In the Heart of the Sea Ch. 5-8

       In Nathaniel Philbrick's novel, In the Heart of the Sea (2000), Philbrick chronologically narrates the path of the men of the Essex after the ship was rammed by the sperm whale. First, the author tells how the Essex was destroyed, and the probable causes and interesting statistics about ship wrecks. Then, he describes Pollard's and Chase's plan to head toward South America, as opposed to sailing west to Tahiti, or the Society Islands; furthermore, he narrates their trip going south through the Pacific Ocean, and the agony that the men are forced to face. To conclude, the men reach an island, devour everything on it, and soon abandon it and three of the men choose to stay. Through the American tragedy of the sinking of the Essex, Philbrick conveys messages about the social lives of humans and our great ignorance toward the unknown, our strongly evident xenophobia. The author targets anyone who is interested in American history, ships, and survival stories and skills because he not only narrates the story of the Essex, but he provides statistical facts, and scientific facts about certain things they encountered. Philbrick also has separate paragraphs in which he lists conditional statements and the ironies of their strenuous journey.

Vocabulary

• elusive: (adj.) hard to explain, understand.
• proverbial: (adj.) commonly spoken of, well-known.
• tempestuous: (adj.) characteristic of a tempest; turbulent; violent; stormy.
• mutiny: (n.) an open rebellion against authority, especially by sailors or soldiers against their commanding officers.  
• stoic: (n.) a person who is apparently indifferent to or unaffected by pain or pleasure.
• bilge: (n.) the lowest inner part of the hull of a ship.
• meager: (adj.) barely adequate in amount or quantity.
• exacerbate: (v.) to make more intense, severe, or bitter, as pain or feelings.
• iridescent: (adj.) displaying shimmering and changing colors.
• coagulate: (v.) to change something from a liquid into a thickened mass.
• voracious: (adj.) eating or craving large amounts of food; unable to be satisfied in some activity.
• stimulus: (n.) something that moves or incites to action or effort; anything that produces a response or influences the activity of the mind or body.

Tone: lamenting, subjective, and reflective.

Rhetorical Strategies:

1. Allusion: "'...There is his home; there lies his business, which a Noah's flood would not interrupt, though it overwhelmed all the millions in China..." (pg. 99); "'...By Neptune I think you are afraid of a whale...'" (pg. 79); "'To an overruling Providence  alone must be attributed to our salvation from the horrors of that terrible night...'" (pg. 121).
2. Simile: "All around them, the unruffled ocean reached out to the curved horizon like the bottom of a shiny blue bown..." (pg. 131); "Like a whale dying in a slow-motion flurry, the Essex in dissolution made for a grim and disturbing sight..." (pg. 94).
3. Telegraphic Sentences: "The Pacific is also deep." (pg. 75); "Then he hesitated." (pg. 82); "Then it began to blow." (pg. 90); "Night came on." (pg. 105).
4. Foreshadowing: "When writing of this 'fatal error' later, the Essex's cabin boy asked, 'How many warm hearts have ceased to beat in consequence of it?'" (pg. 97).
5. Dramatic Irony: "The men of the Essex did not know that they were within just a few hundred miles of saving themselves. Pollard and Chase were mistaken as to their whereabouts..." (pg. 140).

Discussion Questions:

1. Why didn't the men just collect rainwater in their tin cups as opposed to using the salty sail?
2. How is it that Philbrick manages to keep a reader interested in the story (through suspense) even though the reader mostly knows how what happened to the men on the Essex?
3. Would we, modern-day people, be able to survive on an island? Would our more extensive knowledge truly help us in any way?

"The boats became unmanageable in the immense waves. 'The sea rose to a fearful height,' Chase remembered, 'and every wave that came looked as if it must be the last that would be necessary for our destruction.' There was nothing for the men to do but lie down in the bottoms of their fragile vessels and 'await the approaching issue with firmness and resignation...'" (pg. 121).