Summary Of Alistair Macleod's The Boat

The son had loved his father dearly but does not favor his way of life. His interest in school greatly outweighed his interest or desire to work on ‘The Boat’. He still had a love for the sea and in some way felt like he should carry out his family’s tradition. After his uncle had accepted a new job he took his position on the boat and promised his father that we would continue to sail with him for as long as he lived, and when his father passed despite the desires of his mother he followed his dreams and pursued education and all of its wonders. After living his life he finds himself longing for the sea again and isn’t so satisfied with his life.

"The Boat" by Alistair MacLeod is the story told from the perspective of university teacher looking back on his life. The narrator relates the first memories of his life until his father's death. The story focuses on the conflicting relation between the mother and the father, and their different perspectives on how their children should lead their lives. MacLeod uses features of setting to present the tension between tradition and freedom.

The protagonist’s struggle to decipher what the reality of his situation is a particular conflict in the source. The central character often makes statements about how much faith he has in his boat. One clear example

This paper is about the story “The Open Boat” written by Stephen Crane. In this paper, I will try to provide the similarities of the original story with the newspaper account. The differences in each article will also be discussed. Lastly, I will provide a conclusion based on the facts of both articles.

The short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod is narrated by a man who comes from a fishing family. His mother’s side of the family has forever lived and worked by the sea and continues this tradition. The narrator’s father always wanted to be an academic, but worked on the boat to support his family. Through this passage it is evident that the parents’ characters clash in many aspects of their lives and are in constant conflict. MacLeod demonstrates this through the use of repetition, the contrast in other unrelated ideas, and through information that is withheld.

“The Boat” by Nam Le, is a serious of short stories that while representing a number of different themes throughout each story, the central theme regards the complicated relationship between children and their parents, with each story examining this theme in different ways. The opening and closing stories, “Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice”, and “The Boat”, not only develop the relationship between children and parents and how the child attempts to maintain this relationship; but also how they live their lives without their parents.

In the short story, “The Boat” by Alistair Macleod, symbolism is used to represent an abstract idea. The boat, being a major symbol of the story was the way of life for the family. As the story goes on, the boat starts to make the family feel confined giving them a choice to leave or stay with the boat. There were symbols that impacted the story that had connection towards the boat. Chain bracelets, the father’s clothes, the books that the father read are all symbols that tied to the boat. The father's chain bracelets and clothes represent the father feeling trapped as a fisherman since he never changes out of them. We find out more about the characters and their personal connection with the boat and the other symbols and what it means to them. The family starts to fall apart due to the kids learning about the father’s books leading to them moving away from home. Symbolism is used when one thing is meant to represent something else adding meaning and emotion to the story which is well represented throughout the story.

The father, although coming from a lineage of fisherman, does not possess the traditional mentality. Perhaps some of the anger the mother feels in the story stems, in part, from knowing despite her wish of marrying ‘a fisherman’, her husband is far from it. From the beginning, it is clear that the father was not designed to be a fisherman. His pale skin burns and bubbles in the sun, re-burning rather than tanning (121). His inability to swim (124) contradicts the entire nature of his livelihood. He spends days on the ocean, yet figuratively and literally he can never truly emerge himself in it. He does not want his son to follow in his footsteps, which in a way contradicts what a true fishing family would want, and what his mother

In modern society, most traditions are viewed as customs that unify people, strengthening relationships between family, friends, and community. In contrast, Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman blatantly exhibit how outdated traditions in history have severed relations amongst people, acting as divisive forces rather than unifying practices. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Lottery”, old traditions of the societies in the stories incite conflict amongst the characters, negatively influencing relationships between and within characters.

Notwithstanding their partner’s contempt of reading and writing, both the father in “The Boat,” and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” continue to search for reprieve through their respective books and diary.

Religion and tradition are two ways that families come together. However in Norman Maclean’s novella, A River Runs Through It, the Maclean family’s devotion to their Presbyterian religion and their tradition of fly-fishing is what undeniably brought the family together. Under the father’s strict Presbyterian values, his sons, Norman and Paul used fly-fishing as the link that brought them closer together and helped them bond with their father on a different level. The family’s hobby of fly-fishing was started just for fun. It was a sport that was taken up every Sunday after church to take their minds off of the worries in life. After a while, going fly-fishing every Sunday turned into a tradition and soon a

Alistair Macleod, a Canadian author, enjoys writing about the Canadian culture in Nova Scotia. He is the author of the novel No Great Mischief and many short stories including The Boat. Both creations of his have a common subject: Culture in Nova Scotia. It is also noted that “Macleod’s short stories are pervasively somber in that they depict a culture that is an gradual loss or erosion of value” (Riegal 133) In his short story, The Boat, the reader senses this mourning of the decline of this culture that comes with the newer generations. The message received in this short story is to never let anyone stop you from doing something you love and the importance of doing what you want to do. This message is important because it allows the reader to realize that if they are not happy they might not have enough time to do anything about it. Through out the story, the reader senses the struggle the narrator has which is to pick between the traditional life of a fisherman and the new life of education. After he was a fisherman along side his father’s he then followed his father’s dream of having an education and became a professor. However, the short story’s narration is nostalgic as if regretting his final decision. The narrator’s lack of connection with a loved one, a loss of culture and his reminiscing of his past experiences with the sea demonstrate this nostalgia.

Her little baby was going out to sea with big brother Dane, and she was going to do whatever she could to stop that from happening. Never mind the fact her little baby was a grown man of twenty-four years, and therefore more than capable of making his own decisions. Never mind the fact that big brother Dane was an incredibly experienced skipper and had never lost a crewman. Mum didn’t understand the way a tuna tow works, the way diving or working on a boat works, and so she assumed the worst.

Illuminated only by the moonlight that leaked through the drapes stood my father.The smoke from his long cigarette swirled around him like a snake coiling around its prey.There he stood ominously in a spotless black trench coat that seemed perfectly tailored to him.He took another long drag of his cigarette, with a head tilted back he blew an opaque cloud blocking the view of his face. Sitting there within sight of him I felt sick, or perhaps it was the scent of his cigarette, but regardless, he had always been one to bask in the discomfort of others so despite my obvious discomfiture he stood unwavering, in utter silence. This was not father standing before me, and barely even a man, this was a monster.