The Shipping News

1576 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the shipping news essays

The Shipping News

“I’m tired of going somewhere. I want to be there!”
These words spoken by Bunny Quoyle, riding along with her family on their way to the old homestead in Killick Claw, New Foundland seems an exclamation to a deeper desire to settle what has been an unsettled and unhappy life. The quote could also define the transition that Quolyle, Bunny’s father, experiences. Quoyle is nowhere it seems, until he finally arrives somewhere meaningful. The transformation is a lot about getting over the loss of his wife, Petal, but also much about getting over himself as a loser and getting to a place of contentedness and confidence. Quoyle’s life rides on waves – some small that are body-surfing-like, others that are huge and tumultuous that crash onshore with Tsunami-like devastation. Eventually, he manages to find a place suitable and sustaining.
Quoyle began life feeling, believing that he had been born into the wrong family; that somehow he ended up with the wrong parents. He stumbled into adulthood, feeling invisible until someone noticed. His lack of esteem and confidence is evidenced by his always trying to hide his chin with his hand; the hand always goes to the chin, his monstrous chin, when he feels threatened. His love for Petal is partly based on the fact that he caught her attention – once, quite by accident – and that they had a meaningless sexual relationship that resulted in two children. He is the sort of character you feel sorry for from the start, feel badly that he’ll never become anybody, never make something of himself, yet you want to cheer for him all along the way.
As we get to know Quoyle, we realize that although he has a negative self image, is always self conscious and has no confidence in his abilities, he has a huge heart and a huge capacity to love, and he especially has a huge consciousness to do what is right for his family. Quoyle is a man growing into himself. His first opportunity to grow comes by an invitation from his aunt to move to New Foundland, to settle in his family’s ancestral home and to find his roots.
“You can be anything you want with a fresh start,” says his aunt in convincing him to go. And off they all go – the aunt, Quoyle, Bunny and Sunshine – and all their self-possessed demons.

Show More
Related

  • Free Essays - Tough Times in The Shipping News

    2918 Words  | 6 Pages

    Quoyle experiences a lack of self confidence during his life journey that makes him think wrong of himself. He has never seen one happy day in his life since the day he was born. One of the main experiences he had to go through was his childhood. Quoyle was not treated as a son by his family since he was a child. He believed that he had been given to the wrong family. "Until he was fourteen he cherished the idea that he had been given to the wrong family, that somewhere his real people, saddled with the changeling of the Quoyles, longed for him." (Proulx, Pg 2). This shows how Quoyle's confidence started dropping since he was a little boy. In most times, Quoyle's father would always put him down on anything he says or does. This issue is considered one of the reasons for causing low self confidence in Quoyle. For instance, Quoyle's father is knows as an aggressive parent that only cares about himself and his satisfaction when he forces Quoyle to swim without teaching him or fearing about his life. This statement is proven when it is said in the novel, "Quoyle feared water, could not swim. Again and again the father had broken his clenched grip and thrown him into pools, brooks, lakes, and surf." (Proulx, Pg 2). This quote indicates how bad a father can be treating his son in a horrible way where his son is close to death.

    Read More

  • Four Fish: The Future Of The Last Wild Food By Paul Greenberg

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    The stories of each fish flow together as each story shows how humans have pushed to gain more control over the ocean and the delicious animals that swim in it’s depths. Greenberg starts in the free-flowing rivers where salmon are commonly found. It is there that early humans of the Northern Hemisphere most likely began their infatuation with fish. Greenberg puts it as, “It(salmon) is representative of the first wave of human exploitation..” (170) Once Europeans learned to fish, they had the ability to fish in shallow ocean water which is where sea bass are usually found. Later, fishermen s...

    Read More

  • Booker T Washington's Up From Slavery: Booker T. Washington

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Booker T. Washington’s statement in Up from Slavery, stated that “Education is not a thing apart from life-not a “system”, nor a philosophy: it is direct teaching how to live and how to work…” He was a black activist and educator, who taught newly freedman the importance of sanitation and disease prevention, urged equality through education and agriculture pursuit, and encouraged positive relationships between races. Some obstacles were minor, causing short-term inconvenience and aggravation. Washington explained how he overcame obstacles and unbelievable odds. In his autobiography, Washington describes his life as a slave and rising from poverty and oppression. Booker T. Washington is one of African American great leaders of the late 19th

    Read More

  • poe

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many of Poe’s stories and poems can be tied to events that have happened in his life. A lot of the hard times that he had had gone through in his life he used as motivation to write his poems and stories. For example the story “The Masque of the Red Death” is thought of to be related to the consumption (aka tuberculosis), which took the life of many of the women he loved. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the dying old man good be seen as Poe’s adoptive father on his death bed, and how the old mans eye made the murderer uncomfortable could be an analogy for how Poe’s father made him feel uncomfortable because he knew that his father did not love him.

    Read More

  • Housing Crisis in Scotland

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...t: How the lack of affordable housing impacts on all aspects of life [PDF] Available at Shelter website; england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/268752/The_Human_Cost.pdf

    Read More

  • Demise of a Soulmate in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, the love that Heathcliff’s young niece and nephew share is one that echoes that of what his and Catherine’s love could have been, which provides even more ground for the fiend to tyrannize the two. The semblence in their relationships can be seen in comparable scenes, the first of which recounts Catherine uttering, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (74) Later, Heathcliff pronounces apropos of Cathy caring for Hareton, “Your love will make him an outcast, and a beggar.” (299) The similarities between their two relationships is therefore outlined in their alluded elements of shame and social degradation that can be found in both occasions , and this likeness further agitates the aching heart of Wuthering Height’s antagonist.

    Read More

  • A Whale of a Story: Moby Dick

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characters also are involved in the belief of the anti-transcendental philosophy. The story shows how each character acts with nature and each other. Many of the whalers must protect the boat and each other as they trek through the wild tides and horrible weather conditions. They try their hardest to fight these conditions, but sadly the narrator is the only survivor. These men exemplify the philosophy by fighting the animals; especially the whales ...

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe Writing Style Essay

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poe’s life was never an easy one which could have gave him the inspiration he need to create such dark tales. From the “The Raven” which makes the reader feel along with narrator over the loss of someone dear and spiraling into a state of depression. To the tale of “The Tell-Tale Heart” which makes a person think why the narrator believe he is sane and in the right for killing the man. Edgar Allan Poe writes dark tales but his stories draw a person in and leaves the reader

    Read More

  • Ignorance And Confidence In Annie Proulx's 'The Shipping News'

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    By bonding with his daughters Quoyle changes from a quiet introvert to a confident individual. It was a big day for Quoyle sending Bunny off to school, he did not know what was going to happen and the last thing he wanted was for Bunny to have the same experience as he did. Quoyle went to go pick up bunny “How did it go?” he asked Quoyle was terrified he was going to get an answer that reminded him of his schooldays. To Quoyles surprise Bunny said that “It was fun.” he was relieved that she had a great time. Quoyle was more than happy that Bunny was not like him, when he was in school. Bunny’s experience at school changed Quoyle, this is because he knows that maybe school is not such a bad time, and he is not worried about Bunny that much which gives him less stress and in turn boost his confidence. Also by bonding with his Quoyle is able to stand up for him. Quoyle and Billy Pretty were hanging out when Billy said “I doubt a man can bring up two little girls on his own,” Quoyle had no reaction. After hearing what Billy had said Quoyle did not stand up for himself instead he pretended like he did not hear anything. ...

    Read More

  • Lack Of Regeneration Essay

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the character's ignorance of the past; or consumption by it they fail like Percival to ask the question ‘…Why do you suffer so?’. By failing to ask this question, the remain stagnant, unable to mourn --as defined by Ricouer-- and continue to make the same mistakes. Through the characters melancholic natures, they are unable to move foward. This inability to move toward the future is conveyed by both Selby and Welsh through lack of regeneration.

    Read More

  • Naturalism in Steven Crane's 'The Open Boat'

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Open Boat” is truly a story of man’s fruitless fight against nature. It is undiluted naturalism in its truest sense. Nature has her way with the men to the point of orchestrating their rescue. The moral, one might argue, Mr. Crane seeks to get across to the read is that man is not in control of the world. It is instead, the natural world that is in control of

    Read More

  • Booker T Washington's Impact On Society

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    Washington was born April 5, 1865, as well as born into slavery at a family plantation in Virginia called James Burrough’s. As of today, there is still not much information about his father beyond the fact that he was a white man. Washington was very young when he went to work at a plantation mill, where he carried grains and if not done exactly right he was beaten. After the Civil War, “he went to work at the salt furnace with his stepfather instead of attending school” (Bio). He was exposed to education by looking inside the school house while working at the plantation, and saw children his age sitting at desk learning. He wanted to be just

    Read More

  • news of the day

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman, ?the news of the day? is viewed as ?a figment of our technological imagination? (7-8). He states that without the media to broadcast the events that take place daily, there would not be the concept of ?the news of the day? (7). Postman says that the news only exists because of our advanced systems of communication, making it possible for us to report the news to the public as it happens. Without these methods and tools, news would not exist the way it does. This is what Postman is implying when he mentions that the news is a ?media event? (8). He goes on by saying that ?we attend to fragments of events from all over the world because we have multiple media,? to convey his arguments of how ?Huxley...was right? (vii).

    Read More

  • Comparing Transcendentalism In Ending Poem And Danse Russe

    390 Words  | 1 Pages

    the thought process of the character and how he dealt with being himself when he wasn’t around

    Read More

  • Housing Problem

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nevertheless, the standard has been reduced to no more than 40% until recently. Such dramatic change of the figure has made the goal become ambiguous. Practically, the government has tried many methods in dealing with the housing problem. Housing code enforcement is a method that tries to regulate minimal conditions for rental housing. However, this method does not seem to work because it brings additional costs to the tenant. On the other hand, the government tries to help people become homeowner by benefits in kind, such as imposing tax exemption on first home down payment and low interest rate on mortgages. However, the method does not really aim at helping the poor. Moreover, the government tries to increase the supply of housing by building new shelters and buying existing apartments. Yet, none of these work efficiently. The reason that building new shelters does not work is because most of these new housing projects are expensive and time consuming.

    Read More

More about The Shipping News

Open Document