Treasure Island: A Mirror of Robert Louis Stevenson's Childhood?Often many parallels can be seen between life and experiences of a writer and his works. A biographical approach to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is not easy, since at first glance the characters do not have much in common with the author and until the time the story was written, Stevenson had not visited the West Indies or other exotic locations. places. But there are still possibilities to connect Stevenson's biography with his work. Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850, the only child of Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer, and Margaret Isabella Balfour, the daughter of a minister. From early childhood, R.L. Stevenson suffered from poor health. During long periods of illness his parents and nanny sat by his bed and told or read stories to him. His nanny, for example, read the Bible out loud because he was a very religious person and his father even made up stories for him. According to David Daiches, Thomas Stevenson "had a romantic imagination and fell asleep every night to stories of ships, roadside inns, thieves, old sailors, and commercial travelers before the age of steam." (David Daiches, Robert Louis Stevenson and His World, p. 8) He entertained his little son with similar stories which certainly had a great effect on the boy. R. L. Stevenson was just six years old when he dictated to his mother "A Story of Moses," a blend of carefully remembered biblical language and childish narrative style. As he grew up he became increasingly interested in literature. Due to frequent illnesses his school attendance became rather sporadic and in general he was considered a rather solitary boy who spent his free time reading and writing, who invented games and who lived a lot of fantasy. He also often accompanied his father to the seaside. This seemed to have a fascinating impact on him and he soon learned to cope with the sand and the sea. Perhaps Jim Hawkins and his adventures were already part of his imagination at that time. Or perhaps it even represented a counterpart, an ideal self, of the sick boy and reflected his desires and dreams. Jim Hawkins is also an only child, but comes from a completely different social background than the author..