Diving Engine Conflicts

The major conflict in this novel is how diving turned out to be an unforgivable force that took away a father and his son. On a rough day out at sea, Chris Rouse and his son Chrissy were deep diving to a German U-boat that was recently discovered off the coast of New Jersey. They were very excited because they were one of the first people to be down there and the first to have a chance of identifying the submarine. That day, waves were as high as six feet and the a storm was quickly approaching. Chrissy decided to back out of the dive, only to be pushed by his father. In the memoir, Chowdhury writes that “When Chrissy informed his father that he did not want to dive in such rough conditions, his father verbally abused him, questioning his diving ability and …show more content…
In the end, both father and son were in to prove that they were “real divers”. Because of financial problems at the time, Chris could not afford mixed air, oxygen mixed with other essential gasses that lessened the narcosis effect, because of the recession in the economy. They were diving on regular air, composed of merely oxygen and helium. Most divers would not dare to do so, especially at such a depth of three hundred feet. After Chrissy ventured into the submarine, a large metal shelf fell and pinned him down. His screams for help alerted father and Chris rushed to help his son. After Chrissy was free, the Rouses realized they were down underwater for much too long and had to decompress as quickly as possible. Due to the narcosis effect, Chris became confused and exited through the wrong entrance. They ended up on the other side of the submarine and could not find their tanks that were necessary for decompression. Chris and Chrissy decided to risk the nitrogen in their blood and descent quickly, which could be fatal, instead of drowning. As Chris made his way out of the water, the nitrogen bubbles began to overwhelm his