Week 8: In the Heart of the Sea

In the Heart of the Sea


Conquering lesser things seems to be a running theme throughout everything we've read so far. From the Devil trying to conquer humans to settlers trying to conquer the Native Americans, to the Conquistadors living up to their names in Mexico. Jacobs' slave narrative about whites conquering blacks and vice versa, and now with In the Heart of the Sea, man is trying to conquer nature. In most cases, so far, one side has been rewarded or avenged and the other side has been punished in some way, (that is if there was a good side and a bad side), In the Heart of the Sea is no different.

The nature in this novel is the whale and the human nature of man in general. The personification of the whale makes the incident even more powerful. The whale attacked the whaleboat in order to punish the whale hunters. It was retribution. The whale was attacking out of compassion for other whales (91). It was a whale revolution! Fight the oppressors! And man must pay for what he’s done. Or something like that.

Punishment comes from evil doing but “evil” is a relative concept. The punishment of evil comes from whatever God or force you believe in, such as karma. The punishment from the whales was the sinking of their ship and the suffering that comes with it. The crewmembers ate each other and ultimately after living with the horrors for the rest of his life, Chase went crazy. It’s like there’s this anti-force in nature following people who do terrible things, that brings payback.

This idea reminds me of the M. Night Shyamalan movie “The Happening” with Marky Mark. Anyone seen it? In the movie people, start killing themselves for no apparent reason. Jumping off buildings and in one horrible scene, a girl sticks a metal chopstick into her own neck. No one can figure out what is going on, but in the end, Marky Mark figures it all out. The planet itself has created a toxic poison that it emits to kill people who live in too densely populated areas. The only cure was to start smaller, widely spaced new communities of say 1-2 families. The Earth revolted against its own people to protect itself, just as whale does.

This brings into the question of community vs. the individual. Which is more important? Harriet Jacobs dealt with this in her narrative as well. Is the need for independence worth more than the need for a community to work together to stay strong? In In the Heart of the Sea, the men who survive on the boat had to face this dilemma. Is it better to save yourself or save everyone? To do what’s right for you or do what’s right for everyone? What about not in a crisis? What about in a crisis? Does this change things? Does being in a life or death situation really throw all the morals and rules out of the window? Once you eat one person, (or do something immoral in other situations) where does it stop? Will it always haunt you as I believe it did Chase?

How do you choose whom to eat? Is it really a sacrifice? As the facilitation in class referred to, which is better: to die a good man or to live as a monster? The good man would be the one eaten. He didn’t really do anything wrong. Or live your entire life as a monster that did terrible things? I’m not sure. But one thing I know is that everyone must see Shutter Island if you haven’t already. :)