Mentors in In the Heart of the Sea In the face of danger certain people will emerge as mentors. The tragedy of the Essex is no exception to this occurrence as Captain George Pollard, Jr. and First Mate Owen Chase promptly prove their place as the mentors among the surviving crewmen. In the Heart of the Sea utilizes techniques such as original sources, perspective and narration to portray Pollard and Chase as mentors in an attempt to aid the reader in identifying with the crew. Firstly, a mentor is someone who trusted by others to give guidance. In the Heart of the Sea provides the reader with excerpts from the crewman's diaries and recounts of the events to show that they view Captain Pollard and First Mate Chase as advisors during trivial …show more content…
As stated by the cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, “Even with the whale just a stone’s throw from the Essex, Chase did not see it as a threat “His appearance and attitude gave us at first no cause for alarm.””(81) When a whale the magnitude as describe by Chase and the crew is spotted heading towards the ship you are aboard it is cause for alarm, but the men of the Essex did not frenzy due to Chase’s calm demeanor and their trust in his judgment. If they had regarded Chase as purely a first mate panic would have broke out aboard the ship, but the crew looked to Chase for guidance. In the Heart of the Sea presents this sentence to the reader because most people have never experienced a whale barreling towards their ship, but they can relate to looking up to a mentor in a distressing situation for guidance. This sentence allows the reader to grow a stronger connect with the characters and a deeper understanding of the crews dynamics. Unlike Chase, Pollard has issues converting to his new …show more content…
In the Heart of the Sea chooses to include the actions of Pollard and Chase to reinforce the fact that they are mentors. After the sinking of the Essex the crew sets of in an attempt to find land, unfortunately Chases boat is in rather poor condition and has a leak. “Even though they were being bounced up and down by the waves, Chase and Pollard managed “to drive in a few nails, and secured [the plank], much beyond our expectations.” Soon all three boats were once again sailing south”(113) Pollard and Chases handy work owed credit to the years of experience they had from working with boats. Nickerson even referred to Chase as “their boat’s doctor”(130) later on. The captain and first mates experience extended beyond being able to repair boats in formidable situations. Both were seasoned seamen and had compiled valuable skills. “Pollard and Chase had been together aboard the Essex since 1815, when Chase, at eighteen, had signed on as a common sailor. Chase had moved quickly through the ranks. By the next voyage he was a boat steerer, and now, at only twenty-two, he was the first mate.”(30) The narrator informs the reader of Chase’s expeditious move through the ranks so they can grasp how he is not only experienced but naturally talented when it comes to the art of being a whaler. To augment Chases adroitness of being a whaler the narrator goes on to say that Joy, a mate four years
A mentor is a trusted guide who shows you the way in life. Through the mentors of Pi and Antonio, they help save and point them to the right way in life. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Ultima shows Tony that good can always overcome evil, no matter how evil it may be. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, shows that Pi can face his fears by the help of a big Bengal tiger in a small boat, and that the littlest things in life can change the course of how your destiny awaits.
...lying terrified and helpless in the water reaches back for his shipmates to save him. It shows the battle in life over a cause. One side wants to save him (shipmates) while the other side wants him to die (shark) . This parable is a message to the triumphant colonists who fought for liberty and freedom in America. It can be related back to the Tea Party when the colonists stayed together against oppression from the Parliament and won.
Many of the interpretations that people have developed while analyzing the book have been formed at least partially through the narrator's description of Captain Vere. Captain Edward Vere is the captain of the H.M.S. Bellipotent, which is the ship that Billy Budd is impressed into. Although portrayed as a good, strong leader by Melville, Captain Vere and his seemingly "admirable" traits are not so. These traits prove to be undesirable as the plot of the story unravels. As explained by Shaw, "Melville presents him as a man of admirable balance: brave but modest, firmly in control of his men without being overbearing..." (592). Furthermore, Melville mentions that Vere has an element of rigidity to him and that, although he is always aware of his crew's welfare, he does not tolerate any misbehavior or disciplinary infractions (Calhoun 2). Despite the portrayal of this rigidity as good, it proves to have a negative effect on Vere later in the story. According to Herman Melville, Captain Vere was an intellectual man who enjoyed reading (Melville 45). Once again, Melville portrays this trait as a good characteristic, but it proves to serve him poorly when he attempted to come to a decision regarding the death of Claggart at the hands of Billy Budd. Calhoun explains the negativity of these traits by adding that Vere's peers "detect a 'queer streak of pedantic running through him'" (Calhoun 2). He continues that this pedantic "connotes pride, narrowness, formality, and lack of imagination-- all qualities that serve Vere poorly when he is faced with a knotty ethical question" (Calhoun 2). Melville's description of Captain Edward Vere's character is not objective and is certainly open to various interpretations, including the ironist
“The Open Boat” uses vivid metaphors to enhance both the magnificent, yet overwhelming nature of the sea. Crane successfully illustrated a situation that isolated the four men, encouraging them to use the elements of the sea that they do not understand. The four men are stranded and isolated, with no help except what they are
The captain is characterized as incompetent even at sailing a ship despite his title. The captain should have been the one to lead the castaways but his incompetence caused the island dwellers to despise him. Ten years after being marooned on the island, “the captain become a very boring person, without enough to think about, without enough to do.”(294). Trying to find a purpose to his boring life, the captain hovered around a spring, the island’s only water supply. He would tell the kanka-bono girls the kind of mood the spring was in on that day despite the fact that “The dribbling [from the spring] was in fact quite steady, and had been for thousands of years”(295). The kanka-bono girls did not speak english and therefore the captain’s attempt at humanising the spring were lost on the girls making it a completely pointless endeavor. Moreover,If not for the lack of tools on the island, the captain would have tried to improve the springs and consequently might have clogged it(296) potentially putting the life of castaways at risk. The captain was desperate to find a purpose to his mundane life on the island, so much that he was willing to put his and the island’s inhabitant 's life at risk. The captain’s attempt at accomplishing something to find a purpose in his life was useless and even
Starting in the very beginning, the four man crew is faced with a tragic shipwreck. After the disaster had struck, Crane goes into a long great detail about the knew vessel the crew must
...held him in the sea that swirled him out and safely over the boat to water in which he could touch. The surviving men were thankful to have survived, but learned that they really had no control over their lives. One of the most important lessons the correspondent took from the experience was, “… that “in the ignorance of the grave-edge” every man is in the same boat, which is not much more substantial than the ten-foot open dinghy on a rough sea” (Buitenhuis, web). Having survived the experience the cook, the correspondent, and the captain each believed that they could be interpreters for the sea. Crane gave each man a voice in “The Open Boat” that is uniquely theirs, but at the same time shared a common bond and struggle with nature for survival. It is up to each man (mankind) to find our own place in the universe and be open to the lessons that life can teach us.
Before Greek mythology, the term mentor had its origin in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus gave Mentor, an insightful and scholarly man, the duty of sustaining and instructing his child, Telemachus. Mentor stayed behind to instruct Telemachus while Odysseus went off to fight the Trojan war. This education included every part of Telemachus’ life. Anderson and Shannon (1988) conclude from The Odyssey that modeling is a standard and style of behavior constituted a central quality of mentoring and that mentoring was intentional, nurturing, insightful, and supportive.
In fact, the daily life of human beings is at the mercy of the uncontrollable waves of the sea; while, at the same time, the essential part of reality remains unknown to feeble, helpless humans. The human voyage into life is feeble, vulnerable, and uncontrollable. Since the crew on a dangerous sea without hope are depicted as "the babes of the sea", it can be inferred that we are likely to be ignorant strangers in the universe. In addition to the dangers we face, we also have to overcome the new challenges of the waves in the daily life. These waves are "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall", requiring "a new leap, and a leap."
Since this bond of brotherhood is felt by all the men in the boat, but not discussed, it manifests in small ways as the men interact with each other. They are never irritated or upset with each other, no matter how tired or sore they are. Whenever one man is too tired to row, the next man takes over without complaining. When the correspondent thinks that he is the only person awake on the boat, and he sees and hears the shark in the water, the narrator says, “Nevertheless, it is true that he did not want to be alone with the thing. He wished one of his companions to awaken by chance and keep him company with it” (Crane 212).
The first character that we are introduced to is R. Walton. He is on a ship with many deck hands and crewmembers, but in his letter to Margaret, his sister, he states, "I have no friend. Even when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain to me dejection." Although Walton has a boat full of men, he still feels lonely and friendless, and wishes he had a male companion to sympathize with him. Perhaps the reason that he feels this way is that he is looking for a different type of friend than what these tough sailors can offer. "I spoke of my (Walton) desire of finding a friend, of my thirst for a more intimate sympathy with a fellow mind than had ever fallen to my lot."
In the beginning, the four men in the boat view nature as evil and unjust. Crane portrays this through the men’s reactions to the waves and the seagulls. They describe the waves as "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall" (245). Later in their journey, the correspondent notices "the tall black waves that [sweep] forward in a most sinister silence, save for an occasional subdued growl of a crest" (254). Each of these examples show that the men in the boat feel that nature is out to get him. The waves are seen as a living enemy force. The men also view the seagulls as threatening. They hover around the boat and when they finally fly away, the men feel relieved. In a critique of "The Open Boat", Donald Gibson explains that "as observers we know the sea is in fact not hostile, that the sea gulls are not actually gruesome and ominous. But the men in the boat have this to lea...
In the story "The Open Boat," by Stephen Crane, Crane uses many literary techniques to convey the stories overall theme. The story is centered on four men: a cook, a correspondent, Billie, an oiler who is the only character named in the story, and a captain. They are stranded in a lifeboat in stormy seas just off the coast of Florida, just after their ship has sunk. Although they can eventually see the shore, the waves are so big that it is too dangerous to try to take the boat in to land. Instead, the men are forced to take the boat further out to sea, where the waves are not quite as big and dangerous. They spend the night in the lifeboat and take turns rowing and then resting. In the morning, the men are weak and exhausted. The captain decides that they must try to take the lifeboat as close to shore as possible and then be ready to swim when the surf inevitably turns the boat over and throws the men into the cold sea. As they get closer to land a big wave comes and all the men are thrown into the sea. The lifeboat turns over and the four men must swim into shore. There are rescuers waiting on shore who help the men out of the water. Strangely, as the cook, captain and correspondent reach the shore safely and are helped out of the water, they discover that, somehow, the oiler has drowned after being smashed in the surf by a huge wave. (255-270) “The Open Boat’s” main theme deals with a character’s seemingly insignificant life struggle against nature’s indifference. Crane expresses this theme through a suspenseful tone, creative point of view, and a mix of irony.
This duality is a large component of the tension that resides in the boat. Peterson seems to be making a contrast he to encourage the already mounting tension. Combine this with the life-death aspect of the mission and incredible stress is inevitable. It is a ship mostly full of ardorous men, but the few who don't fit are harpoons in the ship's side. Pederson's film is quite intense and it has to be said that this duality in character portrayal enhances this aspect of the movie.
...Conclusion, the Captain identifies with Leggatt because they both have similar physical characteristic traits, and Leggatt psychologically completes the Captain. The Captain and Leggatt both share similar feelings, and come from the same social class. The two are almost identical in looks, close in age, and isolated on their ships. Leggatt gives the Captain characteristic traits that the Captain needs. Decisiveness and confidence is what the Captain lacked. Now with the help of Leggatt, the Captain gained these traits that were needed in order to succeed as a captain.