the 18th centuries exhume gibber (v): to speak quickly in a way that cannot be understood; foolish talk
grin (v): smile broadly; smile by showing teeth
headlong (adv, adj): hasty; without thinking
imperceptible (adj.): unable to be noticed; felt because of being very slight
implement (n): a tool that works by being moved by hand
inarticulate (adj): unable to express one’s ideas or feelings clearly or easily
incrustation (n): a crust or hard coating on the surface of something
incrustation (n): a layer of material, such as dirt or a chemical, that forms on something, especially slowly
ingot (n): a piece of metal usually in the shape of a brick like gold ingot or gold bar
intense (adj): of extreme force, degree or strength
intervening (adj): to occur between two period of time; to occur as an extraneous or unplanned circumstance
lagoon (n): an area of sea water separated from the sea by a reef
languid (adj): weak or faint from illness or fatigue
moon (v): to move or spend time in a way that shows a lack of care and interest and no clear purpose
obliterated (adj): removed all signs of something, either by destroying it or by covering it so that it cannot be seen
ominous (adj): giving the worrying impression; threateningly inauspicious
pidgin (n): grammatically simplified language
pigeon english (n): the medium of communication between the foreign merchants and the chinese
pigtail (n): lock of hair worn singly at the back or on each side of the head
prominent (adj): noticeable; immediately noticeable
prospect (v): to search for gold, oil, or other valuable substances on or under the surface of the earth
prostrate (adj): lying with the face down and arms stretched out, especially as a sign of respect or worship
queer (adj): strange; odd
quivering (adj): trembling or shaking with a slight rapid motion
reed (n): a marsh plant with a firm stem;
reef (n): a strip of rocks, sand or coral
rippling (n) small wave of water
rosette (n): an object or arrangement resembling a rose
scramble (v): to move or climb hurriedly
scrutinizing (v): examine or inspect closely and thoroughly
shaft (n): a beam of light
shaft (n): a ray of light or bolt of lightning
shipwrecked (n, v): the destruction of a ship at sea by sinking or breaking up
silvered (adj): looked white like silver
somber (adj): dark or dull in colour or tone
sombre (adj): dark and dull
spasmodic (adj): irregular bursts
spasmodically (adj): twisted of muscles
spasmodically (adv): related to a sudden involuntary muscular contraction
struggle (v, n): engaged with a problem; to have difficulty
stumble (v): lose one’s balance; almost fall
surf (n): the swell of the sea breaking on shore or reefs; the foam produced by shore ; to ride the surf as with a surfboard
sway (v): move or cause to move slowly
swerve (n): change direction
swerve (v): change or cause to change direction abruptly
take it out of him (phrase): seriously reduce the energy, vitality or vigor of someone.
tangle (n): an untidy mass of things that are not in a state of order
toil (v, n): to labour continuously; work strenuously
transverse (adj): in a position or direction that is at an angle of 90° to something else
treacherous (adj): guilty of trust; deceptive; betrayal of confidential
treasure (n): wealth; gold; money
unendurable (adj): not able to be tolerated; insufferable
unprovisioned (adj): without supplies of food and other necessary things
voyage (n, v): travel by ship or canoe
wastrels (n): a person who does nothing positive with his life; good for nothing
wit (n): quick understanding; keen intelligence
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Characters in The Treasure in the Forest
Evans and Hooker
They are two friends who make an adventurous journey to a Tropical island for hunting treasures
Chang-hi
He is a Chinese man who has a map of the treasures
Two other Chinese men
They are co-workers of Chang-hi
The Treasure in the Forest
The canoe was now approaching the land. The bay opened out, and a gap in the white surf of the reef marked where the little river ran out to the sea; the thicker and deeper green of the virgin forest showed its course down the distant hill slope. The forest here came close to the beach. Far beyond, dim and almost cloudlike in texture, rose the mountains, like suddenly frozen waves. The sea was still save for an almost imperceptible swell. The sky blazed.
The man with the carved paddle stopped. “It should be somewhere here,” he said. He shipped the paddle and held his arms out straight before him.
The other man had been in the fore part of the canoe, closely scrutinising the land. He had a sheet of yellow paper on his knee.
“Come and look at this, Evans,” he said.
Both men spoke in low tones, and their lips were hard and dry.
The man called Evans came swaying along the canoe until he could look over his companion’s shoulder
The paper had the appearance of a rough map. By much folding, it was creased and worn to the pitch of separation, and the second man held the discoloured fragments together where they had parted. On it one could dimly make out, in almost obliterated pencil, the outline of the bay
“Here,” said Evans, “is the reef, and here is the gap.” He ran his thumb-nail over the chart.
“This curved and twisting line is the river–I could do with a drink now!–and this star is the place.”
“You see this dotted line,” said the man with the map; “it is a straight line, and runs from the opening of the reef to a clump of palm-trees. The star comes just where it cuts the river. We must mark the place as we go into the lagoon.”
“It’s queer,” said Evans, after a pause, “what these little marks down here are for. It looks like the plan of a house or something; but what all these little dashes, pointing this way and that, may mean I can’t get a notion. And what’s the writing?”
“Chinese,” said the man with the map.
“Of course! He was a Chinee,” said Evans.
“They all were,” said the man with the map.
They both sat for some minutes staring at the land, while the canoe drifted slowly. Then Evans looked towards the paddle.
“Your turn with the paddle now, Hooker,” said he.
And his companion quietly folded up his map, put it in his pocket, passed Evans carefully, and began to paddle. His movements were languid, like those of a man whose strength was nearly exhausted.
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Evans sat with his eyes half-closed, watching the frothy breakwater of the coral creep nearer and nearer. The sky was like a furnace, for the sun was near the zenith. Though they were so near the Treasure he did not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitement of the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from the mainland in the unprovisioned canoe had, to use his own expression, “taken it out of him.” He tried to arouse himself by directing his mind to the ingots the Chinamen had spoken of, but it would not rest there; it came back headlong to the thought of sweet water rippling in the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips and throat. The rhythmic wash of the sea upon the reef was becoming audible now, and it had a pleasant sound in his ears; the water washed along the side of the canoe, and the paddle dripped between each stroke. Presently he began to doze.
He was still dimly conscious of the island, but a queer dream texture interwove with his sensations. Once again it was the night when he and Hooker had hit upon the Chinamen’s secret; he saw the moonlit trees, the little fire burning, and the black figures of the three Chinamen-silvered on one side by moonlight, and on the other glowing from the firelight-and heard them talking together in pigeon-English-for they came from different provinces. Hooker had caught the drift of their talk first, and had motioned to him to listen. Fragments of the conversation were inaudible, and fragments incomprehensible. A Spanish galleon from the Philippines hopelessly aground, and its treasure buried against the day of return, lay in the background of the story; a shipwrecked crew thinned by disease, a quarrel or so, and the needs of discipline, and at last taking to their boats never to be heard of again. Then Chang-hi, only a year since, wandering ashore, had happened upon the ingots hidden for two hundred years, had deserted his junk, and reburied them with infinite toil, single-handed but very safe. He laid great stress on the safety-it was a secret of his. Now he wanted help to return and exhume them. Presently the little map fluttered and the voices sank. A fine story for two, stranded British wastrels to hear! Evans’ dream shifted to the moment when he had Chang-hi’s pigtail in his hand. The life of a Chinaman is scarcely sacred like a European’s. The cunning little face of Chang-hi, first keen and furious like a startled snake, and then fearful, treacherous, and pitiful, became overwhelmingly prominent in the dream. At the end Chang-hi had grinned, a most incomprehensible and startling grin. Abruptly things became very unpleasant, as they will do at times in dreams. Chang-hi gibbered and threatened him. He saw in his dream heaps and heaps of gold, and Chang-hi intervening and struggling to hold him back from it. He took Chang-hi by the pig-tail–how big the yellow brute was, and how he struggled and grinned! He kept growing bigger, too. Then the bright heaps of gold turned to a roaring furnace, and a vast devil, surprisingly like Chang-hi, but with a huge black tail, began to feed him with coals. They burnt his mouth horribly. Another devil was shouting his name: “Evans, Evans, you sleepy fool!”-or was it Hooker?
He woke up. They were in the mouth of the lagoon.
“There are the three palm-trees. It must be in a line with that clump of bushes,” said his companion. “Mark that. If we go to those bushes and then strike into the bush in a straight line from here, we shall come to it when we come to the stream.”
They could see now where the mouth of the stream opened out. At the sight of it Evans revived. “Hurry up, man,” he said, “or by heaven I shall have to drink sea water!” He gnawed his hand and stared at the gleam of silver among the rocks and green tangle.
Presently he turned almost fiercely upon Hooker. “Give me the paddle,” he said.
So they reached the river mouth. A little way up Hooker took some water in the hollow of his hand, tasted it, and spat it out. A little further he tried again. “This will do,” he said, and they began drinking eagerly.
“Curse this!” said Evans suddenly. “It’s too slow.” And, leaning dangerously over the fore part of the canoe, he began to suck up the water with his lips.
Presently they made an end of drinking, and, running the canoe into a little creek, were about to land among the thick growth that overhung the water.
“We shall have to scramble through this to the beach to find our bushes and get the line to the place,” said Evans.
“We had better paddle round,” said Hooker.
So they pushed out again into the river and paddled back down it to the sea, and along the shore to the place where the clump of bushes grew. Here they landed, pulled the light canoe far up the beach, and then went up towards the edge of the jungle until they could see the opening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line. Evans had taken a native implement out of the canoe. It was L-shaped, and the transverse piece was armed with polished stone. Hooker carried the paddle. “It is straight now in this direction,” said he; “we must push through this till we strike the stream. Then we must prospect.”
They pushed through a close tangle of reeds, broad fronds, and young trees, and at first it was toilsome going, but very speedily the trees became larger and the ground beneath them opened out. The blaze of the sunlight was replaced by insensible degrees by cool shadow. The trees became at last vast pillars that rose up to a canopy of greenery far overhead. Dim white flowers hung from their stems, and ropy creepers swung from tree to tree. The shadow deepened. On the ground, blotched fungi and a red-brown incrustation became frequent.
Evans shivered. “It seems almost cold here after the blaze outside.”
“I hope we are keeping to the straight,” said Hooker.
Presently they saw, far ahead, a gap in the sombre darkness where white shafts of hot sunlight smote into the forest. There also was brilliant green undergrowth and coloured flowers. Then they heard the rush of water.
“Here is the river. We should be close to it now,” said Hooker.
The vegetation was thick by the river bank. Great plants, as yet unnamed, grew among the roots of the big trees, and spread rosettes of huge green fans towards the strip of sky. Many flowers and a creeper with shiny foliage clung to the exposed stems. On the water of the broad, quiet pool which the treasure-seekers now overlooked there floated big oval leaves and a waxen, pinkish-white flower not unlike a water-lily. Further, as the river bent away from them, the water suddenly frothed and became noisy in a rapid.
“Well?” said Evans
“We have swerved a little from the straight,” said Hooker. “That was to be expected.”
He turned and looked into the dim cool shadows of the silent forest behind them. “If we beat a little way up and down the stream we should come to something.”
“You said–” began Evans.
“He said there was a heap of stones,” said Hooker.
The two men looked at each other for a moment.
“Let us try a little down-stream first,” said Evans.
They advanced slowly, looking curiously about them. Suddenly Evans stopped. “What the devil’s that?” he said.
Hooker followed his finger. “Something blue,” he said. It had come into view as they topped a gentle swell of the ground. Then he began to distinguish what it was.
He advanced suddenly with hasty steps, until the body that belonged to the limp hand and arm had become visible. His grip tightened on the implement he carried. The thing was the figure of a Chinaman lying on his face. The abandon of the pose was unmistakable.
The two men drew closer together, and stood staring silently at this ominous dead body. It lay in a clear space among the trees. Nearby was a spade after the Chinese pattern, and further off lay a scattered heap of stones, close to a freshly dug hole.
“Somebody has been here before,” said Hooker, clearing his throat.
Then suddenly Evans began to swear and rave, and stamp upon the ground.
Hooker turned white but said nothing. He advanced towards the prostrate body. He saw the neck was puffed and purple, and the hands and ankles swollen. “Pah!” he said, and suddenly turned away and went towards the excavation. He gave a cry of surprise. He shouted to Evans, who was following him slowly.
“You fool! It’s all right. It’s here still.” Then he turned again and looked at the dead Chinaman, and then again at the hole.
Evans hurried to the hole. Already half exposed by the ill-fated wretch beside them lay a number of dull yellow bars. He bent down in the hole, and, clearing off the soil with his bare hands, hastily pulled one of the heavy masses out. As he did so a little thorn pricked his hand. He pulled the delicate spike out with his fingers and lifted the ingot.
“Only gold or lead could weigh like this,” he said exultantly.
Hooker was still looking at the dead Chinaman. He was puzzled.
“He stole a march on his friends,” he said at last. “He came here alone, and some poisonous snake has killed him… I wonder how he found the place.”
Evans stood with the ingot in his hands. What did a dead Chinaman signify? “We shall have to take this stuff to the mainland piecemeal, and bury it there for a while. How shall we get it to the canoe?”
He took his jacket off and spread it on the ground, and flung two or three ingots into it. Presently he found that another little thorn had punctured his skin.
“This is as much as we can carry,” said he. Then suddenly, with a queer rush of irritation, “What are you staring at?”
Hooker turned to him. “I can’t stand him …” He nodded towards the corpse. “It’s so like—-“
“Rubbish!” said Evans. “All Chinamen are alike.”
Hooker looked into his face. “I’m going to bury that, anyhow, before I lend a hand with this stuff.”
“Don’t be a fool, Hooker,” said Evans, “Let that mass of corruption bide.”
Hooker hesitated, and then his eye went carefully over the brown soil about them. “It scares me somehow,” he said.
“The thing is,” said Evans, “what to do with these ingots. Shall we re-bury them over here, or take them across the strait in the canoe?”
Hooker thought. His puzzled gaze wandered among the tall tree-trunks, and up into the remote sunlit greenery overhead. He shivered again as his eye rested upon the blue figure of the Chinaman. He stared searchingly among the grey depths between the trees.
“What’s come to you, Hooker?” said Evans.
“Have you lost your wits?” “Let’s get the gold out of this place, anyhow,” said Hooker.
He took the ends of the collar of the coat in his hands, and Evans took the opposite corners, and they lifted the mass. “Which way?” said Evans. “To the canoe?”
“It’s queer,” said Evans, when they had advanced only a few steps, “but my arms ache still with that paddling.”
“Curse it!” he said. “But they ache! I must rest.”
They let the coat down, Evans’ face was white, and little drops of sweat stood out upon his forehead. “It’s stuffy, somehow, in this forest.”
Then with an abrupt transition to unreasonable anger: “What is the good of waiting here all the day? Lend a hand, I say! You have done nothing but moon since we saw the dead Chinaman.”
Hooker was looking steadfastly at his companion’s face. He helped raise the coat bearing the ingots, and they went forward perhaps a hundred yards in silence. Evans began to breathe heavily. “Can’t you speak?” he said.
“What’s the matter with you?” said Hooker.
Evans stumbled, and then with a sudden curse flung the coat from him. He stood for a moment staring at Hooker, and then with a groan clutched at his own throat.
“Don’t come near me,” he said, and went and leant against a tree. Then in a steadier voice, “I’ll be better in a minute.”
Presently his grip upon the trunk loosened, and he slipped slowly down the stem of the tree until he was a crumpled heap at its foot. His hands were clenched convulsively. His face became distorted with pain. Hooker approached him.
“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” said Evans in a stifled voice. “Put the gold back on the coat.”
“Can’t I do anything for you?” said Hooker.
“Put the gold back on the coat.”
As Hooker handled the ingots he felt a little prick on the ball of his thumb. He looked at his hand and saw a slender thorn, perhaps two inches in length.
Evans gave an inarticulate cry and rolled over.
Hooker’s jaw dropped. He stared at the thorn for a moment with dilated eyes. Then he looked at Evans, who was now crumpled together on the ground, his back bending and straightening spasmodically. Then he looked through the pillars of the trees and net-work of creeper stems, to where in the dim grey shadow the blue-clad body of the Chinaman was still indistinctly visible. He thought of the little dashes in the corner of the plan, and in a moment he understood.
“God help me!” he said. For the thorns were similar to those the Dyaks poison and use in their blowing-tubes. He understood now what Chang-hi’s assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. He understood that grin now.
“Evans!” he cried.
But Evans was silent and motionless, save for a horrible spasmodic twitching of his limbs. A profound silence brooded over the forest.
Then Hooker began to suck furiously at the little pink spot on the ball of his thumb–sucking for dear life. Presently he felt a strange aching pain in his arms and shoulders, and his fingers seemed difficult to bend. Then he knew that sucking was no good.
Abruptly he stopped, and sitting down by the pile of ingots, and resting his chin upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees, stared at the distorted but still quivering body of his companion. Chang-hi’s grin came into his mind again. The dull pain spread towards his throat and grew slowly in intensity. Far above him a faint breeze stirred the greenery, and the white petals of some unknown flower came floating down through the gloom.
H.G. Wells
Courtesy: The Country of the Blind and Other Stories
About the Author | About H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells (full name Herbert George Wells; 1866-1946) was an English novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian.
He is best known for science fiction novels.
His first novel ‘The Time Machine’ (1895) was immediately successful.
He added a series of science fiction novels that revealed him as a writer of marked originality and an immense richness of ideas.
His science fiction novels include:
The Wonderful Visit (1895)
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
The Invisible Man (1897)
The War of the Worlds (1898)
The First Men in the Moon (1901)
The Food of the Gods (1904)
He also wrote many short stories; they were collected in:
The Stolen Bacillus (1895)
The Plattner Story (1897)
Tales of Space and Time (1899)
The Country of the Blind and Other Stories (1911)
This story ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is taken from the collection ‘The Country of the Blind and Other Stories’.
‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is an ominous (warning) adventure story in which two men search for Spanish treasure, letting greed get the better of their awareness.
As the story moves ahead to show how power and greed corrupt human beings.
Summary of The Treasure in the Forest
‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is a thriller suspense story written by H. G. Wells.
The major theme of the story is consequences of greed and power.
This story opens with the scene of two Englishmen Evans and Hooker.
They are on voyage in their small canoe near to the island.
Both of them seem quite tired and thirsty after their whole night voyage.
They have an old yellow coloured map related to the treasure.
They discuss the treasure pointing at the map first.
They confirm that three is treasure near the palm trees and the blue star.
They get confused about the sharp dots in the map which seems like pieces of glass or teeth.
Both Evan and Hooker need water badly.
Evans sees a dream sifting in a boat.
He sees a dream about their jungle’s incident where they come to know about the Spanish treasure.
He sees himself killing Chang hi and snatching a map from him.
Later, he sees Chang hi in the terrible form of a vast devil with a big black tail.
He becomes fearful to see terrible and mysterious smile of Chang hi.
Later, both Evans and Hooker drink cold and fresh water in the river.
They move ahead on the island chopping the bushes.
They find a Chinese man’s dead body and the gold treasure behind the bushes.
Evans moves inside the hole and start collecting heavy gold bars in his coat.
Hooker becomes fearful about the Chinese man’s dead body and his surroundings.
Evans gets pricked by little thorns inside the hole twice while collecting gold bars.
He asks Hooker to help him.
He feels pain in his arms and neck.
Both of them pull heavy coat out of the hole.
As they move ahead, Evans stops twice due to pain.
He keeps his distance from Hooker and stands against a tree.
Hooker feels restless in this situation.
As he picks the last gold bar, he also feels pain in his finger due to thorn.
He sees Evans trembling with pain and becomes motionless.
Finally, he also feels pain and starts trembling.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions:
(a) Describe the expository scene of the story.
The Treasure in the Forest story opens with the canoe approaching the land.
A little river runs out to the sea.
The forest is thicker, deeper and virgin green and close to the beach.
Other exposers are floppy hill, frozen wave, blazed sky, sea etc.
(b) What does the map look like and how do Evan and Hooker interpret it?
The map looks like an old rough map.
It is yellow colour and creased and worn due to much folding.
Evan interprets twisting lines in the map as the river and the star as the place.
Hooker interprets the dotted line, straight line and the way to the lagoon in the map.
They interpret that the beach, the forest and the mountain on the map are just in front of them.
(c) How did Evan and Hooker know about the treasure?
Evan and Hooker were in the jungle searching for something.
They knew about the treasure by the conversation of the three Chinese men.
The Chinese man has the map of the treasure.
(d) Describe Evan’s dream.
Evan had a dream about the treasure in the forest.
He saw himself in the forest in search of something with his friend Hooker.
He saw different things in his dream.
In the dream, they were in the forest and saw a little fire where three Chinamen sat around it.
Chinamen talked in quiet voices in pigeon-English about the gold.
Evans went closer and he knew that Chang-hi took the gold from a Spanish treasure.
He saw there heaps and heaps of gold.
Chang-hi was intervening and struggling to hold him back from gold.
The heap of the gold turned into a roaring furnace.
Chanh-hi was looking like a devil and began to feed him burnt coal.
In the battle, Evan killed Chang-hi brutally.
(e) What do the two treasure hunters see when they walk towards the island?
When two treasure hunters walk towards the island, they see three palm trees in line with a clump of bushes at the mouth of the stream.
(f) In what condition did the treasure hunters find the dead man?
The treasure hunters found the dead man was lying in a clear space among the trees.
The face of the dead man was down on the ground.
The dead man’s neck was puffed and purple in colour.
Its hands and ankles were swollen.
(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 coat.
The coat was heavy due to huge gold bars.
They decided to take the gold to home.
They helped each other to pull out the coat with gold.
While carrying the coat, their arms and necks started aching, feeling pain and trembling.
They failed to reach the canoe with gold bars.
(h) How were Evan and Hooker poisoned?
Evan and Hooker were poisoned due to thin and sharp thorns.
The thrones were poisonous and nearly of two inches in length.
Evans was poisoned while touching gold bars in the hole.
Hooker was poisoned while picking up last gold bar.
The poisonous thorns showed reactions and suffered a lot.
Both of them felt pain in their arms and necks.
They crumpled and trembled in pain; they failed on the ground and died at the last.
Reference to the context
(a) How do you know the story is set on a tropical island?
The story ‘The Treasures in the Forest’ has been set on a tropical island.
Generally, the tropical island has a hot climate and surrounded by the sea.
The story opens with a canoe reaching to land, bank of the bay, the white surf of the reef, the litter river, the virgin forest, sloppy hill and so on.
We can see or read in the story about thicker and green forest, freshwater stream, coastal forest, palm trees, thorny bushes, sea grass, deep sea etc.
Thus, the story is set on a tropical island.
Keep in mind
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Tropical islands are known for natural variable ecosystems like rainforests, open woodlands, grass grasslands, freshwater, lakes, streams, salt marshes, wetland, coastal forests, seas, fringing, offshore coral reefs, deep sea, rain forest etc. |
(b) Why do you think Evan and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure in a desert island?
I think Evan and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure on a desert island because of the following reasons:
Evan and Hooker want to be rich by finding out the treasure.
They can improve their living standard by selling the treasure.
They are happy by listening about the secret treasure from the Chinese men.
They snitch the map from the Chinese map by taking risk.
They think of risks as rewarding.
It is saying that ‘gold makes people crazy’; so they become greedy for gold.
Due to their greed, they die at the end.
(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 when he presents.
Here, racist means particulars race or species is superior than other.
Evan and Hooker are Englishmen and the writer also.
There are three Chinese men in the story ‘The Treasure in the Forest”.
The narrator presents Evan and Hooker as superior to the Chinese man in the story.
In the story, we find Evans and Hooker kill the Chinese man brutally.
The narrator also dominates by saying that Chinese men are speaking pigeon-English.
Hooker said to Evans, “Have you lost your wit?”
It also reflects dominating nature of Hooker over Ivan.
Thus, many examples in the story state that the narrator of the story looks like a racist.
(d) What do you think is the moral of the story?
The moral of the story ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is desire for greed and power.
Evans and Hooker’s greed increase when they know about the treasures.
They murdered the Chinese man Chiang-hi brutally and they went in search of treasures with the help of the map.
Greed for money, treasures and power is more dangerous.
Greed invites negative moment in our lives.
Reference beyond the text
(a) Interpret the story ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ as a mystery story.
‘The Treasures in the Forest’ by HG Wells is a mystery story.
There are a lot of secrets in the story which is not clear explanation.
The basic elements of a mysterious story are characters, setting, plot, problem and solution.
Among these basic elements, we find suspense, crime, witness, mysterious location, clues and result.
The story creates mystery, interest and curiosity to the readers.
The story is about two treasure hunters, Evans and Hooker who seek to find the hidden treasures in the forest.
They travel by canoe sailing towards the coral island.
Hooker murder Chang-hi, a Chinese man to steal the treasure map.
Chang-hi grins at them when he gets murdered.
There is no clear intention behind the murder of Chang-hi.
They follow the map and soon discover a forest where they find a man corpse of the Chinese man.
As soon as they see the gold, Evans starts to pick them up back in the canoe.
The poisonous thorns become cause of the death of the main characters.
Thus, ‘The Treasure in the Forest’ is a mystery story.
(b) Treasure hunting is a favorable subject of children’s story. Remember a treasure hunting story you read in your childhood and compare and contrast it with ‘The Treasure in the Forest.’
Do yourself
Compare and differentiate with:
1. Characters
2. Places
3. Treasure
4. Result (success or fail)
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