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havensaregnaPart 1
The allusions that were used in “The Boat” were: Thomas Hardy’s Eustacia Vye who was emulated by the narrator’s mother; the life and hardship of a fisherman and reference to the uncle as “a latter day Tashtego” as seen in Moby Dick; and David Copperfield’s Ham Peggoty, who has a love of the sea and is the son and nephew of fishermen.
What these three intertexualities have in common is their connection to fisherman, a life on the sea, and tragedy that comes in the form of drowning
The allusions do not idealize the life of a fisherman but connect it to a life that ends in tragedy; the narrator included these references in his reflections to foreshadow the details of his father’s death. The narrator who is now an adult man and “…teaches at a great Midwestern university” is likely to have read the literature that his father was so fond of, and in retrospect is able draw the connections and parallels between the two. Also, if his father was not on the boat he was on his bed reading, or discussing books with his children so it is fitting that the memory of his life be entwined with the stories.
Part 2
6. Key passage: “I say this now with a sense of wonder at my own stupidity in thinking I was somehow free…”
Why does his father get better “rather miraculously”?
The narrator had thought that he “was somehow free” from having to become a fisherman and could continue “playing and helping in the boat” even as his parents got older, and continue “doing well in school”. The point at which he realizes that he was not free to continue doing these things is when he realizes that “there were but three of us in the house” which meant that he as the only son would eventually have to begin to work in the fishing boat as his father got older, and he could not as easily do as his sisters did and leave his parents behind forever.
His father gets sick and “…seemed to grow old and ill at once” which meant that all of the preparation work was left to the narrator, his mother and her brother. Because it is getting closer to the start of the season and his father is still sick when they begin to fall behind in their work it is at this time he realizes that his studies and the books he loves will have to come second in life if there is room for them at all, and he spends his first entire day at home to work.
His father asked his son to go back to school which he first defies but then agrees to. If he were to not get better “rather miraculously” in time for the start of the season his son would have no chance of staying in school but would have been forced to work on the boat before the school year was over. Which his father predictably would try to delay in order give his son the chance to study since that was his wish for his younger self. And so he finds the will to get up and back to work when it is time.
The allusions that were used in “The Boat” were: Thomas Hardy’s Eustacia Vye who was emulated by the narrator’s mother; the life and hardship of a fisherman and reference to the uncle as “a latter day Tashtego” as seen in Moby Dick; and David Copperfield’s Ham Peggoty, who has a love of the sea and is the son and nephew of fishermen.
What these three intertexualities have in common is their connection to fisherman, a life on the sea, and tragedy that comes in the form of drowning
The allusions do not idealize the life of a fisherman but connect it to a life that ends in tragedy; the narrator included these references in his reflections to foreshadow the details of his father’s death. The narrator who is now an adult man and “…teaches at a great Midwestern university” is likely to have read the literature that his father was so fond of, and in retrospect is able draw the connections and parallels between the two. Also, if his father was not on the boat he was on his bed reading, or discussing books with his children so it is fitting that the memory of his life be entwined with the stories.
Part 2
6. Key passage: “I say this now with a sense of wonder at my own stupidity in thinking I was somehow free…”
Why does his father get better “rather miraculously”?
The narrator had thought that he “was somehow free” from having to become a fisherman and could continue “playing and helping in the boat” even as his parents got older, and continue “doing well in school”. The point at which he realizes that he was not free to continue doing these things is when he realizes that “there were but three of us in the house” which meant that he as the only son would eventually have to begin to work in the fishing boat as his father got older, and he could not as easily do as his sisters did and leave his parents behind forever.
His father gets sick and “…seemed to grow old and ill at once” which meant that all of the preparation work was left to the narrator, his mother and her brother. Because it is getting closer to the start of the season and his father is still sick when they begin to fall behind in their work it is at this time he realizes that his studies and the books he loves will have to come second in life if there is room for them at all, and he spends his first entire day at home to work.
His father asked his son to go back to school which he first defies but then agrees to. If he were to not get better “rather miraculously” in time for the start of the season his son would have no chance of staying in school but would have been forced to work on the boat before the school year was over. Which his father predictably would try to delay in order give his son the chance to study since that was his wish for his younger self. And so he finds the will to get up and back to work when it is time.
