Why do you believe Nathaniel Philbrick ended the novel with the words "once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been expended the bones may be all that are left." Consider these words metaphorically in reference to the survivors (how they "fare in the dark shadow of their story,") the eventual fate of Nantucket and the whale itself.
I think Philbrick ended the novel with “once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been extended the bones may be all that are left” because, that is kind of how the Essex tragedy ended. It made a nice ending to the story and it was how the people were rescued and when each person died with once the end has been reached but bones are not the only thing that is left of a person hope is also left in the person and in the people that the person died around. Hope is still left for the people to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteNicole 12/13/09
i completely agree with nicole, Philbrick ended the novel with “once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been extended the bones may be all that are left” i think he ended it like this because it summed up what happened. the people had gotten rescued when they had lost all hope. the part that says "bones may be all that are left" is saying even though people have died, we still made it to the end. it could also mean they are so skinny from starvation that all you can see is bones. but bones are not the only thing that is there, there is also hope and passion and the thought that they will be ok is one major factor that has saved them.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with both Ben and Nicole, I feel strongly that the reason he ended with that line is because these men that were left had gone through much more than any human being should ever need to face. "The bones may be all that are left," is simply a metaphor, it isn't literally saying only their bones are left, it's saying that after everything they've gone through there's simply nothing left inside them besides bones. They've been put through so much it's completely deteriorated they're souls and hearts, they're but hollow shells of people who've been pushed beyond their limits. Perhaps the hope they once had moved on to other people, it doesn't change the fact that they lost their own hope. These men lost everything they held dear to their souls, their hope, their minds and most importantly their humanity. They're but tortured individuals whom now have to live their entire lives with this horror, something I certainly don't know if I could handle.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dylan the crew members are not physically all bones. It refers to there mental capacity at the time, which was deteriorating. There hope,passion, and force are gone by the time they are saved they are cannibalistic savages, but they don't know any better way of survival. it refers to the quote "once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force" (pg. 238). The metaphor refers to there inner body not there physical body it means there soul and spirit has deteriorated to almost nothing and all that remains in there bodies are bones.It does not refer to them only physically being bones. To me in the epilogue the whale that washed up on shore symbolizes the crew of the Essex. The whale was torn to shreds only leaving bone which directly applies to the last quote of the epilogue, but it is in the physical non metaphorical term.
ReplyDelete-Jamie Gates 12/13/09
Philbrick used the line "once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been expended the bones may be all that are left" as a metaphor, constrasting the lives of the eight surviving crew members, in particular Captain Pollard. After sinking yet another whaleship, Pollard is denounced a "twice-doomed captain", long forgotten for his heroic role as the survivor and leading force in the Essexs' saga (pg.210). The sad account of a noble man's belittlement by his community brings to light Philbricks concluding sentence. Denounced to the lowliest job in Nanctucket's societal order, Pollard resumes his life as a night watchmen. Ironically however he, elludes a content and happy life throughout his remaining days. Left with a prehistory of a torturous voyage across half the globe, Pollard can be compared to the "expended bones", meanwhile his life events as an imperial whaleship captain proceeds him as a legend; the "hope, passion, and force" of which Philbrick references.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Kristiansen 12/13/09
I agree with Dylan, I defiantly found a metaphor in the final lines of the book. It showed that nothing is ever left behind despite that many peoples bodies were used for survival and not laid to rest properly their bones were left as a reminder of misfortunes. I feel that the conflict never ended in a way. Many people were not laid to rest those who survived had extreme skeletons in their closet that they could not get rid of. Chase kept his attic stowed with food all the time he had become another paranoid tortured soul. Paranoia comes from many disasters I know that veterans get paranoia from experiencing war first hand while others receive paranoia via a early childhood event or a life or death situation. It is shocking how long an event can stay with someone because they could be paranoid by the end of their long life.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Lindberg
Throughout the 96 days that the crewmembers of the wale ships’ sailed, incident upon incident slowly built up taking more and more of their spirits and energy. After long periods of time with traumatic starvation and the mental abuse of having to eat one’s own friends and constantly wondering not if, but when you are going to die would have ripped just about every last bit of one’s soul out. I believe this is what Phil brick meant by his last sentence. After experiencing as much trauma as the crewmembers did, the mind would become a calloused and empty container with the sole purpose merely to continue sustaining the containing capsule’s life.
ReplyDeleteAsa kuhn 12/14/09
Sorry, they were really on the ships for 93 days, not 96.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Asa that these men died with nothing. I'm using the quote at the top^^.The last quote was meant as a metaphor. The guys had nothing but bones left of their bodies in the end. The men also skin whales to nothing but bones which is also a metaphor. The men were also left with nothing but hope which served as a skeleton. Lust, desire, fame, happiness, anything that came after was just meat. The last metaphor he draws is with the Nantucket Island. Once most of the whale population died out, Nantucket was left with nothing but empty houses. The last quote was definitely meant as a metaphor.
ReplyDeletehunter hupp^^^^^^^^^^
ReplyDeletei agree with everyones statements. I belive that Nathaniel Philbrick ended the novel with "once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been expended the bones may be all that are left." I think that this is saying that in the end of the book when all hope has almost been lost for survivel they get rescued. The part which says "the bones may be all that are left" I think is saying that when people die all you see of them is their bones evrything else is gone, and that they are hungry and dying when you can see their bones so clearly. But these men still tried to have hope in the end even though they had seen so many men die around them. 12-14-09
ReplyDelete-petra callo
I agree with most above me.
ReplyDeleteI think that the statement in the end have more meanings.
"once the end has been reached and all hope, passion, and force of will have been expended the bones may be all that are left"
Personaly I think that what he means is that, the only thing left was their bones, which indicates their state of mind and their look. They must have been sailing forever, so I'm sure they have lost their mind a couple of times, they even go as far as eating another person, and cannabalism makes a man go crazy.
The statement can also be that he only found they only found the bones left, and it literatly means that all that was left was their bones.
Also the look of them might have played a role in that sentence. Like in WW2, during the holocaust, many jews lost their lives, and those that survived looked like skeletons.
Nikolaj