The Boat
In Alistair MacLeod's "The Boat," the narrator is trying to come to terms with himself by confronting his past life with his present life. He is trying to decide of he has chosen the right career and lifestyle. His decision not to live by the ocean and to pursue the life of a fisherman was the right decision for him in the beginning. Although it was the right one for him at first, one can easily see why it does not turn out to be the best choice in the years to come. In this paper I will explore the reasons why he did not make the right decision to leave the ocean. These reasons are because of the unresolved grief over the loss of his father, the importance of family and tradition, and the guilt that he feels by his leaving. The narrator has many unresolved feelings of grief over the loss of his father. He has not come to terms with the significance of his father's passing. In the beginning of the story he is still having frequent early morning awakenings where he "imagine that my father is waiting for me in the room below the darkened stairs" (MacLeod 45). Although the narrator has made clear career and lifestyle choices far from the traditional world of his youth, he has not come to terms with the
This makes him feel guilty that his father's death may have happened because of the love he had for his son. When his father becomes ill, he drops out of school to help his mother get ready for the upcoming fishing season. There was not much left of my father, physically, as he lay there with the brass chains on his wrists and the seaweed on his hair. It is hard for him to know that his "mother looks upon the sea with love and on you with bitterness" (MacLeod 54). A means of his coping with this grief is by telling a story that explores his relationship with his father and mother. After the first day of fishing, his father says to him: "You will go back tomorrow" (MacLeod 51). He feels guilty for leaving his mother living alone "on an inadequate insurance policy and that she is too proud to accept any other aid" (MacLeod 54). (MacLeod 54) The narrator is feeling conflicted about his abandonment of tradition and family. loss of his father and therefore still feels unease in his life. The feeling one gets that it may not have been an accident is the father's response: "I hope you will remember what you've said" (MacLeod 53). He felt selfish and then tells his father that he "would remain with him as long as he lived and we would fish the sea together" (MacLeod 53). In the last paragraph, he hears of the gruesome details of how his father died. There are feelings of guilt that arise in the narrator due to his moving so far away.
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Acceptance Essays
