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Originally Posted by Luffy
I noticed this with dates specifically. Always thought it was something the author intended.
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Treasure Island opens with:
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SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17__ and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof.
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I've always understood that R.L. Stevenson wanted to keep the actual year ambiguous and so just gave it the 17 so that you know it's supposed to be set sometime in the 18th century. He names the inn "the Admiral Benbow" but not any major city that is close by. The ship leaves Bristol but that could be anywhere from a few miles to many considering how much coastline England probably has. Add to that the fact that the opening sounds like a statement being given by Jim Hawkins and it just makes sense to not state what the actual year of the 'voyage' is. We don't even learn the alleged latitude and longitude of the island since, "there is treasure there still not lifted."