Robert Louis Stevenson Occupation

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Joshua Rein

English 9-1

Joshua Rein

English 9-1

April 23, 2013

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson occupation was a famous writer in the 1800’s (bio.com). Being a famous author, he wrote many poems as well as novels. His experiences in his childhood and adult life helped him to write his stories. His family travels also impacted his writings. His most famous books are Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped (bio.com).

Robert Louis Stevenson’s life had an impact on his writings. He was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Stevenson was an only child. His father’s name was Thomas Stevenson. His mother’s name was Margaret Balfour. Stevenson was sick most of his childhood because of his weak lungs, which he inherited from his mother. From the age of two, Stevenson started to have fevers and long coughing spells, especially before he went to bed (HeartoScotland.com). His nickname when he was a child was Smout (Gherman 3). He lived in France most of his childhood for good health and fun (HeartoScotland.com). Allison Cunningham was Stevenson’s nurse, who was twenty-nine years old, and took care of him at his house. Allison read Bible stories to Stevenson before he went to bed because he was scared that his parents would go to hell since they had dinner parties and played cards with their friends. He had bad dreams about dying and becoming ill (Gherman 5-7). His character Jim

Rein 2

Hawkins in Treasure Island had bad dreams as well (Stevenson 12). His family business was designing and building lighthouses. He went Cannonmills School at the age of seven. He did not go to school often because he had bad health and his dad did not believe in fancy education. When the weather became damp or cold, he and his family went south of France where it was warm and not damp. His parents often hired a tutor to teach him his lessons while traveling. He learned a lot about people, places, and cultures during these times. Since Stevenson was made fun of by his fellow students, his parents sent him to school after school. When he got older, his parents sent him to a boarding school near London (Gherman 14-15). At school, he won a prize on an essay about William Wallace, a Scottish patriot who stood against the English in 1296 (Gherman 17). As a child, he composed a short story called "The Book of Joseph" and had his first story The Pentland Rising published at the age of sixteen. His father paid for the publishing of it (poetryfoundation.com). Stevenson enrolled at Edinburgh University at the age of seventeen (Gherman 17). Since Stevenson chose not to study engineering in college, his father was very disappointed in him because he wanted his son to take over the family business. He began to study law but realized that he was a writer. Stevenson was very religious with his parents in his childhood until the age of twenty-two when he declared himself to be an agnostic, which was a great disappointment to his parents (Gherman 21). At the age of thirty, he married Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne who was an American artist that he met in Paris, France (poetryfoundation.com). She had a son named Lloyd with whom Stevenson was very close. Lloyd and he also wrote a book together called The Wrong Box (Gherman 89). All through his life, Stevenson traveled to find a climate so that he breathe better and find adventure (bio.com). All of these experiences helped him to write his stories.

Rein 3

Stevenson’s love for his home land of Scotland influenced his writings. He involved the history of Scotland and its culture in his works. Some of his characters were Scottish as found in his book Kidnapped. Themes in his books were based on the dual aspects of the nature of people and society. The heritage of Scotland had a dual nature so he brought that idea into his books. The struggle between good and evil is found in his books as well (HeartoScotland.com).

His travels to various places had an impact on his writings. His trip to northern France influenced his book An Island Voyage. His honeymoon with his wife to Napa Valley, California, in 1883 influenced the book The Silverado Squatters which was about an abandoned mining town (bio.com). The Wrecker was based on the trip on the ship Casco that took them to the Marquesas Islands in the South Seas. He sailed to Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa, and Australia. Stevenson loved to sail. His character Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island felt the same when he said in the book, "I still live by the sea, and although I no longer take care of sailors, I have never lost interest in ships and tales of the high adventure (Stevenson 232). He settled in Samoa because that was where he felt the best (Gherman 100). The Samoans nicknamed him "Tusitala," which means "Teller of Tales" (Gherman 106). The only story that he translated into Samoan was "The Bottle Imp" (Gherman 107). The Ebb-Tide was his novel about the Samoan Islands (Gherman 108).

One of his most famous books was Treasure Island. His family helped him with certain ideas in his story. With his step-son, he created the treasure map that he mentioned in the book (Gherman 62). His father suggested many things for the book. One idea was the contents of the sea chest (Gherman 63). "The strong smell of tobacco rose from inside. We unpacked the

Rein 4

contents layer by layer. There were some clothes, pistils, and Spanish watch, a compass, and many trinkets. But at the very bottom we found a bundle of papers tied up in an oil cloth sack and a purse filled with gold coins" (Stevenson 48). He used the features of his friend William Henley to represent Long John Silver (German 63). Stevenson described Long John Silver as having a missing leg, using a crutch, and having a large face (Stevenson 76). He wrote Treasure Island as one chapter per week in a magazine called Young Folks and later put it into a book in 1883 (Gherman 66). Jim Hawkins is the boy who travels on the Hispaniola with Long John Silver and tells the story (Stevenson 7, 71). Ben Gun is the man in the story who lived on Treasure Island by himself (Stevenson 7). Billy Bones is the captain of the Hispaniola also the pirate (Stevenson 7). His characters were created from the history of his homeland area (Hearto Scotland.com).

During his lifetime, Stevenson wrote many other stories and novels. The Black Arrow was a novel based on the War of the Roses in England, and it was written as a series in 1883 and as a book in 1888 (poetryfoundation.com). His book Kidnapped was published in 1886. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was also published in 1886 (poetryfoundation.com). His wife Fanny helped to critique the original version of this book in order to make it a better story. It sold 50,000 copies very quickly (Gherman 79-80).

Even though Robert Louis Stevenson was ill during most of his life, he accomplished four hundred pages per year in twenty years (Gherman 117). As he lived the rest of his life in Samoa, he was working on his novel Weir of Hermiston. He was dedicating this book to his wife Fanny (Gherman 108). On December 3, 1894, he developed a blood clot in his brain and died at

Rein 5

the age of forty-four of a brain hemorrhage or stroke (Gherman 113-114). The work on Weir of Hermiston was incomplete. Critics thought that this book could have been the best work he ever published (poetry foundation.com). It is now more than a hundred years after his death, and people still use his books, still read his poems, and still read his novels.