Morality in "Robinson Crusoe" is a struggle for Crusoe himself. Through all of his adventures and fortunes and misfortunes, he has struggled with greed and impulsivity. Likewise, Jim in "Treasure Island" is impulsive and, as a young boy, he is still learning moral reasoning and virtue. A key but subtle difference between these two novels is that, while Crusoe finds a bible and uses it to gain an understanding of God's plans and lessons for him, the pirates in "Treasure Island" actually use a page from the bible as a scratch piece of paper. "And speaking of the Bible, it is interesting to note that while the devil is alluded to twenty times in Treasure Island, the Savior is never mentioned," (LeVay, 1989). This is the opposite of Crusoe's spiritual journey, in which he attributes all of his misfortunes to the punishment from God for his greed and for not heeding his parents' warnings of what would happen if he rejected the comfort of the middle class.
Another key difference between the novels is the passage of time within them. Crusoe goes into so much detail about every aspect of his adventure that it seems very tedious, especially when he begins a log on the island to explain exactly how he has determined to survive there. The reader is challenged to maintain the sense of adventure while they are being bored with so many minute details. This approach does make Crusoe's experience more believable because the details give the reader a very clear and concise picture of Crusoe's life on the island. .
In contrast, Jim's narration of "Treasure Island" often skips the tedious parts. "[T]he narrator tells us that he does not propose to spend much time describing the details of the voyage, but will simply give the reader the most important facts regarding what happened in its course," (Riach, 1996). This decision to skip over the "boring" parts of the months spent at sea was a wise choice for this particular novel, considering the fact that it was geared to appeal more to adolescents who would be more interested in the action and adventure that appears throughout the story.
