The Last Voyage of The Ghost Ship, Garcia Marquez

                           The Last Voyage of The Ghost Ship

Summary

        'The Last Voyage of The Ghost Ship' was written by a Columbian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez narrated by an anomncient narrator in stream of consciousness technique ,This story presents the growth of a weak and ordinary boy yo bold and assertive young man.

     Now, the boy has gained maturity and challenges the villagers in threatening tone. However, many years ago he was immature and weak. During that time he had seen a large ship without light and sound passing by his village towards the otherside of bay. The ship was appearing and disappearing intermittently (side by side). When the light of the Beacon (light house) fell onto it, it would disappear. As soon as the light passed, it would appear again. The ship headed towards the shallow water, ran on the ground, broke up and sank into the sea without a single sound. The boy thought that it was his dream especially the next day when he saw no sign of the sunken ship except the radiant fish bowl, huts of the Negros and the smuggler boats. So, he told nobody about the ship.

   In the next March the boy saw the same ship with the same mistaken direction. This time he was sure that he was awake . So, he told his mother about it, but she didn’t believe him. She was unable to go to sea herself because she had to go to the city to bring a chair so that she could think about her dead husband sitting on it. Instead, she asked a boat man to look at what the boy had seen. The boatman didn’t see any sign of the sunken ship either. The boy was so stubborn that he made his mother promise to see the ship the next March. While thinking about her dead husband sitting on the newly brought chair. She had a heart attack. When the boy returned whom in the evening, he found his mother dead. Four other women of the village also died sititng on the same chair. Finally the chair was thrown into the sea .

      Instead of living on public  charity the boy choose to live stealing fish from boats. He was pointed out as he son of the widow who had brought the evil chair into the village .The next March, he saw the huge asbestos ( mineral) whale and shouted madly. Dpgs barked women were frightened and even the old men of the village hid themselves in fear. Those people who came to the boy to look at the ship left him beaten because they could see no ship. Instead of being defeated , the boy's voice grew leader and roarer and threatened the villagers saying now they are going to see "who I am"

     In this absorption he didn’t care the usual things he used to care about. He just waited for next March when he could be able to prove his mature strength. When the time came he stole a boat took a lantern, crossed the bay and waited for the ship. The lantern he was carrying was turned off so as not to draw the attention of customs police. The ship arrived as he had expected . It was big and dark. There were a lot of drowned animals, floating on the water in the ship with the flash of E\Beacon, it disappeared. No sooner had the light passed it appeared again. It was moving towards wrong direction because its compass were out of order. When the boy lighted the lantern, the ship corrected its course and began to follow the boy. The animal corpses went to the bottom and the engine began to work again. It was a lucky resurrection (rebirth of Ship). The boy was neither confused by emotion nor he was frightened by miracles. He continued guiding the ship until he brought it to his village. The entire village was illuminated by the light of the ship itself. The ship stroke on the ground breaking the glasses in it . The ship was 97 times longer than the village, 20 times taller than the steeple of the church and the wider than anything else in the world. Its name, Halalcsillage was engraved in iron letters. The boy was pleased to see the disbelievers watching the ship.

   1.    Narrate the boy's growth from immature and weakness to maturity and  and assertiveness. How is this process of gaining mature strength linked with his encounter with the ghost ship.

         The story, The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship written by a Colombian novelist Gaberial Garcia Marquez does not have plot in the usual sense. However, it has a kind of chronology of events that show the narrators growth for the time of weakness and immaturity to time of maturity and assertiveness. The process of the boy gaining maturity is linked with his encounter of the boy with the ghost ship adds maturity in the boy.

    When the boy imagined of seeing the ship for the first time, he was not quite sure of its existence. So, he told nobody about it. The next March he imagined about it. The next March he imagined of seeing the Ship with the same mistaken direction. This time, he was a bit more confident about the existence of the ship.So he told his mother about it, but she didn’t believe him. In the third march he saw the ship again and shouted madly. The villagers left him beaten for having been deceived. However, the boy didn’t feel defeated. Instead his voice grew louder and roarer. This time he was so strong and confident that he challenged the villagers in threatening tone. He was even ore determined to show them who he was. In the fourth March, the boy not only imagined of seeing the ship, he also imagined of controlling the movement of the ship and leading it to his village. This time he was mature and confident enough to have control over his private vision.

                Thus the more times the boy imagines of seeing the ship, the stronger and more assertive he becomes. So, each imaginary encounter of the boy with the ghost ship contributes to his maturity and assertiveness.

   2.    What do you think is meaning of the boy's newly discovered ability near the end of the story to control the ship's movement?

    The meaning of the boy's newly discovered ability to control the ship's movement is the boy's newly developed capacity to handle his imaginative vision successfully. It is the artist's capacity to give shape to his writing, his skill to deal with words imaginatively and fruitfully. The boy in the story has so much of his left over anger that he becomes matured through his own will power. He is not all taken away by emotions. He develops the capacity to exhibit his strength successfully.

   3.    What is the proof against asserting asserting when he brings "the largest ocean linear in this world and the other" in the village?

   The protagonist says that he has brought "the largest ocean linear in this world and the other" into his village. By this he asserts his ability  and merit. People of his village (disbelievers) do not believe that he could do any such great thing. But he proves his power to their surprise. He can now independently control his fate.

   4.     What does it mean when the boys says "Now they are going to see who I am…."

     In the story, "Now they are going to see who I am" is repeated like a refrain in a song or poem. This is the major expression in the text. The boy is trying to prove his capacity with the newly gained control over his ship or vision or medium. He is asserting again and again that he is not like what other people think of him. Though he goes to the villagers and tells them that he has seen the ocean liner, too huge to be convinced by the ordinary men, the villagers do not believe him. When they do not see it, they beat the boy and ignore him. He makes many attempts but fails to prove until the end when he speaks again, "Now the are going to see who I am".