However, Jim's quest is for more than treasure. This is a coming-of-age story, and Jim is a boy who at its outset loses his father (which is, in psychological terms, the first step in his becoming his own man). During his journey, Jim examines and rejects several figurative replacements: Dr. Livesey, whom he already respects but whom he must finally disobey (when Livesey urges him to break his word and run away from Silver); Squire Trelawney, who takes Jim as a sort of surrogate son but who also proves to be a fool; Captain Smollett, another authority figure, whom Jim finds too repressive; the "bad father," Hands, whose flag Jim strikes; and finally Silver himself, to whom Jim is most drawn (in the 1934 film, true in this to the book's spirit, Jim invites Silver to live with him and his mother) but whom he must ultimately reject. By the end of the novel Jim seems to have come of age entirely, symbolized, perhaps, by his recounting of the story and his refusal of further adventure.
Treasure Island has been called a "novel of greed," and certainly greed is a minor theme of the book. But the chief theme is Jim Hawkins' quest to bring home something of great value and to gain his own moral adulthood, a treasure in itself.
