Endurance: rescue

• Literary Term: dialogue- conversation between two or more people
• example: "'Who the hell are you?' he asked at last.  'My name is Shackleton,' he replied in a quiet voice.'"
• Quote: "A spontaneous cheer went up.  In fact the excitement ashore was so intense that many men actually were giggling."
• The men of the Endurance had spent about two years in the middle of the Antarctic.  The sight of the rescue boats making their way to shore was a scene that many of the men had lost all hope that they would ever see.  When my mom was pregnant with my brother, I was in seventh grade.  It was a terrible pregnancy for my mom and it greatly affected my whole family.  Those nine months felt like years.  When my little brother was finally born, it felt as if we could finally breath again.  I can't even begin to imagine the thrill that must have washed over the twenty-two men when the boats were first seen.  The fact that not one of the original twenty-eight men died throughout the course of the voyage was a small miracle in itself.  The strength, dedication, and faith of these men enabled them to overcome unthinkable odds and survive in one of the world's most brutal environments.

Endurance: battling all odds

• Literary Term: jargon- the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession
• example: "The jib was removed from the mainmast, and the reefed lugsail and mizzen were run up."
• Quote: "But sufficiently provoked, there is hardly a creature on God's earth that ultimately won't turn and attempt to fight, regardless of the odds."
• Shackleton and a mere five other men were attempting to make their way through waters that were feared world-wide.  Huge ships still stood the chance of being sunk, let alone a tiny lifeboat manned by six men.  Often we underestimate a human's will to survive.  The odds that the Caird would make it to South Georgia was nearly one in a million.  The sea threw everything it had at the men: storms, blizzards, monstrous waves, raging winds.  Nothing, however, could stop them.  Ironically, each man went into the journey to South Georgia expecting to die.  This acceptance, however, did not and would not stop them from fighting for their lives even to their deaths.  They were battling the savage sea, and were somehow surviving each attack.  Miraculously, Shackleton and his men made it to the shores of South Georgia.

Endurance: the Caird presses on

• Literary Term: mood- the emotional atmosphere of a work
• example: "Their helplessness was almost total, and they knew it."
• Quote: "On this score, their general feeling, at least outwardly, was confident.  But how else might they have felt?  Any other attitude would have been the equivalent of admitting that they were doomed.  No matter what the odds, a man does not pin his last hope for survival on something and then expect that it will fail."
• Hope is a dangerous thing.  It can keep us holding on when we feel we're about to break.  It also has to power to destroy us even more inside when we finally realize that there really isn't any hope for our situation at all.  Throughout this section of the novel, the men were constantly fighting against hope.  Once they began to hope it was possible to be rescued, they opened themselves up to the possibility of being crushed if their plan failed.  When Shackleton left with five other men in the Caird, every man attempted to act as normally as possible.  They wanted to believe that Shackleton and his men would bring back help for the twenty-two remaining on the island.  All of the men put on strong faces in front of each other, while on the inside each was trying to ignore the gnawing possibility that no help would ever return for them.

Endurance: land at last

• Literary Term: antithesis- a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced
• example: "The adventurous side of the expedition, which was its chief appeal for most of the other men, interested James very little.  In personality, he was roughly the antithesis of Shackleton."
• Quote: "They made a pitiable sight--three little boats, packed with the odd remnants of what had once been a proud expedition, bearing twenty-eight suffering men in one final, almost ludicrous bid for survival.  But this time there was to be no turning back, and they all knew it.
• Often times we can go into competitions with the mindset that there is no way possible we could lose.  It is therefore a slap to our pride and dignity when, in some cases, we are easily beaten.  Shackleton and his crew went into their expedition not cocky, but rather confident that they would have success.  However, the proud weather of the Antarctic swiftly humbled their level of confidence.  The men were completely at the mercy of their environment, and that prospect was slightly terrifying.  In a desperate attempt to reach the distant island, Shackleton and his men set out in their three pathetically small boats.  I can only imagine the conditions of those boats.  In my own family's road trips, the vehicle is filled to the point where we sometimes wonder if we can fit our family in with the luggage.  It was much the same for the crew, but in much worse conditions.  They were all crammed into tiny boats with every imaginable odd and end at their feet.  The temperatures were often sub-zero, and freezing ocean water constantly sprayed into their faces.  With an unbelievable amount of strength and perseverance, Shackleton and his men were able to reach land at last.

Endurance: land sighted

• Literary Term: foreshadowing- the presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come later in the work
• example: "Depressing news was waiting,  Ice conditions in the Weddell Sea, while never good, were the worst they had ever been in the memory of the Norwegian whaling skippers operating the are...some even tried to dissuade Shackleton from trying until the following season."
• Quote: "And James noted: 'A great air of expectancy everywhere.  We are on the verge of something, there is no doubt.  If all goes well we may be on land very soon.  Our chief need is an opening in the ice.  Our chief danger being carried beyond these islands and into the open sea.'"
• We have all experienced the feelings of these men.  It is as if all of nature is holding its breath, waiting.  It is as if the earth itself has stopped spinning to witness what is sure to unfold.  For the stranded men, however, they had no way of knowing what would be unfolding.  Land had been sighted after months on their ice island.  Shackleton was faced with a difficult decision that could go one of two ways.  He could choose to chance sailing in the life boats to the sighted island, at risk of colliding into huge masses of floating ice.  He could also choose to remain on their bit of ice which was, for the time being, still safe to inhabit.  It is maddening to wait in anticipation for something that we cannot control in any way.  The crew of the Endurance were forced to do just this.  They had to wait, pray, and wonder whether or not the ice would open up for them to pass through safely.

Endurance: comforting companions

• Literary Term: simple sentence- a sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause
• example: "Shackleton sat down."
• Quote: "There was a deep emotional attachment to the dogs.  It was the basic human need to love something, the desire to express tenderness in this barren place."
• Loneliness is not an emotion that is easily dealt with by humans.  We crave not only the chance to be loved, but to give love to others.  When my great-aunt's husband passed away, she finally was persuaded to purchase a dog.  Her personality completely changed.  At last, she had someone to keep her company in the lonely confines of her home.  Likewise, the men from the Endurance needed someone or something to show affection to.  The dogs offered unquestionable loyalty and companionship to the men on their lonely ice island.  In a land where almost nothing was certain, it was a comfort for the men to know that they would always have their beloved canine companions.  Due to the fact that the dogs were unaware of the danger they were all in, their indifference to their predicament allowed the men to be more optimistic about their uncertain future.

Endurance: hope

• Literary Term: symbol- an object that is used to represent something else
• example: "The ship had been a symbol, a tangible, physical symbol that linked them with the outside world...Now she was gone."
• Quote: "Greenstreet paused in the midst of his task to write in his diary: 'One of finest days we ever had...a pleasure to be alive.'"
• It is shocking that, while being stuck in the middle of nowhere and with little hope of rescue, the men were able to keep such a positive attitude about their situation.  They tried their best to get along, entertain each other, and help out around the camp.  They had almost nothing, yet they were happy.  They were happy just to be alive.  Everyday we worry about materialistic things, whether we know it or not.  It doesn't make sense to me sometimes that we obsess over material possessions and rank, when it's so obvious that we could be just as happy without them.  It gets to the point where we no longer own our possessions, but they own us.  These men had to leave almost every personal belonging at the ship in order to survive, and they did so without complaining.  They became content with simply living.  In my opinion, until we can learn to be happy living simply, we can never be content living extravagantly.

Endurance: transition ship to ice

• Literary Term: simile- a comparison of two things using "like," "as," or other specifically comparative words.
• example: "Then the Endurance began to creak and groan like a haunted house."
• Quote: "They had been on the ice exactly one week.  In seven short days they had gone from the well-ordered, even pleasant existence on board the Endurance to one of primitive discomfort, of unending wet and inescapable cold."
• This set of chapters from the novel is best summed up in this quote.  Shackleton and his crew were forced to make the transition from ship to ice after the ship was no longer secure enough to live in.  The flimsy tents offered little protection from the raging winds of the Antarctic.  There was no stronghold or insulated shelter to ward off the freezing temperatures.  I don't think any of us can accurately come close to imagining what these living conditions were like.  Melted snow and ice soaked into every cloth, coat, and sleeping bag.  Luckily, the men were able to adjust and adapt to the new environment rather smoothly.  The crew adapted so well, in fact, that often times they had to mentally remind themselves how dangerous a situation they were in.   

Endurance: anticipation

• Literary Term: hyperbole- intentional exaggeration to create an effect
• example: "Worsley related, with a characteristic touch of exaggeration: 'The result was disastrous, two of the poor creatures fainted and had to be brought round with hartshown, etc., while the remainder went into hysterics until the Vulgar Person and his associates disappeared over the horizon.'"
• Quote: "They had no idea what the future might bring.  The novelty was past, and so too was their optimism."
• As children, and even now, many of us get a thrill when we see snow starting to fall in the winter.  The winter-wonderland that is created is often breathtaking.  After days, however, of talking about, looking at, and feeling nothing but the chill of snow, even the most avid lovers of snow wish for it to go away.  Likewise, Shackleton and his men were in awe of their surroundings for the first few weeks in which their ship was stuck in the ice.  However, the excitement of their situation soon passed and was replaced with each man thinking about the unknown.  While taking sail, the men had been confident that their strongly-built ship would carry them safely to their destination.  Their optimism only increased each time the Endurance survived yet another onslaught of pressure from the ice.  Day after day, the crew watched as the side planks of the ship caved in deeper and deeper.  Finally, Shackleton was forced to tell his men that the time had come for them to evacuate the ship, for she could collapse under pressure at any moment.  On hearing this, the men's fascination with their surroundings vanished, to be replaced with fear and anticipation.

Endurance: stuck for the winter

• Literary Term: imagery- the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the senses
• example: "Up in the rigging hung a ton of whale meat for use as dog food.  It dripped blood constantly, spattering the deck and keeping the dogs in a near frenzy of anticipation hoping a piece would fall."
• Quote: "Among the men the realization that the Endurance was really beset for good came very slowly--like a kind of creeping resignation--a bad dream from which there was no awakening."
• One can only imagine the sinking feeling in the pit of these men's stomachs when they came to realize the finality of what had happened.  The crew of the Endurance was stuck in one of the most brutal areas of the world.  They knew almost at once that there was virtually no hope of being rescued from where they were.  Each man was fully aware that he was surrounded by almost one million square miles of ice, all of which was constantly moving due to winds and currents.  The situation wasn't so much a dream as it was a nightmare.  The Antarctic winter was on its way.  This meant months of sub-zero temperatures, almost no sunlight, and very limited access to food.  This quote clearly depicts the human instinct to fight off the acceptance that something truly terrible has taken place.  When a family or loved one passes away, a job is lost, or a disaster has taken place, we often deny it for as long as we can.  The crew, after accepting their fate, had to prepare both mentally and physically for the harsh winter that lie ahead of them. 

Endurance: the preparation

• Literary Term: irony- the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs
• example: "Two hours after the Endurance had sailed, the supply ship arrived with their mail on board." [The ship had arrived after the men had put off leaving for days, hoping for their mail to come one last time.]
• Quote: "If [Shackleton] liked the look of a man, he was accepted."
• Shackleton's methods of choosing the twenty-eight members of his crew somewhat contradicted the way he had planned every other aspect of his expedition.  When it came to the structure, strength, and build of the ship, Shackleton had been cautiously meticulous.  He wanted every beam to fit perfectly, every wall to be sealed, and every nail and screw to be perfectly in place.  Shackleton took months planning for and gathering the food, tools, and other necessary equipment for his journey.  After all of this carefully thought out planning, one would think that Shackleton would have put just as much time and thought into choosing the men who would be accompanying him.  This, however, was not the case.  Shackleton showed the slightly shallow side of his personality in the way he chose his men.  Most of the interviews never went over five minutes, and he turned away numerous highly qualified volunteers.  Shackleton instead recruited the men whom he thought 'looked the part.'  Surprisingly, the capricious manner in which Shackleton chose his crew ended up being highly successful; nearly all of the men possessed compatible personalities with their fellow shipmates.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

• Literary Term: personification- endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics
• Example: "And dying as she was, she cried in agony." [speaking about the ship]
• Quote: "Somehow, the glass on its front had not broken."
• The sentence above was stated after the crew had evacuated the Endurance, which was being crushed by ice of the Antarctic.  I felt that this quote served as both a symbol and a foreshadowing device.  The glass of the ship symbolizes the twenty-eight men who made up the crew.  Both the men and the glass are extremely fragile things that should have easily been demolished by the forces working against them.  By saying that the glass had somehow survived the pressure of the crushing ice, author Alfred Lansing foreshadows that the men will also be able to endure the terrors of their new environment.  The prospect that an underdog can find the strength to overcome tremendous odds almost always makes for an intriguing tale.  After reading about the brutal conditions in which these men would be forced to live in, one's mind immediately begins to wonder how they could possibly survive.  This foreshadowing hint that they in fact do manage to survive entices the reader to press on in order to discover how Shackleton's and his crew were able to do so.