The Boat By Alistair Macleod Essay

“The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod was able to show the pressure that parents place on their offsprings in a very relatable manner. His words were able to capture, in great detail, a child’s train of thought and how they would act when placed in a very difficult position. The narrator had to decide whether he should follow in his family’s tradition and become a fisherman or stray off and continue his education. As a student about to graduate in less than a year's time, I am able to relate with the son. With thoughts concerning the future, different occupational paths to follow, and grades to keep up, this is a very stressful year for me. And being bombarded with the same questions that I myself have failed to answer to my parents, only makes it all the more challenging. The narrator was also placed in the same position with questions concerning his experience on the boat: When we returned…

In the short story “The Boat”, Alistair Macleod describes the conflicting relationship between a mother and a father based on their different attitudes about their children’s futures. The story is told through the perspective of the son in the family, looking back on his childhood in the 1930’s in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The narrator begins the story with the first trip he took with his dad on their boat. It was a 32 by 9 foot “Cape Island boat” designed for small inshore fisherman. Coming…

use books as a source of entertainment and writing as a form of self-expression. Books and reading in general has many benefits like mental stimulation, gaining knowledge and much more. The function of books, reading and writing is further highlighted in “The Yellow wallpaper” and “The Boat”. “The Yellow wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Boat” by Alistair Macleod tells the story of two families, their struggles and how they cope with daily problems. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the…

Pressure from family can lead to stress or even become overwhelming. This is apparent in the story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod. The narrator of the story is a son that is raised in a lifestyle that revolves around fishing on a boat. However, the son has repressed thoughts about gaining knowledge and studying instead of living his life on the boat. Even though his father urges him to study instead of working on the boat, the son is pressured by his mother to stay. Also, he does not want to…

chew tobacco? Yes, a very long time ago, before you were ever thought of. And was it hard for you to stop? Yes It was, Alex, he says quietly, more difficult than you will ever know.’ – The Return In Alistair MacLeod’s intricate oeuvre of short stories Island, he depicts a microcosmic community that is on the cusp of socioeconomic and cultural change. MacLeod explores the conflict between the past and present through these torn characters with in Island to reveal the hardships they face, he…

Parents and their children hold a very distinct relationship with each other. Parents are predestined to guide their child, and to show the support that the child needs to fulfill their potential. The manner in which a parent raises a child is subjective for every parental figure as well; they will undoubtedly enforce what they believe to be morally correct, without regard to what other individuals may believe. However, whether the connection is between a mother and a child, a father and a…

Nowlan’s play The Dollar Woman during multiple circumstances. As well as in the short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod, Kakenya Ntaiya’s TED talk “A girl who demanded school” and the short story “The Persian Carpet” by Hanan Shaykh. Firstly, traditions are generally passed down in a family or community and they often become almost impossible to break free from as they…

In both of the books Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and Island by Allistar Macleod, each author plays on the readers five senses in order to give them the ability to place themselves in the context of the story in certain places in Canada, even though some of their readers have never been to Canada before. In Anne of Green Gables, there are many beautiful evocative descriptions of nature throughout the book, which gives the reader the ability to place themselves on Prince Edward Island…