Summer Homework, Alfred Lansing, Endurance, Chapter One-Two, Personification

In the Antarctic, a expeditionary crews' ship has become trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea saying, "She was being crushed. Not all at once, but slowly, a little at a time. the pressure of ten million tons of ice was driving against her sides. And dying as she was, she cried in agony (page 2)".

The order to abandon ship has been given and the crew works feverishly to move the stores and supplies that they need off the ship. As the ship dies and chaos sweeps the crew, there is an eerie calm that the crew has. The sense of urgency to abandon ship was only echoed by the calm disposition of the crew as they carried out their final tasks on the ship as it was being crushed. The crew sets up a camp on a floe of ice as a temporary base. Now they have a decision on where to go to survive and await rescue.

This first chapter is a great representation of Personification-(endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics). Personification is showed when the author refers to the ship as if it were a person by calling it She and when they give the ship emotion when they say that she cries in agony as she dies. This device allows us to relate to the ship and its pain as it dies and gives us as readers the ability to feel compassion and sympathy for the ship as it is crushed beneath the force of the ice.

In chapter two, we learn of the failed expeditions to the Antarctic that had taken place in the past and we are given a background to Sir Ernest Shackleton. We learn of the near death experiences and heroism and admiration that the rest of the world viewed these explorers with. We also learn of the fame that the explorers are greeted with upon return from an expedition, if they returned. I see why people would voluntarily risk their life in an attempt to do what others had not yet done. These explorers lust for fame and fortune in these expeditions.  

I can relate these chapters to the opening to Mr. Deeds where Preston Blake is climbing Mt. Everest and he is told to go back but refuses. In the end he dies but he died doing what he wanted, it is that kind of desire that I believe to be in the minds of the explorers in the Antarctic. While their determination may end up killing them, it might just be worth it if they died doing what they believe in.