The Treasure in the Forest
H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)
About the Author
· Full name – Herbert George Wells
· An English novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian
· Best known for science fiction novels
· He was a writer of marked originality and immense richness of ideas
Setting
The setting of the story is a tropical island. The main part of the story is set in an uninhabited tropical island but the setting includes the bay where a canoe is approaching the land. It is opened out and there is a gap in the surf of the reef where the little river runs out to the sea: thicker and deeper green of the virgin forest showed its course down the distant hill slope. The forest came close to the beach. The mountain is remotely situated in dim and almost cloudlike in texture. The scene of the sea and blazing sky make the setting more vivid.
What is the story about?
The Treasure in the Forest’ is an ominous adventure story in which two English 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. In other words, it is the story of treasure hunters named Evan and Hooker who murdered a Chinese man to snatch the map from him that locates the buried treasure, i.e., gold ingots. Their greed does not only make them corrupt but also leads them to their tragic end.
Characters:
Chang – hi
A Chinese having a map that shows the places with buried treasure, i.e., gold ingots. He buried the treasure in the tropical island after a shipwrecked. While burying, he put a safety to his treasure. It was the great stress on the safety or poison secretly put to prevent the treasure from being stolen. He has drawn a map marking the exact location of the treasure to be dug out later. He was murdered by two English men named Evans and Hooker for the map. While dying he gave a grin to the murderers. They understand the meaning of grin only when they get pricked while touching the ingots. According to Evans, he was furious like a startled snake, fearful, treacherous and pitiful.
Evans
An English who makes an adventurous journey with his partner named Hooker to a tropical island for hunting treasure. He is one of the murderers of Chang-hi for the map that shows the location of buried treasure. He appears in the story with the curved paddle. He talks to his companion about the place which they are heading to. After the discussion over the map with his partner, he sits with his eyes half-closed and begins to doze. He dreams of catching Chang-hi’s. pigtail. According to him, Chang-hi was furious like a startled snake, fearful, treacherous and pitiful. At the end Chang – hi had grinned. It was a most incomprehensible and startling grin. He saw in his dream heaps and heaps of gold and struggled hard to grab from Chang- hi. While struggling to get the treasure from Chang – hi, the heaps of gold turned to a roaring furnace, a vast devil surprisingly like Chang – hi. It was all about his dream. He is the first to touch the gold ingots and get pricked in his hand. It was poisonous, so he died miserably.
Hooker
An English who takes risk of treasure hunting. He is partnering Evans to kill Chang-hi for the map showing the location of buried treasure in the tropical island. He appears in the story with a sheet of yellow paper, i. e. the map showing the location of the buried treasure. Having discussion over the map, he took the paddle to move ahead. He found a dead body of Chinaman lying on his face while they were closer to the treasure. For him, the dead body was puzzling and scary. He looked at it time and again as it was strange. He wanted to bury the dead body before approaching the ingots but his companion stopped him. He worked with his partner to carry the ingots to the canoe. As he 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 long. It was poisonous, so his jaw dropped. He prayed to the God when he realized the thorns were similar to those the Dyaks poison. He just understood Chang – hi’s grin and his assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. He laid great stress on the safety secretly. Hooker began sucking his thumb where he got pricked. Presently, he felt a strange aching pain in his arms and shoulders and his fingers seemed difficult to bend. The dull pain spread towards his throat and grew slowly in intensity. He was poisoned and died. In this way, his greed proved to be self-destructive.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions
a. Describe the expository scene of the story.
The expository scene of the story presents two treasure hunters named Evan and Hooker in the canoe approaching the land. The land is the bay open out with a gap in the white surf of the reef marks where the little river runs out to the sea. The thick and green virgin forest shows its course down the distant hill slope. The hunters have a map which they do not understand as it is written in Chinese. They are trying to locate the buried treasure on the basis of dashes and dotted lines in the map. Thus, the expository scene of the story introduces the setting of the story with two treasure hunters approaching the land by the canoe.
b. What does the map look like and how do Evans and Hooker interpret it?
The map is rough for it is dimly sketched in almost obliterated pencil in a yellow sheet of paper. By much folding, it is creased and worn to the pitch of separation. It gives a rough outline of the bay. It contains little dashes, dotted lines and a straight line running from the opening of the reef to a clump of palm trees. Evans and Hooker do not understand the map as it is written in Chinese and the also little dashes are more confusing. Thus, they interpret the map on the basis of lines, dashes and dots. For Evan, curved and twisted lines indicate the river and the little marks make the map look more like the plan of a house.
c. How did Evans and Hooker know about the treasure?
They knew about the treasure by studying the map and analyzing the Chinese writing. The map was snatched from Chang – hi. It was the map that showed the exact location of the buried treasure. The map was full of dots or dotted lines, straight lines, little marks, little pointing dashes and curved and twisting lines. There was also a star in the map. For Evans and Hooker, the star was the place where the gold ingots were buried. The writing was incomprehensible to them for it was Chinese. After discussing the marks and writing in the map, they headed to the very place.
d. Describe Evan’s dream.
Feeling tired, Evans sat on the canoe with his eyes half-closed and soon he began dozing. His dream begins with the falling of night when he and Hooker had hit upon the Chinamen’s secret. He saw the moonlit trees and the black figures of three Chinamen sitting around the little burning fire talking in pigeon English. Chang – hi got the buried gold ingots by the people after shipwrecked and reburied them. But he secretly laid great stress on the safety. He saw heaps and heaps of gold but Chang – hi intervened and struggled to hold him back from it. He took Chang – hi by the pigtail. As per his dream, Chang – hi was furious like a startled snake. He was fearful, treacherous and pitiful. He did not understand Chang – hi’s act of grinning while dying. His unpleasant dream shifted to the bright heaps of gold turning to a roaring furnace indicating a vast devil.
e. What do the two treasure hunters see when they walk towards the island?
The two treasure hunters see amazing natural scene when they walk towards the island. They see thick vegetation by the river bank. The deep forest with the stream and river, and also with many flowering plants make the scene extra-ordinary. They also see the figure of a Chinaman lying on his face. The dead body appears to be too strange and scary for Hooker.
f. In what condition did the treasure hunters find the dead man?
The dead man was Chinaman. The treasure hunters found him lying on the ground and facing downwards (lying on his face or). It was an ominous dead body lying 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. The neck of dead body was puffed and purple and the hands and ankles were swollen. He seems to be died from snakebite. For Hooker, the dead body was scary.
g. How did the treasure hunters try to carry gold ingots to the canoe?
They did not have anything to carry gold ingots to the canoe, so Evans took his jacket off and spread it on the ground and flung two or three gold ingots into it. Hooker took the ends of the collar of the coat in his hands and Evans took the opposite corners, and they lifted the mass.
h. How were Evans and Hooker poisoned?
Evans was poisoned when he hastily pulled one of the heavy masses from the hole. While pulling the masses, a little thorn pricked his hand. The thorn was the delicate spike. He got another prick while he was flinging gold ingots into his jacket. Similarly, Hooker got a little prick on the ball of his thumb while handling the ingots. He got pricked means he was poisoned. Chang – hi had put a great stress on the safety secretly on the ingots to prevent them from being taken by others.
Reference to the context
a. How do you know the story is set on a tropical island?
The expository scene of the story gives vivid picture of a tropical island. The description of the land and forest when Hooker and Evans walk towards the island gives true picture of a tropical island. The place where the gold ingots were buried by Chang – hi is a deserted island for no humans settle there permanently. The description of the way taken by Evans and Hooker, landscapes and the natural scene creates an image of uninhabited tropical island.
b. Why do you think Evans and Hooker took such a risk of finding the buried treasure in a desert island?
Evans and Hooker took a risk of finding the buried treasure in a desert island because they were greedy. It is their greed that makes them so corrupt and obsessed with the treasure. They look as if finding the treasure is only aim of their life. They were money minded who can do anything for wealth. It is evident when they murdered Chang – hi for the map showing the location of the buried gold ingots. Their mind is pre-occupied with the buried treasure.
c. Do you think the narrator of the story is racist? If yes, what made him feel superior to other races?
Yes, I think the narrator of the story is racist. The story seems to be told from the perspective of Westerners who feel themselves superior to the Easters. Evans and Hooker are English/Westerners who are shown as stronger than Chinaman. Chang – hi is shown as weak one who can easily be murdered by two treasure hunters. It is his country’s power and advancement in technology that made him feel superior to other races. Britain, once, was an imperialist country which can invade and colonize other countries.
d. What do you think is the moral of the story?
The obvious moral of the story is not to be greedy. Power and greed make human corrupt. One can even be a killer to satisfy his/her greed as it happens to Evans and Hooker in the story. It is their greed that motivates them to murder Chang – hi and to take risk of hunting treasure. They make an adventurous journey to a tropical island to get the buried treasure. As soon as they found the treasure, they get pricked while touching the gold ingots and are poisoned to miserable death. In this story, their greed is proved to be self-destructive.
