The End to an Unbelievable Journey: Part 7, Chapters 1-3

Part 7, chapter 2,  page 267


The men staggered onto the beach and secured the boat with what little strength they had left. They spent the next couple days just sleeping and eating. Shackleton decided though that they had to move forward but with only two other men to accompany him. Starting with a group of twenty-eight men, they were now down to a group of three. They shook hands and said their goodbyes, and Shackleton and his lessened crew headed at a steady pace to the whaling station. They would hike a short distance and would have to retrace their steps for it was impossible to go through. At one point, they had to climb down a steep mountain and then realized they had no other choice but to slide down. Lansing writes, "Faster and fast-down....down...down!...a moment later they camo to an abrupt halt in a snowbank...They were breathless and their hearts were beating wildly. but they found themselves laughing uncontrollably. What had been a terrifying prospect possibly a hundred seconds before had turned into a breathtaking triumph." They just had to go and not think too much about the consequences. That is almost the theme of their entire journey; living in the moment was key. As they finished their journey to the whaling station, Shackleton had a great sense of achievement. Although they had not reached their initial goal, they had achieved unbelieveable feats and triumphs. Every man in his crew survived to tell their stories and every man left with an incredible sense of pride.


This quote reminds me how everyone needs time to relax and let loose every once in a while. They had been stressed and tense for far too long. When they laughed, it gave them a new mindset that ultimately allowed them to keep trudging through the harsh terrain. We all need to remember to let go of our serious lifestyles. If we learn to take time to relax even for a few minutes to escape our hectic lives, it can calm us down keeping our attitudes and outlooks on life healthy.


My literary term is resolution. (the falling action of a narrative; the events following the climax)
The entire seventh part to this book serves as the main part of the resolution. The men finally reach South Georgia, find aid, and rescue their whole party.

Success: Part 6, Chapters 4-6

part 6, chapter 5, page 239

The Caird had left Elephant Island just six days before, and yet they were one-third of the way there already. There had been no let up of the struggles of the waves and the weather. Everything made the men uncomfortable and now even sleeping was no longer looked forward to. Ice had begun to cling to everything, weighing the boat down tremendously and in turn carried away their anchor with it. This meant that they just had to keep going and luckily, they were headed in the northeast direction that they were searching for. They were moving forward slowly but surely and in just a few days would reach their destination if all stayed the same. The waves kept wearing them away by constantly filling the boat with constant supplies of water. With this brought pollution to their water supply which was now dangerously going to affect how long they could keep living. Through the hurricane-like winds and storms, the men finally did it though. They saw land and came to realize that it was South Georgia, their goal. The only problem was that the course the wind was taking was blowing them the wrong way and if they missed landing in South Georgia, they were doomed to the open sea with nowhere to stop. Shackelton called for their final option which was to sail right into the wind with all their might. Through excrutiating hours of rough, rigid battles between the boat and the water, they did it; they crawled onto the land. The quote in this section that seemed to emphasize their situation the best was, "For thirteen days they had suffered through almost ceaseless gales, then finally a huge rogue sea. They had been the underdog, fit only to endure the punishment inflicted  on them.
But sufficiently provoked, there is hardly a creature on god's earth that ultimately won't turn and attempt a fight, regardless of the odds. In an unspoken sense, that was much the way they felt now. They were possessed by an angry determination to see the journey through-no matter what. They felt that they had earned it. For thirteen days they had absorbed everthing that the Drake Passage could through at them-and now, by God, they deserved to make it."


There are many tales of how the underdog is always favored to win. In this case it was the miniature Caird versus the wide open sea. This story can be paralleled to David and Goliath. No one expected David to come out victorious in that fight with his lack of protection and size. Through the power of faith and determination, he came out a champion. We can all win our battles if we have pure faith and fortitude through and through.

My literary term is mood. (the emotional atmosphere of a work)
The mood of this part of the book is a relentless effort to not give up and an attitude to do whatever it took to stay alive and save their fellow crew members back on Elephant Island.

Getting Out: Part 6, Chapters 1-3

part 6, chapter 2, page 226


Shackleton took a crew of five other men with him on his journey to South Georgia in search of rescue. As they left Elephant Island, they realized how difficult of a journey it would be. They were in constant efforts to keep the boat steady and going in the right path. The ocean spray was relentlessly spewing into the boat and made it impossible to get a moment of relief of the wet atmosphere. They had so much stress into just staying afloat that they almost never thought of their dream goal: South Georgia. Lansing describes, " Only very occasionally did they think about South Georgia. I was so remote, so Utopian that it was almost depressing to contemplate...Instead, life was reckoned in periods of a few hours, or possibly only a few minutes-an endless succession of trials leading to deliverance from the particular hell of the moment."


Shackelton and his crew might not have been able to make it through those perilous waters if they were only worried about making it to their destination. They had to look at the problems at hand first and not just at the result. Life is like this. It is important to have goals in life and to look ahead to them, but if we focus everything on just that, then we are sure to miss important things along the way. Similarly, we must live our lives day by day just trying to survive.

More Information on the James Caird Voyage


My literary term is syllepsis. (a construction in which one word is used in two different senses)
part 6, chapter 2, page 224
"Wet through, but happy through it all."

Elephant Island: Part 5, Chapters 4-6

part 5, chapter 4, page 197


The twenty-two men that had been left on the island now needed to do everything in their power to stay alive. They made a hut, killed some penguins, and had to secure living conditions. The spirits of theses men were down. They tried to ease their nerves by making bets and barters, telling stories, and sharing dreams. No matter what they did though, their moral could not improve. This sense of helplessness could be summed up in this one quote, " I think I spent this morning the most unhappy hour of my life-all attempts seemed so hopeless, and Fate seemed absolutely determined to thwart us. Men sat and cursed, not loudly but with an intenseness that showed their hatred of this island on which we had sought shelter."

They needed to do everything in their power to stay alive on this island. This paralleled the book Hatchet and the rest of the series. These books were about a boy named Brian who was stranded in the Canadian wilderness for an extremely extensive period of time. Both of these stories show the hardships of the wild, cold, and food. They show incredible feats and stories of survival.


My literary term is motivation. (a character's incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that which impels a character to act)
The twenty-two men on the island had motivation to survive. They did all theoir jobs and endured all their harships in order to survive. It was all for the motivation of staying alive.

Letting Go: Part 5, Chapters 1-3

Elephant Island

Part 5, chapter 3, page 195


The more the party looked around Elephant Island, the more they noticed how far from a paradise it was. It was land, but was still no where near a safe place. This was why they needed to get off the island. Shackleton decided that he needed to take a crew of five men with him to get help. They could not possibly finish across the continent for it would be far too dangerous. Shackleton loaded up the Caird and he along with the five other men said their goodbyes to each other. This new voyage was to make it to South Georgia to receive help. The other twenty-two men were to wait on the island and try their best to survive. " Orde-Lees recorded, 'We watched them until they were out of sight, which was not long...she disappeared completely, sail and all.' " This quote marks a pivital point in the story where the group finally has to split apart in order to save them as a whole.


Sometimes we have to say goodbye to people in order for things to get better. It's like sending a loved one off to war. They have to leave to help the whole. They have to risk their lives to save our country. It is always hard to send them off, but they know it is what is best for the entire group.


My literary term is personification. (endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics.


part 5, chapter 2, page 185
"She (Elephant Island) had revealed her true face to them, and the sight of it wsa ugly."

Land!: Part 4, Chapters 4-5

part 4, chapter 5, page 175


In just a few short days, Shackleton and his crew had made amazing progress in the open ocean. They had traveled so many miles that they were now unddr 100 miles away from solid land. Although they had overcome outstanding feats in their journey, living conditions in the three small boats, the Docker, the Caird, and the Wills, were anything but livable. The men were frozen solid and that which wasn't yet frozen was wet all the way through. They hadn't slept in days causing them to pass out from pure exhaustion in the middle of intense conditions. The food sources were depleting making things seem all the worse. Through all these hardships, the men kept on trudging through the thick waves knowing that they would reach land. Then they finally did it, "They were on land. It was a mere 100 feet wide and 50 feet deep. A meager grip on savage coast, exposed to the full fury of the sub-Antarctic Ocean. But no matter-they were on land. For the first time in 497 days they were on land. Solid, unsinkable, immovable, blessed land."


For some reason, this quote reminded me of the movie Rudy. All Rudy wanted to do was make the Notre Dame football team. He put forth every possible effort get accepted into Notre Dame and then to just be on the team. When he finally achieved this goal, his next was to just get into a game. Just a few seconds in a game would make him ecstatic. His team backed him up and his goal was finally reached in his last game. Although the final outcome might not seem glorious, it was a major achievement to Rudy.


My literary term is dialogue. (conversation between two or more people)
part 4, chaper 5, page 172
"Blackboro," he shouted in the darkness.
"Here, sir, " Blackboro replied.
"We shall be on Elephant Island tomorrow," Shackleton yelled. "No one has ever landed there before, and you will be the first ashore."

Ironic Situation: Part 4, Chapters 1-3

part 4, chapter 2, page 147


"They realized immediately that they must be in the open ocean. Ironically, here was the moment that they had dreamed of ever since the days at Ocean Camp-but the reality was vastly different from the dream."
The voyage had suddenly become harder than anyone had expected. Since Patience Camp, there had not been floes safe enough to camp on longer than a few hours. This became evident when the floe cracked right underneath a tent where quite a few of the men were sleeping causing some of them to fall into the icy water.Shackleton now ordered that they sleep in the boats and would just have to deal with the surroundings. Now they were finally in the open ocean, a goal that they had been looking forward too. The only problem was that it was nothing like they had expected.


There are alot of times in our lives where we look forward to something to an excessive amount and then the result is not what we had expected. One year for my birthday, I begged my parents to buy me this new laptop that seemed to have all the latest technology. As soon as I got it, I realized it was not all it had been cracked up to be. I had saved up all my to buy all the gadgets that went with it, and in the end, I had wasted all on my money on something that wasn't as amazing as the guy at the store sold it to be. When we reach our goals, sometimes they aren't all we thought they were going to be.


My literary term is irony. (the use of words to convery the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs)


They thought that things would be safer and all around better once they left the floes and pack ice; however, once the crew made it out to the open ocean, the wind and waves made it an almost impossible journey.

Launching the Boats: Part 3, Chapters 4-6

part 3, chapter 6, page 137-138


The journey had just become incredibly rough. Their food supply was starting to twindle and tensions began to flair. The sight of land did raise their spirits a bit, and they all realized they needed to stick together even more now. Between the sadness of having to kill some of their dogs, famish, extreme cold, and loss of excitement of the journey, the men needed something to busy themselves and occupy their minds. The inevitable happened though. The ice beneath them that had served them as a home at "Patience Camp" had begun to crack underneath them. My quote for this section is, "Then they waited... torn between the overpowering desire to launch the boats reguardless of the risk, and the certain knowledge that once they did so, there could be no turning back. Small as it was, theirs was the only decent floe in sight. If they abandoned it, and the pack closed up before they reached another campsite, there would be no escape." This quote shows how the men's lives were on the line minute by minute. If they stayed on the ice, there might not be another opening and the ice they were on could crack at any moment; consequently, if they left this floe, the ice around them could close in at any moment.


It seemed to be a lose-lose situation; there wasn't a clear cut answer just staring them in the face. Just like on Shackleton's voyage, choices in life are never easy. God doesn't just hand people books with all the right answers in them. In the movie "Titanic", Rose decides to take a chance and trust Jack with all her heart. Although she could have just gotten in a boat with her mother and would have easily survived, she took the chance in love with Jack knowing in her heart, her life would ultimately be happier. It was a hard choice between life and love, but Rose's decision, although made hastily and ending in the death of Jack, made her life more fulfilling. It was a change worth taking.


My literary term is onomatopoeia. (a word formed from the imidation of natural sounds)


part 3, chapter 6, page 137
"Crack!
Again the floe has split in two..."

Just Waiting: Part 3, Chapters 1-3

part 3, chapter 3, page 120


The crew had recently just moved from the pack ice right beside where Endurance had gone under at last. After naming that camp "Ocean Camp", the men decided to name this new place "Mark Time Camp" for they hoped they would be there only temporarily. Now all they could do was wait for the pack ice to open letting them out to the sea, if it ever did. Shackleton's main goal now was just to get out of there. They had to get food in the meantime which served as a way to distract themselves from the harsh realities. All this waiting took a toll on people. " Macklin, who had consistently struggled to remain hard-headedly pessimistic, found it impossible to hold out any longer. He let himself go on March 13, saying, 'I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of escaping...We have been over 4 months on the flor- atime of absolute and utter inutility to anyone. There is absolutely nothing to do but kill time as best as one may....One looks forward to meals, not for what one will get, but as definite breaks in the day. All around us we have day after day the same unbroken whiteness, unrelieved by anything at all. "

                                                         Ocean Camp

 This quote almost reminds me of the movie "Dear John" which was about how a young man in the army, John, falls in love with a young college girl, Savanna, on their breaks. When John finally goes away again, they write to each other as often as they can. However, half of the time they can only write every few months and then have to wait a few months to receive them. All of the waiting becomes monotonous. They kept going knowing that their final goal was to hear from their other half again. They could bear the waiting since their final goal was worth the wait.

My literary term is declarative sentence. (a sentence that makes a statement or declaration)

part 3, chapter 3, page 117

"Worst of all were the days of bad weather."

New Years: Part 2, Chapters 1-6

part 2, chapter 6, page 97


" Macklin noted: 'The last day of 1915...tomorrow 1916 begins: I wonder what it will bring forth for us. This time last year we prophesied that just now we would be well across the Continent.' "


At this point on the expedition, it had been around five months. This considerable amount of time had accumulated many high expectations amoung the crew members. This quote describes Dr. Alexander Macklin's attitude about the journey's progress. He had expected that the journey would be highly developed and almost completed their goal. A little bit of Macklin's doubt shows through in his journal entry here.


Dissappointment occurs almost everywhere. It usually occurs right after a plan does not go exactly as it was planned. Doubt is sure to follow after dissapointment.The members of Endurance were probably dissapointed that the journey was taking longer than it had been prophesized. Planning an event minute by minute is an extremely difficult challenge. We have to learn to let some scenes in our lives fall as they may. Those who rely soley on a strict structural lifestyle are often lost in this chaotic world. It is great to set goals and have aspirations. Those are necessary for a successful life. However, we must learn to overcome dissapointments in failed plans and to move forward.


My literary term is simile. (a comparison of two things using "like", "as", or other specifically comparative words.


part 2, chapter 5, page 85
" 'We both felt,' siad Greenstreet, 'like guilty schoolboys caught robbing an orchard, and immediately paddled for the bank and landed and went on with our seal hunt, finally meeting him as he returned to camp.' "

She's Gone: Part 1, Chapters 4-8

part 1, chapter 8, page 60


" She was done, and nobody needed to tell them........'She's going, boys,' he said, 'I think it's time to get off.' "
This quote marked the first primary turning point in the story. Shackleton and his crew had already tackled the sea for 3 straight months. Now was the start to the real adventure. Colliding with the ice which slowly destroyed their home ship Endurance shoved them onto the ice. The members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition would now have to continue their journal by foot. At this point, there was no turning back.


Shackleton's words had deep meaning. In this quote, the boat symbolized a chapter in one's life. Just as the boat sank in Endurance, some parts of our lives "sink". When we make certain decisions in our lives, we can almost never return to where we had been. Moving on becomes an important step in the growing process of our lives. People must learn to accept the fact that although one door may close in their lives, another door will always open.


My literary term is turning point. (the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs)


turning point:  This quote significantly explains how the boat sinking is a crucial turning point in the story.

Shackleton's Incredible Voyage: Part 1, Chapters 1-3

part 1, chapter 3, page 22-23


My choice book is Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. The introduction of this book starts out with the climax of the story; the ship sinking. However, after this, it goes back to describing how sir Enrnest Shackleton, the leader of this voyage, managed this entire ordeal and who he picked as fellow 27 (later 28) members of this incredible expedition. Of this, I thought that the quote that had effectiveness was, "They were on their way at last, really on their way, and Shackleton was immenmsly relieved. The long years of preparation were over... the begging, the hypocrisy, the finagling, all were finished. The simple act of sailing had carried him beyond the world of reversals, frustrations, and inanities. And in the space of a few short hours, life had been reduced from a highly complex existence, with a thousand petty problems, to one of the barest simplicity in which only one real tak remained- the achievement of the goal." To me, the quote emphasizes the extreme importance of Shackleton's goal, crossing the Antarctic continent. The voyage was his main priority. He had put all effort and funds into this trip. Shackleton and his crew were about to do what no other exploration group had done before in crossing Antarctica. With this achievement would come a great sense of accomplishment and pride and would gain respect and recognition.
This could be related to almost anything in our culture. When people set thier mind to something that they feel strongly about, they can go beyond many limits to achieve it. This could be a certain grade on a test or winning a certain sports championship. If it is an important goal then one would put all his effort into it.


My literary term is absolute (a word free from limitations or qualifications)


part 1, chapter 2, page 16
"Wild's loyalty to Shackleton was beyond question, and his quiet, somewhat unimaginative disposition was a perfect balance for Shackleton's often whimsical and occasionally explosive nature."