The Boat by Alistair MacLeod, The Character Arc

  In the beginning, we feel the father starts his transformational arc as a selfish man. He spends all of his time on the boat, or in his bedroom escaping from reality. He selfishly ignores his wife, and any conflict that arises with the daughters, i.e he doesn't help his wife parent their children. In the whole story he is listening to his radio, smokes one to many cigarette and reads mounds of books.

  One August afternoon, the Father was asked by his daughters to take some tourist for a ride on the boat. The Father agreed and did so with a kinda unseen happiness. He was happy to have the company of the tourist because it was another means of escape, but with some social interactions.  He proceeded to go up to the tourists cabin afterwards, and have a few to many drinks. When he was good and drunk he started to sing for them, this being very symbolic part to the story because this is an escape we do not see until this point, it is the start of his transformational arc.

   The biggest step the Father takes in his transformational arc is when he gets ill, because he starts realizing that he needs his son, something that he has never needed. He never actually says that he wants his son to work on the boat with him, but the son soon realizes that his Dad needs him and that he can put his life on pause until he can get back to it. This is such a huge step for the Father because he never truly acknowledged his son has a good aspect of his life, so the fact that he finally has a relationship forming with his son is very important.

The end product of the Fathers transformational is when him and his son have worked together for many fishing seasons, and the son finally connects all of the fathers decisions and actions, you get that final step of the Fathers transformational arc. You completely understand every decision that was made, and every feeling that he had. He always had the dream of being something bigger then a fisherman, but because he was the only son he had an obligation to work with his Father on his boat, and then follow the same path. He lived all his life for obligation, instead of his dreams and happiness. So when all these dots get connected the final step is taken. The Father is now a honorable character, compared to the selfish one you see in the rest of the story.  

The Boat by Alistair MacLeod, Six Elements

Point of View 

The story is written in the sons point of view, this being a great point of view due to the fact that you will get a great first- hand experience of the fathers interactions and feelings with other people. The son describes the father's relationship with his wife, other children, and himself. You get to the knowledge of all the decisions that he makes in his life, good and bad. You get to know about all the fights, arguments, and disagreements that go on in the house. The son gives you a very detailed view of the Father in a way that no one else could because he was closest to him. Even if the they were not close to each other during the son's younger years, you get a more in depth reasoning behind the Father, and all the answers to why he made the choices he did.      

Looks 

The father has very few looks in this story, majority of the time it being his fisherman/work outfit. The first description that you get of the father is the son describing his earliest memories with his father. He describes him as a view of gigantic rubber boots, as he lifts his son up and presses him up against his stubbly cheeks, taking in a big smell of salt in the process. The next look the son describes is of the scene on the boat when him and his father are working together. They both are wearing heavy sweaters, awkward runner slickers, and heavy woolen mitts that have been soaked and froze into huge ice chunks. The last way the father looks is when he is found washed up and wedged in between two large boulders. His hands and feet looked like shredded ribbons, his boots had been washed away at sea, his skin soft and tearing in every spot due to the salt water, his eyes were missing, but a great white beard still grew on his bloated purple face. All of these descriptions give you a clear image of what the father would look like. All three of these sections are very important to the story due to the fact that without this you would not have an idea of what the father would look like, and then it would be a completely different story because of it. 

Interactions

The father interacts very little to what you would image a father would with his family, but he also doesn't interact with other people much either. The first interaction the father has with his son is of them going out on the boat together for the first time, the story explains the father holding the boy up on his shoulders the entire time, and humming a little song. This is one of the only real memories the boy has with his father, because the father is unhappy with his life, meaning he tries to escape from his family as much has possible. A very important interaction the father has is when he gets drunk with the tourists and starts singing. This scene really is symbolic to the father's regret to having the life he does, he used other means besides his radio and books to escape form the sad life believes he has. Something you don't see up until this point. The next important interaction the father has is when he gets sick and his son agrees to work with him on the boat until his final day. This is a crucial scene because if the son had not agreed to it, the father probably would have passed away much sooner due to lack of company. The last very important interaction the father has is his last day on the boat, it was suppose to be his last day of the fishing season, but instead is his last day ever. He ends up falling off the boat, and since he cannot swim he drowns and washes up days later. This is a very important part because it is the last time anyone ever sees the father alive, he is now forever happy because he doesn't have any more obligations to anyone but himself. It was his final escape from the life he never wanted. 

Dialogue

Probably the hardest decision the son has to make is when the father says to him, "I am not telling you to do anything, only asking.". The son had to decide what is more important, his dreams of school, or his obligation to his family. The son chooses the same path the father did, but in a way that he can still end up happy. He dropped out of school to work on the boat with his father until the day he passes, so that he can still live the dreams he has always wanted but keep with the obligation to his Father. The very meaningful words that were said to the son was when he decided to work on the boat. He went into his Father's bedroom where he was reading his book and smoking a cigarette, and told him that he has decided to fish the seas with him until his final day. The Father then replied to him, "I hope you will remember what you've said.", this piece of dialogue being very important in understanding his way of thinking. The Father up till this point is still very selfish in his decisions, but he acknowledged the fact that although his son was not following in his footsteps he still accepted the obligations he had to undertake. Most likely the most evocative dialogue in this story is when one day the Mother tells her son, "You have given added years to his life.". This is so evocative because it really gives you the feeling of what the story is really trying to tell you. The story is trying to tell you that although the father is portrayed as a bad father, he really did fight to give his son good memories with him. For a few short years he gave all he had to his son so that he would understand why he acted the way he all those years, and you also find out just how similar the two are to each other. So in a sense the son also went to school and became a professor, in a way for his Father also.         

Thoughts and Feelings

When the story explains about the Father's actions after work, i.e him coming home from and going straight to his bedroom to lay down and read, it really is reflecting how the Father feels about is life. I believe that the he really is showing the reader that he does not take pride, or enjoyment from his family or his work. Another aspect I believe really reflects the Father's feeling towards his life, is when the story informs you about him not approving of his children playing at the wharf with other children. It tells me that he wants his children to have a similar life he does, even though he doesn't like his. My predication is that as a child he was always working with his own father on their boat, and feels that because he never got the chance to have friends, neither should his kids. I think one of the most important lines in this story is, "he had said that he had always wanted to go to university.". This line is so significant because this is the key idea of the story, in other words he never wanted the life of a fisherman but in fact a completely different path for himself. It is so important because this is the only time its actually says in the entire story he never wanted to be a fisherman. A very powerful section in the story is when the son finally realizes that his father was a failure as a husband and father because he was forced into his life. The Father was also a only son so he had to take over for his Dad and had to throw away his dreams forever, also throwing away his happiness and passion. This part is so powerful because it ties together the main idea of the story, and makes you feel empathy towards the Father. 

Conclusion

 All of these six elements are trying to explain to you the Father and the history behind him so that you feel empathetic towards him. The reason this is something the author wants to stand out is because its a complex aspect. It's complex in the sense that it as so many other parts to it, like the father's past, the wife, the son being so similar to his father,the bedroom, and his death. It's not something that you would get out of the story unless you stopped and analysed all of these elements. I mean sure, I scratched the surface of the idea on my first read, but I never really understood the whole concept until I looked at each separate factor. So in that way it is complex. But i is also a universal idea or feeling in the way that everyone gets stuck in doing many things they never wanted to do. This is why it is such a good story for anyone to read, regardless of if you understand the fishing career. You will always understand the universal idea of obligations.  

The Boat by Alistair MacLeod , Questions

2.a Prove that although the narrator loves his father, he does not idealize him or his way of life. Explain how the narrator's relationship to his father reflects the central conflict in his life.

Answer: The central conflict that the character faces is that he is the only son in the family and is obligated to provide for the family when the only other male, his father, gets ill and cannot care for them.

The relationship between the narrator and his father is very vague up until the point where the father becomes dependent on his son to help him provide for the family. They don't really interact much when the boy is younger, but when he grows older, along with the father, they start to communicate more because the boy now understands why is father acted the way he did in earlier years.

These two reflect upon each other because the son although loves his family he doesn't really feel a great connection with his hometown or memories he created with his parents. So because he does not feel connected with his surrounding he doesn't feel a yearning to stay and help his father.

3a. In literature, a boat is often a symbol for the journey through life. How, in this story, has the symbolism of the boat been transformed?

Answer: The symbolism of a boat has been transformed in this story because it has been reversed, the boat now represents the fathers obligation to the family. He is stuck with his life because of the people in it that rely on him as a provider. When he married his wife, and she got pregnant for the first time he realized that he was forever stuck with his life, due to the life choices he made along the way. No matter how unhappy his life made him he would always have the same obligations every day.

Twins- Eric Wright

Q. How does Eric Wright provide his readers with clues to the outcome of this story?
A. The writer provides clues to the outcome of the story when the main character is a detective. Eric Wright employs his own wife to re-enact the death of the main character's wife from his novel. Little does she know the book is about to become a true story.

Q. Explain the term”In the middle of things”
A. The term in medias res the “middle of things,” can be used to describe the opening of the story. (“His wife often criticized his plots for being to complicated, but this one worked”) The author uses this line in middle of the story when he explains to his wife how he will murder her. This sentence gives you clues to what the out come will be.

Q. Describe the difference in narrative style between the two parts of the story. Determine why the author choses each style and the effectiveness.

A. The two narrative styles in the story are a dialogue style and informative styles. Dialogue is in present tense and is the direct word that are spoken. Informative which is past tense and is describing what happened. The author choses dialogue because it tells the story in great details and choses informative to cut to the chase.

Q.How does the writer use our expectations to surprise us with the twist?

A. The writer uses our expectation to surprise us with the twist by r enacting the scene from his novel he is writing about to make it based on a true story. This works because you wouldn't expect a loving husband to kill his wife.

Rich for one day

  Are you kidding me? A billion dollars, you are giving me a billion dollars. No questions asked, no strings attached, no government taxes just a cool billion dollars. Oh where would I begin?

First, I am sure it would take me a month to come to grips with having that many “0's” behind a “1” in my bank account.
After reality sits in, I am ready to spend this cool cash. I would make sure everyone in my immediate family would be debt free and financially set for life.

I have always wanted to travel the world so by boat, train, plan and any other mode of transportation, I would spend my 17th year of my life exploring the world. While traveling the world, I would make sure to stop in the poorest countries to see first hand how and where I should donate a few million dollars to improve the quality of their life.

I am going to finish my education and then invest some money into a business or enterprise to help underprivileged children.

Whatever is left over will be for retirement,my children and or grandchildren.

The Lottery Ticket- Character Analysis

Ivan Dmitritch- Middle Class Husband
Stereotype
The stereotype of a middle class husband helps to develop the story because it is a typical stereotype that you would see on a daily basis ( i.e- your father) When you read “Ivan Dmitritch a middle class man..” you can imagine a middle aged man in his daily routine.

Categorized Character

Ivan – Protagonist
This story is written in Ivan's perspective and his point of view really dictates how we see him as a character. Ivan, being the main character typically makes him a protagonist.

Reliability
Ivan is relatible because he goes through a greedy standpoint in his life. This makes him relatible because greed is a universal problem. Ivan, being a middle class man, always had enough to get by and a little to treat himself. So when the possibility of him winning the money, he became very ungrateful for what he had.

Transformational Arc.
Ivan goes through a very critical character arc. He starts out very loving and content with his wife. When he believes he would come into an abundance of cash, he becomes very greedy and ungrateful. The thought of having a lot of money was turning him against his wife. Money is the root of all evil and easy come easy go.

The Leap- Characterization of the Mother

How is the mother characterized?

Thoughts and feelings
-strong willed -brave
-caring -protective
-content - accepting

View point
The child tells the story of the mothers life in their own words.

Appearance
The mothers appearance is that of a trapeze artist, casual formal wear to elegant undergarments (“laced trimmed drawers”)
Dialogue
“ I didn't see her leap through air--- she was hanging by the backs of hear heals---she was smiling.” 195 last paragraph

Interactions
The mother was an “illiterate” women until the time her future husband taught her to read and write while she was in the hospital. In the hospital. In the hospital she was very depressed and bored with life. Learning how to read helped her survive through the characters in the stories. Her love of reading was the greatest difficulty in accepting her blindness.

How does the writer make us “see” the mother ?
The writer makes us see the mother as a very courageous, graceful, warm hearted women. I see these attributes throughout the story. In her trapeze act she fell gracefully seven months pregnant with no fear. In the house fire she proves shes warm hearted because she goes into the burning building to save her child.

What is the perspective of the narrator? How does that perspective tell us about the mother?
The narrator's perspective is of a young child. I know this because the narrator describes their mothers life and who she is as a person. Who better to know her than her child.

How is she described , list some of the more effective words or terms?
The mother is described as a very independent, courageous women. As a visibly impaired person one still keeps her independence by using the other four sense she has. “running her hand over knickknacks” She is described as courageous because she was a trapeze artist taking numerous dangerous risks above the ground.

Make a connection
This story makes me feel very emotional. I can easily relate to this story because I like the narrator have a very close bond with my mother. She would do anything for me and I would do anything for her.

The Stone Girl at Sanchi, Gary Snyder

Power Words: - Black Bowl
- These two words are a example of imagery to describe using evocative language a night sky. This is a fantastic example because a black bowl is an object you don't often see used in writing or poetry as a symbol of the sky.

- Lasts Forever
- This term is referring to the characters allusion of his affection for a Girl who left him, or is out of his reach. We feel this was a large contribution to the poem's main theme.

-Wobbling Speck
-These two words are evocative language that are used as symbolism to explain how are planet earth is compared to other parts of the universe. It is very small, and unimportant planet compared to all the other planets, stars, and comets in the universe that we live in.

-Weathered
- We believe this is symbolism that represents a forgotten, unwanted feeling, it is a comparison of a unremembered sanctuary to the feeling of not being wanted.

-Hollow
- Is an evocative word describing the feeling of emptiness, and loneliness, it is a continuation of the thought for the power word, wobbling speck.

Archetypes
1. Divorced
2. He was married for the second time to a american poet named Joanne Kyger, and she divorced him after a trip to India. They were only married for five years.
3. " two flesh persons changing": we believe that this is a reference to the poets own life, i.e his divorce

Title:
- " For a Stone Girl at Sanchi"
- We think that the title is referring to a memory that he had with his ex wife at the Buddhist temple in India o their trip, it is a memory forever frozen in time because she is now gone forever