Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage Literary Elements

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage Literary Elements

Genre

Nonfiction biography

Setting and Context

Set in 1914, written in the context of the journey of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Narrator and Point of View

First-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Adventurers, intriguing, fascinating, optimistic

Protagonist and Antagonist

The central character is Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Major Conflict

The main conflict is that Shackleton and his crew are attempting a voyage of a huge magnitude that has never been done before. Later after the launch, the ship crashes in the Weddell Sea.

Climax

The climax comes when the crew successfully launches escape boats that they use to arrive at Elephant Island.

Foreshadowing

The crashing of the Endurance is foreshadowed by the ambitious attempt by Shackleton and his crew to make a voyage of a higher magnitude.

Understatement

The captain and the crew understate the ice. Later, the ship crashes and sinks.

Allusions

The story alludes to the dangers the captains and the crew members go through while in the sea.

Imagery

One of the dominant imagery in the text is an adventure. The author uses adventure images to help readers see the excitement of the captain and the crew, which attempts to make one of the most dangerous voyages.

Paradox

The main paradox is that the crew explores scenes that have never been attempted before, and the end is tragic because the ship sinks.

Parallelism

The magnitude of the voyage undertaken by the captain and the crew parallels earlier explorations made in the sea.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

The sea is personified as futile.

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