Man Overboard
Essay by review • March 16, 2011 • Essay • 392 Words (2 Pages) • 1,152 Views
This story, by Winston Churchill, takes place on a ship sailing on the Red Sea. It was about a man that was on a ship. There was a concert on the ship and the man went outside to get some fresh air and have a cigarette. The rail that he was leaning on had broke, and the man fell overboard into the Red Sea. The man was screaming and yelling, but no one heard him. I think that no one heard him because of the music and they were singing, but also because they had been on this ship for a long time, so they all were used to it and going about their own business. The man who fell overboard, obviously smokes, and he had been on this ship for 7 years. He was going to India form a big city with busy lights. He was a fairly persistent man, who ends up giving up. I would say that there are two antagonists in this story. I would say that both the shark and the ship are antagonists in this story. The shark, because he is ultimately responsible for the man's downfall, and the ship, for not stopping when the man fell overboard. I would say that this story is told in narrative point of view because you can see the story from an outsiders perspective. There are no opinions and you can see all aspects of the story at one time. The central conflict of the story is the man trying to get back onto a ship that he fell off of. It is resolved when he gets eaten by a shark. I think that the rail symbolizes our decisions and the "worldly" things that we put our trust and attention into. I think that the water and the shark describes our fate, that it is inevitable and sometimes we have to accept it the way that it is, whether we agree with it or not. I have never read this story before, and I think that this story was very interesting story. It grabbed my attention quickly and held it through the whole story. This story made me realize how quickly our lives can change, even when it seems like everything is going good. I learned from this story that it is important not to take things for granted.
...
...