Navpreet

1) Mood: How does the story make you feel?

This short story of The boat carries many emotions throughout the story. One of the many
feelings I had felt while had been reading was being trapped. As if I was in the fathers shoes of
not being able to escape the life he had and the sons shoes as he was confused about what to do. I
felt anxious, lost, disconnected and afraid for the father as his life was in great danger. I actually
felt as if my life was going through the same situations but different scenarios. I was able to
relate to the story from the feeling of being torn. The father was torn from education and being at
sea and let anger sometimes get the best of him. The mood of this story varies from sadness to
anger and isolation along with the traditions being broken from the children causing grief.
2) How does the mood relate to the stories meaning?
The mood relates to the stories meaning because the mother had not wanted to be social creating
great discomfort in how everyone socialized and felt. The son also did not want to live the life of
his father but had no choice as he was relied on to be the only source of income. Even while the
son was at university he had sleepless nights of not being able to let go of the past, showing the
hurt he felt. Along with that the father was in the same situation as his son as he wanted to
always learn and had a passion for education but could not pursue it and had to carry on with the
dangerous life of being a fisherman which later on causes his death. The boat is the most
important item to the family as it shows the passing of tradition, you can see the sadness of not
being able to let go of the boat but also not being able to be who you really want to be and pursue
what you would like to actually do. The tradition is dying as the younger generations are letting
go and you can see this in the daughter and son which is what the mother had not wanted. The
fathers reactions towards the mother shows the anger he feels and it also shows the family
moving apart from each other.
3) What is the genre of the short story?
The genre of the short story is Canadian fiction along with historical fiction due to it taking place
in Nova Scotia and in the setting of the 1940's. It speaks of the past as the narrator is describing
his childhood in great detail and how he had come about to his current destination in life as being
a professor at a university but still not being able to find happiness in it.