The world of a child is full of illusions, which help with the foundation of a secure and manageable understanding of its existence. Among others innocent ideas, they often think that nothing evil happens in the world that one day the little girl will marry her farther or that babies are found under gooseberry bushes. Furthermore they create ideals or heroes, which they are able to look up to and aspire to become like, and through that develop an own identification. But as the child reaches the state of the early adolescence, many of these illusions are taken away from it. The child realizes that Santa Claus doesn't exist and that it's parents aren't perfect after all. It is a part of children's development; the childlike simplicity disappears in favour of a more nuancé and realistic understanding of life, when they are going through the process of growing up. .
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The theme, sketched above, is mirrored in Joe Sheering's short story The Whaler. Here it finds expression in the passages where the illusions of the narrator break with the reality. The narrator, a young boy, has all through his life been fascinated with whaling and has read a lot about it; he knows about the geography of the Artic and remembers the haunting routine by heart. A solitary man form the town, who is said to be an old Whaler, has become his idol through the thousands of stories the boy has heard of him and his adventures around the world. The boy's picture of the Whaler as a: hero, magician and priest. (p.1 l. 7) turns however out to be wrong, when he meets the Whaler for the first time:.
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"I never saw a whale in my life. - He broke the silence. Involuntarily I turned to stare at him in the shock of disbelief. Newer saw a whale. The hero of my lonely stories."".
(p. 2 l. 68-71).
As the Whaler discloses the truth he disillusionizes the boy. Suddenly the boy's idol seems to be like everybody else and not as he thought like a superman.
The Whaler turns out to be everything the boy didn't imagine him to be. He has never been a whaler; he has been running boats in Canada, the Whaler says. ... The Whaler The Whaler is a man, not a hero of any special brand. ... The Whaler is one who lives and drinks alone. ... The ending On the last page the Whaler lets the boy in on a secret; the Whaler has had a sexual relationship with Mrs. ...
He has been interested in the Whaler since he was a small child, the Whaler was his idol, his hero. ... But now when he meets the Whaler he realizes that it has all been a big fat lie. When he first sees him the Whaler is actually and literally taking a dump in the nature. ... He has never been a Whaler, he has just been running boats in Canada. ... We hear that the Whaler has had an affair with the narrator's teacher, the teacher which he respects and likes and the Whaler tells him that. ...
His meeting with the whaler might have destroyed his little romantic imagination, both because of him seeing the whaler as his idol, and by the fact that the whaler has had some sexual relationship with his teacher Mrs Early. ... The whaler is probably a quite sad man; he drowns his problems with alcohol, lived alone and drank alone. ... He thinks that people wouldn't like him if he hadn't been this hero whaler, but just a guy who have travelled a lot. ... The narrator clearly learns from his experience with the whaler. ... Both the whaler and Mrs Early appear differently from who t...
His meeting with the whaler might have destroyed his little romantic imagination, both because of him seeing the whaler as his idol, and by the fact that the whaler has had some sexual relationship with his teacher Mrs Early. ... The whaler is probably a quite sad man; he drowns his problems with alcohol, lived alone and drank alone. ... He thinks that people wouldn't like him if he hadn't been this hero whaler, but just a guy who have travelled a lot. ... The narrator clearly learns from his experience with the whaler. ... Both the whaler and Mrs Early appear differently from who t...
The British followed in the 18th century as the chief whalers. ... As the right whale population dwindled, commercial whalers turned their attention to sperm whales. Sperm whales (Physeter catodon) were killed accidentally at first, but whalers soon found them profitable. ... By the early 1800s, New England whalers were exploring the remotest corners of the oceans searching for whales. ... While in the area, the schooner captured a whale off the coast, prompting other whalers to use Brunswick as their winter base of operation. ...
The Blue whale was too swift and powerful for the 19th century whalers to hunt, but with the arrival of harpoon canons, they became a much sought after species for their large amounts of blubber. ... But it was their size and high yield of oil that made them the target of choice for modern commercial whalers. Before mans intervention there were 228,000 Blue whales swimming the oceans of the world.Between 1904 and 1978, whalers scoured the seas for this huge cetacean, most were taken in the Southern Hemisphere, many illegally? ... A Canny Way with Whalers. ... A Canny Way with Whalers....
Queequeg left the island as a whaler, where he learned his harpooning trade. Ishmael accepts Queequeg for who he is, and plans to leave for Nantucket with him to become whalers. ... Ishmael says, since few of the whalers are American-born other than the officers, "the native American liberally provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously supplies the muscles" (Melville 89). ... This, of course, is impossible, but it is not very unlikely for a whale to travel at very fast speeds, which would make the whalers think that it is in two places at once. ...
But in the 1840's whaling became very popular along there Coast's and so the islands became some what of a home base for many whalers of Europe And many other countrys. ... The whalers are blamed for Many things such as increased prostitution and achole and other stuff which affected The people. ...
The Blue whale was too swift and powerful for the 19th century whalers to hunt, but with the arrival of harpoon canons, they became a much sought after species for their large amounts of blubber. ... But it was their size and high yield of oil that made them the target of choice for modern commercial whalers. ... "Between 1904 and 1978, whalers scoured the seas for this huge cetacean, most were taken in the Southern Hemisphere, many illegally" (Satchell 1998). ... A Canny Way with Whalers. ...
