Analysis Of David Foster Wallace's Shipping Out

While at first glance, David Foster Wallace’s “Shipping Out” describes the miserable tale of the author on a cruise ship for a week, however, it is actually a commentary on the underlying insidious nature of cruise ships and vacation services. During this period, the author is treated to a multitude of luxuries, including thorough cleaning services, high-class dining, and constant recreational activities provided by the cruise. However, the author grows increasingly unsettled as he realizes the extent the ship’s crew is willing to do in order to gain the validation and the satisfaction of their customers. Jennifer Volland’s essay “Stay: The Archetypical Space of the Hotel” is another work which describes the nature of similar vacation spots, …show more content…
The analytical psychologist Carl Jung proposed a theory in which there are two components to one’s identity: the persona and the shadow. The persona is what one presents to the world and the shadow is the hidden part of one’s personality. This is prevalent in the scene in “Shipping Out” when Wallace discovers Frank Conroy’s essay about Celebrity Cruises. The essay describes the ideal vacation: peaceful, stress-free, and full of pampering from the staff, all of which, form the persona of the ship. The cruise line has created a unique brand in which it labels itself as being able to “guarantee pleasure” to all of its guests. However, Wallace notices an ominous message while interviewing Conroy about his essay. The cruise company is so dedicated to maintaining this persona of being able to provide the perfect vacation, that it paid Conroy to write this essay. This reveals a glimpse of Celebrity Cruises’s shadow, which is that it is extremely concerned with the company’s image and will go to ridiculous extents to micromanage your perception and interpretation of the company. Therefore, the essay has an insidious meaning behind it, under a facade of goodwill. However, there is a way to see past the brand and manipulation, and this is found in Captain Video’s documentation of the cruise. Captain Video is the only character that provides a clear, impassive view of the trip. During Wallace’s stay on the Nadir, Captain Video explored the ship and documented everything without bias with his camera’s video footage. This footage provides clear, factual proof of what occurs on the ship, which, unlike Conroy’s essay, cannot be manipulated as easily by the company to bolster the reputation of the cruise line. Celebrity Cruises’s ultimate goal is to attract customers by pretending that they care for each guest’s vacation experience in