P7 - Week Beginning 6 Sept 2010

Reading - Visualization Skill

Read the following extract from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and, at a glance, I was sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham - plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the most favoured of his guests.

Now,to tell the truth,from the very first mention of Long John in Squire Trelawney's letter, I had taken a fear in my mind that he might prove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at the old "Benbow". But one look at the man before me was enough. I had seen the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man Pew, and I thought I knew what a buccaneer was like - a very different creature, according to me, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.

Your task is to sketch Long John, labelling your drawing with any words or phrases from the passage that contribute to the image you have of him.

Do you think Long John is a pleasant or unpleasant character ?
What words from the extract make you think this ?