44 pages • 1 hour read
Gordon KormanShipwreck
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Food and Drink
Food and water are symbols of survival. Food is also used to highlight Mr. Radford’s cruelty, as he feeds the crew insubstantial meals of dry toast and beans. When the ocean gets rough, he makes greasy scrambled eggs and liver and onions—a decision he makes purely for the pleasure of seeing the kids miserable. When Radford later abandons the kids, he takes most of the food, leaving them to starve. Conversely, toast and ginger ale—appropriate food for seasickness when the ocean gets rough—is brought to the crew by Captain Cascadden, who has the crew’s well-being at heart. After losing The Phoenix, lack of food and water pushes the survivors close to death. They experience a thirst “deeper and stronger” than anything they have felt before, and “[t]he hunger mingled with the thirst to produce a never-ending dull ache that gripped each survivor from head to toe” (113). Once the survivors land on the island, Luke raises the rubber hat full of rainwater “like a champagne glass” (128) and makes a toast, demonstrating the value of basics like water for survival.
Foreshadowing
The literary motif of foreshadowing is frequently used in the text. Within the first few pages, the main character, Luke, muses that he had “uneasy dreams” that were a “catalog of all the ways to die at sea” (4)—foreshadowing the tragic events that unfold. Before The Phoenix leaves the dock, the captain points out the blower switch as “the most important” instrument on the schooner (13). He explains that the blower must be on before starting the engine, “Otherwise, fuel vapors that have built up there could explode when the engine ignites” (13), which is exactly what causes the explosion that ultimately sinks The Phoenix.
Furthering the use of foreshadowing, J.J’s actions on the voyage lead to the death of Captain Cascadden, as well as his own disappearance, both of which are foreshadowed by Rapaport when J.J. arrives in Guam. Rapaport warns J.J. about his rash behavior: “You’re going to kill somebody one of these days—maybe even yourself” (18). Lyssa and Will’s parents are given a similar warning by the police officer documenting the siblings’ latest fight: “If you don’t do something about these two, they’re going to kill each other” (24). Will’s recurrent wish to be an only child also foreshadows the siblings’ tragic story arc: Following the explosion on The Phoenix, Lyssa is missing, presumed dead.
Trust
The motif of trust, or lack thereof, is explored thoroughly in the text. Initially the adolescents, none of whom want to be on the CNC course, do not trust each other. They focus on their differences, quickly judging each other and distancing themselves. Even the siblings, Will and Lyssa, do not have each other’s backs—Will wants Lyssa to fail so he looks better, and Lyssa flies off the handle whenever they have a slight disagreement. Meanwhile, Luke’s trust has been eroded by his recent experience that resulted in him being sent on the CNC course. He “trusted a false friend with his locker combination” where a gun was found (77). As such, none of the young characters are inclined to readily trust others at the onset of their journey, presenting one of the primary conflicts they will need to overcome.
Even though the crew despises Mr. Radford, they trust him as an adult employed by CNC and expect that he will try to save them after they lose the captain. When Radford abandons them, he not only betrays the trust of the kids, but also the trust of their parents, the courts, and the medical professionals who have sent the kids on the CNC course for help.
It is not until the trip takes a deadly turn that the six kids truly place their trust in each other and work together to fix the engine and pump out water. Following the explosion, the survivors understand that they must trust each other implicitly in order to survive.
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By Gordon Korman
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