I had a week off earlier this month and got to do one of my
favorite things. I read a classic novel. ‘Captains Courageous’ is not an easy
read. It’s not a long book, but written in 1897 and set within the fishing
community of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland,
the colloquial dialect combined with an endless supply of fishing/sailing terms
make it a bit of a challenge. None the less, it is a great story. It is a
coming of age story in the finest of that tradition.
The story by Rudyard Kipling chronicles the adventures of fifteen-year-old
Harvey Cheyne. His father is a wealthy railroad tycoon and Harvey, spoiled by privilege, neglected by
his father and indulged by his mother, has become a totally intolerable brat of
a kid, arrogant, obnoxious and completely immature. That is until he is washed
overboard from a transatlantic steamship. After nearly drowning he is rescued
by a fishing schooner. Completely unconvinced by his story, the seasoned
captain of the ‘We're Here’, Disko Troop, refuses to return him to land and
instead offers him a place among the crew. Left without a choice, Harvey is launched into a
whole new existence of rigorous hardship and toil.
For Harvey,
what initially seems like the worst of disasters turns out to be the making of
him. Not only does he learn what it means to labour, he learns what it means to
be a man among men. Rough and dysfunctional in many ways, the men of the
schooner become Harvey’s
mentors for the fishing season. By the time Harvey is finally reunited with his father
and mother, after months at sea, the transformation is so complete that it is
quite a different young man returned than the boy that had been lost to them.
There is a strong irony to the story. The rich and
successful father fails to do for his son what a bunch of rough and tumble
fishermen accomplish in fine fashion. I know that this story has played out
many times in real life but I am saddened to think that more often it doesn’t
end so well. Not very many of us in this privileged place and time have the
good fortune of falling overboard.
Did Dave C. challenge you? He "dared me to read A Tale Of Two Cities. OUCH but I was glad I did. You may have inspired me to read yours. What we so often choose to forget is that God has all these accidents planned... all along... to make us into the people He needs us to be.
ReplyDeleteI think Dave might have mentioned A Tale Of Two Cities to me a while back as something I should take a look at. I have read a couple of others by Dickens and I do love his writing so I might just check it out sometime. I have The Last Of The Mohicans in mind as a possibility as well. And yes, the providence of God is always what we need to remember isn't it!
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