Endurance: Part 2, Chapters 4-6

Shackleton's Crew at Ocean Camp (an ice flow)

In these chapters of the novel Endurance, the men finally had lost their ship to the Antarctic waters, and they were camping on ice floes as they attempted to head west towards Paulet Island. Because it was the middle of the Antarctic summer though, the ice floes were covered in slush and snow, and the crew usually ended up sleeping in puddles of icy water. Living conditions were incredibly uncomfortable, and many of the men were miserable. I have watched the television show Survivor a few times, and what Shackleton’s men were going through reminded me of the situations of the men and women on Survivor. They often had a shortage of food and supplies, just as the men on Shackleton’s expedition. Also, when it would rain on Survivor, the castaways would often have wet clothing and sleeping spaces for days, something the crew of the Endurance also experienced. Although a few similarities are present between the situation of Shackleton’s crew and that of the Survivor castaways, one must keep in mind that Survivor is a reality television show where the cast can leave at any point. Shackleton’s crew was stranded in Antarctica with no hopes of being rescued.

Symbol is one of the literary terms used in these chapters. The Endurance, even trapped in the ice, was still a symbol of civilization for the crew.

            “The final loss of the Endurance was a shock in that it severed what had seemed their last tie with civilization. It was a finality. The ship had been a symbol, a tangible, physical symbol that linked them with the outside world. She had brought them nearly halfway around the globe...Now she was gone,” (84).

            Even when she was trapped in the ice and uninhabitable, the Endurance was still a reminder to the crew that there was hope for returning home. When the ship finally sank into the dark, frigid water, the men began to lose the optimism that she had instilled in them. The vessel that had carried them thousands of miles away from civilization and that had tied them to their families had just been destroyed, and so were the crew’s hopes and dreams of survival and escape.