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."