The last voyage of the ghost ship

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship was written by Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez and is narrated by an omniscient narrator in a stream of consciousness technique. This story presents the growth of a weak and ordinary boy into a bold and assertive young man. To write this story, the poet uses the stream of consciousness technique. The last voyage of the ghost ship explains how a boy deepens his observations and grows from an ordinary boy to an assertive young man.

The last voyage of the ghost ship

The small boy in the story used to go to the harbor at night with the permission of his mother. He liked watching the spinning lights in the sea that fell on him every 15 seconds.

In March, a gigantic, enormous ship appeared in the sea. The peculiar thing about the ship was that it appeared and vanished at random. It would disappear when the rotating light fell upon the sea, and it would reappear when the light shifted to another place. When the ship crashed into the sea and broke apart, the child was pulled back without sounding a noise.

When the boy came there the next morning, he didn’t find any sign of the ship, not even the broken pieces. He could only see the radiant fishbowl, the huts of the negros, and the boats of the smugglers. Whether it was a dream or reality, the boy couldn’t distinguish. As a result, he didn’t tell anyone.

 

The next March, the boy saw the same huge ship in the same mistaken direction. He ensured he was awake this time. When the poet told his mother about this, she didn’t believe him. She was unable to go to the city to get a chair so that she could think about her dead husband sitting on it. Instead, she asked a boatman to look at what the boy had seen. The boatman also saw no indication of the sunken ship.

The last voyage of the ghost ship
The last voyage of the ghost ship

The youngster was so obstinate that he made his mother promise to take her to the next match to see the ship. She experienced a heart attack while sitting on the newly purchased chair, remembering her late spouse. When the youngster returned home that evening, he discovered his mother had died. Four other women from the village also died while sitting on the same chair. The boy then throws the chair into the sea.

Instead of relying on public assistance, the boy chose to make a life by stealing fish off boats. He was identified as the widow’s son, who was responsible for bringing the demonic chair to the hamlet.

He observed the same massive ship again the following March. And he yelled angrily. Dogs barked, women cowered, and even the village’s elderly men huddled in terror. Those who came to the youngster to gaze at the ship left him beaten since there was no ship to be seen. Rather than suffering to defeat, the boy’s voice grew louder and more powerful. He threatened the villagers, saying they were going to see who the boy was. As the boy marched through the fields, he forgot all about the things he used to care about, and simply looked forward to the next march as an opportunity to show off his strength and courage.

The poet stole a boat, took a lamp, crossed the bay, and waited for the ship when the time came.  As a result, the lantern he was carrying was turned off so as not to attract the attention of the customs officers. He is not disappointed when he finds the ship to be large and gloomy. On the ship, numerous drowned creatures were floating in the ocean. It vanished with the flash of the signal. The light reappeared as soon as it had gone out. It was moving in the wrong direction because its compass was out of order. When the youngster lit the lamp, the ship changed direction and began to pursue him.

The last voyage of the ghost ship
The last voyage of the ghost ship

The animal bodies sank to the bottom, and the motor restarted. The ship’s resuscitation was a stroke of luck.   There was no emotion or fear in the boy during the miracle. He kept piloting the ship till it arrived at his village.

The light from the ship illuminated the entire village. The ship struck the ground, breaking the glass in it. The ship was 97 times longer than the village, 20 times taller than the steeple of the church, and whiter than anything else in the world. Halalcisillag, its name, was carved in iron letters. The child was ecstatic to see the disbelievers observing the ship.

At the end of the story, the boy finally grew into a firm rock. He demonstrated his manhood or adulthood by revealing the existence of the enormous (big) Ghost Ship. The story presents how confidence and determination lead the boy to reach the destination of his journey to search for the ghost ship he used to see in his boyhood. It demonstrates that the boy’s efforts and hardships, as well as his determination, helped him attain his goal. The last voyage of the ghost ship is a story about the boy’s vivid imagination. A person’s creative ability might sometimes become so keen that he can see his vision in tangible form.

 

Also, Read;
I Have A Dream
The Grandmother
The Importance of Agriculture
MBA in Nepal

 

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