Joshua Solcom was a Nova Scotia born sea man and was the first person to sail single-handed around the world. Throughout his voyage, figuratively, and literally, Solcom becomes a man within his limits of the Spray. The author explains through various stages and chapters in the book that the sailor is lonely and wishes company. Solcom begins his journey of owning and sailing a ship as modest man, he begins by building ships. Solcom, was an adventurous man, he enjoyed the sea and all it had to offer. He would try to make it seem like people were with him on his trip. He picked up singing when he was on the Atlantic. Met Neptune. People are vey jealous of his ship because it was very well equipped for the weather. He is a very humble guy. Most of this chapter he …show more content…
The beginning chapters convey that Solcom is a very self empowered man in the way that he handles his problems with foreigners. For instance, when the he gets to Brazil, he meets Peruvians that want to rob him, but he diffuses this situation by trading with them. This leads to his new found friendship that he endlessly desired throughout the book. Solcom had to use a lot of self defense during his voyage when encountering foreigners, especially against the savages. For example, when he encountered “The fuegians, being cruel, [they were] naturally cowards; they regard a rifle with superstitious fear. The only real danger one can say that come from their quarter would be from allowing them to surrender one within bow shot, or to anchor within range where they may lie and ambush. As for their coming on deck at night, even had I not put tacks about, I could’ve cleared them off buy shots from the cabin and hold. I always kept a quantity of ammunition within reach in the hold and in the cabinet and in the for peak, so that retreating to any of these places I could hold the fort.” (Solcom). The floor tacks came in
American Character by Colin Woodard, is a book about America’s history and the upcoming of how the United States has become. Woodard starts off first explaining what it was like when America was colonized by the New England colonists and goes onward to present-day America. A book like this should be deemed great for a political history class because of the vast amount of information it has. Although, this book is exceptionally very small for a book of such kind, Woodard loves jumping around from era to era and can leave his readers at a disarray. Claiming so, a strong and prior knowledge of the American history and its government is strongly encouraged. Historical and economic terms are also used immensely in this book, so a thesaurus and dictionary would be of great use. If those two resources aren’t of much help, a recommendation of facts found upon the Internet regarding an era of which Woodard is explaining would be helpful.
In The Other Wes Moore, the author and a neighbor have the same name, Wes Moore, and they both begin their lives in similar ways. However, as their lives progress, they begin to part. For example, both “lost” their fathers when they were young. Because of the way their mothers respond to this loss, the boys’ lives begin to separate. Both mothers have different responses to challenges in general, which eventually leads them to respond to their child’s actions in contrasting ways. Throughout this novel, readers learn that depending on how a mother decides to react to the negative actions of their child’s actions, the child can either lead a successful life or lead a life of failure.
Seafarer” is a monologue from an old man at sea, alone. The main theme in The Seafarer is
...He is still anchored to his past and transmits the message that one makes their own choices and should be satisfied with their lives. Moreover, the story shows that one should not be extremely rigid and refuse to change their beliefs and that people should be willing to adapt to new customs in order to prevent isolation. Lastly, reader is able to understand that sacrifice is an important part of life and that nothing can be achieved without it. Boats are often used as symbols to represent a journey through life, and like a captain of a boat which is setting sail, the narrator feels that his journey is only just beginning and realizes that everyone is in charge of their own life. Despite the wind that can sometimes blow feverishly and the waves that may slow the journey, the boat should not change its course and is ultimately responsible for completing its voyage.
Murderer, liar, manipulator; these are only a few words that describe the enigmatic Sergeant John Wilson. In the historical book, The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson: A True Story of Love & Murder, written by Lois Simmie, we get acquainted with the complex balancing act of a life John Wilson lived. We find out about his two-faced love life, the bloody solution, and the elaborate cover up. In Simmie’s thought-provoking book, John Wilson abandons his family in Scotland, for a better life in Canada on the force. John battles debilitating sickness along with the decision to double-cross his wife. His young love interest Jessie cares for him as he battles tuberculosis. While, “many young women Jessie’s age would have had second thoughts about commitment
“The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” (Moore, 2011). This quote perfectly describes the book The Other Wes Moore. This book was a story about two people who have the same name and grew up in similar environments, but had very different lives. The author of the book, Mr. Moore, became successful and was given the opportunity to receive “one of the most prestigious academic awards for students in the world” (Moore, 2011). On the other side of the spectrum, the other Wes Moore “will spend every day until his death behind bars for an armed robbery that left a police officer and a father of five dead” (Moore, 2011). Mr. Moore decided to contact the
Imagine working in a profession when basketball truly never stops, on the occasion of when you’re either coaching, recruiting or maintaining schedules all year round. Matthew Futch is the director of basketball operations at Radford University. Matthew Futch is former professional basketball player and a former women’s head coach at division III Ohio Christian University for one season before taking the director of basketball operations job at Radford. Matthew Futch is employed by Radford men’ basketball program they are a division I program in southwest Virginia that competes in the Big South conference. A director of basketball operations at the collegiate level handles the duties of maintaining the daily schedules for the team, handles the
• How does a hard working, arrogant, and self centred city cinema owner, Matthew Wilcox, overcome his prejudices about rural Australian life? When confronted with an elongated stay in a rural town in Mid-West NSW, will he allow himself to live the life of a rural man, or stay secluded to himself?
The Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s second in command and, since the death of “Stonewall” Jackson, his most important ally. General James Longstreet, at forty-two years of age, is a crude and depressed man who has gone through an abundance of hardship in his life. He is aware of the new kinds of warfare, and he knows that military tactics will have to change as new technology is produced. This is a concept that Lee seems to be blind to, as he and Longstreet seem to disagree on everything that deals with the actions of the Confederate armies. Longstreet, although very stubborn, has a great respect and admiration for Lee, and ultimately he leans to his commander’s choices, but not without a good deal of quarrling and arguing first. All three of his children were killed by a fever in the same week during the winter before the Battle of Gettysburg. This loss has sunk
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” ― Albert Einstein. In The Chosen by Chaim Potok, there stands one main character that voices the book and leads the readers through the story. Teenage Reuven Malter is dedicated to his religious studies and at school. In one unlikely event, he meets his new friend who has a different religion from him. Reuven gains a new friend and learns about this other religion. He possesses character qualities that make him a very likeable character. His maturity is generous for his age. The three main character traits that Reuven possesses are curiosity, knowledge, and reflectiveness.
Imagine this, you’re seventeen and the harmonious life you have always known is being threatened to be thrown off by a devastating war. On top of that you’re struggling to find internal peace. How would you manage to balance everything and what would you do to find unity in chaos? In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles characters Phineas, Brinker, and Gene strive for this “separate peace”. Phineas is distinguished as the classic rebel, super-athlete, and genuine kid. He seems almost too perfect, especially for Gene. Brinker is known as a natural leader and seems like he always has his life together. However, with time he transitions to a rebel character. Finally, Gene who is characterized as struggling with typical ailments such as jealousy or
Before going to Alaska, Chris McCandless had failed to communicate with his family while on his journey; I believe this was Chris’s biggest mistake. Chris spent time with people in different parts of the nation while hitchhiking, most of them whom figured out that McCandless kept a part of him “hidden”. In chapter three, it was stated that Chris stayed with a man named Wayne Westerberg in South Dakota. Although Westerberg was not seen too often throughout the story, nevertheless he was an important character. Introducing himself as Alex, McCandless was in Westerberg’s company for quite some time: sometimes for a few days, other times for several weeks. Westerberg first realized the truth about Chris when he discovered his tax papers, which stated that “McCandless’s real name was Chris, not Alex.” Wayne further on claims that it was obvious that “something wasn’t right between him and his family” (Krakauer 18). Further in the book, Westerberg concluded with the fact that Chris had not spoken to his family “for all that time, treating them like dirt” (Krakauer 64). Westerberg concluded with the fact that during the time he spent with Chris, McCandless neither mentioned his
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."
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."
The Seafarer is about an old sailor, and the loneliness and struggle of being out at sea. The speaker uses his loneliness out at sea along with his struggles such as the cold and hunger he faces. The speaker puts emphasis on his loneliness by saying, ?my heart wanders away, my soul roams with sea?. This adds to the imagery that the sailor is attached to his life at sea, his love for sailing yet adds the isolation that comes with his life.