The Boat - Avec Kendra

The Boat - pg. 261-278

In the story The Boat by Alistair MacLeod, the author did a great job on creating/portraying the father character. For a short story with little time to truly represent a character, all of the elements (appearance, actions, interactions, dialogue, and thoughts and feelings) were included.

2a) Although the narrator loves his father he does not idolize his way of life. He himself wishes for his life to be based upon "the boat" and wishes to be happy. In paragraph 4 on page 265, the text gives examples of his fathers unhealthy behaviour when he's at home. The narrator's relationship with his father reflects his main conflict in life by his father trying to make him more so like himself, by working on the boat. But the narrator, wishes to go to school and get an education and doesn't want to be like his father (page 272).
3a) The symbolism of a boat in this story almost means the opposite of "the journey through life". In the story The Boat, the author clearly states that the family's daily routine revolves around the boat, and how it's practically the same day in-day out. In the second last paragraph on page 262, the narrator states that the boat is the only thing they can talk about or have in common; there's no depth.

Describe the change that the narrator undergoes through this story. What does he learn? How does he learn it? How does the end of the story leave him?

Throughout the story, the narrator learns independence, and undergoes becoming his own person by dishonouring his parents and not following his fathers footsteps. During the beginning, the narrators life revolved around his parents decisions, never thinking for himself. After realizing what he wanted in life, and how unhappy he was, he progressed as a person, and began to think for himself. Near the end of the story, the narrator leaves to go to school. By doing so, he left his mother home alone, due to his fathers death from the tragedy of the boat accident. The story sort of has a sympathetic irony to it, because in order him to be truly happy, his parents must give up their happiness.

Examples of powerful imagery/description used in The Boat:
The Boat has a lot of powerful imagery used which really gives the reader a good picture of what is going on in the story. For example, the narrator briefly describes his father (paragraph 1 - pg. 262) and his mother. The boat was described very well (last paragraph on pg. 262) so the reader has a good idea of what the boat looks like, which makes reading The Boat more enjoyable.

Next, the narrator describes his house (paragraph 2 and 3- pg. 263) which is helpful because it proves that they don't care near as much about their house as they do about their boat. The house description goes into deep detail and you get an understanding that even though it's not the boat, they still have "odd fish hooks", "map of the marine area" and "bits of twine" including a huge window overlooking the sea.

The narrator described what the father looked like and acted like when he wasn't on the boat, which made you get a really good image about how depressed his father was when he was without the boat, for example: "When he was not in the boat, my father spent most of his time lying on the bed in his socks, the top two buttons of his trousers undone, his discarded shirt on the ever-ready chair and the sleeves of the woollen Stanfield underwear, which he wore both summer and winter, drawn half way up to his elbows." (last paragraph-pg. 265)

This story describes how the narrators parents are both disappointed in him because he doesn't want the lifestyle that his parents have given him, he would rather be his own person. You can imagine how upset the parents would be because the narrator describes how he feels about not living up to his parents expectations, and the letdown that their parents feel. At the end of the story the narrator talks about his father growing old, and how he doesn't interact with the family hardly anymore, for example: "Then during the winter that I was fifteen he seemed to grow old and ill all at once. Most of January he lay upon the bed, smoking and reading and listening to the radio while the wind howled about the house and the needle-like snow blistered off the ice-covered harbour and the doors flew out of people's hands if they did not cling to them like death." (paragraph 4- pg. 271)

The narrator describes the day of the boat crash very well because the death of his father is a huge part of the story and so in order to really understand what's going on, the narrator needed to go into deep detail about how awful the weather was that day and how tragic the death of his father was.

Overall, I think that the imagery in this story are very powerful and very helpful because this story itself is very moving and deep and by going into the great amount of description that they did, helped make the story connect with the reader.

Characterization of the father from “The Boat”

Appearance: Within the first mentioning of the father in the story, the text states that he has shaggy white hair, and wears red-soled rubber boots daily. He wore the rubber boots daily because he was always working on a boat. The long days of working on the boat could have also played a role in the aging of his hair. In the same paragraph of the first mentioning of the father, it also states that he has a ‘stubble’ beard, which smells of saltwater. The clothing he wears are based upon comfort and warmth because he sometime works in extreme weather conditions. On page 264-265, the narrator describes the clothes his father wears while he is undressing, I.e. Heavily woolen sweaters, mittens, woolen doeskin shirts, etc.

Actions: From the actions of the father mentioned in this story, we know that he was a very simple man, who enjoyed routine. For starters, he worked on the boat practically all his life, and came home each day being asked nearly the same questions, with the same replies (page 262).

Thinks and Feels: The father thinks that his son should be just like him, and be interested in all of the same things, especially the boat. The father probably feels disappointed that he can’t bond with his own son due to the fact that they have no similarities. This makes it hard for both the son and the father, and since they never really had a close relationship; they can’t talk to one another about the boat. The tension between the two makes the father feel uncomfortable because things are so awkward. He seems as if he is almost confused as to why his son can’t just take interest in the boat. The father almost turns to the mother for support on the fact that their son is an outcast in the family, which leaves the son with nobody really to turn to. The father probably feels more superior and thinks he doesn’t have to give his son very much attention. The whole story shows how awkward things are between the father and the son.

Examples of powerful imagery/description used in The Boat:

The Boat has a lot of powerful imagery used which really gives the reader a good picture of what is going on in the story. For example, the narrator briefly describes his father (paragraph 1 - pg. 262) and his mother. The boat was described very well (last paragraph on pg. 262) so the reader has a good idea of what the boat looks like, which makes reading The Boat more enjoyable. Next, the narrator describes his house (paragraph 2 and 3- pg. 263) which is helpful because it proves that they don't care near as much about their house as they do about their boat. The house description goes into deep detail and you get an understanding that even though it's not the boat, they still have "odd fish hooks", "map of the marine area" and "bits of twine" including a huge window overlooking the sea. The narrator described what the father looked like and acted like when he wasn't on the boat, which made you get a really good image about how depressed his father was when he was without the boat, for example: "When he was not in the boat, my father spent most of his time lying on the bed in his socks, the top two buttons of his trousers undone, his discarded shirt on the ever-ready chair and the sleeves of the woollen Stanfield underwear, which he wore both summer and winter, drawn half way up to his elbows." (last paragraph-pg. 265) This story describes how the narrators parents are both disappointed in him because he doesn't want the lifestyle that his parents have given him, he would rather be his own person. You can imagine how upset the parents would be because the narrator describes how he feels about not living up to his parents expectations, and the letdown that their parents feel. At the end of the story the narrator talks about his father growing old, and how he doesn't interact with the family hardly anymore, for example: "Then during the winter that I was fifteen he seemed to grow old and ill all at once. Most of January he lay upon the bed, smoking and reading and listening to the radio while the wind howled about the house and the needle-like snow blistered off the ice-covered harbour and the doors flew out of people's hands if they did not cling to them like death." (paragraph 4- pg. 271) The narrator describes the day of the boat crash very well because the death of his father is a huge part of the story and so in order to really understand what's going on, the narrator needed to go into deep detail about how awful the weather was that day and how tragic the death of his father was. Overall, I think that the imagery in this story are very powerful and very helpful because this story itself is very moving and deep and by going into the great amount of description that they did, helped make the story connect with the reader.




So by reading “The Boat” you find out about a young boy whos family owns a boat. But this isn’t just any boat, it was a boat that symbolically tied their family together. “They repeated ‘the boat’ at the end of all their questions and I knew it must be very important to everyone.” (page 262)The problem with the boat, and their family was that the young boy didn’t take interest in the boat like the rest of his family. His parents were very disappointed in him, which was the main reason for all the conflict in the story. This story has a tragic ending leaving the characters torn apart and going in their separate ways. “It’s not an easy thing to know that your mother lives alone on an inadequate insurance policy and that she is too proud to accept any other aid.” “But neither is it easy to know that your father was found on November twenty-eighth, ten miles to the north and wedged between two boulders at the bas of the rock-strewn cliffs where he has been hurled and slammed so many many times.” (page 277)