ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on three major stock devices that frame the genre of boys’ adventure fiction: maps, pirates and treasure. During the nineteenth century, literature in Britain became increasingly affordable for those with lower incomes, such as the working class, the poor and the young. This ideology of adventure was one of the British empire’s major means of indoctrinating the young, who grew up to adopt its principles as a means of making their own fortunes. During the nineteenth century, the novel was one of capitalism’s most important tools for self-fashioning, helping to consolidate the cultural and economic value system that commodified individuals’ lives. Both The Coral Island and Treasure Islandare first and foremost children’s novels foregrounding a delight in playing games. In a capitalist society, the competition for goods creates a moral imperative regarding who has the right to the wealth promised by its imperial economy.
