Endurance Part 2 Chapter 2-6

Important quote: "The final loss of the Endurance was a shock in that it severed what had seemed their last tie with civilization. (Lansing 84)"
Lit Term: Declarative Sentence- "The retreat began at seven that night. (Lansing 96)."

Discussion: Shackleton and his men have been on the ice for a week now and were suprisingly happy. They all have taken such an interest toward food, almost animal like. They will eat anything as long as it allows them to survive. Several trips are made to gather what remaining items, mainly food, that could e salvaged from the ship. Five days before Thanksgiving, the Endurance finally sinks. Now the men are completely abandoned. Their last visual to stir memories of civilization now lost. It is a devestating blow leaving some of the crew in despair for a few days. Now the only hope for the crew is to reach land and leave their encampment on the large ice floe. The loss of the Endurance is like losing someone to a terminal disease. It is a known fact they are going to die, it is the thought that the friend could go any second. Those experiences devestate the mind and what I would like to know is, what they thought of their last tie to civilization gone and how they were able to overcome that feeling. Even Shackleton could not describe what he felt.

Endurance Part 1 Chapter 6-Part 2 Chapter 1

Important Quote: " 'She's going boys,' he said. 'I think it's time to get off.' (Lansing 60)"

Lit Term: complex sentence- "By the time the job was completed, it was too late to get under way. (Lansing 55)"

Discussion: Now we get to the evacuation of the Endurance. After months of battling a fearsome blizzard, sub-zero temperatures, pressure shocks, and immense snow, the crew must abandon ship. Everyone was working to free the ship of the enourmous ice flows squeezing her. At most, the crew had three hours of sleep. They used all they could to free the ship. Now it's a race against time to empty the needed materials from the ship and travel to the nearest human outpost. Even worse, the men could carry few possessions with them to maximize their survival. Shackleton made this clear. He was the first. He threw three of his most cherished possessions: a gold cigarette case, several gold sovereigns, and the bible Queen Alexandria had given him with two pages torn out. Shackleton kept the page with the Twenty-third Psalm and a page from the book of Job. Shackleton's gesture reveals the inner strength that he has. Many of the men followed suit. Shackleton's gesture showed how what it takes to survive the antarctic desert.

Endurance Part 1: Chapters 3-5

Important Quote: "Early in May the sun appeared over the horizon for the last time, then slowly dropped from sight--and the Antarctic night began. (Lansing 37)"

Lit Term: Homily: "Ordelees, the storekeeper,was dressed as a Methodist minister, the 'Rev. Bubbling-Love,' and he exhorted his listeners against the wages of sin. (Lansing 44)"

Discussion: The antarctic night finally sets in in chapter 4. In chapter 3, Perce Blackboro was finally discovered and brought to Shackleton. After some thought, Shackleton decides to keep Blackboro. The only catch: If someone has to be eaten for food, he is the first one to go. If I was in his situation,  probably would have fainted or jump off the boat and swam for the nearest island. I would not be able to be on a boat knowing that if everyone got stranded, I would be food for the rest of the crew. This is the most gay part of the book besides the ending. (Gay as in happy). Once the eternal night set in, the crew grew closer together rather than closer to insanity. Blackboro became one of the crew and everyone discarded the fact that he was a stowaway. To keep themselves entertained, the crew created plays and games. If I was stuck in darkness like the crew of the Endurance, I would be most like everyone else and fall into despair. I would not have been as merry and gleeful as the crew was. The eternal night was the first of the many dreadful events that the crew of the Endurance will experience.

Endurance Part 1: Chapters 1 and 2

Important Quote: "It was, perhaps, the attitude of the men. They worked with a deliberate urgency, hardly speaking to one another. There was no display of alarm, however. (Lansing 4)."

Lit Term: Personification- "The pressure of ten million tons of ice was driving in against her sides. And dying as she was, she cried in agony. (Lansing 2)"

Discussion: The Endurance was finally going. The men had been working arduosly for three straight days with little or no sleep. They were to tired to tired to worry, care, or panic. The sledding dogs feel situation the men face. "Ordinarily, any activity of this sort would have driven the dogs mad with excitement, but somehow they seemed to sense that something very extraordinary was going on. Something extraordinary was going on. I feel that Lansing was conveying the feeling of something truly grave and disastrous occuring. Chapter 2 recalls the beginning of the idea of the transcontinental crossing of antarctica. Shackelton hanpicked each one of the men, except for Perce Blackboro. (He was a stowaway). Shackleton must survive with these men for 10 months on the grueling ice before they escape. This event makes me think of the film Castaway starring tom hanks. Castaway was about a man who survives a plane crash on a deserted island, survives befriends a soccerball and makes it back to civilization. This movie about survival is much like Endurance. Now the men must survive the wilderness of Antarctica.