Endurance, Part IV, Chapters 4-6

Quote- “Thus, in the space of only an hour, or maybe a little more, the outlooks on board the Caird was completely altered.  The battle was half won, and a warm sun was overhead.”


Discussion- The gale has finally ended and the sun has come out.  The quote demonstrates how even in the worst of situations, the crew is optimistic.  The sun gives hope and they are almost cheerfully looking forward to their future.  I believe their optimism to be outright astounding, considering what they have gone through so far.  Their boat is an absolute mess, their sleeping bags are rotting, their clothes are wet, and they suffer from many different medical ailments.  Nonetheless, the men continue with smiles on their faces.  Strong winds continue to batter the ship, but the men fight back and keep their determination.  Despite their good spirits, the men slowly grow anxious as time passes and still no sight of land.  If they are as close to land as they believe, they should have seen signs of it days ago.  Finally, the fog clears enough for the men to catch a glimpse of a mountain peak.  But to the crew’s utter dismay, the boat cannot land due to the violence of the water crashing into the shore.  Shackleton plans to bring the boat around to a more suitable landing spot, but the boat faces severe weather, enormous swells, and violent currents that threaten to spontaneously end their journey.  In a last desperate attempt, Shackleton uses the last bit of waning daylight to carefully guide the boat through a small opening and onto land.  The men’s only sign of rejoicing is the gusto with which the suck up the water from the melting ice.

Endurance, Part IV, Chapters 4 and 5

Quote- “It was more than just a sunrise.  It seemed to flood into their souls, rekindling the life within them.”

Discussion- Many medical ailments were befalling the men, including severe frostbite and salt-water boils. Though the men were still a ways away from land, they pushed on in desperation with the last little strength and ounce of energy they had left.  The sunrise is a symbol of hope for the men.  It is the opposite of the terrifying, freezing, and utterly horrific experience they have been going through on the boats.  Their struggle is not over yet, but the light gives the exhausted men the strength to push forward.  The men still had a long fight ahead of them, but things were looking up.  They finally were able to retrieve some ice to drink, and the Wills and the Caird had finally found a decent spit of land on which to camp.  At the end of the fifth chapter, all three boats were finally reunited and for the first time in 497 days, the men experienced the joyful feeling of being on safe, solid land.

Literary Term: symbol- The sun represents hope.  Its light brightens the men’s spirits and helps them to keep moving forward.

Endurance, Part IV, Chapters 1-3

Quote- “They made a pitiable sight- three little boats, packed with the odd remnants of what had once been a proud expedition, bearing twenty-eight suffering men in one final, almost ludicrous bid for survival.”

Discussion- After finally managing to get away from Patience camp, the men steer the boats toward the nearest land, though due to currents and gales, their target destination constantly changes.  They spend one night on a seemingly secure floe, but must abandon it when it splits.  The next night they try to camp on a floe-berg, but there are many dangers associated with that as well, such as being upended, crushed, or drowned.  Thankfully, before the ice could completely fall apart, a pool opens and the boats were launched once again.  For many nights, the men could not sleep, and did anything they could to try to keep warm.  The men continued to push on, but the nights are getting worse.  A growing problem is the lack of water the men had access to.  No ice had been taken onto the boats, thus the men are dehydrated with dry mouths and cracked, frostbitten lips.  Some even reached the point of not being able to swallow.  The crewmen were so hopeless and desperate that they even tried to pathetically fight their situation by shouting expletives. The quote clearly illustrates how far the men have come from the beginning of their expedition, but not in a good way.  They have gone from the large Endurance to the three smaller boats, from having plentiful stores to being constantly hungry and thirsty, and from being strong, confident, determined men, to men clinging to life.

Literary Term: expletive-An interjection or profanity, which the men frequently shouted. I loosely quote Lansing when I say the men in the Docker fought back with the single pitifully ridiculous weapon they had- curses. They cursed everything cursable…