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Strenghs and weaknesses about writing skills
Strenghs and weaknesses about writing skills
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The short story “The Boat’ by Alistair Macleod, takes place in the roughly around the 1940’s in Cape Breton. It is about the harsh reality of the lives fisherman in Nova Scotia lead. The narrator is faced with numerous tasks. His decision that he has chosen not to live by the ocean and to pursue the life of a fisherman was the right decision for him in the beginning. The narrator is constantly trying to decide if he has chosen in the right career and life style for himself. He contrasts his past life, with his present life, to try to come to terms with himself. Although it was the right choice for him at first, it can easily be seen why it does not turn out to be the best choice in the future years. There are many reasons why he didn't …show more content…
not chose and make the best decisions for himself, which will be explored in the essay. The first reason why he has not made the best decisions for himself, is the loss of his father. The unresolved grief over loosing his father, the importance of family and tradition, and the guilt that he feels by leaving. The narrator has many unresolved emotions and feelings of grief and regret over the loss of his father. It is noticeable that he has not come to terms with the significance of his fathers passing. At the first of the story, it shows how he is still waking up early in the morning frequently, where he imagines that his father is waiting for him in the room below the dark staircase. By not coming to terms with the loss of his father, it makes him still feel the unease that is taking place in his life. The narrator tells stories of how his mother and father had met, and then relationship they had with each other, he does this to help himself cope. He hears some of the gruesome details of how is father had passed. Which could be leading to the numerous past memories at the first of the story. It is not easy for him to know about how his father had died. Within the story there are a lot of differences between some characters. The father escaped from the dreariness of a life spent at a job that he did not life, but was restrained to. The daughters also escaped like their father, they learned about the outside world, although they had escaped like their father, they moved away, which their father did not. The narrator, loves books, he always obeys what his father wants him to do, how his father wanted him to continue his education and schooling, but the narrator also loved the sea very much. It is obvious to see that the narrator is not always happy about being a university professor. The mother hated, and did not trust books; she resented the books because they drew her children into wanting to go into different worlds. Many themes can be predicted from this story, such as sacrifice, responsibility, and tradition, which go very well together, sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want to the better good.
Also often when someone is responsible enough to do something, they have to give up something they wanted for themselves. For instance it is possible that the father killed himself so that the son’s promise to “fish with him for as long as he lived” wouldn't be true anymore; perhaps the father sacrificed his life so that the son could go to university rather than stay with him. The father wanted to give the son a better chance, and a better life than he father had himself. For the theme tradition, and example of this could be that the family has been fishing in the village for many generations, and the mother really wants to keep this tradition going for many more years to come; also all the boats are named traditionally after a woman in the …show more content…
family. Throughout the story there are many types of symbolism. Some of the major symbols could include. The boat, it symbolizes the traditional way to live in Nova Scotia. Books, could symbolize the education and escapism; how the father is allowed to escape from the life they had lived. The pictures of the grandchildren could be a symbol more so for the mother, it symbolizes the escapism. The harbour, and the sea, the sea is used as a comparison to the house, because the house and the sea are very important to the family. Also it could have a strong connection to the mother, and the sea is always referred to as “she”, it could also have more of a connection to the mother because it could symbolize her power, the power she has over the family. In the beginning of the story, the father almost seems like a selfish man.
He spends all day, and all of his time on the boat, or in his bedroom hiding from reality. He ignores his wide, and any conflict that he has with the daughters, any man who was selfish would show these characteristics. After this, you can see the father begin to change, he starts to spend time with the daughters and care for them. You can see that the father has transformed dramatically when he starts to realize that he needs his son, a type of thing that he has never needed. In the end, the father and son have worked many years fishing together, and the son finally connects all of the decisions his father has made, and the actions. It is completely understandable why he made the decision he did, and every feeling that he had. He always had a dream to become something more and bigger than just a fisherman, but because he was the only son the father had he felt obligated to work and do what his father requested, and follow in his foot steps. He lived his life just for obligation, instead of pursuing his dreams, and his happiness. When all the dots get connected between the father and the son, the father is now an honourable caring character, compared to the selfish one you see in the beginning of the
story.
Our journey starts in the year 1853 with four Scandinavian indentured servants who are very much slaves at the cold and gloomy headquarters of the Russian-American fur-trading company in Sitka, Alaska. The story follows these characters on their tortuous journey to attempt to make it to the cost of Astoria, Oregon. Our list of characters consists of Melander, who is very much the brains of the operation as he plans the daring escape from the Russians. Next to join the team was Karlson, who was chosen by Melander because he is a skilled canoeman and knows how to survive in the unforgiving landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Third was Braaf, he was chosen because of his ability to steal and hide things, which made him a very valuable asset to the teams escape. Last to join our team is Wennberg who we know is a skilled blacksmith who happens to hear about their plan and forces himself into the equation.
“The Boat”, narrated by a Mid-western university professor, Alistar MacLeod, is a short story concerning a family and their different perspectives on freedom vs. tradition. The mother pushes the son to embrace more of a traditional lifestyle by taking over the fathers fishing business, while on the other hand the father pushes the son to live more autonomously in an unconstrained manner. “The Boat” focuses on the father and how his personality influences the son’s choice on how to live and how to make decisions that will ultimately affect his life. In Alistair MacLeod’s, “The Boat”, MacLeod suggest that although dreams and desires give people purpose, the nobility of accepting a life of discontentment out weighs the selfishness of following ones own true desires. In the story, the father is obligated to provide for his family as well as to continue the fishing tradition that was inherited from his own father. The mother emphasizes the boat and it’s significance when she consistently asked the father “ How did things go in the boat today” since tradition was paramount to the mother. H...
In “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod, the mother shows the importance of tradition to her, which has been cemented in her since youth. Throughout the piece, the reader realizes that the mother comes from a large traditional family of fisherman, which in effect the mother’s most defining characteristic was that she “was of the sea, as were all her people, and her horizons were the very literal ones she scanned with her dark and fearless eyes”. Tradition and her inherited family values shaped her personality that was shown throughout the piece, such as her diligence during her husband’s fishing excursions to her stubbornness throughout the family’s hardships. In a sense, a large part of her identity came directly from her traditions, which she felt
...derer himself, he compares the guilt of his son’s death to that of fishes incident and how terrible he treated himself because of it.
In Craig Lesley’s novel The Sky Fisherman, he illustrates the full desire of direction and the constant flow of life. A boy experiences a chain of life changing series of events that cause him to mature faster than a boy should. Death is an obstacle that can break down any man, a crucial role in the circle of life. It’s something that builds up your past and no direction for your future. No matter how hard life got, Culver fought through the pain and came out as a different person. Physical pain gives experience, emotional pain makes men.
This passage defines the character of the narrators’ father as an intelligent man who wants a better life for his children, as well as establishes the narrators’ mothers’ stubbornness and strong opposition to change as key elements of the plot.
...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.
Then he has a vision of home, "where his four beautiful daughters would have had their lunch and might be playing tennis" and sees himself as free to be an explorer. In starting his journey he walks away from reality and enters a fantasy world where he is a great explorer about to conquer the Lucinda River that he names after his wife. In reality he ignored his wife, engaged in adulte...
Stephen Crane’s story “The Open Boat” concerns four people who are trying to reach land after surviving a shipwreck off of the Florida coast. During the course of the story, they face dangers that are real physical threats, but they also have to deal with trying to make sense of their situation. The characters in this story cope with their struggles in two ways: individually, they each imagine that Nature, or Fate, or God, is behind their experiences, which allows them to blame some outside force for their struggle, and together, they form a bond of friendship that helps them keep their spirits up. .
Throughout the story, Jackson shows, with the use of symbolism and foreshadowing, that blindly following a tradition can have horrific consequences. All the objects connect with the ending. Since the villagers unquestionably accepted the tradition, they have allowed murder to become embedded in their town.
This book is about a girl the age of 15 who goes and visits her cool aunt for a long time in Hawaii. Then her aunt has to go to L.A. for a week and then Robie has a week to herself without anyone checking in on hre because the friend that was supposed to has car trouble. Since no one was home to check on her she could do whatever she wanted. Then she wanted to go home because a guy freaked her out by grabbing her hair. So she got on a plane by herself and headed back home with the same pilot driving every time she came or left the island she trusted him. Next things go from good to bad. Because Robies favorite pilet ever tells her that they lost engine power over the middle of the ocean and that he was going try to control the plane but if
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.
At first the relationship between a father and his son can be perceived as a simple companionship. However, this bond can potentially evolve into more of a dynamic fitting relationship. In The Road The Man and his son have to depend on one another because they each hold a piece of each other. The Man holds his sons sense of adulthood while the son posses his father’s innocence. This reliance between the father and son create a relationship where they need each other in order to stay alive. “The boy was all that stood between him and death.” (McCarthy 29) It is evident that without a reason to live, in this case his son, The Man has no motivation to continue living his life. It essentially proves how the boy needs his father to love and protect him, while the father needs the boy to fuel ...
First, the old man receives outer success by earning the respect and appreciation of the boy and the other fishermen. The boy is speaking to the old man in his shack after the old man’s long journey, “You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything” (Hemmingway 126). The boy appreciates the fact that the old man spends time to teach him about fishing. He respects him a great deal for he knows that the old man is very wise and is a magnificent fisherman. The fellow fishermen also show respect towards the old man as they note the size of the fish after the old man returns home, “What a fish it was, there has never been such a fish” (123). The men admire the fact that the old man has caught the biggest fish that they have seen. Many fishermen resented Santiago at first, however their opinion changed once they realized what the old man has gone through. Being admired by others plays a major role in improving one’s morale.
In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway there are two characters who have a great friendship, the old man and the young boy. The old man has been fishing for many years and for the last eighty-four days has not caught a fish. Now the boy who looks up to him is not allowed to fish with him anymore. This boy looks up to the old man as a hero because the old man shows courage, perseverance, and respect. The old man shows courage just by going out all alone everyday and still fishing at his age. Although he showed the most courage when he had to fight the big fish. He could have let the fish go, by cutting the line, but instead the old man was willing to die trying to catch it.