So here's what I have so far:
Question 1
Explain the significance of the story's title.
The Boat
-Most prevalent symbol
-Tradition
-People of The Sea
-How was it on the boat?; Repetition; important to those people
-Income
-Making a living
-Roles in the family
-Usually a symbol of travel and escape
-In the story it becomes warped into prison or trap in which the father is stuck in
-Representation of maritime life and tradition
Question 2
Pick a character in the story. What is this character's relationship with the narrator, and what could he/she symbolize?
For this question I've chosen the father. In the beginning the father's role is understandably paternal. He goes to work everyday, comes home, hugs his kids, feeds the family, rests and listens to the radio, etc. This was when the narrator was young; The father was more energetic, everybody worked hard and did their chores, and through the eyes of the narrator as a child, all seemed well.
Later on in the story, the father plays the role of a teacher or mentor, teaching his son about the boat.
Then we start to see the father go into a sort of decline. He becomes more distant, he begins smoking
-...the rustling thud of a book being tossed into the corner heap..."
-He throws his books against the wall, and reads for hours
-He takes to the books
-Is he angry? no, it says "toss" he's CARELESS for his life
-Depression; he reads one book after another
-Never see proof of it, but he obviously has distaste for his life; link to the quote: "His lips still cracked so that they bled when he smiled, and his arms still broke out into the oozing salt-water boils as they had ever since [I was a child]..."
-Sitting in his room smoking and listening to the radio is a coping mechanism; the books are an escape
-Books give us a new life; He wanted to ESCAPE his life, so he read
-Killing himself
-First time we really see this is when the father argues with the narrator's mother
-The daughters
-Doesn't let the daughters play in the wharf; doesn't let them see things happily
-It is difficult to determine the father's true intent. Does he leave things strewn about his room, and the door open simply because he doesn't care, because that's simply how he likes it, because he doesn't have enough time to keep it orderly? Or is it because he seeks to indirectly attract his kids to the room so that they will begin reading one of the books and thus realize his dream?
-Proof of his university dream; the books are a symbol of how he wanted to be educated, but these plans were thwarted
-This could also be due to financial reasons
-Worked on the boat with the hope of escaping; Had to start a family first to upkeep his life; Got trapped; Tied in now has no escape; continues so that his child can realize the dream he never could
-HES GETTING OLD
-Maybe he's been "working for the weekend," trying to make his crappy job more bearable; maybe he's spent so much money and time on his books and tobacco he never saved enough to get out
-This is why the tourists go on vacation to the coast; it's what his mum can't understand
-Gratification experiments
-You never know if he is indirectly trying to attract his kids towards education and away from the traditional life OR if it's all a coincidence
-Entanglement; Seaweeds in his hair, chains on wrists; The thing which usually would be a symbol of travel was warped into becoming his prison; he's tied to it now
-regret
-Chains; The only time things are chained up is when they can't go anywhere
-The worst bit is he could have dug himself into this hole; But he also could have been forced into this life and may have vowed to himself to get out later
-Either way, he is stuck now
-Starts to see his daughters realizing his dream and successfully escaping
-Mother begins to see this negatively; The books and the father begin to threaten her vision of traditional Irish life
-I find this archaic; In modern times, parents shouldn't need to force their kids into working; although this varies from family to family
-In old times this would have been a survival mechanism; The farmer's kid HAD TO FARM or else there was no more food and people died
-Conservative; The system has to keep on ticking, or so the mother thinks
-The dad is like a first beatnik; He wanted to rebel, but can't now, so he lets his kids deviate
-Partner; equal of his son
-Due to the distance between him and his father during this time, the narrator sides with his mum by working on the boat for a day
-His dad intervenes; asks him to go back; And I think at this point decided to overcome his body and work again
-This was because at the end of this decline "he seemed to grow old and ill all at once"
-His years of working finally caught up to him
-Suddenly realizing his distance and how he'd been caught up in his conflicts (and probably losing motivation now that he, realizing his age, his body starts to fail him, he regrets his lost dreams, etc, etc) he is spurred into action at seeing his kid start to lose sight of the very same dream
-The mom says "you've added years to his life"
-The dad "wakes up" and I think at this point decides to pull ahead for one more year
-Now they become partners; They have an understanding about how they must work to stay alive
-They have an understanding that he's not forcing him to work, or to go to school, only to see his side of the story and choose for himself; the same thing he did with his daughters; dropped little hints about the world beyond the wharf and let them decide
-"[he] looked into my dark eyes with his of crystal blue and placed his hand upon my knee. 'I am not telling you to do anything, only asking you'"
-His son ties himself with this quote
-So now his son, like two climbers in a cave, has tied a rope between their waists in a vow never to leave his father on the boat alone; But his father continues to fall deeper down his hole and now realizes the only way to escape is to cut the rope and sacrifice himself; So he does
-His death
-Slammed between two boulders; The boulders known as tradition and dreams; He spent his entire life being crushed between these two opposing forces until finally they did him in, all the while being tied to the boat, with the chains on his wrists and the seaweed in his hair
Question 3
Find or generate some pieces of art, visual, music, or performance, which relate to the story. Explain their relation and what they mean to you.
This question is in the "conclusion" section of our prezi; it can be found here:
http://prezi.com/wmjq6pyxtkvq/the-boat/
So I'm asking, nay, begging for some guidance here. Unfortunately last year in English I had such an easy time BSing my way through all the projects, I find myself having difficulty actually writing out English questions in an understandable format.
I'll keep working on these until have I have them actually written (and not in point form), but basically I'd like you to know I have in fact done some work and if you can give me a mark more than a 70 for what thinking I have here for report cards tomorrow that would be lovely!
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