“The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod
1. Effect of books
· Father – escape from the dreariness of a life spent at a job he disliked but was shackled to.
· Daughters – also an escape; learned about the outside world; unlike their father, they moved away.
· Narrator – loved books; obeyed his father’s request that he continue his education, but loved the sea as well – not totally happy as a university professor.
· Mother – hated, distrusted books; resents them because they draw her children away from her into different worlds.
2. a. Father favored but not idealized
· Described as disorderly, unkempt, distant, sometimes quick-tempered with his wife.
· Narrator’s relationship with his father – feels torn between the sea (sense of duty and protectiveness for his father) and books/education (the world beyond the village)
b. Mother feels left out; therefore envious of the passion her family feels towards books. Perhaps she was not encouraged to read in her childhood, or to value an education.
3. Symbolism
· Boat – symbolizes duty, imprisonment, necessity
· Books – symbolizes journey of life – provide transport into excitement, intellect, and imagination. The daughters and the son actually leave the village; the father, only in his imagination.