Treasure Island and the Economy of Hegemonic Resistance

Abstract

This research looks at Robert Louise Stevenson’s renowned adventure romance, Treasure Island, in the light of its representation of social class struggles and the function of hegemonic conditioning in those struggles. It draws upon Antonio Gramsci's theories of hegemony and culture, coercion and consensus, and his notion of the organic intellectual. The careful analysis of the novel demonstrates the author’s critical attitude toward the dominant social system and his hope for an eventual breach in that system. The novel depicts the underlying hegemonic mind-frames that rule over social relationships from which very few characters can escape, and suggests that mass revolutions might not be successful in the toppling of the existing hegemony. Through the figure of Long John Silver, who is here compared to the organic intellectual of Gramsci’s theories, the novel proposes a cunning method of resistance against hegemonic forces similar to the Gramscian notion of war of position that could free people from hegemonic subjugation and lead them to success.

Keywords

• gramsci
• hegemony
• class struggle
• organic intellectual
• victorian adventure romance